A Ketos in Early Athens - An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in The Greek World

A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in the Greek World
Author(s): John K. Papadopoulos and Deborah Ruscillo

Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 106, No. 2 (Apr., 2002), pp. 187-227
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4126243
Accessed: 22-09-2016 15:31 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to American Journal of Archaeology
This content downloaded from 200.20.40.193 on Thu, 22 Sep 2016 15:31:07 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales
and Sea Monsters in the Greek World
JOHN K. PAPADOPOULOS AND DEBORAH RUSCILLO
Abstract unearthed in 1934, the bone languished, appar-

This article publishes a fragment of a scapula of a finently forgotten for many years, first in the storerooms
whale (Balaenoptera physalus) found in an Early Geomet- of the old Agora dig-house, and later in the upper
ric well in the area of the later Athenian Agora. Deriving
gallery of the Stoa of Attalos, above the Agora Muse-
from the carcass of an immature beached whale, the bone
um. The bone is of interest both on account of the
was brought to Athens and was used probably as a cutting
surface, before being discarded ca. 850 B.C. The context fact that it preserves a portion of a scapula of a fin
of this extraordinary artifact is analyzed and discussed, whale,
as a member of the Balaenoptera genus of whales,
are its possible functions. The occurrence of whales in
the second largest mammal to have inhabited the
the Aegean and Mediterranean is reviewed, so too the earth after the blue whale, as well as for the use it
use of whales and whalebones in ancient Greece and in
other cultures. Although the incidence of whalebone is
was put to prior to being discarded. The bone, al-
rare in archaeological contexts in the Aegean, Classicalthough fragmentary and now preserving only a small
literature is full of references to both fantastic sea mon- portion of the original scapula, has a series of cut
sters and real whales. The words that the Greeks and
marks on its upper, flat surface, and a neat rectan-
Romans used for whales and the language of whales in
gular cutting for presumed attachment to another
mythology and natural history reveal a rich and varied
element, now lost. While the exact function of the
tradition. There is a similarly rich and long tradition of
artifact in the context of the Early Iron Age settle-
iconographic representations in ancient art, particularly
of fabulous sea monsters, one that extends from Aegean ment of Athens is not immediately obvious, analy-
prehistory into the Classical era and well beyond. The sis of the various cuttings, together with the wear
Agora whalebone provides a unique insight into the ar- on the bone, provide important insights into the
chaeology of whales and sea monsters in Greek litera-
ture, natural history, art, and material culture.*
life history of this uncommon find. The compara-
tive rarity of whale bones in archaeological contexts
How vain and foolish, then, thought I, for timid in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean gener-
untravelled man to try to comprehend aright thisally, coupled with the use that the bone was put to,
wondrous whale, by merely poring over his dead warrant its detailed publication. Moreover, the phys-
attenuated skeleton.
ical existence of such a bone serves as a useful fo-
Herman Melville, Moby Dick.'
cus for the more numerous appearances of whales
One of the most enigmatic objects to have been and other sea monsters in Greek literature, mythol-
found in the heart of Athens is the so-called bone ogy, natural history, and art.
artifact (Agora inv. BI 115), encountered in an Ear-In this article, a detailed description and analysis
ly Geometric well (well K 12:2) in the central por- the bone is provided, which aims at establishing
of
tion of the area that was to become the Classical the salient details of its life history, including the
Agora (fig. 1).2 So unique was the object thatnature
the of the leviathan from which it derived and
well from which it derived came to be known, for a the context in which it was finally deposited. From
time, as the "well with the bone artifact." Although there, the incidence of both stranded and sighted
* We gratefully acknowledge our debt to our colleagues in Adrienne Mayor, Greg Monks, Sarah Morris,Jacqui Mulville,
the Athenian Agora for facilitating our work and for various Tom Palaima, Stavros Paspalas, Carolyn Riccardelli, Richard Sab-
types of assistance, particularly John McK. Camp II, Sylvie Du- in, William Schniedewind, Gianni Siracusano, Aleydis Van de
mont, Anne Hooton, Jan Jordan, and Craig Mauzy. We are Moortel, Cornelius Vermeule, and Jennifer Webb. We would
grateful to many friends and colleagues for providing illustra- like to record our special thanks to Adrienne Mayor for her
insightful comments and her great enthusiasm for monsters
tions, for allowing access to material in their care, and for dis-
of the land and sea.
cussion on a variety of topics connected with this paper, espe-
cially the following: Aphrodite Argyrakis, Mary Jean Blasdale, 1Melville 1851, ch. 103, "Measurement of the Whale's Skel-
Laura Bonomi, David Clarke,John Clegg, Roger Colten, Simon eton," 494-5.
Davis, Peter Dawson, Susanne Ebbinghaus, Sherry Fox, Michael 2 For the topography of Athens in the Early Iron Age, see
Papadopoulos 1996, 2002.
Jehle, Hans Christian Kochelmann, Roel Lauwerier, Susan
Lawrence, Nino Luraghi, Yvonne Marshall, Dave Maxwell,
187
American Journal of Archaeology 106 (2002) 187-227
188 JOHN K. PAPADOPOULOS AND DEBORAH RUSCILLO [AJA 106
Fig. 1. General view of the area of the Athenian Agora, with the Akropolis, from the
of the Stoa of Attalos. (Photo by Alison Frantz; courtesy of the Agora Excavations
Studies at Athens)
whales in the Aegean and Mediterranean are

once living whales andre-
the rich literary and icono-
viewed, and a brief overview is provided graphic traditions
of the of usekete
of in the Greek world. The
whales and whalebones in Greece, as well as in other shoulder blade of the Early Iron Age ketos in Ath-
cultures. Next, the words that the Greeks and Ro- ens, together with discoveries of several other whale-
mans used for whales and the language of whales in bones in various contexts in the Aegean and Med-
mythology and natural history are discussed. Finally, iterranean, permit an archaeology of whales and
an analysis is presented on the manner in which sea monsters in Greek tradition that draws on the
Greek and other artists represented these creatures evidence not only of philology and iconography,
of the deep and the iconographic traditions that were but also faunal remains and material culture.
formulated and established in Aegean prehistory

