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Lake Tritonis (Greek:Τριτωνίδα λίμνην) was a large body of fresh water inNorth Africa that was described in many ancient texts. Classical-era Greek writers placed the lake inAncient Libya. In details of the late myths and personal observations related by these historians, the lake was said to be named afterTriton. According to Herodotus it contained two islands,Phla, which theLacedaemonians were to have colonized, according to an oracle, andMene.
The location is unclear. The lake is mentioned as being inLibya, a land the ancient Greeks believed encircled their world, "washed on all sides by the sea," Herodotus said,[1] "except where it is attached to Asia." "In their knowledge, Libya extended fromAncient Egypt, theNile Valley and its basin, Algeria and along the south of Ancient Egypt."
BothHerodotus[2] in the fifth century B.C. andDiodorus[3] in the first century A.D. described the lake. In thePeriplus of Pseudo-Scylax, which is thought to date from the mid-4th century BC, it is said to have a circumference of 1000 stades, giving it an area of about 2,300 km2 (900 mi2), or, half the size of the contemporary United States state of Rhode Island.[4] Herodotus assumed that there would have to be a large river flowing into it, which he called the Triton.[5]
The name of the lake appears in discussion of the geography related inGreek mythology.
WhenAthena is addressed asAthene Tritogeneia ("born of Trito"),[6] the archaicepithet is explained by the episode where, having sprung fully formed from the head—or thigh—ofZeus—who had swallowed her pregnant mother to prevent his own downfall from the rule over the current Greek pantheon by her progeny, as predicted—the goddess was escorted toLake Trito and attended to by the nymphs.[7] A different interpretation, taking into consideration much earlier Greek and Minoan myths, leads translatorRobert Graves to suggest that the reverse direction of religious influence occurred, withNeith being the deity who influenced development of the Greek concept for the goddess Athene. Neith was an ancient deity when first appearing in the earliest Egyptian pantheon, and is suspected to have originated among the Berbers.
The story of theArgonauts places Triton's home on theMediterranean coast of Libya. Before the epicArgonautika of Apollonius, Herodotus knew this tradition of Jason, in which winds
"carried him out of his course to the coast of Libya; where, before he discovered the land, he got among the shallows of Lake Tritonis. As he was turning it in his mind how he should find his way out, Triton (they say) appeared to him, and offered to show him the channel, and secure him a safe retreat, if he would give him the tripod. Jason complying, was shown by Triton the passage through the shallows; after which the god took the tripod, and, carrying it to his own temple, seated himself upon it, and, filled with prophetic fury, delivered to Jason and his companions a long prediction. "When a descendant," he said, "of one of the Argo's crew should seize and carry off the brazen tripod, then by inevitable fate would a hundred Grecian cities be built around Lake Tritonis." The Libyans of that region, when they heard the words of this prophecy, took away the tripod and hid it. "[8]
AsApollonius of Rhodes narrates it, when the Argo was driven ashore on the Lesser Syrtes by a fierce storm while returning fromColchis, the Argonauts found themselves in "an area surrounded by sands". Theyportaged their ship twelve days to Lake Tritonis, but the lake water was salty and undrinkable. Since they could find no outlet from Lake Tritonis to the sea, they could do nothing. Then they propitiated the deities with a goldentripod on the shore and Triton, the local deity, appeared to them in the form of a youth, to show them a hidden channel to the sea.[9]
This late myth related that alake nymph named Tritonis made the lake her home and, according to an ancient tradition, was the mother of Athena byPoseidon. (Herodotus, iv. 180;Pindar. Pytli. iv. 20.) ByAmphithemis, she became the mother ofNasamon andCaphaurus.[10]