The sea goat is a legendary aquatic animal described as a creature that is half goat and half fish.
The constellation
Capricornus
Capricornus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for "horned goat" or "goat horn" or "having horns like a goat's", and it is commonly represented in the form of a sea goat: a mythical creature that is half goat, half f ...
was commonly imagined as a type of sea goat. This has been done since the Bronze Age within Mesopotamia. Then the Babylonians used , 'the goat fish', to symbolize the god
Enki
, image = Enki(Ea).jpg
, caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC
, deity_of = God of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic, mischief
...
.
Greek interpretation
The Greek interpretation of the sea goat comes from the introduction of the
Babylonian zodiac. In an attempt to codify the constellation
Capricorn within the Greek pantheon, two myths were used as an explanation. One being that the constellation is
Amalthea, the goat that raised
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
. As thanks for caring for him as a child, Zeus places her amongst the stars. The other being that the sea goat is the wilderness god
Pan. The myth goes that Zeus jumped into the river to escape the monster
Typhon
Typhon (; grc, Τυφῶν, Typhôn, ), also Typhoeus (; grc, Τυφωεύς, Typhōeús, label=none), Typhaon ( grc, Τυφάων, Typháōn, label=none) or Typhos ( grc, Τυφώς, Typhṓs, label=none), was a monstrous serpentine giant an ...
. He tries to turn himself into a fish while jumping into the river, but he moves too quickly and only his lower half becomes that of a fish. Zeus then engages in combat with the monster. Zeus defeats him, but not without Typhon pulling the muscles out of Zeus’ legs. With the help of
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...
, Pan replaces the damaged muscles. As a reward for healing him, Zeus placed Pan in the sky as Capricorn. The god
Aegipan is also depicted in Greek art as a sea goat.
Jewish tradition
In
Jewish oral history, sea goats are mentioned. The story goes that one day all the creatures of the sea must offer themselves to the monster
Leviathan
Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...
. In another, a sailor encountered a sea goat while far at sea. On its horns was carved the sentence, translated as "I am a little sea-animal, yet I traversed three hundred
parasang
The parasang is a historical Iranian unit of walking distance, the length of which varied according to terrain and speed of travel. The European equivalent is the league. In modern terms the distance is about 3 or 3½ miles (4.8 or 5.6 km).
His ...
s to offer myself as food to the leviathan."
[Louis Ginzberg. (1909) ]Legends of the Jews
The ''Legends of the Jews'' is a chronological compilation of aggadah from hundreds of biblical legends in Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash. The compilation consists of seven volumes (four volumes of narrative texts and two volumes of footnotes with a ...
. Entries: Vol I, "The Creation of the World: The Sixth Day" and Vol IV, "Elisha and Jonah: Jonah in the Whale"
/ref>
See also
* Hippocampus (mythology), Hippocampus
*Ichthyocentaurs
In late Classical Greek art, ichthyocentaurs ( el, ἰχθυοκένταυρος, plural: ) were centaurine sea beings with the upper body of a human, the lower anterior half and fore-legs of a horse, and the tailed half of a fish. The earliest e ...
*Mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
*Myotragus
''Myotragus'' (New Latin, Neo-Latin, derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek: , and "Balearian mouse-goat"), is an extinct genus of goat-antelope in the tribe Caprini which lived on the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca in the we ...
References
{{reflist
Greek legendary creatures
Jewish legendary creatures
Mythological caprids
Mythological aquatic creatures
Mythological hybrids
Capricorn in astrology