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
and in Classical archaeology.
Although Classical literature is full of referenc- Before describing Agora BI 115, it is im
es to mythical creatures of the deep-as well as to to establish the details of its context and its date.
real whales-and fantastic sea monsters feature
The deposit in which the whalebone was found was
prominently in Greek and Roman art, Classical
one of two early wells that were located near the
philologists and iconographers have beencenter
ham-of the later Agora, beneath the so-called Civ-
pered in their attempts to link the wordicand the The stylobate of an Early Roman build-
Offices."
image, on the one hand, with the materialing intersected one of them, K 12:2 of Early Geo-
remains
of actual whales on the other. This is in metric date, in which BI 115 was found; the other,
part the
Protogeometric
result of the paucity of verified whalebones in ar- well K 12:1, was located about 2 m
chaeological contexts and the lack of general
to the south
in- (figs. 2-3). The shafts of both wells
formation with regard to their specific species or down to the surviving level of the bed-
had been cut
genera, which has sometimes given rise to the
rock mis-
by early Roman times. Turkish storage pits over-
taken belief that larger whales, such as blue, fin,
lay both wells and extended down into the ragged
and sperm whales were-and are-uncommon in mouth of K 12:1, which opened in bedrock as an
the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. It is our irregular pit, ca. 2 x 2.4 m, narrowing to 1-1.2 m at
aim in this paper to (re-)establish the link between the bottom. The shaft was about 4.8 m in depth
"The well is noted in Shear 1935, 362-3.
2002] AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF WHALES AND SEA MONSTERS IN THE GREEK WORLD 189
Fig. 2. Well K 12:1 in foreground and well K 12:2 (the Early Geometric well with the whalebo
center during excavation in 1934. View from the south. (Courtesy of the Agora Excavations, Am
School of Classical Studies at Athens)
from the level of the surrounding bedrock4 asand

the lay
level of the first meter below the surround-
under the porch of the Civic Offices, 17.5 ming bedrock. The diameter at the mouth of wel
north
of Middle Stoa pier 9 (from the west). The Middle
12:2 as first exposed was 1.3 m, narrowing to 0.7 m
Stoa terrace appears to have been built along
at the the
bottom. The depth of the well below the to
line of an earlier east-west road that may have been
of the overlying wall B was 6.25 m; its depth from
thesuch
in service during the life of the well, though preserved
a level of the surrounding bedroc
approximately
conclusion is speculative. The material from well K 5.3 m (fig. 3). Well K 12:2 was on
12:1 can be assigned to a developed phase ofof the Early Iron Age wells that were stratifie
several
Protogeometric period.5 The lower deposit (period of use) yielded com-
Just over 2 m to the north of K 12:1 was plete
welland
K almost-complete vessels recovered fro
depths ranging between -4.2 and -5.3 m. These
12:2 (figs. 2-3), also referred to by the excavator
as "Protogeometric."6 There appears to havevessels,
beenused to draw water, were inadvertentl
dropped
no physical barrier between the two wells until the by their owners; a selection of some
stylobate of the Civic Offices was built thebetween
period-of-use pots is presented here (figs.
them. It is worth adding that during excavation
5). The upper deposit, filling the remainder of
persistent water was met in both wells, even
the
aswell,
high represents the fill dumped into the shaf
4That is, 54.45 m above sea level. Section M: wellGeometric

at 70/ME.period into Early, Middle, and Late, with subsequent
Deposit first noted 22 and 27 March 1934; clearedphases 29 March-
follows that originally devised by Eva Brann and Evelyn
14 April 1934 by D. Burr [Thompson]. A number of Lordcomplete
Smithson, see Papadopoulos 1998; see further Brann 1961,
vessels from the deposit, primarily oinochoai, may 95;have
Coldstream
been1968, 4-5; Coldstream 1995, 391. Smithson
part of the period-of-use material, but on accountdivided of several
the Protogeometric period into various phases on the
joins noted throughout the deposit, all of the potterywas basis ofcom-
the internal evidence provided by the Agora graves
bined, without a record of the depth noted. As such, it is not
and deposits, particularly the well deposits (well K 12:1 was as-
possible to establish beyond doubt whether the complete signed byves-Smithson to PG III). For further notes on these
sels were indeed period of use, or if the entire fill was chronological
deposit-phases, see Papadopoulos 1996, 119, n. 34.
ed at one time. 6 Section M. "Protogeometric" well at 70/MH. Cleared in-
5 Evelyn Smithson's division of the Early Iron Age into dis- termittently between 2 and 26 April 1934 by Dorothy Burr
tinct phases coincides with that of Coldstream (1968, 8-28)[Thompson]. See also Coldstream 1968, 10, 13.
for Early and Middle Geometric. Coldstream's division of the
A one of the earliest of his si

