Triton (mythology) - Tritons

Tritons

Over time, Triton's class 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).

"The Tritons have the following appearance. On their heads they grow hair like that of marsh frogs not only in color, but also in the impossibility of separating one hair from another. The rest of their body is rough with fine scales just as is the shark. Under their ears they have gills and a man's nose; but the mouth is broader and the teeth are those of a beast. Their eyes seem to me blue, and they have hands, fingers, and nails like the shells of the murex. Under the breast and belly is a tail like a dolphin's instead of feet."

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 arms.

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").

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.