Triton: Greek Messenger God of the Sea

The Story of Triton

Triton was a sea god, the son of Poseidon and the sea goddess Amphitrite. Hesiod describes him as a mighty god who lived with his parents in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea. He had the upper body of a man and the tail of a fish.

Triton served as the messenger of the sea. He carried a twisted conch shell and blew it like a trumpet. With its sound he could stir up the waves or calm them again.

Triton helped the Argonauts on their way home. When their ship was stranded in Lake Tritonis in Libya, he appeared in disguise and gave them a clod of earth as a gift of friendship. He then guided the Argo through the shallows and back to the open sea.

In Ovid's account of the great flood, Neptune called on Triton to blow his conch shell. At the sound, the waters began to fall back, and the land appeared again. In Virgil's Aeneid, the Trojan trumpeter Misenus boasted that he could play better than the gods, and the jealous Triton dragged him under the waves.

Over time, the name Triton was also used for a whole race of mermen who followed Poseidon's chariot. They appear often in Greek and Roman art and in later fountains, such as the famous Triton Fountain in Rome. The largest moon of Neptune is named Triton.