ric I deposits;' the upper f
est of the Early Geometri
on the basis of the latest di
ered from it.' The upper
earlier material, includin
haps from disturbed tom
consistency of the pottery
ODPlan er deposit would indicate
S1 2 3 4 MD and in use for a relatively s
2: , K12:1
observation supported by
covered from the dumped
TERRACE TRENCH CUTTING
upper deposit. Although t
eMA
ble exception of one piece (P 20618), does not
contain any obvious potters' waste, a number of
whole pots from the period-of-use deposit are
somewhat poorly fired."' These are in addition to
Ter, tr.
several handmade cooking vessels or chytrai (fig.
- Tr. BTurk. pit cutting 5), all clearly fire-stained or burnt from normal
TurkSection A-A
domestic use. The poorly-fired vessels, on the oth-
er hand, are all wheelmade and painted and may
indicate that "factory seconds" were commonly
used for more mundane purposes, such as draw-
ing water from wells, though it is worth stressing
that damaged vessels sometimes occur in tombs."
The whalebone, BI 115 (figs. 7-8), was found in
the upper deposit at a depth of 1.75 m below wall
B and, therefore, at least 1 m in the fill as mea-
Section A-A a egg sured from the level of the surrounding bedrock.
Such a depth is well below the level of the intru-
Fig. 3. Plan and section ofsive material encountered
Agora wells at the
K mouth
12:1 of the
andwell, K 12:2
Inked by Richard Anderson, after
and the a sketch
bone artifact inonthe
may be dated excavati
the basis of
notebook. (Courtesy of the Agora
the diagnostic Excavations,
pottery recovered from the America
upper
School of Classical Studies at Athens)
fill of well K 12:2. This would indicate the chrono-
logical phase Early Geometric II, or ca. 850 B.C. in

when the well had gone out of
the conventional use;
absolute a selection
chronology, as a termi-
nus post
from the more numerous andquem fragmentary
for BI 115.12 How long the bone was
materi-
al recovered from thisin use prior to
level isits also
having been discarded cannot (fi
presented
6). Nicolas Coldstreambelists the
determined. lower
It is worth noting,deposit
however, that as
7Coldstream 1968, 10. Well K 12:2 is listed behind Agora other material in the deposit and thus represents earlier resid-
graves C 9:8 and N 16:4. ual material dumped into the well. Apart from the inventoried
'Coldstream 1968, 13. pieces already noted, there are, among the many sherds from
9 Three vessels, a lekythos (P 3826), a pyxis (P 14207), the
anddeposit stored in context, a few that are very poorly fired,
including some that may even be fragments from possible
a "fruit stand" (P 3967), all clearly Protogeometric and quite
early, must derive from disturbed burials, perhaps even fromwasters or production discards, though their fragmentary state
is such as to render any statement uncertain. The whole pots
the same grave; this will be treated in more detail in the forth-
coming volume on the Early Iron Age tombs in the Athenian from the period of use that are poorly fired include P 3687, P
Agora series. 3688, P 3939; other poorly fired vessels from the lower deposit
include
" See Papadopoulos 1996, 2002. P 20618 is a fragment of a the fragmentary oinochoe P 3941.
" See Papadopoulos 1998.
one-handled cup preserving less than one-half of body, includ-
ing handle scars, but nothing of the base. The clay body is 12in Many of the pieces illustrated in figure 5 from the upper
fill were recorded as coming from a similar depth as BI 115;
part reduced and the paint has mostly fired brown, in places
approaching black. It is not inconceivable that the fragment
others were recorded as coming from a depth down to 1.54 m.
was once a test-piece. The cup is stylistically earlier than the
Fig. 4. Well K 12:2. Selection of wheelmade and painted pottery from the period-of-use deposit: inv. P 393
P 3939.
perhaps even of the immediate surrounds, in the

although fragmentary, the state of preservation of
BI 115 as an artifact is such that it is less likely Early
to Geometric period. Table 1 summarizes the
have been a residual object, kicking around forfaunal remains from well K 12:2 as they were pre-
served and collected in 1934.
any significant length of time. Apart from the three
vessels recovered from the upper fill of well K 12:2 Apart from the whalebone, which is described
and believed to derive from disturbed tombs,'3 the more fully below, at least five other species are rep-
vast majority of residual pottery recovered from this resented in the faunal sample from well K 12:2,
and other Early Iron Age deposits consists of small including canids, bovids, and equids. Most of the
and very worn scraps of pottery. The possibility that specimens in the sample represent lower extremi-
BI 115 was deposited in an earlier tomb and sub- ty skeletal elements with a predominance of
sequently disturbed cannot be ruled out, nor can metapodial bones. The significance of these par-
it be verified on account of the unique nature of ticular remains is that, with the exception of the
the object. Here it is important to emphasize that Equus mid humerus and acetabulum fragments,
the whalebone was not the only bone recovered there are no meat-bearing skeletal elements
from the fill of well K 12:2. The analysis of the present.14 There are, for instance, no elements from
faunal sample from well K 12:2 reveals a pattern of the trunk of the skeleton, such as vertebrae or ribs,
bone finds, the interpretation of which may assist that are typical debris from butchered portions of
in casting light on the use of the whalebone, and meat. Particularly meaty bones like sheep/goat and
Fig. 5. Well K 12:2. Selection of handmade cooking pots (chytrai)

from the period-of-use deposit: inv. P 3760, P 3761.
13 See n. 9. these bones were not meal remains. It is generally believed

