吳春曉

希臘人的經(jīng)濟(jì)依賴于島嶼之間的貿(mào)易往來，因此，海洋和陸地同等重要。因此，自古以來海神在希臘神話與宗教中就占據(jù)著不可替代的地位。

Poseidon's Many Names

Like his brother Zeus, Poseidon, Lord of the Sea, has many names—Earthshaker1), Rain-God, Cloud-Gatherer, and Poseidon of the Thunderbolt, to name just a few.

Poseidon's common domain is the seas, where ancient Greek people believed the most terrible earthquakes happened, hence giving Poseidon the name—Earthshaker.

Poseidon was powerful, decisive2), competitive, and dignified3). The common symbols of Poseidon include tridents4), horses(stallions5)), springs and dolphins, each involving an interesting story.

Poseidon's trident is now the symbol of sea power and the mark of many maritime6)universities. People use trident to name certain ships, too.

Poseidon's common image is as a bearded middle-aged man, sometimes driving a chariot7) drawn by sea horses, and sometimes sitting on a spring with a trident in hand. He is often accompanied by his wife, Amphitrite, the Goddess of the Sea, and their son, Triton, a merman8) blowing a conch9) shell to calm or raise the waves.

Poseidon's Many Love Conquests

Also like his brother, Poseidon was famous for his many love conquests. Once he pursued Athena, but was rebuffed. Athena's rejection threw Poseidon in the willing arms of the hauntingly10) beautiful Medusa. They stayed overnight in the temple of Athena. Athena, furious over this insult, turned Medusa into a hideous11) monster with writhing12) snakes in place of her hair. And Medusa's face could turn anyone into stone if he/she looked at it directly. But she was later killed by the hero Perseus.

Perhaps the most infamous of Poseidon's love pursuits was when he chased Demeter, the Goddess ofCrop, when she was full of grief, searching for her daughter, Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld. Demeter had turned herself into a mare13) and hid inside a herd of horses to escape Poseidon's advances. Poseidon then simply transformed himself into a stallion. They two had a little horse Arion as their son, who understand plainly human speech and always won in horse race.

Poseidon Winning His True Love

Poseidon eventually did manage to fall in love with a goddess who loved him too. As he watched the Sea Goddess Amphitrite dancing, something stirred in him, and he tried to approach her in his usual violent way. Amphitrite fled and hid herself at the bottom of the sea.

Suddenly Poseidon realized that he truly loved this goddess, so he searched for her everywhere. But he could not find her, and he was filled with sadness and a great sense of loss. His friend, a dolphin, volunteered to find her and plead for his case. And the dolphin succeeded, convincing Amphitrite of Poseidon's love and wish to make her his wife and the Queen of the Sea.

Amphitrite was deeply touched and returned with the dolphin to marry Poseidon. She eventually bore two of his children. Their son Triton rode with Poseidon in his chariot across the seas, trumpeting14) with a sea shell to announce Poseidon's arrival wherever they went.

Like Hera, Amphitrite was also jealous of Poseidon's attraction to other women, such as lovely Scylla15). Amphitrite threw magical herbs into the water while Scylla was bathing, turning Scylla into a hideous sea-monster with six heads, three rows of teeth, and twelve feet. Scylla was finally turned into a stone.

Poseidon as a Vengeful16) God

Poseidon was a vengeful god. After fighting the Trojan war for ten years, Odysseus17) began his journey back to his own island. But on Odysseus' way, he was trapped by Poseidon's one-eyed son—Polyphemus18), who threatened to eat all his crew members. When Odysseus managed to escape, he not only blinded Polyphemus' only eye, but also insulted him. This enraged Poseidon, who then spent eight years getting even with19) Odysseus, causing earthquakes, storms on Odysseus' sea voyages, and throwing sea monsters in his path and so on.

Once Poseidon was banished from his home, for he tried to dethrone20) Zeus. He and Apollo were sentenced to a year of manual labor building the great wall around Troy while working disguised21) as mortals. The king of Troy had promised to pay the gods with gold vines when the wall was finished but failed to keep his end of the bargain. Poseidon was infuriated22) and sent a sea monster to punish the city, but the monster was killed by Heracles.

But Poseidon could hold a grudge23) for a long time. During the Trojan war Poseidon was delighted to fight on the side of the Greeks.

