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Triton (Τρίτων, gen: Τρίτωνος) is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the big sea. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, whose herald he is. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish, "sea-hued", according to Ovid[1] "his shoulders barnacled with sea-shells".
Like his father, Poseidon, 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 dark wild beast.[2]
According to Hesiod's Theogony,[3] Triton dwelt with his parents in a golden palace in the depths of the sea; Homer places his seat in the waters off Aegae.[4] The story of the Argonauts places his home on the coast of Libya. When the Argo was driven ashore in the Gulf of Syrtes Minor, the crew carried the vessel to the "Tritonian Lake", Lake Tritonis, whence Triton, the local deity euhemeristically rationalized by Diodorus Siculus as "then ruler over Libya",[5] welcomed them with a guest-gift of a clod of earth and guided them through the lake's marshy outlet back to the Mediterranean.[6] When the Argonauts were lost in the desert, he guided them to find the passage from the river back to the sea.
Triton was the father of Pallas and foster parent to the goddess Athena.[7] Pallas was killed by Athena during a fight between the two goddesses.[8] Triton is also sometimes cited as the father of Scylla by Lamia. Triton can sometimes be multiplied into a host of Tritones, daimones of the sea.
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Over time, Triton's name and image came to be associated with a class of mermaid-like creatures, the Tritons (Τρίτωνες), which could be male or female, and usually formed the escort of marine divinities. Tritons were a race of sea gods and goddesses born from Triton. Triton lived with his parents, Poseidon and Amphitrite, who was also known as Celaeno, in a golden palace on the bottom of the sea. According to Homer it was called Aegae. Unlike their ancestor Poseidon who is always fully anthropomorphic in ancient art (this has only changed in modern popular culture), Tritons' lower half is that of a fish, while the top half is presented in a human figure. This is debated often because their appearance is described differently throughout history. Ordinary Tritons were described in detail by the traveller Pausanias (ix. 21).[9][10]
They are often compared to other Merman/Mermaid like beings, such as Merrows, Selkies, and Sirens. They are also thought of as the aquatic versions of Satyrs. Another description of Tritons is that of the Centaur-Tritons, also known as Ichthyocentaurs who are depicted with two horse's feet in place of where their arms would be.
When Pausanias visited the city of Triteia in the second century CE, he was told that the name of the city was derived from an eponymous Triteia, a daughter of Triton, and that it claimed to have been founded by her son (with Ares), one among several mythic heroes named Melanippus ("Black Horse").[11]
Tritons were the trumpeters of the sea, using trumpets made out of a great shell, mostly known as a conch. They would blow this shell throughout the sea to calm the waves, or stir them up, all at the command of Poseidon.
The largest moon of the planet Neptune has been given the name Triton, as Neptune is the Roman equivalent of Poseidon.
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.
A family of large sea snails, the shells of some of which have been used as trumpets since antiquity, are commonly known as "tritons", see Triton (gastropod).
The name Triton is associated in modern industry with tough hard-wearing machines such as the Ford Triton engine and Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck.
The mascot of the University of California, San Diego is the Triton.
Triton appears in The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. He helps his father fight against the Titans of the sea, and is very rude to Percy Jackson, who is his half brother. In the book he is described as a young-looking merman with two fish tails instead of one, green skin, black hair tied into a ponytail, and wearing armor studded with pearls.
King Triton, as an adaptation, also stars in the Disney animated film The Little Mermaid (1989) as Sea King and ruler of "Atlantica".
Triton appears in the film Jason and the Argonauts (1963). He holds back the base of rocks in a strait that just sunk another ship, thus allowing the Argo to continue on its journey.
Triton also appears as a villain in the DC Comics books Aquaman and Wonder Woman.[12] In The New Adventures of Superman Triton appears in the episode "The Mermen Of Emor."
In the PlayStation Portable game God of War: Chains of Olympus, the prequel to a series of games based on Greek mythology, a statue of Triton is seen in the Caves of Olympus. The protagonist Kratos takes Triton's Lance so Kratos can swim and breathe underwater for unlimited amounts of time.
In a SpongeBob SquarePants special, SpongeBob releases him from a cage and Triton attacks Bikini Bottom.
Triton appears in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Season 5 Episode 18 "Love on the Rocks"