4 The equid humerus and acetabulum bones were neither that equids were not considered a normal source of meat in
butchered nor burnt; therefore the evidence suggests that ancient Greece.
Fig. 6. Well K 12:2. Selection of pottery from the upper deposit. Top row, P 3963, P 3964
20608, P 20617.
cattle femora or scapulae are also not present

this was in Kerameikos-the Potters' Quar-
the original
the assemblage. Most of the bones in the
ter of existing
early Athens.'5
sample represent the mid and lower leg portions
THE WHALEBONE AND ITS POSSIBLE
of the skeleton. Bones from the lower extremities
FUNCTIONS
are typical refuse from the preparatory butchering
The whalebone BI 115 (figs. 7-8) is the
for meat, but they are also the first parts of the skel-
of the right articular section of a broke
eton to be discarded during the removal of the hide.
The bones do not exhibit cut marks from hasty
butchery or skinning, a feature indicative of a
skilled butcher. The bones in the sample could
therefore be refuse from preliminary butchering
for meat or for skinning, or conceivably for both. At
least four equids were represented in the sample,
but, as already noted, there is no compelling evi-
dence that such animals were eaten by the Greeks.
Hide removal would then explain better the depo-
sition of the equid remains, together with the oth-
er lower extremities of different species in the sam-
ple. Although comparatively small, this faunal as-
semblage of mostly unworked metapodials might
suggest that leatherworking was carried out in the
immediate vicinity. As we shall see, such a scenario
may go a long way in explaining the numerous
scratch marks on the surface of the whalebone (fig.
7). The possibility that part of this area northwest of
the Athenian Akropolis was an industrial district
in the Early Iron Age is in keeping with the copi-
ous evidence for potters' activity, in addition toFig.
oth-7. Whale scapula (glenoid) fragment, Athe
inv. BI 115. (Drawing by Anne Hooton)
er industrial debris in this area, which suggest that
' The evidence is fully outlined in Papadopoulos

gy in this
2002;
area,
forsee esp. Mattusch 1977.
a summary, see Papadopoulos 1996. For evidence of metallur-
also known as the glenoid. The glenoid articu-

lates with the proximal humerus in the pectora
girdle in all mammalian species, and its scapula
is commonly referred to as the shoulder blade
(fig. 9). Although the piece is badly fragmented,
the diagnostic features indicative of a large ma-
rine mammal are still clear. The bone is lighter
than one might expect for its size because of the
porosity of the spongy trabecular bone, a result
of life in an aquatic environment. Body weight i
reduced significantly in saline marine habitats
and the bones of marine mammals acquire in-
creased buoyancy rather than the weight-bearing
stamina that terrestrial animals develop.
Agora BI 115 was compared with specimens
maintained by the British Museum of Natural His-
tory in London, where some 66 individual whale
skeletons from a variety of species are available
for examination.'6 In terms of classification and
nomenclature, whales belong to the order Ceta-
cea, from the Greek word ketos (Latin cetus or ce-
tos, see below), which includes three suborders:
the Archaeoceti, or "ancient whales," extinct
forms known only from fossils;" the Mysticeti, or
"moustached whales," which include at least 10
living species of baleen, or whalebone, whales;
and the Odontoceti, or "toothed whales," includ-
ing 65 or more living species of dolphins, por-
poises, and whales with teeth but no baleen.'s
Because of the fragmentary nature of BI 115, spe-
cies identification was not straightforward. The
classification was further impeded by the fact that
the scapula originated from an immature indi-
vidual, with the result that the diagnostic features
of the animal had not had a chance to develop
fully prior to death. The remnants of the juve-
nile cortex around the glenoid cavity, as well as
the exposure of the epiphysial surface of the gle-
noid, indicates that the bone is underdeveloped
(fig. 8b). Through a comparison with modern
specimens, the bone most closely resembles the
glenoid of an immature fin whale (Balaenoptera
physalus, Linn. 1758) (fig. 10), a baleen whale of
the suborder Mysticeti. The individual was ap-
proximately
Fig. 8a-c. Front and lateral views of the whale scapula, BI two to three years of age at the time
115. (Photos by Craig Mauzy) of death.19
16 The whalebone comparative collection is stored off-site is evidently the first time a dismembered whale has turned up
in Wandsworth Outstation. at a Paleolithic site. For exposed Eocene whale skulls in the
17For a useful overview of fossil whales, seeJones 1999, 17-Mediterranean, see Mayor 2000, 160.
8. The evidence of fossils suggests that the distant ancestors of 8 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 2.
whales were "hyena-like beasts called mesonychids, scavengers '9We are indebted to Richard Sabin, the cetacean specialist
for carrion and hunters of fish" (Jones 1999, 17). Bernadette of the Mammals Group at the Natural History Museum in Lon-
Arnaud (http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/don. We gratefully acknowledge his assistance in identifying
whale.html) reports the discovery of a fossilized whale, proba-the species represented by this bone and his help with the
bly a baleen, some 18 ft. long, near Benguela in Angola. This literature, particularly for earlier authors.
Table 1. Fauna from Well K 12:2
Species Element Number of Individuals

