The History and Significance of the god Triton

Triton was the son of Poseidon and the sea goddess Amphitrite, although there are other sources that he was the son of Hermes. He was a fish-tailed man (perhaps one of the first examples of mermaids/mer-men) and the herald of Poseidon.

Depictions of him vary; at times he is pictured as a bearded man, others he is shown more youthful. Again, he is either shown with a single fish tail or a double pair, as well as being given a pair of small horns, green-tinged skin and a pair of equine forelegs. As the herald of Poseidon, he is frequently shown holding a conch-shell trumpet and a winged brow.

He could calm the seas or cause storms by blowing on his trumpet. According to some sources, Triton was the king of Libya and when the Argonauts became stranded inland, he appeared as Eurypylus and dragged their ship, the Argo, across the land to the sea. Legends also tell that he gave Euphemus a lump of earth which, when he dropped it into the sea, became the island Calliste.

Later, Triton developed into the plural Tritons, the many attendants of Poseidon, the sons of Phorcus and Ceto. They can be identified as the underwater fauns in character.

Hesiod is the first to mention Triton, where he is given divinity. The reference to the god “which gives the deity a decent pedigree does, on face value, seem to bless him with a respectable antiquity also. The end of the Theogony however, has been considered a post- Hesiodic addition, perhaps of the sixth century BCE”. There seems to be no mention of him before the sixth century BCE.

Scholars believe that both the sea gods, Nereus and Triton, were in fact the same god. But by 560 BCE, they had separated into two distinct beings. His name is never found outside of Attic art. Initially, Triton was not a very popular deity (in literature, Theseus is not taken down by Triton as is believed, but by dolphins, and is not even mentioned), but as time went on, he became a more respect-able figure, painters clothing him in a chitoniskos and occasionally giving him a sceptre.

Triton had several children; Pallas (the nymph of Lake Tritonis in Libya), Calliste (the nymph of the island Calliste), Triteia (the Haliad nymph of town of Triteia in Akhaia), the Tritonides (sea-nymph goddesses) and the foster-father of Athena.

Triton is an interesting character in ancient Greek mythology and his history is just as appealing. His myths and nature can offer us great insight into the ancient Greek world and the history of Classical religion.

Bibliography:

Glynn, Ruth (1981) Herakles, Nereus and Triton: A Study of Iconography in Sixth Century Athens, American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America.