Also known as the whale, it is one of the largest constellations in the sky. It is depicted as a strange, ferocious beast which swims alongside eridanus the river accompanied by pisces the fishes. Although cetus is not generally considered part of the zodiac, the ecliptic passes close to its constellation. Ceto is a primordial sea goddess in greek mythology, the daughter of pontus and his mother. Mar 1, 2016 hi dear friends and followers, i hope you all are doing well. List of legendary mythical sea creatures theoi greek mythology. When the monster came up to eat her, the hero perseus defeated him and later married andromeda. All its stars are of the nature of saturn according to ptolemy. Any time a cetus bites a creature under an effect or using a magic item that prevents that creature from being grappledsuch as freedom of movementor that holds the creature aloftsuch as fly or air walkeach such effect is affected by a targeted dispel magic. Ethiopian cetus ketos aithiopios seamonster of greek. Most of the sea monsters taken out by heracles and perseus were referred to as cetus, which could mean an extraordinarily big fish, shark or sea monster. The aethiopian cetus was a beast encountered by the hero perseus as he sought to rescue andromeda.
And yes, both hercules and perseus slay giant sea monsters in their adventures. Cetus is located in the region of the sky that contains other waterrelated constellations such as aquarius, pisces, and eridanus. Perseus, in greek mythology, the slayer of the gorgon medusa and the rescuer of. Aethiopian cetus in greek mythology greek legends and myths. Cetus is an ancient constellation, dating back to the sumerians and babylonians of the 2nd and 3rd millennia bc, who associated it with their mythical dragon tiamat. Biblical astronomer, number 104 41 cetus the sea monster gerardus d.
Cetus, the whale, or sea monster, has been identified, at least since aratos day 3rd century b. According to this legend, cephus was changed into a constellation at his death. In his anger, he created a great sea monster, cetus also described as a. The aethiopian cetus was the offspring of the primordial sea deities phorcys and ceto, and was thus a close sibling to the trojan cetus, a sea monster encountered by heracles. I hope you enjoy this post, my only desire is to share the best of stories and myths with you as i can mar 1, 2016 hi dear friends and followers, i hope you all are doing well. Perseus saving andromeda from cetus, a whale like sea monster. The constellation can be found by looking below pisces the fish. The alfonsine tables had batenkaiton and batenel kaitos. The giant monster has a bit part in the overall story of perseus and andromeda, though it is enough to earn it a place up in the heavens to be immortalized as a constellation.
The greeks said that he is the sea monster sent to devour andromeda, and hence, he was destroyed by perseus who caused the monster to be turned to stone by holding the head of the medusa before it. In greek mythology the cetus aethiopius was a seamonster sent by poseidon to ravage the land of ethiopia as punishment for queen cassiopeias hubristic. I am greek and i had just onetenth of the knowledge presented in these two books. There are also stories of sea monsters that are not as popular on a global scale, but have significant meaning in their respective region of origin. The sea monsters slain by perseus and heracles were each referred to as a cetus. It all happened when cassiopeia, queen of aethiopia. Skolopendra is a giant sea monster, part crayfish, part shrimp, and is one of phorcys and ketos children. In greek mythology cetus represents the sea monster sent to devour andromeda, but in earlier times it was identified with the primeval mesopotamian monster tiamat. The meaning of cetus is mythical sea monster of poseidon. Its name refers to cetus, a sea monster in greek mythology as both perseus and heracles needed to slay, sometimes in english called the whale. The constellation was named after cetus, the sea monster from the greek myth about andromeda. Theres an ancient grecoroman poem that tells the tale of brave fishermen who harpooned a sea monster. He resembles a giant krakenlike sea monster as his name and story in greek mythology suggests. Cetus, baten kaitos, is a topaz yellow star in the whale or sea monster.
Andromeda was punished for her mothers sins, and she was chained to a cliff where she was supposed to be eaten by the great sea monster cetus also known as ketos. Bible, where it is referred to in the book of job, thus giving it the name jobs star. Monsters of the sea is for those with a great curiosity about the mysterious creatures that lurk beneath the surface of the sea that humans have sometimes been granted glimpses of. Cetus was the monster that andromeda was to be sacrificed to in order to ease the anger of the sea god poseidon. Dispelling bite su the magically infused sea salt in a cetuss bite tears at some types of magic. In greek mythology cetus represents a sea monster killed by perseus as cetus was to going to kill andromeda. Pliny or his source misread the name cetusor that of the syrian goddess derceto.
