At some time during the Greek and Roman era, Triton(s) became a generic term for a merman (mermen) in art and literature.

Triton of Lake Tritonis of ancient Libya is a namesake mythical figure that appeared and aided the Argonauts.

[10] Its sound was so cacophonous that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast.

[28] Triton-Eurypylus welcomed the Argonauts with a guest-gift of a clod of earth which was a pledge that the Greeks would be granted the land of Cyrene, Libya in the future.

[30] In Virgil's Aeneid, book 6, it is told that Triton killed Misenus, son of Aeolus, by drowning him after he challenged the gods to play as well as he did.

[31][7] Herakles wrestling Triton is a common theme in Classical Greek art particularly black-figure pottery,[32] but no literature survives that tells the story.

[36] In the red-figure period, the Triton-Herakles theme became completely outmoded, supplanted by such scenes as Theseus's adventures in Poseidon's golden mansion, embellished with the presence of Triton.

[32] Triton was the father of a daughter named Pallas and foster parent to the goddess Athena, according to Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca.

[2] Greek pottery depicting a half-human, half-fish being bearing an inscription of "Triton" is popular by the 6th century BC.

[48] The sirens of Homer's Odyssey were sometimes being depicted, not as human-headed birds but as tritonesses by around this time, as seen in a bowl dated to the 3rd century BC,[g] and this is explained as a conflation with Odysseus's Scylla and Charybdis episode.

[49][50] Though not a contemporaneous inscription or commentary, Pliny (d. 79 CE) commented on the work that "there are Nereids riding on dolphins… and also Tritons" in this sculpture.

[h][52] The term "Ichthyocentaur" did not originate in Ancient Greece, and only appeared in writing in the Byzantine period (12th century); "Centaur-Triton" is another word for a Triton with horse-legs.

[48][65] In the 1st century CE, another Latin poet Valerius Flaccus wrote in Argonautica that there was a huge Triton at each side of Neptune's chariot, holding the reins of horses.

[68] Trions and nereids appear as marine retinues (Latin: marinum obsequium) to the goddess Venus in Apuleius's Metamorphoses, or "The Golden Ass".

[69] Tritons (Greek: Τρίτωνες, romanized: Trítōnes) were described in detail in the 2nd century CE by Pausanias (ix.

Under the breast and belly is a tail like a dolphin's instead of feet.Pausanias was basing his descriptions on a headless Triton exhibited in Tanagra and another curiosity in Rome.

[87] It has been pointed out that Bernini had access to the Papal collection[l] of genuine Greco-Roman sculptures, and worked with restoring ancient fragments,[90] although it is unclear if any Triton was among these.

It is within the realm of possibilities that Bernini might have used as his model the ancient Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus, which does include Triton in its composition.