Young Triton in the Great Pálffy Garden / Tritonek ve Velké Pálffyovské zahrade (Prague) - Epic Beings and Creatures on Waymarking.com

Depicted Baroque statue of young mythological Greek god Triton decorates fountain in the Great Pálffy Garden (Velká Pálffyovská zahrada) below Prague Castle.

Fountain, formed by a circular stone basin with centrally situated cast-iron statue of young trumpeting Triton on prismatic plinth, was built together with the garden in 1752. Great Palffy Garden, one of six Baroque southern-oriented terrace gardens bellow Prague Castle, belongs among jewels of Baroque garden architecture and also among the most beautiful tourist sites in Czech capital.

Triton 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 a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish, "sea-hued", according to Ovid "his shoulders barnacled with sea-shells". Like his father, Poseidon, he carried a trident. However, Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was such a cacophony, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast.

Over time, Triton's class and image came to be associated with a class of mermaid-like creatures, the Tritons, which could be male or female, and usually formed the escort of marine divinities. Tritons were a race of sea gods and goddesses born from Triton. Triton lived with his parents, Poseidon and Amphitrite, who was also known as Celaeno, in a golden palace on the bottom of the sea. According to Homer it was called Aegae[disambiguation needed]. Unlike their ancestor Poseidon who is always fully anthropomorphic in ancient art (this has only changed in modern popular culture), Tritons' lower half is that of a fish, while the top half is presented in a human figure. This is debated often because their appearance is described differently throughout history. Ordinary Tritons were described in detail by the traveller Pausanias:

"The Tritons have the following appearance. On their heads they grow hair like that of marsh frogs not only in color, but also in the impossibility of separating one hair from another. The rest of their body is rough with fine scales just as is the shark. Under their ears they have gills and a man's nose; but the mouth is broader and the teeth are those of a beast. Their eyes seem to me blue, and they have hands, fingers, and nails like the shells of the murex. Under the breast and belly is a tail like a dolphin's instead of feet."

[excerpted from Wikipedia]