Cetus (mythology)

In Ancient Greek ''kētŏs'' (, plural ''kētē''=''kētea'', ), Latinized as ''cetus'' (pl. ''ceti'' or ''cetē'' = ''cetea''), is any huge sea creature or sea monster. According to the mythology, Perseus slew Cetus to save Andromeda from being sacrificed to it. The term cetacean (for whale) derives from ''cetus''. In Greek art, ''ceti'' were depicted as serpentine fish. The name of the mythological figure Ceto is derived from ''kētos''. The name of the constellation Cetus also derives from this word.

Depictions

The Cetus was variously described as a sea monster or sea serpent. Other versions describe Cetus as a monster with the head of a boar or a greyhound and the body of a whale or dolphin, and a divided, fan-like tail. Cetus was said to be a colossal beast the size of a ship, its skull alone measuring 40 feet (12.2 meters) in length, its spines being a cubit in thickness, and its skeleton taller at the shoulder than an elephant.

There are notable physical and mythological similarities between cetus and drakōn (the dragons in Greek mythology), and, to a lesser extent, other monsters of Greek myth, such as Scylla, Charybdis and Medusa and her Gorgon sisters.Daniel Ogden, 2013, Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds,Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, ''Fights with Kētē, Sea-Serpents'', pp.116-147, Oxford University Press

Greek mythology

Cetus is often depicted fighting Perseus or as the mount of a Nereid.

Queen Cassiopeia boasted that she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than the ''Nērēides'' (in most later works called by the Roman form, the Nereids), which invoked the wrath of Poseidon who sent the sea monster ''kētŏs'' (in a far greater number of European works renamed as the Latinised Cetus) to attack Æthiopia. Upon consulting a wise oracle, King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia were told to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus. They had Andromeda chained to a rock near the ocean so that Cetus could devour her. After finding Andromeda chained to the rock and learning of her plight, Perseus managed to slay Cetus when the creature emerged from the ocean to devour her. According to one version, Perseus drove his sword into Cetus's back, while according to another version, he used Medusa's head to turn the monster into stone.

In a different story, Heracles slew Cetus to save Hesione.

Cetus had also been portrayed to support Ino and Melicertes when they threw themselves into the sea instead of a dolphin to carry Palaemon.

Etruscan mythology

In Etruscan mythology, Cetus was regarded as a psychopomp, being depicted frequently on sarcophagi and urns, along with dolphins and hippocamps.

Furthermore, the Etruscan deity Nethuns is sometimes shown wearing a headdress depicting the cetus.

Bible and Jewish mythology

The ''tannin'' sea monsters

The monster tannin in the Hebrew Bible has been translated as Greek ''kētos'' in the Septuagint, and ''cetus'' in the Latin Vulgate.

''Tanninim'' () (-im denotes Hebraic plural) appear in the Hebrew Book of Genesis,. Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Job, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. They are explicitly listed among the creatures created by God on the fifth day of the Genesis creation narrative, translated in the King James Version as "great whales". The Septuagint renders the original Hebrew of Genesis 1:21 (''hattanninim haggedolim'') as (''kētē ta megala'') in Greek, and this was in turn translated as ''cete grandia'' in the Vulgate. The tannin is listed in the apocalypse of Isaiah as among the sea beasts to be slain by Yahweh "on that day", translated in the King James Version as "the dragon".

Conflation with ''Leviathan'' and ''Rahab''

In Jewish mythology, Tannin is sometimes conflated with the related sea monsters Leviathan and Rahab. Along with Rahab, "Tannin" was a name applied to ancient Egypt after the Exodus to Canaan. Joseph Eddy Fontenrose noted that cetus was a counterpart of Tiamat-based Medusa, and was modelled after Yam and Mot and Leviathan.Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, 1974, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, pp.289-294, Biblo and Tannen Publishers

Jonah's "great fish"

In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translation), the Hebrew text reads ''dag gadol'' (), which literally means "great fish". The Septuagint translates this phrase into Greek as ''mega kētos'' (). This was at the start of more widespread depiction of real whales in Greece and ''kētos'' would cover proven whales, sharks and the old meaning of curious sea monsters. Jerome later translated this phrase as ''piscis grandis'' in his Latin Vulgate. However, he translated the Greek word ''kētos'' as ''cetus'' in Gospel of Matthew 12:40. The English opts for the former: ''"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."''

In other cultures

Art historian John Boardman conjectured that images of the ''kētos'' in Central Asia influenced depictions of the Chinese Dragon and Indian makara. They suggest that after contact with Silk Road images of the ''kētos'', the Chinese dragon appeared more reptilian and shifted head-shape; the Pig dragon with the head of a boar compared to the reptilian head of modern dragons that of a camel.

Ships and sailing

''Cetus'' or ''megakētēs'' (μεγακήτης) is commonly used as a ship's name or figurehead denoting a ship unafraid of the sea or a ruthless pirate ship to be feared. Ceti were widely viewed as misfortune or bad omen by sailors widely influenced by the Mediterranean traditions such as the bringer of a great storm or general harbinger. Lore and tales associated it with lost cargo and being swept off course, even pirates being allied with such creatures so as to become taboo aboard vessels.

See also

*Ketu (mythology)
*Makara
*Kraken
*Tannin (monster)
*Black Tortoise - Cetus and the Black Tortoise correspond in astrology, as both creatures possess affinities to water and travel in the underworld to guide peopleNational Museum of Korea, 2007
Black Tortoise and Serpent, the Guardian Deity of the North
/ref> (see also: Cetus in Chinese astronomy)

Notes

References

;Citations

;Bibliography

External links

*{{Commons category-inline
Theoi Project - Ketea

Greek dragons
Greek sea gods
Mythological aquatic creatures
Monsters in Greek mythology
Sea monsters
Fish in religion