Editing Triton (mythology) (section)

== Tritons ==
[[File:Clevelandart 1985.184.jpg|thumb|right|Tritoness bronze applique, Greek, 2nd century BC, Cleveland Museum of Art]]
At some time during the Greco-Roman period, "Tritons", in the plural, came to be used a generic term for [[merman|mermen]].<ref name="handbook" />

=== Hellenistic and Roman art ===
[[Greek pottery]] depicting a half-human, half-fish being bearing an inscription of "Triton" is popular by the 6th century BC.{{sfnp|Lattimore|1976|p=56}} It has also been hypothesized that by this time "Triton" has become a generic term for a merman.<ref>{{harvp|Lattimore|1976|p=56}}: "By the sixth century, to judge from inscriptions on vases, 'Triton' was the most popular designation for the merman".</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|As aforementioned, "Triton" is the most common label, but "[[Nereus]]", and "Old Man of the Sea" are found as inscriptions in six century pottery depicting the motif of Herakles wrestling a sea-monster.<ref name="pedley" />}}

Furthermore, Tritons in groups or multitudes began to be depicted in [[Classical Greek art]] by around the 4th century BC.{{Efn|Excepting Etruscan art, which has older examples.}}<ref>{{harvp|Lattimore|1976|p=30}}: "The next stage—pluralization of Triton (originally a god) ... is not attested before the fourth century except in Etruscan art."</ref> Among these is the work by Greek sculptor [[Scopas]] (d. 350 BC) which was later removed to Rome.<ref name="robinson" /> The [[Siren (mythology)|siren]]s of Homer's ''Odyssey'' were sometimes being depicted, not as human-headed birds but as tritonesses by around this time, as seen in a bowl dated  to the 3rd century BC,{{efn|[[Molding (process)|Mold-made]] [[Megara|Megarian]] bowl from Cistern on [[Areopagus]]. Excavation of the [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Athenian Agora]], catalogued P 18,640.}} and this is explained as a conflation with Odysseus's [[Scylla]] and [[Charybdis]] episode.<ref name="holford-strevens"/><ref name="thompson"/>

Though not a contemporaneous inscription or commentary, [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] (d. 79 CE) commented on the work that "there are Nereids riding on dolphins… and also Tritons" in this sculpture.<ref>{{cite wikisource |wslink=Natural History (Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz)/Book 36 |author=Pliny |translator=D. E. Eichholz |translator-link=<!--D. E. Eichholz--> |title=Natural History Volume X: Book XXXVI |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1962 |series=Loeb Classical Library 419 |pages=20–21}}</ref>

In later Greek periods into the Roman period Tritons were depicted as [[ichthyocentaurs]], i.e., merman with a horse's forelegs in place of arms. The earliest known examples are from the 2nd century BC.{{efn|Among the relief groups in the [[Pergamon Altar]].}}<ref>Rumpf, Andreas (1939) ''Die Meerwesen'', {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?&id=NhNGAQAAIAAJ|2=Reprint (1969)}}, p. 105 and note 140, ''apud'' {{harvp|Lattimore|1976|p=44}}, note 84.</ref> The term "Ichthyocentaur" did not originate in Ancient Greece, and only appeared in writing in the [[Byzantine period]] (12th century); "Centaur-Triton" is another word for a Triton with horse-legs.<ref name="dgrbm-triton1" /><ref name="packard" />

{{multiple image
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 | image1 = Sea thiasos Nereides Triton Glyptothek Munich 239 right.jpg
 | alt1 = Triton with wings instead of forelegs
 | caption1 = Triton with wings instead of forelegs. Bas-Relief. Glyptothek Munich 239.
 | image2 = Roscher-Ausfuehrliches-Lexikon-Bd2-p93-ichthyokentaur-mit-krallen.jpg<!--need renaming to Roscher-->
 | alt2 = Triton with clawed feet.
 | caption2 = Triton with clawed feet. Sketch of relief sculpture. Glyptothek Munich 115.<ref name="roscher" /><ref name="overbeck" />
 | footer 
}}
{{multiple image
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 | total_width = 400
 | image1 = Froener-notice-sculpture-p025.jpg
 | alt1 = Triton half-man, half-lobster.
 | caption1 = Triton half-man, half-lobster. Herculanum fresco, formerly held at Museo di Portici.<ref name="froehner" />
 | image2 = Ahenobarbo Munich 08.jpg
 | alt2 = Double-tailed Triton
 | caption2 = Triton with two fish-tails. Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus. Glyptothek Munich.
 | footer 
}}
Besides examples in which the horse-like forelimbs have been replaced by wings,<ref name="packard" /> there are other examples where the forelegs have several clawed digits (somewhat like lions), as in one relief at the [[Glyptothek]] in Munich, Germany.<ref name="roscher" /><ref name="overbeck" /> A Triton with a lower extremity like a lobster or crayfish, in a fresco unearthed from [[Herculanum]] has been mentioned.<ref name="clarac" /><ref name="froehner" />

