Editing Triton (mythology) (section)

=== 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}}}}