Poseidon with his trident,Corinthian plaque, 550–525 BC
Thetrident of Poseidon and his Roman equivalent,Neptune, has been their traditional divine attribute in many ancient depictions.Poseidon'strident was crafted by theCyclopes.
Poseidon wields his trident on a number of occasions. He used his trident to strike a rock upon the hill of theAcropolis, producing a well of seawater, in what developed into a contest between him andAthena over possession ofAttica. When he lost, Poseidon used the trident to dry out the land so they had no water. The well was later to be called theErechtheis.[3][4][5] There is further myth that Poseidon (Neptune) produced a horse by striking the earth with the trident, in order to bolster his claim,[6] but there is no attestation for this among Greek writers.[7] The alleged trident print on a rock and the sea well within theErechtheion were witnessed by the geographerPausanias while visitingAthens.[b][8][3][7]
In another myth, Poseidon creates a spring or springs with the strike of his trident to rewardAmymone for her encounter with him.[9] In a version of another myth Poseidon wields his trident to scare off asatyr who tries to rape Amymone after she mistakenly hits him with a hunting spear.[9]
There is also a myth where Poseidon touches the island ofDelos with his trident, affixing it firmly to the sea floor.[10] Another myth tells how Poseidon, enraged by sacrilegious behavior ofAjax the Lesser, uses the trident to split the rock to which Ajax was clinging.
According to the second and thirdVatican Mythographer, Neptune's trident symbolizes the three properties of water: liquidity, fecundity and drinkability.[12]
The trident of Neptune was viewed by Roman scholarMaurus Servius Honoratus as three-pronged because "the sea is said to be a third part of the world, or because there are three kinds of water: seas, streams and rivers".[12]
The view shared byFriedrich Wieseler,E. M. W. Tillyard and several other researchers is that Poseidon's trident is a fish spear, typical for coast-dwelling Greeks.[13]
According toRobert Graves, however, both Poseidon's trident andZeus'sthunderbolt were originally a sacredlabrys, but later distinguished from each other when Poseidon became god of the sea, while Zeus claimed the right to the thunderbolt.[14]
According to a competing proposal by H. B. Walters, Poseidon's trident is derived from Zeus's lotus scepter, with Poseidon being Zeus in his marine aspect.[13]
The personification of Great Britain,Britannia is depicted with the trident of Poseidon as a symbol of naval power. The broken tip of the trident appears on theflag of Barbados. In this instance, the reference is to its use as Britannia's trident, broken to symbolise the end of Britain's colonial rule.
Disney'sPirates of the Caribbean franchise also featured tridents. The Trident of Poseidon first appears in theJack Sparrow prequel book series by Rob Kidd, and later in the fifth filmPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, as a powerful artifact that bestows upon its possessor total control over the seas. InDead Men Tell No Tales, written byJeff Nathanson, Poseidon's Trident was sought after by Jack Sparrow,Hector Barbossa,Armando Salazar, andHenry Turner, with Henry using the artifact to break everycurse and freeWill Turner from theFlying Dutchman.[19][20] Following the film's theatrical release in 2017, Rossio released his unproduced screenplay on his websiteWordplay, which featured the Trident of Neptune, which contains the three Pearls of Neptune that each have a different power: Rhysis, which commands the winds of the sea; Tyrah, pearl of the tides; and Miro, which commands the creatures of the sea. It would also be revealed that Rhysis was hidden twice over inside a sapphire in the hilt of the Sword ofTriton, only identified asBlackbeard's or Barbossa's sword in Rossio's script, with the power being revealed to control the wind, as well as a ship's rigging, and would not be used to release theBlack Pearl from the bottle.[21] TheSea of Thieves crossover "A Pirate's Life" featured the Trident of Dark Tides.[22]
^abRobin Hard (2004).The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology". Psychology Press. p. 235.ISBN0415186366.
^Trudy Ring; Robert M. Salkin; Sharon La Boda, eds. (1995).International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 180.ISBN1884964028.
^Roman, Luke; Roman, Monica (2010).Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology. Infobase Publishing. p. 418.ISBN978-1438126395.
^abBrumble, H. David (2013).Classical Myths and Legends in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: A Dictionary of Allegorical Meanings. Routledge. p. 243.ISBN978-1136797385.
^abQuiggin, E. C. (2012).Essays and Studies Presented to William Ridgeway: On His Sixtieth Birthday - 6th August 1913. Cambridge University Press. pp. 189, 191.ISBN978-1107605565.
Schmitz, Leonhard (1870)."Cyclopes". InSmith, William (ed.).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 909.. "Cyclopes" viaPerseus Project.