Triton (mythology)
- Citations for source (s) of myth
- References to standard reference works
- Further Reading
Triton (old Greek Τρίτων ) is a sea god of Greek mythology, from which later the mythological genre of tritons was derived.
Mythology
It was designed as hybrid creatures and often regarded as the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. His siblings were Rhode and Benthesikyme.
His golden palace stood near the lake Tritonischen (today's Tunisia). After the Argonauts, he pulled the ships stranded by a hurricane in the desert sailors back into the sea. In Hellenistic Greece him a common cult was dedicated. His main temple was in Aulis. In mythology, he is rarely mentioned, however, often depicted in art, at its snail shell ( conch ) blowing with which he can churn up the sea or calm down. Karl Kerényi called him a centaur of the sea, because his upper body is that of a man with the front legs of a horse, his lower body resembles a dolphin. In another legend, Heracles has to fight with him, after this the way to the Garden of the Hesperides is rejected.
Reception
The figure has been widely implemented in the artistic history, eg in the form of Triton Fountain. In the iconography beings with a human torso and fishy tail are called Tritons.
In Georg Philipp Telemann's Suite "Hamburger Ebb ' and tide " is a set ( Harlequinade ) bears the programmatic title The shear Collapsing tritone.
In the movie, Jason and the Argonauts from 1963 Triton appears in a strait, to allow Jason's ship the passage. Triton is represented here by an unknown actor who was enlarged by Ray Harryhausen's special effects many times and additionally carries the classic lower body of a fish.
In the animated series The Little Mermaid by Disney Triton occurs as the father of the mermaid Ariel in appearance.
In the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, he plays the rebellious son of Neptune, god of the sea in the series.
The sculptor Richard Guhr created on the Carl Zuckmayer bridge in the Rudolph Wilde Park in Berlin- Schöneberg 1908/1910 four groups of figures depicting tritons, which carry on their backs nymphs on the once from a chain of lakes existing Fenngelände from one bank to another ( information board on site).