In greek mythology, it is common for a sea monster to be referred to as cetus. Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of the king and queen. Cetus, the whale or sea monster, was a minion of poseidon, the god of the oceans. The cetus that is mentioned in the story of perseus is probably the better known one. Despite being depicted as a monster in mythology, keto refers to herself as a goddess in the mark of athena. The name cetus can mean any large fish, especially a shark, whale or a sea monster. Cetus is also a constellation, that can be seen throughout the year. It is the sea monster of the epic tale of andromeda, sent by neptune to devour the unfortunate princess, and atone for the sins of her mother, the queen cassiopeia. While the constellation is large its difficult to find, as the constellation is not that prominent. Cetus represents the sea monster from the greek myth of the princess andromeda, whose boastful mother cassiopeia angered the sea god poseidon and the nereids sea nymphs by claiming that she was more beautiful than any of them. The sea monsters that the heroes perseus and heracles killed during their adventures. Zeus or poseidon created the dragon as punishment 2 for cepheus and cassiopea, the royal couple of joppa 3 because cassiopea boasted that she and her daughter andromeda were more beautiful than the goddesses and the nereids, 1 or sea nymphs. Cetus is in the region of the sky that contains other waterrelated constellations such as aquarius, pisces, and eridanus. It is said to cause laziness and idleness, but to confer an emotional and charitable nature, with the ability to command, especially in war.
Constellation cetus the constellations on sea and sky. The cetus was a sea monster in greek mythology as both perseus and heracles needed to slay, sometimes in english called the whale. He is portrayed as the dusky monster, jonahs whale, or jobs leviathan. Jun 24, 2010 the more modern version of this myth is illustrated in many books, such as greek gods and heroes by leo hjortso and gods and heroes in the old greece by david bellingham. Jan 21, 2016 in ancient greece there was a large and dangerous sea monster called the aspidochelone, which could be translated as aspturtle. Today, in honor of the late and great tammy plotner, we will be dealing with the sea monster the cetus constellation.
In the 2nd century ce, greekegyptian astronomer claudius ptolemaeus aka. I hope you enjoy this post, my only desire is to share the best of stories and myths with you as i can. Greek and roman mythologygreek godsdragonsgreek pantheonmythology booksclash. The story of perseus and andromeda derives from greek mythology and. Monsters on including calydonian boar, campe, cetus, charybdis, crommyonian sow, geryon, harpies, khalkotauroi, ladon, lamia, lernaean hydra, mares. The cetus that is mentioned in the story of perseus is possibly the most wellknown version. In a different story, heracles slayed cetus to save hesione. The sea monsters that the heroes perseus and heracles killed during their adventures were also described with the word cetus. Cetus, poseidons sea monster greek mythology youtube. The people who described it for centuries probably just saw a whale, but in their imaginations it was a fearsome beast and a mythical animal that killed sailors and destroyed their ships. Todays story is an old myth of a sea monster which was created by the greek gods. Greek heroes such as perseus and heracles were said to have slain a cetus sea monster. In the myth, the princess was sacrificed to the monster as punishment for her mother cassiopeias boastfulness.
The brightest of them is secondmagnitude beta ceti, officially named diphda by the iau but once also known as deneb kaitos from the arabic meaning sea monsters tail. Cetus signified a large sea monster, fish or whale in greek mythology. Published on jul 4, 2018 it is a large fishlike or whalelike sea monster from greek mythology under poseidon. The constellation cetus represents the sea monster. Cetus is one of the constellations cataloged by the greek astronomer ptolemy in the second century. Sea monsters are sea dwelling mythical or legendary creatures, often believed to be of immense size. A furious poseidon unleashed the sea monster cetus to frequently ravage the coast. Cetus is the 4th largest constellation on the nights sky, close to the celestial equator. Perseus saving andromeda from the sea monster mythologie.
I wish to thank you so very much for following and supporting this blog. Greek and roman mythologygreek godsdragonsgreek pantheonmythology books clash. Cetus signified a large sea monster, fish, or whale in greek mythology. King cepheus and queen cassiopeia were forced leave their daughter chained to a cliff. Perseus, famous greek demigod, the slayer of medusa and. He was known for his vigorous strength, incredible bravery and slaying two of the most ferocious monsters, known as medusa, the youngest of the gorgons, and cetus, the sea monster of poseidon. Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the monster. It was named after the sea monster sent by the god neptune to devour andromeda in greek mythology. Constellations are the imaginary structures of a group of stars forming a wellknown shape related either to mythology or to common natural things like animals, birds, or alphabets. Sea monster history and top 15 famous sea monsters. Biblical astronomer, number 104 cetus the sea monster. Most of the sea monsters taken out by heracles and perseus were referred to as cetus, which could mean an extraordinarily big fish, shark or. As the goddess of sea monsters, keto has absolute control and divine authority over sea monsters.
Stephen fry is a genius and has so much knowledge on the subject. Baten kaitos is the arabian al batn al kaitos, the whales belly, although the star is higher up in the body. In ancient greek ketos latinized as cetus is a great fish, a whale, shark, or sea monster. Cetus was created by the sea god poseidon to punish the region of ethiopia for the the insolence of its queen cassiopia, who boasted. Cetus is an extremely large constellation that has been represented as both a sea monster or as simply a whale. Cetus, the sea monster, looked into the eyes of the head of medusa and turned to stone, releasing andromeda from her imminent death. Rare finely engraved antique mythological print with caption in latin and ancient greek, showing andromeda chained to a rock by the sea side, guarded by the sea monster cetus. Cetus was first seen with scorpio, leo, lacerta, and the roc, as eris demonstrated how she will make chaos to the earth, planning it by stealing the legendary book of peace as she spotted it being transported to syracuse on proteus noble ship, with sinbads pirate ship on his tail.
