Lake Tritonis

Lake Tritonis is a Classical-era lake possibly found in southern Tunisia. It was named after Triton. It supposedly contained two islands, Phla and Mene.

Location

The location is unclear. The lake is mentioned as being in Libya, a land the ancient Greeks believed encircled the world.

Both Diodorus and Herodotus described the lake, Herodotus giving it an area of 2,300 km² (900 mi²).

History

The name of the lake surfaces constantly in the geography of Greek mythology.

When Athena is addressed as "Athene Tritogeneia" ("born of Trito"), [As when Diomedes addresses her in prayer, "Iliad" x,; see also "Iliad" iv.515, viii.839.] the archaic epithet is explained by the episode where, having sprung fully-formed from the head—or thigh—of Zeus, the goddess was escorted to Lake Trito and attended to by the nymphs. [Euripides makes this connection in "Ion", line 872. Other authors of antiquity, however, explain the ancient epithet in various ways, Pausanias for one relating it both to a torrent in Boeotia or to a spring in Arcadia; there are other explanations (Liddell-Scott-Jones ref).]

The story of the Argonauts places Triton's home on the coast of Libya. When the Argo was driven ashore on the Lesser Syrtes by a fierce storm returning from Colchis, the Argonauts found themselves in "an area surrounded by sands". They portaged 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 gods with a golden tripod 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. [Apollonius of Rhodes, iv. 1552.]

A lake nymph named Tritonis made the lake her home and, according to an ancient tradition, was the mother of Athena by Poseidon. (Herodotus, iv. 180; Pindar. Pytli. iv. 20.) By Amphithemis, she became the mother of Nasamon and Caphaurus. [Apollonius of Rhodes, iv. 1495.]

Fate

At an unknown date, an earthquake collapsed dikes that kept the lake from drying up. It then became associated with Chott el-Djerid, a seasonal lake which is marshy and shallow.

This article is based partly on the entry in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, by William Smith, LLD, 1854.

Notes

ources

* [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3509.html Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, page 1175]
*http://www.metrum.org/mapping/argo.htm
*http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Cyrene.html
*http://www.roman-literature-online.com/herodotus/histories-1/page-113.html
*http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/argonauts.html#Libya
* [http://www.amazon.com/gp/phrase?phrase=Lake%20Tritonis Amazon.com: Phrase: "Lake Tritonis"]
*http://www.net4you.net/user/poellauerg/Amazons/Tun2005e.html
* [http://lexicorient.com/tunisia/chott_el_jerid.htm CHOTT EL JERID: Dry salt lake]
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/lexindex?entry=*tritoge/neia Liddell-Scott-Jones "Lexicon of Classical Greek"]