Everything about Triton Mythology totally explained
Triton is a mythological
Greek god, the messenger of the deep. He is the son of
Poseidon, god of the sea, and
Amphitrite, goddess of the sea. He is usually represented as a
merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish.
Like his father, he carried a
trident. However, Triton's special attribute was a twisted
conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was so terrible, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a mighty wild beast (
Hyginus,
Poet. astronom. ii. 23).
According to
Hesiod's
Theogony, Triton dwelt with his parents in a golden
palace in the depths of the sea. The story of the
Argonauts places his home on the coast of
Libya. When the
Argo was driven ashore on the
Lesser Syrtes, the crew carried the vessel to
Lake Tritonis, whence Triton, the local deity, guided them across to the
Mediterranean (
Apollonius Rhodius iv. 1552).
Triton was the father of
Pallas and foster parent to the goddess
Athena. Pallas was killed by Athena during a fight between the two goddesses.. Triton is also sometimes cited as the father of
Scylla by
Lamia. Triton might be multiplied into a host of
Tritones,
daimones of the sea.
Triton also appeared in
Roman myths and
epics. In the
Aeneid,
Misenus, the trumpeter of
Aeneas, challenged Triton to a contest of trumpeting. The god flung him into the sea for his arrogance.
Tritones
Over time, Triton's name and image came to be associated with a class of merman-like creatures, the Tritones, which could be male or female, and usually formed the escort of marine divinities. Ordinary Tritons were described in detail by the traveller
Pausanias (ix. 21). A variety of Triton, the
Centauro-Triton or
Ichthyocentaur ("Fish-centaur"), was described as having the forefeet of a
horse in addition to the human body and the fish tail. It is probable that the idea of Triton owes its origin to the
Phoenician fish-deities.
Triton fountains
The figure of a Triton is a natural conception for a
fountain, as Romans realized when they came to incorporate fountains in gardens in the first century BCE,
Sextus Propertius described "The sound of water which splashes all round the basin, when the Triton suddenly pours forth a fountain from his lips."
Bernini's
Fontana del Tritone (1642-43)is a feature of the Roman cityscape.
Triton since the Renaissance
Among the things named after Triton include
Triton, the largest moon of the planet
Neptune. This name is symbolic, as Neptune is the Roman name for Triton's father.
In
Wordsworth's sonnet "
The World is Too Much With Us" (ca 1802, published 1807), the poet regrets the prosaic humdrum modern world, yearning for
glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Triton is also associated in modern industry with tough, hard-wearing machines such as
Ford's Triton Engines and
Mitsubishi's Triton pickup trucks.
Further Information
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