Poseidon as a Faithful God

Poseidon always gave his word and kept it. When the king of Crete Minos24) requested a gift from Poseidon, a fine bull to sacrifice, Poseidon generously sent him the very finest from his herd, so fine that King Minos decided to keep it himself instead of sacrificing it. Poseidon was angry and caused the king's wife to fall in love with the bull. The eventual outcome of their love affair was the birth of a monster, half-bull and half-human, called the Minotaur25). The monster had to be kept in the center of the labyrinth26) below the king's palace. It was later killed by Theseus, one of Poseidon's sons.

波塞冬的眾多頭銜

和他的兄弟宙斯一樣，海神波塞冬的頭銜非常多——撼地之神、雨露之神、集云之神、雷電之神波塞冬，不勝枚舉。

波塞冬的主要領(lǐng)地是海洋。古希臘人認(rèn)為那里是最可怕的地震的起源地，因此人們稱呼波塞冬為“撼地之神”。

波塞冬孔武有力，處事果決，爭強(qiáng)好勝，威嚴(yán)高貴。波塞冬最常見的象征物包括三叉戟、馬(公馬)、溫泉和海豚，而每個象征物都涉及一個有趣的故事。

波塞冬的三叉戟現(xiàn)在是海洋力量的象征，也是很多海事大學(xué)的標(biāo)志。人們也用三叉戟來命名某些船只。

波塞冬最常見的形象是一位長滿胡須的中年男子，時而駕駛著海馬拉的戰(zhàn)車，時而手執(zhí)三叉戟坐在溫泉上。通常，陪伴在他身邊的是他的妻子海洋女神安菲特律特，和他們的兒子特賴登—— 一條吹著海螺號角的人魚，他的號角聲能夠平息或者掀起巨浪。

波塞冬的眾多愛情征服戰(zhàn)

和他的兄弟宙斯另一個相似之處是，波塞冬也因為他的許多愛情“俘虜”而聞名。他曾經(jīng)追求過雅典娜，但卻遭到了拒絕。雅典娜的拒絕把波塞冬推進(jìn)了美艷驚人的少女美杜莎的熱情懷抱。他們就在雅典娜的神殿里過夜。蒙受此等侮辱，憤怒至極的雅典娜把美杜莎變成了怪物，將她的秀發(fā)變成了嘶嘶怪叫的毒蛇，讓她的面容擁有能把任何直視她的人變成石頭的魔力。后來美杜莎被英雄珀爾修斯所殺。

也許波塞冬最不光彩的愛情追求就是他對谷物女神得墨忒耳的追求了。當(dāng)時得墨忒耳滿懷悲傷，正尋找她失蹤的女兒——冥后珀爾塞福涅。為了躲避波塞冬的追求，得墨忒耳把自己變成了一匹母馬，藏在馬群中?？墒遣ㄈo接著把自己變成了一匹公馬。他們生了一個兒子——小馬阿里昂，他不僅通曉人類語言，而且總能在賽馬中勝出。

波塞冬贏得真愛

最終，波塞冬成功地愛上了一位女神，而這位女神也愛他。當(dāng)他看見海洋女神安菲特律特翩翩起舞時，他感到了內(nèi)心的激蕩，于是他試圖用他慣常使用的暴力手段接近她。安菲特律特逃跑了，藏在海洋深處。

突然，波塞冬意識到他真的愛上了這位女神，于是他四處尋找她，但是卻并沒有找到。他滿懷悲傷，無比失落。他的朋友，一只海豚，主動要求替他尋找女神并為他說情。海豚成功地找到了安菲特律特，說服她相信了波塞冬的愛情，也相信了波塞冬想娶她為妻，讓她成為海洋女王的愿望。

安菲特律特深為感動，和海豚一起回到波塞冬身邊嫁給了他。最后，她為他生了兩個孩子。他們的兒子特賴登和波塞冬一起駕車巡海，無論去哪兒，他都會吹響號角，宣告海神的駕臨。

和天后赫拉一樣，安菲特律特也非常忌妒其他吸引波塞冬的女人，如可愛的少女斯庫拉。當(dāng)斯庫拉在海中洗澡時，安菲特律特把魔藥扔到海里，把斯庫拉變成了一個長著六個頭、三排牙齒和十二只腳的海怪。斯庫拉最終被變成了一塊石頭。

