Trident

The trident is associated with the sea-god Poseidon and his Roman counterpart Neptune.

This divine instrument is said to have been forged by the cyclopes.[3]

Poseidon struck a rock with his trident, causing a sea (or a saltwater spring, called the Erechtheis) to appear nearby on the Acropolis in Athens.[4][5] And according to Roman sources, Neptune struck the earth with the trident to produce the first war-horse.[6]

Poseidon, as well as being the god of the sea, was also known as the "Earth Shaker",[7] believed to cause earthquakes;[8][lower-alpha 1] some commentator have extrapolated that the god would used the trident to cause them,[9] possibly by striking the earth.

In the Renaissance artist Gian Bernini's sculpture Neptune and Triton (1622–23), Neptune is posed holding a triton turned downwards, and is thought to reenact a scene from Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphosis where he is calming the waves to aid Aeneas's ships.[10]

In later Greek and Roman art and literature, other sea deities and their attendants have been depicted holding the trident.

Poseidon's consort Amphitrite is often identified by some marine attribute other than a trident, which she never carries according to some scholars, though other commentators have disagreed.[11][13]

Turning to the retinue or a train of beings which follow the sea deities (the marine thiasos) the Tritons (mermen) may be seen bearing tridents.[14] Likewise, the Old Man of the Sea (halios geron) and the god Nereus are seen holding tridents.[14] Tritons, other mermen, and the Nereides can also carry rudders, oars, fish, or dolphins.[14]

Oceanus normally should not carry a trident, allowing him to be clearly distinguished from Poseidon. However, there is conflation of the deities in Romano-British iconography, and examples exist where the crab-claw headed Oceanus also bears a trident.[16][17] Oceanus holding a trident has been found on Romano-British coinage as well.[lower-alpha 2][18]

Some amorini have been depicted carrying tiny tridents.[lower-alpha 3][19]

The trident is even seen suspended like a pendant on a dolphin in Roman mosaic art.[lower-alpha 4][20]

In Hindu legends and stories Shiva, the Hindu god who holds a trishula trident in his hand, uses this sacred weapon to fight off negativity in the form of evil villains. The trident is also said to represent three gunas mentioned in Indian vedic philosophy namely sāttvika, rājasika, and tāmasika.

A weapon of South-East Asian (particularly Thai) depiction of Hanuman, a character of Ramayana.

In religious Taoism, the trident represents the Taoist Trinity, the Three Pure Ones. In Taoist rituals, a trident bell is used to invite the presence of deities and summon spirits, as the trident signifies the highest authority of Heaven.

A fork Jewish priests (Kohanim) used to take their portions of offerings.[21]

In Ancient Greece, the trident was employed as a harpoon for spearing large fish, especially tunny-fishing.[22]

In Ancient Rome tridents (Latin: tridens or fuscina) were used by a type of gladiator called a retiarius or "net fighter". The retiarius was traditionally pitted against a secutor, and cast a net to wrap his adversary and then used the trident to kill him.[23][24]

Tridents used in modern spear-fishing usually have barbed tines, which trap the speared fish firmly. In the Southern and Midwestern United States, gigging is used for harvesting suckers, bullfrogs, flounder and many species of rough fish.[29]

It has been used by farmers as a decorticator to remove leaves, seeds and buds from the stalks of plants such as flax and hemp.

The trident, known as dangpa, is used as a weapon in the 17th- to 18th-century systems of Korean martial arts.

The flag of Barbados incorporates a Trident.

• The Tryzub in the Coat of Arms of Ukraine, adopted in 1918 (in a reinterpretation of a medieval emblem which most likely depicted a skydiving falcon, like the Emblem of Staraya Ladoga)
• The national emblem on the flag of Barbados.
• The "forks of the people's anger", adopted by the Russian anti-Soviet revolutionary organization, National Alliance of Russian Solidarists (NTS).
• Britannia, the personification of Great Britain.
• The election symbol of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist).[30]

• The symbol for Washington and Lee University.
• The symbol (since June 2008) for the athletic teams (Tritons) at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
• Sparky the Sun Devil, the mascot of Arizona State University, holds a trident. (ASU recently redesigned its trident as a stand-alone symbol.)
• The trident was used as the original cap insignia and original logo for the Seattle Mariners.
• An element on the flag of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
• The symbol for Washington and Lee University.
• The Maserati logo.
• Club Méditerranée.
• The Hawker Siddeley Trident, a 1960's British three-engine jet airliner.
• The Tirreno–Adriatico cycle race trophy.

• With Poseidon in the 31st Brigade.
• The symbol of the Swedish Coastal Rangers, Kustjägarna.
• The United States Naval Special Warfare Command, and the Special Warfare insignia, particularly worn by members of the US Navy SEALs, and containing a trident representing the three aspects (Sea, Air, and Land) of SEAL special operations.
• Part of the golden-colored crest of the United States Naval Academy, which depicts a trident running vertically in its background.
• The ship's crests of 13 of the 18 Ohio-class submarines of the U.S. Navy prominently feature tridents, as both a symbol of maritime power, and in reference to their payloads of Trident D-5 missiles.
• The rating badge of the United States Coast Guard Marine Science Technician.
• The Tug Banner used by Mongolian Honor guards.
• The insignia of the German commando force, Kampfschwimmer.
• The rating badge of the United States Navy Ocean Systems Technician (OT)