Balaenoptera (whale) 1 right glenoid fr 1 (BI 115)
Canis (dog) 1 left unfused humerus 1
Ovis/Capra (sheep/goat) 1 fr metacarpus 1
2 mid tibiae
Bos (cattle) 2 right metatarsi 2
1 left metatarsus 1
1 mid metatarsus
1 mid metacarpus
1 left calcaneum
1 right astragalus
1 right distal tibia
Equus (horse/donkey) 2 right metatarsi 2 (likely donkeys)
2 left metatarsi 2 (another donkey and a horse)
2 left metacarpi
1 right metacarpus
1 distal metapodial
2 metapodial frr
1 proximal phalanx
1 left tibia
1 left radius
2 tarsi
1 right mid humerus
1 fr acetabulum
The fin whale is also known as the Common lies-at 120 yards (or 360 ft.).22 Although likely to
be exaggerated,
Rorqual, deriving from the Norwegian word for "fur- such a description ("wrinkled bel-
row," and refers to the pleated grooves running
lies") can only refer to blue and fin whales. Here it
from its chin to its navel.2" Alternative names in- is important to remember that in the days of
clude Finback, Finner, Finfish, Razorback, and Melville, although there were stories of large levia-
Herring Whale. As already noted, fin whales arethans, not least of which was Moby Dick (Mocha
the second largest mammal on Earth after the blue Dick),2" the largest of the whales that could be
whale (Balaenoptera musculus, Linn. 1758); thecaught commercially was the sperm whale or cacha-
former can measure up to 27 m (89 ft.) long, thelot, followed by the bowhead and right whales.24 It
latter can reach a length of up to 33 m (109 ft.). In was their size and the quality of their oil-particu-
both species, female individuals are larger than the larly the spermaceti-that made the sperm whale
males by more than 10%.21 Herman Melville relates one of the most commercially viable commodities
of the sea in the modern era, and the lives of the
that in the days of Joseph Banks and Daniel Solan-
der, Captain James Cook's naturalists, a Swedishwhalers who hunted them hazardous (fig. 11).25
member of the Academy of Sciences set down cer-Here it is important to note that 11 of the 80 or so
known kinds of whales and dolphins were discov-
tain Iceland whales-reydar-fiskur or Wrinkled Bel-
20 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 52-6. The throat grooves, in whale in 1820 that inspired the ending of Melville's narrative,
addition to streamlining the shape of the whale, allow the throat see Philbrick 2000. See also Jones 1999, 19.
area (cavum ventrale) to expand considerably during feeding, 2" Melville 1851, 145-57, 194-203, 493-5.
thus allowing the intake of tons of food-laden water, which is 25 One of the most highly prized parts of a sperm whale was
then discarded through their baleen plates, leaving the fish or ambergris, a peculiar substance that occurs in the lower intes-
krill for swallowing. This efficient system enables the largest tine in lumps weighing up to 100 kg. It is formed around squid
creatures to feed on some of the smallest. beaks that remain in the stomach. It was once highly prized
21 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 52; Wfirtz and Repetto 1998, for a variety of uses, including as a fixative or base for perfume,
133. in medicine, to spice wine and other foods, and as an aphrodi-
22 Melville 1851, 501. siac. In 1912 a 1,003 lb. lump sold for $69,000. See Leather-
23 Melville 1851. For the great white whale of the Pacific, wood et al. 1983, 87; Reese 1991, 6; Philbrick 2000, 56. For the
Mocha Dick, which Melville used for his novel, see Reynolds favorite meal of the sperm whale-the giant squid-see Ellis
1932. For the story of the whaleship Essex rammed by a sperm 1998.
Fig. 9. Skeleton of a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) exhibited at the Royal College of Surgeo
after a 19th-century drawing. Arrow points to scapula.
ered in the 20th century.26 Although the fin thatwhale

they are one of the fastest of the big whales,
was known in the earlier 19th century-"apossibly monster reaching burst speeds in excess of 32 km
which, by the various names of Fin-Back, Tall-Spout, per hour (sei whales, Balaenoptera borealis, may be
and Long John, has been seen almost in slightly every faster).29
sea This is a contributing factor as to
and is commonly the whale whose distant jetphotographs
why is so of this species are rare and per-
often descried by passengers crossing the hapsAtlan-
why casual sightings-in antiquity as in the
ic"27-it was considered an unconquerable levi-
present-would have been few and far between.
athian by the whale fishery of the time.One Melville
of the most numerically abundant of the large
describes the "Fin-Back" as a shy and solitary whales,crea-
the fin whale was the first species to be hunt-
ture, gifted with wondrous power and velocity ed with theofharpoon gun and was heavily exploited
swimming, so much so "as to defy all present by the pur-
whaling industry, particularly in the 20th
suit from man."28 century, its population severely depleted, especial-
Melville's remark on the velocity of fin whales is ly in the southern oceans.30 The head of the fin
supported by modern research, which indicates whale is flattish and can be between one-fifth and
Fig. 10. Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
26Jones 1999, 50. Micklethwaite Peterson 1994, 202-7. AsJones (1999, 72) has
27 Melville 1851, 150. noted the steam-powered harpoon appeared in 1864 and the
28Melville 1851, 151.According to Leatherwood etal. (1983,
number of whales it killed rose from 30 in that year to 66,000
53) fin whales are sometimes found singly or in pairs, butin 1961. Pre-whaling estimates suggest that there were
more
often in pods of three to seven individuals. 300,000-650,000 fin whales swimming the oceans of the world.
29 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 54. Current figures suggest that a mere 123,000 animals are left.
30 See Leatherwood et al. 1983, 55-6, 24-30; Connor and
Fig. 11. Aquatint, after Garneray, entitled Pche du Cachalot, the Whaling Museum, New
of the Whaling Museum)
one-quarter of the total body length. 0.0675

