Asphaleius

{{Short description|Epithet for the Greek god Poseidon}}

Asphaleius or Asphalius ({{langx|grc|Ἀσφάλειος}} or {{langx|grc|Ἀσφάλιος}}) was a cultic epithet of the Greek god Poseidon,Strabo, Geographica i. p.57Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.21.3Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Theseus" 36Suda, s.v. Ἀσφάλειος under which he was worshipped in several towns of Greece, such as at Taenarum, Kalaureia, and Sparta, but also across the wider Greek world.{{cite book

| last = Harrison

| first = Jane Ellen

| author-link = Jane Ellen Harrison

| title = Mythology

| publisher = Marshall Jones Company

| volume = 26

| date = 1924

| pages = 48

| language = English

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=u2ZbAAAAMAAJ }}{{cite book

| last =

| first =

| authorlink =

| title =The Ancient World

| publisher =Ares Publishers

| series =

| volume =36-37

| date =2005

| pages =23

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=2hMiAQAAIAAJ

| isbn =

| accessdate=2024-08-17}}{{cite encyclopedia

| last =Smith

| first =William

| authorlink =William Smith (lexicographer)

| title =Sparta

| encyclopedia =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography

| pages =1027

| volume = 2

| publisher =Little, Brown and Company

| language =English

| date =1857

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=aysbAAAAYAAJ

| accessdate = 2024-08-17}}{{cite book

| last =Lebreton

| first =Sylvain

| editor-last=Bonnet

| editor-first=Corinne

| translator-last=Häussler

| translator-first=Ralph

| title =The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions

| chapter=Dionysos in the Mirror of Poseidon: Crossed Onomastic Portraits

| publisher =Cambridge University Press

| date =2024

| pages =84

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=BC3_EAAAQBAJ

| isbn = 9781009394789

| accessdate=2024-08-17}} His Greek name may also be transliterated as Asphaleus, Asphaleios, or Asphalios.

In Greek, asphaleia means "safety", or an absence of instability. This epithet broadly describes him in a protector role, as the god who grants safety to ports and in sea navigation in general, a "guardian of the harbor".{{cite journal

| last =Hasluck

| first =F.W.

| authorlink =Frederick William Hasluck

| title =An Inscribed Basis from Cyzicus

| journal =The Journal of Hellenic Studies

| volume =22

| pages =129

| publisher =Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies

| date =1902

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Ah8oAAAAYAAJ

| accessdate = 2024-08-17}}{{cite book

| last =Purvis

| first =Andrea

| title =Singular Dedications: Founders and Innovators of Private Cults in Classical Greece

| publisher =Taylor & Francis

| date =2004

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=l0ZnDwAAQBAJ

| isbn = 9781135886707

| accessdate=2024-08-17}}

In this aspect he was also a "bringer of stability", both in the personal sense, as a cane or walking stick might make an old man more stable, as well as in a more concrete sense, as in the stability of war fortifications. The Erythraeans regularly sacrificed to Poseidon Asphaleius to protect the city's walls, as did the Colophonians when in the 4th century BCE they built new fortifications for their town. We also have evidence of several ancient inscriptions that urge townspeople to sacrifice to Poseidon Asphaleius in the aftermath of an earthquake, to bring stability back to their town.{{cite book

| last =Ambraseys

| first =Nicholas

| title =Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East: A Multidisciplinary Study of Seismicity Up to 1900

| publisher =Cambridge University Press

| date =2009

| pages =193–195

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=FzXSBgAAQBAJ

| isbn = 9781316347850

| accessdate=2024-08-17}}

There are ruins of an altar to this aspect of the god on Aigai. The still extant Temple of Poseidon on Tainaron is dedicated to this aspect of the god.