Triton (mythology) "The Little Mermaid", inspired by Triton, as an undersea king, the father of the title character. In "The Little Mermaid", Triton has seven daughters for the Seven Seas, the youngest named Ariel, of whom he is very overprotective. Though, this character (and all the other ones in the Disney movie) are actually based in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. Triton (mythology) Triton (; "Tritōn") is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. He is the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, god and goddess of the sea respectively, and is herald for his father. He is usually represented as
Poseidon Burkert noted; "the myth turns this into a temporal-causal sequence: in his anger at losing, Poseidon led his son Eumolpus against Athens and killed Erectheus." The contest of Athena and Poseidon was the subject of the reliefs on the western pediment of the Parthenon, the first sight that greeted the arriving visitor. This myth is construed by Robert Graves and others as reflecting a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, at one point defeating the Persian fleet at Salamis Island in a sea battle. Poseidon and Apollo,