Which sea god is the main divine antagonist of Odysseus?

The sea god who serves as Odysseus’s main divine antagonist is Poseidon.

Poseidon’s hostility begins after Odysseus blinds Polyphemus, a Cyclops and Poseidon’s son, in Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey. Polyphemus prays to his father, asking that Odysseus return home late, alone, and in misery. Poseidon answers that prayer by disrupting the hero’s voyage with storms and wrecking his ships.

Poseidon is not the only force opposing Odysseus. The suitors are his principal human enemies, while figures such as Calypso and Circe delay him for different reasons. Athena, by contrast, consistently supports him. The divine conflict is therefore less a battle between equal armies than a struggle between Odysseus’s intelligence and the sea god’s power over the route home.

Poseidon is also associated with earthquakes and horses, not only the sea. His Roman counterpart is Neptune, but the Odyssey’s antagonist is specifically the Greek god Poseidon.