報復(fù)之神波塞冬

波塞冬是一位報復(fù)心很強(qiáng)的神。當(dāng)持續(xù)十年之久的特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束后，奧德修斯開始了返島航行。但是在返島途中，奧德修斯被波塞冬的獨眼兒子波呂斐摩斯困住，波呂斐摩斯甚至還威脅他，說要吃掉他全部的船員。當(dāng)奧德修斯設(shè)法逃脫時，他不僅弄瞎了波呂斐摩斯的獨眼，而且還羞辱了他。這讓波塞冬感到異常憤怒，他花了八年時間來報復(fù)奧德修斯：包括在奧德修斯的海上航行中不斷引發(fā)地震、刮起暴風(fēng)雨，以及在他的旅途中安排海怪等。

因為曾經(jīng)試圖推翻宙斯，波塞冬曾一度被從家里驅(qū)逐出來。他和阿波羅一起被處以刑罰，化裝成凡人從事長達(dá)一年的體力活，為特洛伊城周圍修筑一道堅固的城墻。當(dāng)時，特洛伊國王允諾如果城墻竣工就會賞賜給這兩位神以金葡萄，但他卻沒能兌現(xiàn)諾言。波塞冬怒不可遏，于是指派海怪來懲罰特洛伊城，不過海怪被赫拉克勒斯殺了。

但是，波塞冬能記仇很長時間。在特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭期間，他非常樂意地加入到了希臘盟軍的行列。

守信之神波塞冬

波塞冬總是言出必行。當(dāng)克里特島國王彌諾斯向波塞冬索要一頭健碩的公牛作為祭祀的禮物時，波塞冬慷慨地挑選了自己牛群中最好的一頭送給他。這頭公牛太招人喜歡了，彌諾斯國王都不忍心把它殺掉作祭祀品，反而將它據(jù)為己有。波塞冬很生氣，于是讓國王的妻子愛上了這頭公牛。而他們這份愛的最終結(jié)晶是一個半人半牛的怪物——彌諾陶洛斯。這頭怪物被關(guān)在克里特島王宮下面的迷宮中心，后來被波塞冬的一個兒子忒修斯所殺。

Vocabulary

1. Earthshaker [5:W7FeIkE(r)] n. 【希神】撼地大王(海神波塞冬或主神宙斯的別名)

2. decisive [dI5saIsIv] adj. 堅定的，果斷的；決斷的

3. dignified [5dI^nIfaId] adj. 有尊嚴(yán)的；莊嚴(yán)的；高貴的；高尚的

4. trident [5traIdEnt] n. 【希神】(海神的)三叉戟

5. stallion [5stAljEn] n. 種馬

6. maritime [5mArItaIm] adj. 海的；海上的；航海的，海事的

7. chariot [5tFArIEt] n. (古代的)雙輪戰(zhàn)車

8. merman [5mE:mAn] n. (傳說中的)男性人魚

9. conch [kCNk, kCntF] n. 【希神】(海神特賴登的)海螺殼號角

10. hauntingly [5hC:ntINlI] adv. 縈繞于心頭地；不易忘懷地；給人以強(qiáng)烈感受地

11. hideous [5hIdIEs] adj. 極丑的，可怕的

12. writhe [raIT] vi. 盤繞，纏繞；蜿蜒移動

13. mare [5mZE(r)] n. 母馬，牝馬

詞匯學(xué)習(xí)

Between Scylla and Charybdis：處于錫拉巖礁和卡律布狄斯之間，比喻腹背受敵，進(jìn)退兩難，與漢語中“四面楚歌”或“進(jìn)退維谷”的意思相似。Scylla(錫拉巖礁)是位于意大利墨西拿海峽上的一處巖礁，其對面為卡律布狄斯大漩渦。在希臘神話中，Scylla(斯庫拉)原為少女，一說是因為被海神波塞冬所愛，遭到海后安菲特律特的嫉妒和迫害變成了海怪，后變成了石頭；另一說是因為被人魚Glaucus(格勞庫斯)所愛，因此被深愛著格勞庫斯的女巫Circe(喀耳刻)配置成的魔藥變成怪物。她變成海怪后，就在水手必經(jīng)的路上抓水手充饑。Charybdis(卡律布狄斯)本是波塞冬和大地女神該亞所生的海洋仙女之一，因為偷了赫拉克勒斯的牲畜而被宙斯扔到海里，變成了一張吞噬海浪的大嘴，興風(fēng)作浪。于是，“between Scylla and Charybdis”這個短語的意思就是形容前有堵截、后有追兵的危險處境。

