Cetus (mythology)
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| Greek deities series |
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| Primordial deities | |
| Titans and Olympians | |
| Chthonic deities | |
| Personified concepts | |
| Other deities | |
| Aquatic deities | |
In Greek mythology, Cetus (Greek: Κῆτος, Kētos), also called Ceto or Cetea (the latter comes from the plural form of the word in Greek: κήτεα), was a hideous sea monster, a daughter of Gaia and Pontus. The asteroid (65489) Ceto was named after her, and its satellite (65489) Ceto I Phorcys after her husband. She was the personification of the dangers of the sea, unknown terrors and bizarre creatures. Her name came from the neuter noun kētos, "sea monster", which gives us the term cetacean today. Her husband was Phorcys and they had many children, collectively known as the Phorcydes or Phorcydides. In Greek art, Cetus was drawn as a serpentine fish. Cetus also gave name to the constellation Cetus.
[edit] Consorts and children
[edit] In the Bible
In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translation), the Hebrew text reads dag gadol (דג גדול), which literally means "great fish." The Septuagint translates this phrase into Greek as mega ketos (μέγα κῆτος). The term ketos alone means "huge fish," and in Greek mythology the term was closely associated with sea monsters. Jerome later translated this phrase as piscis granda in his Latin Vulgate. However, he translated ketos as cetus in Matthew 12:40. Another figure named Ceto (Κητώ) is an Oceanid, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.
