Cetus

Cetus (Greek kētos) is the Greek word for a huge sea monster or sea creature. It names two famous monsters sent by Poseidon: the one that threatened Andromeda in Ethiopia and was killed by Perseus, and the one that threatened Hesione at Troy and was killed by Heracles. The constellation Cetus is named for the first of these.

The Word Cetus

In the ancient texts kētos is a general word, not a personal name. Homer uses it for the great sea creatures that Scylla snatches from the water (Odyssey 12.95–97), and for the sea monster that chased Heracles inland to a wall built for him at Troy (Iliad 20.144–148). Neither monster is given a personal name in these sources. In Latin the word became cetus: Hyginus uses it for the monster to which Andromeda was exposed (Fabulae 64), and Cetus is the name of the constellation (Astronomica 2.31).

Cetus and Andromeda

In Apollodorus, Cassiepea, wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids. The Nereids were angry, and Poseidon, sharing their anger, sent a flood and a sea monster against the land. The oracle of Ammon said that the land would be freed from the disaster if Cassiepea’s daughter Andromeda were offered to the monster, and the Ethiopians forced Cepheus to chain her to a rock (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3). In Hyginus, it is Cassiope who preferred her daughter’s beauty to that of the Nereids, and Neptune demanded that Andromeda be given to the monster (Fabulae 64). In Ovid, the god Ammon commanded that Andromeda should pay without guilt for her mother’s tongue (Metamorphoses 4.670–671).

Perseus came upon her when he flew past. He promised Cepheus to kill the monster if he could marry the rescued girl, and the parents agreed (Library 2.4.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.695–705). In Ovid, the monster swims toward the rock, and Perseus leaps into the air, casts his shadow on the water, and drops on its back like an eagle on a snake. He drives his curved sword into its right shoulder, strikes at it from above as it rears and dives, and finally stands on a rock in the surf and stabs it again and again in the flanks until it dies (Metamorphoses 4.689–690, 4.706–734). In none of these accounts does Perseus turn the monster to stone with Medusa’s head; he uses the head afterwards on Phineus, to whom Andromeda had been promised, and his fellow conspirators (Library 2.4.3), or, in Hyginus, on Cepheus and Agenor, who had planned to kill him (Fabulae 64).

Cetus and Hesione

The second sea monster belongs to Troy. Poseidon and Apollo built the walls of Troy for King Laomedon, who refused to pay them. Apollo sent a plague and Poseidon sent a sea monster, which swept up on a flood and snatched away people from the plain. An oracle said that the troubles would end if Laomedon exposed his daughter Hesione to the monster, and he chained her to rocks by the sea (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.194–212).

Heracles, who was passing Troy on his way back from the Amazons, promised to save Hesione in return for the mares that Zeus had given as compensation for the abduction of Ganymede. He killed the monster, but Laomedon refused the reward. Heracles sailed away, threatening war, and later captured Troy (Library 2.5.9; 2.6.4). In the Iliad, Heracles is the “divine” hero for whom the Trojans and Athena built a high wall, behind which he could shelter whenever the monster chased him from the shore (Iliad 20.144–148), and Tlepolemus, Heracles’ son, reminds Sarpedon that his father came with only six ships and sacked Troy for the sake of Laomedon’s horses (Iliad 5.638–642). Ovid says that Laomedon was thus “twice perjured”, and that Hesione went to Telamon as his prize (Metamorphoses 11.213–217). Lycophron adds that Heracles went inside the monster and cut up its liver, losing his hair in the heat (Alexandra 31–37).

Cetus in the Sky

Hyginus says that Cetus was sent by Neptune to kill Andromeda but was killed by Perseus, and that it was placed among the stars because of its great size and his courage (Astronomica 2.31). The same book places Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus in the sky as well (Astronomica 2.9–12).

Cetus Sources

Homer, Iliad 5.638–642, 20.144–148; Odyssey 12.95–97. Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3; 2.5.9; 2.6.4. Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.663–739; 11.194–217. Hyginus, Fabulae 64; Astronomica 2.9–12, 2.31. Lycophron, Alexandra 31–37.

See Also: Perseus, Heracles, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Nereids, Poseidon, Cepheus, Medusa, Hesione, Laomedon