Greek God of Water POSEIDON.

 Poseidon

Posiedon, in ancient Greek religion god of the sea( water generally), earthquakes, and horses. He is also distinguished from Pontus, the personification of the sea and the oldest Greek divinity of the waters. The name Poseidon means either" the husband of earth" or "the lord of the earth".

Posiedon

Traditionally, he was the son of Cronus ( the youngest of the 12 titans) and of Cronus's sister consort Rhea, a fertility goddess.

                               

                                       Cornus                             Rhea

Poseidon was the brother of Zeus, the sky god and chief god of Ancient Greece, and Hades, the god of the underworld. When the three brothers overthrew their father, the kingdom of the sea fell by a lot to Posiedon. his weapon and main symbol was a trident, perhaps once a fish spear. According to Greek poet Hesiod, Poseidon's trident, Zeus's thunderbolt, and Hade's helmet were fashioned by three Cyclopes.

Posiedon                         Trident

 

       Zeus                            Thunderbolt

 

        Hades                              Helmet        

As the god of earthquakes, Poseidon was also connected to dry land, and many of his oldest places of worship in Greece were inland, though these were sometimes centered on pools and streams or associated with water. In this aspect, he was known as enosichthon and ennosigaios("earth-shaker") and was worshiped as asphalts ("stabilizer"). As the god of horses, Poseidon is thought likely to have been introduced to Greece by the earliest Hellenes, who also introduced the first horses to the country about the 2nd century BCE. Poseidon himself fathered many horses, the best known of which was the winged horse Pegasus by the Gorgon Medusa.

Pegasus

Poseidon came into conflict with a variety of figures in land disputes. Notable among these was a contest for Sovereignty over Attica, which he lost to the goddess Athena. Despite losing, Poseidon was also worshiped there, particularly at Colonus( as hippos," of horses").

       

                                                                  Athena

Poseidon's offspring were Myriad. He was the father of Pelias and Neleus by Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus, and thus became the divine ancestor of the royal families of Thessaly and Messenia.

Many of his sons became rulers in other parts of the ancient Greek world. Otherwise, he had many monstrous offspring, including giants and savage creatures, such as Orion, Antaeus, and Polyphemus. The progenitor of many, with several consorts, Poseidon also was married to the Oceanid Amphitrite, with whom he also had multiple offspring, including the sea creature Triton.

                          Amphitrite                            

The chief festival in Poseidon's honor was the Istgmia, the scene of famous athletic contests( including horse race), celebrated in alternate years near the Isthmus of Corinth, his character as sea god became most prominent in art, and he was represented with attributes of the trident, the Dolphin, and the tuna. the Romans, ignoring his other aspects, identified him with Neptune as sea god. 

Artefacts found in Mohenjo-daro (part-2)

Artifacts found in Mohenjo-Daro (part-2)

NOTABLE ARTEFACTS

Numerous objects found in the excavation include seated and standing figures, copper and stone tools, carved seals, balance scales and weights, gold and jasper jewelry, and children's toys. Many bronze and copper pieces, such as figurines and bowls, have been discovered from the site. The furnaces found at the site are believed to have been used for copper works and melting the metals as opposed to smelting. There even seems to be an entire section of the city dedicated to shell-working. Some of the most famous copper works discovered from the site are the copper tablets which have examples of the untranslated Indus scripts and visual images and symbols used in works of art or to study.

                                                                  

LOST WAX TECHNIQUE

While the script has not been converted into normal language yet, many of the images on the tablets match another tablet and both hold the same caption in the Indus language, with the example given showing three tablets with the image of a mountain goat and the inscription on the back reading the same letters for the three tablets.

  

                                    INDUS SCRIPT                                 

Pottery and terracotta sherds have been discovered from the site, with many of the pots having deposits of ash in them, leading archeologists to believe they were either used to hold the ashes of a person or as a way to warm up a home located in the site. These heaters, or braziers, were ways to heat the house while also being able to be utilized in a manner of cooking or straining, while others only believe they were used for heating.

Most of the objects from Mohenjo-daro retained by India are in the National Museum of India in New Delhi and those returned to Pakistan in the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi, with many also in the museum now established at Mohenjo-daro itself. In 1939, a small representative group of artifacts excavated at the site was transferred to the British Museum by the Director-General of the Archeological Survey of India.

Mohenjo-Daro (mound of dead men) PART- 1

Mohenjo Daro is an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2500 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS, and one of the world's earliest major CITIES, occurring at the same time with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Minoan Crete, Norte Chico. etc. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BC as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s.

MOHENJO-DARO

Mohenjo-daro is located off the right bank of the lower Indus river in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan. It lies on a Pleistocene ridge in the flood plain of the Indus, around 28 kilometers (17 miles) from the town of Larkana.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

Mohenjo-daro was built in the 26th century BC. It was one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, which developed by prehistoric Indus culture. The Indus Civilization extended much of what is now Pakistan and North India, extending westwards to the Iranian border, south to Gujarat in India, and northwards to an outpost in Bacteria, with major urban centers at Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira, and Rakhighari. Mohenjo-daro was the most advanced city of its time, with remarkably sophisticated civil engineering and urban planning. When the Indus civilization went into sudden decline, Mohenjo-daro was abandoned.

ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

Mohenjo-daro has a planned layout with rectilinear buildings arranged on a grid plan. Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden superstructures. The covered area of Mohenjo-daro is estimated at 300 hectares.

The nearly size of the city, and its provision of public buildings and facilities, suggest a high level of social organization. The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City. The Citadel – a mud-brick mound – is known to have supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house about 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls. The city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual households or groups of households obtained their water from smaller wells. Waste water was channeled to covered drains that lined the major streets. Some houses, probably those of more prestigious inhabitants, include rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto side lanes. 

Water supply and wells

The location of Mohenjo-daro was built in a relatively short period, with the water supply system and wells being some of the first planned constructions. Over 700 wells are present at Mohenjo-daro, alongside drainage and bathing systems. This number is unheard of when compared to other civilizations at the time, such as Egypt or Mesopotamia, and the number of wells was transcribed as one well for every three houses. Because of the large number of wells, it is believed that the inhabitants relied solely on annual rainfall, as well as the Indus River's course remaining close to the site, alongside the wells providing water for long periods in the case of the city coming under reliance. Due to the period in which these wells were built and used, likely, the circular brick well design used at this and many other Harappan sites is an invention that should be credited to the Indus civilization, as there is no existing evidence of this design from Mesopotamia or Egypt at this time, and even later. Sewage and wastewater for buildings at the site were disposed of via a centralized drainage system that ran alongside the site's streets. These drains that ran alongside the road were effective at allowing most human waste and sewage to be disposed of as the drains most likely took the waste toward the Indus River.

OTHER VIEWS

Flooding and rebuilding

The city also had large platforms perhaps intended as a defense against flooding. According to a theory, the city could have been flooded and silted over, perhaps six times, and later rebuilt in the same location. For some archaeologists, it was believed that a final flood that helped engulf the city in a sea of mud brought about the abandonment of the site. Greygory Possehl was the first to theorize that the floods were caused by overuse and expansion upon the land and that the mud flood was not the reason the site was abandoned. Instead of a mud flood wiping part of the city out in one fell swoop, Possehl coined the possibility of constant mini-floods throughout the year, paired with the land being worn out by crops, pastures, and resources for bricks and pottery spelled the downfall of the site.

 THE GREAT BATH