They can be slimy or scaly and are often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water. It consists of 5 letters and 2 syllables and is pronounced cetus. For anybody who is interested in greek mythology, this book is a must. According to ptolemy this constellation is like saturn. Upon consulting a wise oracle, cepheus and cassiopeia were told to sacrifice andromeda to cetus in order to save. Cetus was a sea monster that poseidon sent to bring terror to the land of aethiopia. It is a large fishlike or whalelike sea monster from greek mythology under poseidon. Its name refers to cetus, a sea monster in greek mythology, although it is often called the whale today. Cetus is positioned on the banks of the river eridanus, the other side of his body is bordered by the constellation pisces. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. This page was last edited on 27 october 2019, at 09.
Later civilizations followed suit, picturing cetus as some kind of sea monster. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. The constellation cetus is situated in the northern sky, referred to as a sea monster or a whale according to greek mythology. Sep 16, 2016 in ancient greek, the word ketos latinized as cetus denotes a large fish, a whale, a shark, or a sea monster. The aethiopian cetus was thus also sibling to the three graeae, the gorgons, echidna and ladon. Leo valdez, as captain of the argo ii, forgot to turn on the ships detection system from radar to sonar so that festus could detect any nearby. According to the mythology perseus slayed cetus to save andromeda from being sacrificed to it. Well cetus is a massive sea monster hailing from greek mythology, and the term cetacean a marine mammal, whale, dolphin, porpoise etc is derived from it. However the cetus im talking about is the mythological one, not the astronomical one. In greek art, as well as seen in the hercules the legendary journeys series, the cetea were shown as large sea serpents. It is the sea monsters that both perseus and heracles fought during one of their adventures.
She had deep knowledge about large monstrous creatures, but has little knowledge of smaller sea animals. Cetus constellation is located in the northern sky. In classical civilizations, the figure was the giant sea monster that almost ate andromeda. The definition of a monster is subjective, and some sea monsters may have been exaggerations of. Every page goes through several hundred of perfecting techniques. Cetus was turned to stone when perseus showed the monster the head of the gorgon medusa. Aug 23, 20 the term cetus refers to a mythological sea monster in ancient greek. The chaledeans regarded cetus as the ferocious tiamat. When cassiopeia boasted that her daughter andromeda was more beautiful than the nereids, poseidon sent his sea monster cetus to attack. The brightest of them is secondmagnitude beta ceti, officially named diphda by the iau but once also known as deneb kaitos from the arabic meaning sea monster s tail. Sea serpents, giant cephalopods, and other marine monsters in classic science fiction and fantasy chad arment on.
For as long as weve been curious, our access to the oceans mysteries have and still remain so limited that sea monster legends have endured to this day. Monster book of monsters sea monsters monster art mythological creatures fantasy creatures mythical creatures sea monsters monster art mythological creatures fantasy creatures mythical creatures. The aethiopian cetus was a sea monster from greek mythology. One of the most famous myths including a cetus was when cassiopeia, queen of aethiopia, boasted that her daughter andromeda surpassed the nereid nymphs in beauty. Known as cetus, this mammalfish hybrid derives from greek mythology. He was favoured by the gods because, in his quest to defeat medusa, he was given a lot of equipment by. Cetus was a very large sea monster that was created by poseidon. Read cetus the sea monster from the story alpha omega by mahriyumm yam mariam with 44,937 reads. Tanninim im denotes hebraic plural appear in the hebrew book of genesis, exodus, deuteronomy, psalms, job, ezekiel, isaiah, and. Perseus, cepheus, cassiopeia, andromeda, and the sea monster cetus. Cetus in greek is the fourthlargest constellation, as befits such a monster, but none of its stars is particularly bright. Cetus was a predatory sea monster, terrifying and fierce.
List of legendary mythical sea creatures greek mythology. May 27, 2014 well cetus is a massive sea monster hailing from greek mythology, and the term cetacean a marine mammal, whale, dolphin, porpoise etc is derived from it. In ancient greek, the word ketos latinized as cetus denotes a large fish, a whale, a shark, or a sea monster. One day poseidon was angered by cassiopeia, the mother of andromeda, for boasting of her daughters beauty and claiming it to be greater than poseidons minions, the neried. Apr 11, 2016 this 17th century map of the skies is bursting with mythological creatures.
Cetus insolitus is an anthology of twentysix classic sea monster stories, from giant squid and invisible octopuses to sea serpents and strange deadly fish. The more modern version of this myth is illustrated in many books, such as greek gods and heroes by leo hjortso and gods and heroes in the old greece by david bellingham. Cetus represents the sea monster or whale sent by neptune to devour andromeda. Cetus camp halfblood fanon wiki fandom powered by wikia. Like a vision of the loch ness monster, cetus rises up out of the southern horizon. This 17th century map of the skies is bursting with. The term cetus refers to a mythological sea monster in ancient greek. Cetus the sea monster cetus celestial atlas by alexander jamieson 1822. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or multiarmed beasts.
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