| Tritopatores | |
|---|---|
Gods of wind, marriage and childbirth | |
 The figure sometimes identified as the Tritopatores | |
| Major cult center | Attica,Delos |
| Abode | Sky, earth |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | |
| Siblings | Various maternal and paternal half-siblings |
Inancient Greek religion andmythology, theTritopatores (Ancient Greek:Τριτοπάτορες,romanized: Tritopátores,lit. 'thrice-ancestors') are three benevolentwind gods worshipped inAthens as deities of marriage, childbirth and the household. They are mentioned in theSuda lexicon, a Byzantine work of the tenth century AD, and several other Greek inscriptions.
The Tritopatores are mentioned in the tenth-century Byzantine lexicon known as theSuda, whose author states that they are Athenian wind gods (or guardians of the winds) to whom the Athenians pray and offer sacrifices when they are about to marry or wish to conceive children.[1] He says that some authors make them the firstborn beings of them all, while others make them the offspring of the earth-goddessGaia by the sun-godHelios (often identified withApollo).[1] He gives their names as Amalceides, Protocles and Protocleon (inAncient Greek:Ἀμαλκείδης,Πρωτοκλῆς andΠρωτοκλέων), but also says that alternatively they are Cottus, Briareon and Gyges (mixing them up with theHecatoncheires, a set of offspring of Gaia by the sky-godUranus).[1]
The Tritopatores's worship was a type of theancestor-worshipping cult of a particular group, in this case the Athenians. Cults and festivals[2] in honour of the three are attested in the widerAttica region and the Athens-influencedDelos,Selinus,Troezen andCyrene.[3] Furtwangler suggested that thethree-bodied figure from the pediment of theHekatompedon in theAcropolis of Athens is supposed to depict the Tritopatores, based on the tri- ("three") prefix of their name; that being said, there is no evidence that the Tritopatores were ever thought to be three bodies with a single tail, as they are three separate beings.[4]