A m thick on the articular end (glenoid) and
distinctly
ridged tailstock gave rise to the whalers' name
0.015 m thick on the blade (fig. 8c). If reconstruct-
"Razorback."31 Fin whales have twin blowholes ed to its original state, the scapula from this indi-
with a single longitudinal ridge extending vidual
from would measure approximately 0.6 x 0.35 m
the blowholes to near the top of the snout.(fig.The 12);34 consequently, the preserved portion of
baleen plates in the mouth of fin whales (260-480
the scapula represents only about 20% of the orig-
on each side) reach a maximum length of 0.7-0.9
inal bone (fig. 12a).
The lateral surface of the scapula is marked by
m and a width of 0.2-0.3 m."32 Agora BI 115, when
reconstructed to its approximate original dimen-
fine cuts made by a fine metal instrument (figs. 7,
sions, suggests a total body length of an individual
8).3 The marks have no regular orientation and
10-12 m long. Fin whale calves are born at an occur
ap- in random directions of varied length mea-
proximate length of 6 m."33 Accordingly, the suring
indi- from 2 mm to 5 cm. The marks form no pat-
vidual represented by BI 115 must have beenterns
a calfor signs but rather exhibit cut marks from
between two and three years of age when it met
fineitsspecialized work. The palimpsest nature of the
demise. marks seems to suggest work carried out over a pe-
The greatest dimensions of the scapula are as of time rather than all the marks having been
riod
follows: 0.12 m preserved length on the shortest
made at one time. On account of the irregularity of
side, 0.16 and 0.195 m on the adjacent sides,the
andmarkings, we can rule out a number of possible
0.22 m on the longest side (fig. 7). The bone
uses is
of the bone. For instance, a scapula bound to a
" On some animals the white of the right side can continue34 Dimensions were calculated on the smallest metrical fig-
onto the upper lip and to the side of the neck giving it ures of the Balaenopterascapula as provided in True 1904, 144.
a char-
acteristic asymmetrical appearance. " Microscopic analysis of the cut marks indicates that they
were
"32 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 53. The baleen bristles are made by a fine metal instrument rather than a chipped
soft
in comparison to the blue whale and vary from yellowish stone blade. For the differentiation of metal and stone tool
white
to grayish white. marks on bone, see Greenfield 1999.
1 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 52.
and also accounts both for the fine cut marks on

the flat surface and the rectangular cutting. The
advantages of such a whalebone in leatherworking,
particularly for the cutting of leather, lie in the soft
and porous yet firm texture of the bone, which pro-
vides a good surface on which to cut, but one that
does not damage the cutting blade as a stone sur-
face might. Moreover, wooden surfaces have a ten-
dency to splinter when repeatedly worked upon
with sharp instruments. Bone, however, provides a
hard yet elastic surface that will rarely splinter when
cut repeatedly by a sharp blade. Bone is also easier
to maintain and wash and will not warp when ex-
posed to frequent humidity. These traits, along with
the versatility of bone to accommodate many uses
in its basic form, make large bones particularly de-
sirable commodities. A whale scapula, such as BI
115 in its original form, with its ample smooth and
flat working surface would have appealed to indus-
trial and domestic workers alike, a worthy commod-
Fig. 12. Reconstruction of the original shape and itysize of
of exchange.
the whale scapula, BI 115, restored with three hypothetical
Unlike whalebone, the incidence of elasmo-
cuttings for the attachment of legs (a, acromion process; b,
glenoid fossa; c, coracoid process). (Drawing by branch or cartilaginous fish, such as shark, ray, skate,
Deborah
Ruscillo) sawfish, and guitarfish (evidenced primarily by ver-
tebrae), is well known and fully documented in Ae-
wooden shaft and used in the fields as a hoe to till
gean and Cypriot archaeological contexts.37 In re-
the ground would exhibit regular markings and viewirig the 120 or so such examples collected and
discussed
scrapes following a dorsal to ventral pattern on the from approximately 40 sites, and placed
bone surface.36 Although the complete bone would in the larger context of fish bone assemblages from
have been large and sturdy, the 0.015 m thickness Aegean and Cypriot sites, David Reese's impres-
of the blade renders the specimen inappropriate sion was that these fish were the result of chance
for certain tasks: the blade, for example, could notnettings, rather than having been specifically hunt-
withstand blows from a cleaver without snapping. ed."8 In the case of the few specimens of cetaceans
The rectangular cut hole at the articular endor whalebones that occur in archaeological contexts
measures 0.035 x 0.025 m and appears to have been in the Aegean, it is usually assumed that the mam-
mal was stranded close to the settlement in which it
cut by a sharp implement. The shape of the hole
and the care with which it was cut suggests that itwas found;39 many of the larger whales, even imma-
acted as a juncture between the bone and another ture individuals, would destroy most nets.
object, perhaps a wooden leg, thereby transform-The possibility that the Agora bone derives from
ing the original large scapula into a useful small a beached whale appears to be confirmed by its sur-
table or working surface. If so, the scapula could face wear. The edges of the glenoid have been nat-
have had similar cut holes at adjacent points for urally worn down and smoothed by wave action and
other wooden legs, no longer preserved (fig. 12). sand friction. There are no tools marks around the
Here it is important to note the other faunal re- glenoid, even microscopically, to suggest that the
mains from the well, discussed above. A whale scap-edges were filed down by human use. The wear
ula used as a leatherworking surface appears to found around the glenoid is typical of bone that
conform nicely with the possible hide-removal has been tossed around the surf for quite some
time.
refuse implied by the other associated faunal finds, The coracoid process has been worn down
36 Cattle scapulae have been known to be used in rural Afri-creatures. Various types ofsharks are common in the Mediterra-
ca as hoes.
nean and the bibliography on them is extensive.
37 Reese 1984. Although we refer to sharks in passing through- 38 Reese 1984, 191.
out this study, we have avoided more specific discussion of these 39 See, e.g., Renfrew et al. 1968, 119.
Fig. 13. Stranded sperm whale on the shore near Katwyk, Holland in 1598. Eng
Matham after an original drawing by Hendrik Goltzius. NewYork, the Metropolitan
Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 51.501.6056. (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of
(fig. 12) from the posterior side of thethe glenoid,

