TRIDENT (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. tridens, lri-, tres, three and

See also:

• DENS, PETER (1690-1775)

dens, tooth)  , a three-toothed or three-pronged fork or spear . It is and has been from primitive times the typical instrument for spearing fish, the Scottish " leister " (Norw. ljoster), and was thus taken as the badge or emblem of the Greek Poseidon, the god of the sea . In Homer (cf . Il. xii . 27; Od. lv . 506 seq.) Poseidon is armed with the rpiaiva (another word is rpLMous, cf . Pind . 01. ix . 45) . The trident as the symbol of the sovereignty of the sea is found as early as Archilochus (c . 700 B.C.); a more familiar example is to be found in Aristophanes (Eq . 839) .

The emblematical figure of Britannia holds the trident as

mistress of the sea . In the gladiatorial shows of ancient Rome the retiarius was armed with a trident as a weapon .