Sea in culture sea nymphs whose parents were Nereus and Doris. The Tritons, sons of Poseidon, who were variously represented with the tails of fish or seahorses, formed Poseidon's retinue along with the Nereids. The mythic sea was further peopled by dangerous sea monsters such as Scylla. Poseidon himself had something of the shifting character of the sea, presiding not only over the sea, but also earthquakes, storms and horses. Neptune occupied a similar position in Roman mythology. Another Greek sea-god, Proteus, specifically embodies the domain of sea change, the adjectival form "protean" meaning mutable, able to assume many forms. Shakespeare makes use
Trident of Poseidon spear. There is also a myth where Poseidon touches the island of Delos with his trident, affixing it firmly to the sea floor. Another myth tells how Poseidon, enraged by sacrilegious behavior of Ajax the Lesser, splits with trident the rock to which Ajax was clinging. While visiting Athens, geographer Pausanias was shown within the Erechtheion the alleged print of Poseidon's trident on a rock and related sea well which, he writes, gave forth the sound of waves when the south wind blew. The trident of Neptune was viewed by Roman scholar Maurus Servius Honoratus as three-pronged because "the sea