Keto

Keto (also spelled Ceto) was a sea goddess in Greek mythology, a daughter of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaea (Earth) and the wife of her brother Phorcys. Together they were the parents of some of the best-known monsters of Greek myth, among them the Graeae, the Gorgons, and the serpent that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides.

Family of Keto

Hesiod says that Pontus lay with Gaea and fathered Nereus, the eldest of his children, then Thaumas, great Phorcys, fair-cheeked Keto and Eurybia (Theogony 233–239). Apollodorus gives the same list of children (Library 1.2.6). Hesiod says Keto bore children to her brother Phorcys, and speaks of “the race of Keto and Phorcys” (Theogony 270, 333–336). Apollodorus mentions the Phorcides and the Gorgons as their children (Library 1.2.6).

Children of Keto and Phorcys

The Graeae

Keto bore to Phorcys the Graeae, “fair-cheeked” and gray-haired from birth, so called by gods and men: Pemphredo of the fine robe and Enyo of the saffron robe (Hesiod, Theogony 270–273). In Apollodorus’ account of Perseus, the Graeae (Phorcides) are sisters of the Gorgons who share a single eye and tooth. Perseus took the eye and tooth from them, and did not give them back until they told him where to find the nymphs who held the winged sandals, the wallet and the cap of Hades that he needed to kill Medusa (Library 2.4.2).

The Gorgons

The Gorgons, whom Hesiod places beyond famous Oceanus at the edge of the night near the clear-voiced Hesperides, were Sthenno, Euryale and Medusa. Medusa alone was mortal; Poseidon lay with her in a soft meadow among spring flowers. When Perseus cut off her head, the great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus leapt out of it (Theogony 274–283). Pindar says that Athena invented the music of the flute to imitate the cry of lament that Euryale made when Perseus killed her sister Medusa (Pythian 12). Perseus gave the Gorgon’s head to Athena, who fixed it in the middle of her shield (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3).

The Serpent of the Hesperides

Hesiod ends his list of the offspring of Keto and Phorcys with the youngest of them, a terrible serpent that in the hidden places of dark earth, at its great limits, guards the golden apples (Theogony 333–336). Hesiod does not name it. Apollonius of Rhodes names the serpent Ladon: the Argonauts find it lying dead beside the apple tree, struck down by Heracles, while the Hesperides mourn around it (Argonautica 4.1396–1407). Apollodorus calls the guardian of the apples an immortal dragon with a hundred heads, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and reports that some said Heracles killed it and picked the apples himself (Library 2.5.11).

Echidna and Scylla

After Hesiod’s account of the Gorgons and Chrysaor, a female monster is introduced with the words “she bore”: Echidna, half a bright-eyed nymph with fair cheeks and half a huge, terrible, speckled serpent, living in a cave under the earth (Theogony 295–300). Hesiod’s wording leaves it unclear whether her mother is Keto or Callirrhoe, who is named just before. Apollodorus makes Echidna the daughter of Tartarus and Earth (Library 2.1.2), so she should not be counted as a daughter of Keto without qualification.

Scylla, the monster who lived in a cave opposite Charybdis, is called a daughter of Crataeis in the Odyssey (12.124–126). The Epitome of Apollodorus calls her a daughter of Crataeis and Trienus or Phorcus (Epitome 7.20). Homer also says that Thoosa, the mother of the Cyclops Polyphemus, was a daughter of Phorcys (Odyssey 1.71–73); he names no mother for her.

Keto Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 233–239, 270–300, 333–336; Homer, Odyssey 1.71–73, 12.124–126; Pindar, Pythian 12; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1396–1407; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.6, 2.1.2, 2.4.2–3, 2.5.11, and Epitome 7.20.

See Also: Pontus, Gaea, Phorcys, Echidna, Gorgons, Medusa, Graeae, Ladon, Scylla, Perseus