Poseidon's True Name Reveals A Darker Pantheon

Summary

The video argues that the Greek pantheon changed significantly between the Mycenaean Bronze Age and classical Greece—and that Poseidon may once have held a very different role from the familiar god of the sea.

• Poseidon before Zeus’s classical prominence: The narrator says Linear B tablets, written centuries before Homer, include the names of Greek gods and point to Poseidon as a major deity—possibly the leading god of the pantheon.
• The Linear B evidence: Archaeologists found tablets at Knossos in the early 20th century. Michael Ventris deciphered Linear B in the 1950s. The tablets are administrative records, not myths, but they preserve early forms of divine names.
• Poseidon’s proposed earlier identity: According to the video, many linguists interpret Poseidon’s name as meaning something like “lord of the earth.” The video presents him as a chthonic, earth-related deity associated with earthquakes, caverns, and the frightening power of the ground—not originally as a sea god.
• The collapse and loss of records: Around 1200 BC, widespread disruption in the Eastern Mediterranean—possibly involving drought, invasion, and internal revolt—destroyed cities and palace systems. With Linear B record-keeping gone, Greece entered a period with very little written evidence.
• A changing society and changing gods: When Greek society reemerged, the narrator describes it as more scattered and seafaring. The video’s leading theory is that Poseidon’s existing power was recast to suit people who depended on the sea: the earth-shaker became a protector of ships and a sea god.
• Zeus’s rise: The video similarly portrays Zeus as growing from a more local sky deity into the head of the later pantheon, absorbing storm-god traditions from the Near East.
• Cultural borrowing: As Greeks travelled around the Mediterranean, they encountered other religious traditions and sometimes incorporated them. The narrator suggests that the Babylonian goddess Ishtar may be connected to the later Greek Aphrodite, but reserves that discussion for a follow-up video.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Speaker: An unnamed video narrator.
• Sources and people cited: Linear B tablets from Knossos; archaeologists who excavated the site; Michael Ventris, who deciphered Linear B; and historians, linguists, and classicists in general.