stranded creature is evident in the host of spec-
and the acromion process broken off. tators,
Thefrom gentlemen on horseback to barefoot
water-
worn edges indicate that the whalechildren. was likelyWhennot a whale is beached, the body de-
hunted out of the waters, but was washed ashore generates within weeks, exposing the skeleton to
after its death, or else stranded on the beach, where the elements. During rough weather the skeleton
it subsequently died. The age of the individual rep- is dismembered by wave action and the bones can
resented by BI 115 supports such a hypothesis. be drawn into the surf. Sea currents can then redis-
Immature whales must maintain a close relation- tribute the bones onto other shores. These bones
ship with their mothers, even after nursing are often

for the found and collected for use as tools or
first three or four years of life; otherwise the calf
keepsakes, particularly as the time spent in salt water
will have little chance of survival on its own. If the and on the sand exposed to the sun has minimized
the
calf strays away from its mother, it will likely starve orfat content of the bone and the pungent scents
associated with it. A classic example of part of a
fall prey to predators.40 When a whale dies in water,
beached whale skeleton is illustrated in figure 14,
provided its skin is not punctured, its body expands
with decompositional gases (methane), causing showing
the seven semi-articulated vertebrae of whale
stranded on the coast of the Aegean island of
carcass to float.41 The carcass can be carried by wa-
ter currents until it is ultimately washed up uponSchoinousa
a in the 1990s and photographed by Ni-
kos Panagiotopoulos.
shore. A classic illustration is the engraving, exe-
cuted by Jacob Matham after an original drawing by Whale strandings are particularly common in
northwest Europe, and by 1947, Grahame Clark was
Hendrick Goltzius, of a 21 m Sperm whale that was
able to enumerate some 80 instances of archaeo-
stranded at Katwyk in Holland in February of 1598
(fig. 13).42 The excitement and curiosity around
logical sites yielding whalebone in prehistoric con
40 Roger Crane, Cetacean Specialist, research support

42 for
NewYork, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Elisha Whit-
IMAX documentary, Whales (1999). telsey Fund, 51.501.6056. See, e.g., den Broeder 1972, 82-3
41 Richard Sabin (pers. comm. 1997). no. 80.
Fig. 14. Seven semi-articulated vertebrae of a whale beached on the Aegean island of Schoinousa. (After th
Tachydromos)
A.D.Iron
texts ranging from the Mesolithic through the whaling was widespread along the Channel
coast
Age.43 Although scholars have long been aware thatof France between Normandy and Flanders,
and there is evidence of similar activity off the Bis-
whales and whale products were extensively utilized
by different peoples on the Atlantic seaboard of of France and Spain.46 The exploitation of
cay coast
Europe, it is generally assumed that stranded the whale by the inhabitants of the Atlantic sea-
whales provided the main source of supply in an- board inspired numerous myths and motifs, but the
tiquity.44 The problem of determining whether leviathan also left its mark on the peoples of the
stranded whales were exploited or whether live Mediterranean.
animals were hunted is not straightforward.45 This

LEVIATHANS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
is important to bear in mind, because it is possible
that coastal cultures in those parts of the world For any reader of the Old Testament, th
where whales are less common than northwest Eu- image of Leviathan was above all else frig
bold symbol of evil in Judeo-Christian
rope, such as the Aegean, may have exploited strand-
ed whales from time to time. So far as western Eu- and a constant reminder of the wrath an
rope is concerned, from at least the ninth century tence of God. More importantly, these
4 Clark 1947, 100-2. Although Clark listed1947. Similarly,

examples there is little evidence for the pr
from
the British Isles, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, ing the
in Anglo-Saxon
Netherlands,or later Medieval England,
venerable
and France, by far the more common occurrences Bede,
were at the opening of the Historia
at pre-
Viking Iron Age sites in Scotland. Scottish mentions
sites havethat seals, dolphins, and sometimes
produced
caught off
a greatvariety of implements made ofwhalebone the
(see coast of Britain (see Gardiner 19
below),
and the Firth of Forth has yielded numerous further
remainsWallace-Hadrill
ofwhales 1988, 6).
stranded on its shores during the Stone Age 45 In dealing
(see Clark with
1947, the archaeology of whaling
Australia
92, fig. 3 [Firth of Forth], and pls. I-II for whaleboneand imple-
New Zealand, Susan Lawrence and
advocated
ments). In addition to these physical remains a more
of whales, pre-nuanced ethnography of p
historic representations of cetaceans are meshes
common documents
in north-and artifacts into an integra
account,
west Europe, especially in Norway (see Clark 1947,which
94-8, is sensitive to local material hor
figs.
6, 9), and more recently, Whittle (2000)tural
has suggested
landscapes that
very different from our own.
the motifs on certain Breton menhirs often1998; Mayne and
interpreted as Lawrence
an 1999.
axe or axe-plow could be representations of 46 The evidence is summarized in Gardiner 1
whales.
44 See discussion in Childe 1931, esp. 97;
whaling
1935, 248;in Normandy
Nord- and Flanders see Musset
mann 1936, 127-8. For the view that whalesquoywere1948. hunted by
For whaling in the Bay of Biscay see
the Erteb6lle, see Mathiassen 1935, 150; 1927.
Jenkins 1971.The evidence
and much of the earlier literature is usefully presented in Clark
creatures, whatever their precise mens