文化鏈接

1. Merman：(傳說中的)男性人魚。對于多數(shù)中國讀者來說，丹麥的美人魚是浪漫奔放的北歐文化和異域風(fēng)情的代名詞，但對男性人魚(美男魚)就知之甚少了，甚至?xí)X得這個說法很可笑。實際上在希臘神話、北歐神話、愛爾蘭神話中都有關(guān)于男性人魚的描述。在希臘神話中，男性人魚一般為人頭魚身，全身泛著綠色的光，經(jīng)常攜帶三叉戟，有著神奇的魔力。在愛爾蘭神話中，他們卻經(jīng)常是丑陋粗鄙的。但他們都能治愈疾病，配置魔藥，有時也由于對人類生活過分好奇而對人類造成意外傷害。他們一般不與普通女人結(jié)合，一旦結(jié)合，他們的妻子就會變成美人魚。

2. Trident：三叉戟。在希臘神話中，三叉戟是海神波塞冬的象征物和武器，傳說是他用三叉戟劈開大山，將山石變成島嶼的。但基督教和天主教卻認(rèn)為三叉戟是魔鬼撒旦的武器，這種對立被一些學(xué)者認(rèn)為是新宗教代替舊宗教的證據(jù)。在現(xiàn)代一些海軍院校的徽章上，三叉戟被當(dāng)作是海洋力量的標(biāo)志。

3. Medusa：水母，美杜莎。她的頭具有把正面面對她的人變成石頭的魔力，因此很多藝術(shù)家現(xiàn)在把她作為 “最為驚世駭俗、魅力無法抗拒”的代名詞，把她印在衣服或者皮具上面。最為著名的是服裝大師范思哲的服裝標(biāo)志。同時，美杜莎也是很多旗幟上的圖案。

4. Labyrinth：迷宮。位于克里特島國王彌諾斯的喀納索斯宮殿下，是用來禁閉牛首人身怪物彌諾陶洛斯的地方，由希臘著名的建筑師Daedalus(代達(dá)羅斯)所建。建成之后，國王怕家丑外傳，于是就把代達(dá)羅斯和他的兒子Icarus(伊卡羅斯)關(guān)在了迷宮中。這對父子用蠟油粘上兩副翅膀，飛出了迷宮。途中，伊卡羅斯不聽父親的勸告，飛得太靠近太陽，蠟油被融化，翅膀脫落，他墜入愛琴海而死。他們所修的這座迷宮后來成為“繁復(fù)的場所”的代名詞。值得一提的是，克里特島迷宮并不是神話中無從考證的存在?，F(xiàn)代考古學(xué)者以神話作為考古依據(jù)，挖掘出了特洛伊的老城和部分城池。同樣，他們也在克里特島喀納索斯古宮殿遺址中挖掘出了很多可以證明迷宮確實存在過的證據(jù)。也有學(xué)者認(rèn)為復(fù)雜的喀納索斯古宮殿本身就是一座迷宮。

Vocabulary

14. trumpet [5trQmpIt] vi. 吹喇叭，吹小號

15. Scylla [5sIlE] n. 【希神】斯庫拉(棲居錫拉巖礁上攫取船上水手的女妖)

16. vengeful [5vendVful] adj. 圖謀報復(fù)的；報仇心切的

17. Odysseus [EU5dIsju:s] n. 奧德修斯(一譯“俄底修斯”，古希臘荷馬所作史詩《奧德賽》中的主人公，伊賽卡國王，特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭中領(lǐng)袖之一，曾獻(xiàn)木馬計，使希臘軍獲勝；羅馬神話中稱作Ulysses)

18. Polyphemus [7pClI5fi:mEs] n. 【希神】波呂斐摩斯(獨眼巨人，被禁錮于其洞穴的奧德修斯灌醉后弄瞎其獨眼)

19. get even with: 報復(fù)

20. dethrone [dI5WrEun] vt. 廢黜

21. disguise [dIs5^aIz] vt. 假扮，化裝

22. infuriate [In5fjuErIeIt] vt. 使十分生氣，使大怒，激怒

23. grudge [^rQdV] n. 不滿；嫌隙；積怨

24. Minos [5maInCs] n. 【希神】彌諾斯(王)(克里特島之王，秉公治國，死后為陰曹地府三法官之一)

25. Minotaur [5maInEtC:(r)] n. 【希神】彌諾陶洛斯(人身牛頭怪物，被彌諾斯王之孫禁閉在克里特島的迷宮里，每年要吃雅典送來的童男童女各七個，后被雅典王忒修斯所殺)

26. labyrinth [5lAbErInW] n. 【希神】迷宮