Editing Trident (section)

=== Poseidon ===
{{Main|Trident of Poseidon}}
The trident is associated with the sea god [[Poseidon]]. This divine instrument is said to have been forged by the [[cyclopes]].<ref>[[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' 1.2. {{harvp|Frazer tr.|1921}}, '''1''':11; {{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2|2=text version}} via [[Perseus Project]].</ref>

Poseidon struck a rock with his trident, causing a sea (or a saltwater spring, called the [[Erechtheion#Erechtheis|Erechtheis]]) to appear nearby on the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] in [[Athens]].<ref>[[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' 3.14. {{harvp|Frazer tr.|1921}}, '''2''':79 and note 2; {{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.14|2=text version}} via [[Perseus Project]].</ref><ref name=hurwit/> And according to Roman sources, Neptune struck the earth with the trident to produce the first [[warhorse]].<ref>Virgil, {{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi002.perseus-eng1:1.1-1.42|2=''Georgics'' 1.12ff}}, ''apud'' {{harvp|Frazer tr.|1921}}, '''2''':79 and note 2</ref>

Poseidon, as well as being the god of the sea, was also known as the "Earth Shaker",<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 930.</ref> believed to cause [[earthquakes]];<ref name=mackay/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Mackay catalogs instances in classical literature where Poseidon is connected with the earthquake, but does not cite use of the trident in any, only mentioning its use in creating the horse.<ref name=mackay/>}} some commentators{{Who|date=November 2022}} have extrapolated that the god would have used the trident to cause them,<ref name=cambridge-anc-hist2/> possibly by striking the earth.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

In the Renaissance artist [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Gian Bernini]]'s sculpture ''[[Neptune and Triton (Bernini)|Neptune and Triton]]'' (1622–23), Neptune is posed holding a trident turned downwards, and is thought to reenact a scene from ''[[Aeneid]]'' or [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' where he is calming the waves to aid [[Aeneas]]'s ships.<ref name=wiklins/>