Double-tailed tritons began to be depicted by the late 2nd century BC, such as in the [[Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus]]. [[Andreas Rumpf|Rumpf]] thought that might be the earliest example of a "Triton with two fish-tails (Triton mit zwei Fischschwänzen)".<ref>Rumpf, Andreas (1939), ''Die Meerwesen'', {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?&id=NhNGAQAAIAAJ|2=Reprint (1969)}}, p. 105 (?) ''apud'' {{harvp|Lattimore|1976|p=56}}</ref> However the double-tailed tritonesses in [[Damophon]]'s sculptures at [[Lycosura]] predates it, and even this is doubted to be the first example.<ref>[[Charles Picard|Picard, Charles]] (1948), ''{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXftAAAAMAAJ&q=Damophon+tritonesses |2=Manuel d'archéologie grecque: sculpture}}'', p. 684 ''apud'' {{harvp|Lattimore|1976|p=56}}</ref> Lattimore believed the two-tailed triton should be dated to the 4th century BC, and speculated that Skopas was the one to devise it.{{sfnp|Lattimore|1976|pp=60–61}}{{Refn|Skopa's sculpture is long lost. Cf. A. F. Stewart's remark that hypotheses on a lost work causes Lattimore to adopt an equivocal ("might-have-beens"), though Lattimore is uniquely resolute on the "conclusion [that] the double-tailed Triton was probably Skopas's creation (p. 61)".<ref name="stewart" />}}

As aforementioned, there is the female version of the half-human, half-fishlike being, sometimes called a "tritoness"{{sfnp|Lattimore|1976|p=61}} or a "female triton".<ref name="lawrence" />

=== Literature in the Roman period ===
[[File:Kameo Augustus mit Tritonengespann KHM IXa 56.jpg|thumb|[[Cameo (carving)|Cameo]] of [[Augustus]] in a ''[[quadriga]]'' drawn by [[#Hellenistic and Roman artTriton (mythology)#Hellenistic and Roman art|tritons]] ([[Kunsthistorisches Museum]])]]
The first literary attestation of Tritons ({{langx|la|Trītōnēs}}) in the plural was Virgil's ''[[Aeneid]]'' ({{circa|29–19 BC}}).<ref name="robinson" /><ref>{{cite book |url=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi003.perseus-eng1:5.799-5.826 |author=P. Vergilius Maro |translator=John Dryden |title=Aeneid V. 824 }}</ref> In the 1st century CE, another Latin poet [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]] wrote in ''Argonautica'' that there was a huge Triton at each side of Neptune's chariot, holding the reins of horses.<ref name="valerius-argonautica-1.679" /><ref name="kleywegt" /> And [[Statius]] (1st century) makes a Triton [[figurehead]] adorn the prow of the ''[[Argo]]''.{{Refn|''Thebaid'' 5.371f.{{sfnp|Kleywegt|2005|p=175}}}}

Trions and nereids appear as marine retinues ({{langx|la|{{linktext|marinum |obsequium}}}}) to the goddess Venus in [[Apuleius]]'s ''Metamorphoses'', or "[[The Golden Ass]]".<ref name="kenney-apuleius" />

=== Pausanias ===
Tritons ({{langx|el|Τρίτωνες|Trítōnes}}) were described in detail in the 2nd century CE by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (ix. 21).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.21.1 |author=Pausanias |translator=William Henry Samuel Jones |translator-link=William Henry Samuel Jones |title=Description of Greece IV, 9.21.2 |publisher=Harvard University Press |website=Perseus.tufts.edu |series=Loeb Classical Library |access-date=2019-09-02}}</ref><ref name="dgrbm-triton1">{{Cite DGRBM|author=|title=Triton (1)|volume=|page=|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dtriton-bio-1|short=}}</ref>
{{blockquote|The Tritons have the following appearance. On their heads they grow hair like that of marsh frogs ({{langx|grc|{{linktext|βατράχιον}}}}, plants of the ''[[Ranunculus]]'' or buttercup genus{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Translated as "parsley which grows in marshes" by Taylor.<ref name="taylor" />}}) not only in color, but 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,{{Efn|{{langx|grc|γλαυκός}}. Defined "freq. of the eye, ''light blue, grey''", in [[LSJ|Liddle-Scott-Jones]], "{{URL|1=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dglauko%2Fs1|2=γλαυκός}}".}} 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.}}

Pausanias was basing his descriptions on a headless Triton exhibited in [[Tanagra]] and another curiosity in Rome. These Tritons were preserved mummies or taxidermied real animals or humans (or fabrication made to appear as such).{{sfnp|Mayor|2011|p=232}}<ref name="frazer" /> The Tanagran Triton was seen by [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] who described it as an embalmed or stuffed mummy ({{langx|grc|{{linktext|τάριχος}}}}).{{Refn|Aelian, ''De Natura Animalium'', xiii, 21, apud Frazer<ref name="frazer" />}} While Pausanias related a legend around the Tanagran Triton that its head was cut off, [[James George Frazer|J. G. Frazer]] conjectured that such a {{linktext|cover story}} had to be invented after a sea mammal's carcass with a severed or severely mutilated head was passed off as a Triton.<ref name="frazer" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Tritons were the aquatic versions of [[Satyrs]] and Centaur "relicts", i.e., creatures purported to exist and exhibited in Greek and Roman times.{{sfnp|Mayor|2011|p=236}}}}