Cetus
Cetus, from the Greek ketos, is the sea monster of Greek myth sent by Poseidon to devour princesses chained to the shore, slain by Perseus to save Andromeda and by Heracles to save Hesione.
| Also known as | Ketos, Ceto, Sea monster of Ethiopia, Trojan Cetus |
|---|---|
| Type | sea serpent |
| Tradition | Greek |
| Category | Myth |
| Associated with | Joppa (Jaffa), traditional site of Andromeda's rock |
| Earliest source | Homer, Iliad (Book 20), on the sea monster of Troy, c. 8th–7th century BCE |
| Wings | No |
| Breathes fire | No |
| Guards treasure | No |
| Nature | Hostile |
The Story
Ketos is the Greek word for a huge sea monster, and the best known are the two sent by the sea god Poseidon in the myths of Andromeda and Hesione.
In the first, Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, the Nereids. Poseidon sent a flood and a sea monster to ravage the coast. An oracle said the land would be spared only if the king, Cepheus, gave his daughter Andromeda to the monster, so she was chained to a rock by the sea. The hero Perseus, flying home after killing the Gorgon Medusa, saw her, bargained for her hand, and killed the creature. Ovid's Metamorphoses describes the fight in detail: Perseus swoops down like an eagle and stabs the beast again and again as it thrashes in the waves.
The second story is set at Troy. King Laomedon cheated Apollo and Poseidon of their wages for building the city walls, and Poseidon sent a sea monster that snatched people from the plain. Laomedon's daughter Hesione was put out as an offering. Heracles killed the monster in exchange for a promise of the king's famous horses, which Laomedon then refused to hand over. The Iliad already mentions a wall the Trojans and Athena built so that Heracles could shelter from the sea monster.
Appearance and Powers
Texts say little about the ketos beyond its enormous size. Greek and Roman artists developed a standard look: a long, coiling serpent or fish body ending in a tail fin, a big-jawed head like a dog or dragon, and sometimes front flippers or legs. The oldest certain picture of Perseus fighting it is on a Corinthian vase of about 575 to 550 BCE, where Andromeda helps by throwing stones at a large, toothy head rising from the water.
Origins and Sources
Ancient writers placed Andromeda's "Ethiopia" in several spots, but a strong tradition located her rock at Joppa (modern Jaffa) on the coast of the Levant. Pliny the Elder records that bones said to belong to this monster, over 40 feet long, were brought from Joppa and displayed in Rome. They were probably the bones of a whale.
Legacy
Andromeda, Perseus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and the monster all became constellations; Cetus is a large constellation in the "water" region of the sky. The word ketos survives in "cetacean," the scientific term for whales and dolphins. In the Greek New Testament, Jonah's great fish is called a ketos, which tied the biblical story to the classical sea monster in later art. The Kraken in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans took over the monster's role in the Andromeda story; that substitution is a modern invention. See also Leviathan for the great sea monster of the Bible.
Related
- Leviathan: Leviathan is the great sea monster of the Hebrew Bible, a fire-breathing, scale-armored serpent of the deep that only God can tame, descended from the Canaanite sea serpent Lotan.
- Lernaean Hydra: The Lernaean Hydra is a many-headed water serpent of Greek myth that grew new heads when one was cut off, killed by Heracles and Iolaus as his second labor.
- Lotan: Lotan, properly Litan, is the seven-headed sea serpent of Canaanite myth known from the clay tablets of Ugarit, defeated by the storm god Baal and his sister Anat, and the forerunner of the biblical Leviathan.
- Typhon: Typhon is the most fearsome monster of Greek myth, a giant with a hundred serpent heads who challenged Zeus for rule of the cosmos and was struck down by thunderbolts.
- Dragons Across Cultures
- Leviathan
Sources and Further Reading
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. A. D. Melville (Oxford World's Classics, 1986)
- Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology, trans. Robin Hard (Oxford World's Classics, 1997)
- John Boardman, "'Very Like a Whale': Classical Sea Monsters," in Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, ed. Ann E. Farkas, Prudence O. Harper, and Evelyn B. Harrison (Philipp von Zabern, 1987)
- Daniel Ogden, Perseus (Routledge, 2008)
Cite this entry: “Cetus,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/cetus.