I. Name

Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, occurs in the Bible only in the Apocrypha, as a theophoric name (Poseidonios: 2 Macc. 14.19). Numerous dialectal forms occur in inscriptions, the main division being between the ποσ- and ποτ-(western dialects, Corinth, Crete, Rhodes) forms. The dominant form occurs in a number of Linear B tablets from Pylos and once at Knossos (nom. po-se-da-o, also po-si-). But the ‘original’ form was probably *Ποτ(σ)ειδάηων. No etymology so far proposed (a selection in Burkert 198…