NEPTUNE AND POSEIDON OR GREEK ROMAN GODS OF THE SEA WATER

Neptune and Poseidon are the Roman and Greek Gods of the sea and water. The similarity in depiction over the centuries is incredible, almost like our version of this God is better than yours, but then they ended up being virtually identical. However you interpret history and cross pollination of beliefs, the symbolism is fantastic. It has inspired us, as no doubt it inspired the artists who carved the magnificent statues on this page. Put these images and beliefs together with that of mermaids, and that gives us a rich picture of life under the sea for those who choose to believe. Leading to sailors to make figureheads to put their ships under protection of the Gods, or at least appease them during their passages.

NEPTUNE

Neptune (Latin: Neptūnus) was the Roman god of freshwater and the sea in Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, each of them presiding over the realms of Heaven, our earthly world, and the Underworld, respectively. Salacia was his consort.

Depictions of Neptune in Roman mosaics, especially those of North Africa, are influenced by Hellenistic conventions. Neptune was likely associated with fresh water springs before the sea. Like Poseidon, Neptune was worshipped by the Romans also as a god of horses, under the name Neptunus Equester, a patron of horse-racing.

TEMPLES

In Rome Neptune had only a temple. It stood near the Circus Flaminius, the Roman racetrack, in the southern part of the Campus Martius. It already existed in 206 BC. It appears on a coin struck by Gn. Domitius Ahenobarbus around 40 BC doubtless because of a restoration carried out by this personage. It contained a famous sculpture of a marine group by Scopas Minor. The Basilica Neptuni, was built on the Campus Martius and dedicated by Agrippa in honour of the naval victory of Actium. This building substituted the older temple, which in its turn substituted a more ancient altar.

SACRIFICE

Neptune is one of the only three Roman gods to whom it was appropriate to sacrifice bulls, the other two being Apollo and Mars. The wrong offering would require a piaculum, if due to inadvertency or necessity. The type of the offering implies a stricter connection between the deity and the worldly realm.

Neptune was the name of a number of Royal Navy warships such as HMS Neptune, a WWII light cruiser that was lost to mines in the Mediterranean in 1941. Several US Navy submarines were also christened USS Neptune, and this is also the inspiration for a naval adventure story by Jameson Hunter Ltd, called Operation Neptune, that may one day make an exciting film.

Neptune is also the name of a number of military operation, the most famous of which was D-Day, or Operation Overlord, with Operation Neptune being the Normandy landings across the English Channel, during the Second World War.

POSEIDON

Poseidon is one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain is the ocean, and he is called the "God of the Sea". Additionally, he is referred to as "Earth-Shaker" due to his role in causing earthquakes, and has been called the "tamer of horses". He is usually depicted as an older male with curly hair and beard.

The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology; both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. Linear B tablets show that Poseidon was venerated at Pylos and Thebes in pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece as a chief deity, but he was integrated into the Olympian gods as the brother of Zeus and Hades. According to some folklore, he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which was devoured by Cronos.

There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, although he lost the contest for Athens to Athena. According to the references from Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was the chosen domain of Poseidon.

CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS and MYTHOLOGY
ACHILLES	ANGELS	ASCENSION	BONFIRE NIGHT
CHRISTMAS	COUNT DRACULA	CRUCIFIXION	EASTER
FRANKENSTEIN	GHOSTS	GOBLINS	GODS
ILLUMINATI	JESUS	LOCH NESS MONSTER	MERMAIDS
MUMMIES	RESURRECTION	ST VALENTINES DAY	SANTA CLAUS
SATAN	THE BIBLE	THE HOLY GRAIL	VAMPIRES
WEREWOLVES	WITCHES	ZOMBIES	HALLOWEEN

OPERATION NEPTUNE - A naval battle royal with NATO chasing a stolen nuclear submarine captained by environmental terrorists, who destroy another oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, after Deepwater Horizon, then sink an aircraft carrier and one of the submarines chasing them. Amidst the carnage, Charley Temple and John Storm move their budding relationship up another gear and still manage to save the day. If you enjoyed Battleship, Under Siege, or Pacific Rim, you'll love this story.

LINKS and REFERENCE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune_%28mythology%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poseidon