Myth Library · Theogony

Birth and Golden House of Triton

2 source witnesses · 2 source-scoped variants · reviewed 2026-08-29

Hesiod places Triton with Amphitrite and Poseidon in a golden house beneath the sea; Pseudo-Apollodorus keeps Triton but changes Amphitrite's genealogy and adds Rhode among the couple's children.

Canonical narrative

Hesiod first names Amphitrite among the daughters of Nereus and Doris. Near the close of the Theogony, she joins with Poseidon and bears Triton, a powerful god who lives with both parents in a golden house beneath the sea. The passage is brief, yet it gives Amphitrite a complete place within a divine household: daughter of the old sea god, spouse of Poseidon, mother of Triton, and resident of the deep.

Pseudo-Apollodorus rearranges that family. One of his lists places an Amphitrite among the Oceanids; another includes her among the Nereids. When he turns to Poseidon's family, he calls the god's wife a daughter of Ocean and names Triton and Rhode as their children. The same work therefore preserves more than one classification for the name Amphitrite.

The two tellings meet at Poseidon and Triton, then divide. Hesiod gives Amphitrite Nereid parentage and the golden house. Pseudo-Apollodorus makes her a daughter of Ocean and adds Rhode. Keeping both versions visible shows how Greek and later mythographic genealogies could organize the divine sea differently without erasing Amphitrite's central role as mother and spouse.

Episodes in this myth

Episode 1

Triton in the golden house

Hesiod places Triton in a golden house beneath the sea with Amphitrite and Poseidon, giving the three a shared divine household.

Participants and roles

Amphitrite

mother of Triton and Poseidon's spouse in both genealogical traditions

Hesiod makes her a Nereid; Pseudo-Apollodorus also preserves Oceanid and daughter-of-Ocean forms.

Poseidon

Amphitrite's spouse and Triton's father

Both witnesses keep the marriage and Triton's parentage even as Amphitrite's ancestry and the number of children change.

Triton

son of Amphitrite and Poseidon, living with them in the golden house in Hesiod

Both witnesses name him as their son; only Hesiod places the family together in the house beneath the sea.

Rhode

daughter of Amphitrite and Poseidon in Pseudo-Apollodorus

Rhode belongs to the later mythographer's family list and does not appear among Amphitrite's children in Hesiod's passage.

Source-scoped variants

Hesiod's Nereid mother and golden house

Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus and Doris, bears Triton to Poseidon; their son lives with both parents in a golden house beneath the sea.

What differs: Hesiod gives Amphitrite a Nereid genealogy and gives Triton the golden-house scene. He does not name Rhode among her children in this passage.

Greek Archaic · Ancient Greece

Pseudo-Apollodorus' daughter-of-Ocean genealogy

Pseudo-Apollodorus calls Poseidon's wife a daughter of Ocean and names Triton and Rhode as their children, while other lists in the work place Amphitrite among both Oceanids and Nereids.

What differs: This account changes Amphitrite's parentage, adds Rhode, and omits Hesiod's golden house. Its own lists also preserve more than one classification for her.

Greek Roman Imperial · Ancient Greece

Source witnesses

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Theogony

Hesiod; edited and translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White · 1914

Entry Theogony · Line 240-264; 930-934

Nereid genealogy, marriage, Triton's birth, and the golden house.

Open reviewed source

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Library

Pseudo-Apollodorus; edited and translated by James G. Frazer · 1921

Entry Library · Book 1 · Section 1.2.2; 1.2.7; 1.4.5

Conflicting Oceanid and Nereid lists, daughter-of-Ocean marriage, and children Triton and Rhode.

Open reviewed source