nature
recorded
(see
from be-
Tenos, Euboia, and Karpa-
low), did not inhabit some far off realm; they
thos,51 and, morerepre-
recently, a number of sperm whales
sighted
sented, if only in a poetic sense, a stark in the Saronic
reality Gulf on 20 May 1998.52 Small-
of the
Mediterranean: er cetacean species in the Mediterranean include
the Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris),
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teams with
things innumerable, living things both smallwhich
and is quite common, as well as the Minke whale
great. (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), pilot whale (Globicepha-
There go the ships, and Leviathan which thou didst la melas), and the killer whale (Orcinus orca), all of
form to sport in it (Psalms 104:25-26).
which are rather rare.53 InJuly 1999, the Greek press
In his seminal study on whales as an economic carried a story of a blue whale (Balaenoptera muscu-
factor in prehistoric Europe, Clark wrote: lus) reportedly spotted in the Gulf of Kavala, head-
Several species of whale penetrate the Mediterranean
ing southwest, according to fishermen who said they
and some are at home there, but there is no indica- almost collided with the large sea mammal, which
tion that whales were economically important in an- was moving between the Strymon Gulf and Mount
cient any more than in modern times. Dolphins are Athos.54 The Kavala-based fishermen were fortunate
particularly numerous and were commonly depicted
in comparison to Darius's fleet, which in 492 B.C.
by the Minoans, as in the well-known fresco in the
"Queen's Megaron" at Knossos; although the bar- was wrecked by the storm vividly related by Hero-
barians of the Black Sea used their fat for oil and ate dotos (6.44) in the waters around Mount Athos.
their flesh salted, the Greeks and Romans regarded
According to Herodotos, the Persians lost 300 ships
Dolphins auspiciously as guardians of mariners and
and more than 20,000 men, some dashed against
refrained from slaying them, except for medicinal
the rocks, others dying from exposure or drown-
purposes.47
ing, while many were carried off by the wild sea-
Despite the fact that the Greeks enjoyed dolphin, beasts, which abounded in the coasts around Athos
especially pickled slices of the mammal, as much ( yocE y&p OrqptloEo6rrqq oo60qq iijq Ozq adooqq
as their "barbarian" neighbors,48 it is clear that -ra6iqq iqqf nepi i v "Ao@v).55 Most recently, in
whales were not systematically exploited in Aegean April 2001, a rare sighting of a humpback whale
prehistory and in Classical antiquity. (Megaptera novaeangliae) was reported off the coast
In modern times, a variety of whales have been of Tolon in the Argolic Gulf.56
recorded in the Mediterranean, but our knowledge As for the larger fin whales, although actual sight-
is limited by the lack of systematic records.49 Steve ings of these creatures are not very common in the
Jones notes that even today the Mediterranean has Mediterranean, they are not unknown, so the inci-
mqre than 3,000 whales.50 Species that have been dence of a Balaenoptera scapula in the Aegean could
identified in the Mediterranean include the sperm be explained either by a beached whale or by cur-
whale (Physeter macrocephalus), with stranded speci- rents carrying the carcass of a dead animal. A fin
47 Clark 1947, 84, n. 1, with reference to Keller 1909-1913, 50Jones 1999, 258.
408-10. 51Kinzelbach 1986a, 15; Marchessaux 1980, 62; R
3-5. The sperm whale is also recorded in Israel (Ah
48For pickled slices ofdolphin carried in amphoras, see Pritch-
ett 1956, 202-3, n. 192; Papadopoulos and Paspalas 1999,177, and Egypt (Flower 1932).
n. 82. For the consumption of fish in Classical Athens, see 52 Reported in the national news of Greece on t
Davidson (1997, 8), where it is clear that the dolphin was not 53For these species, see Marchessaux 1980, 61-3;
considered among the great piscifaunal delicacies, such as tuna,er's beaked whale is also discussed in Bauer 1978; K
1985, with recorded specimens from various part
sea-perch or grouper, conger eel, gray and red mullet, gilt-head,
sea-bass, and various other fish. Common species of dolphin (Rhodes,
in Karpathos, near Gythion, and Tilos), Tur
Greece include Delphinus delphis, Tursops truncati, Stenella (anakkale
coer- and near Karatas), Egypt (Sabkhat al-Bar
uleoalba, and Grampus griseus. To this list, Ragnar Kinzelbach Israel (Bet Yannay, Ras Haniqra, near Tel Aviv a
(1986b) has added Risso's Dolphin (Grampidelphis griseus), [Dor]). For Israel, see further Ilani 1980. In May
through a specimen found stranded between the mouths Cuvier's
of beaked whales were stranded on the coast of the
the rivers Vassilipotamos and Eurotas, 5 km southwest of WesternSkala Peloponnesos (Kathimerini 6 July 1998, 3).
in Lakonia, a place famous for kete (see below). 54 Athens News 10 July 1999, 4. The whale reportedly mea-
49 One of the great problems impeding a detailed analysis sured
of over 20 m in length.
the distribution ofwhales in the Mediterranean is the fact that 55 It was this wretched passage around Athos, with its sea
systematic records of sightings and strandings have only been monsters, which led to Xerxes' decision to cut the canal
gathered annually since the early 1980s, primarily in France through the neck of the peninsula of Akte in 483-481 B.C.
and Spain. In some Mediterranean countries, as Pilleri and (Hdt. 7.22-4).
Pilleri (1982, 49) lament, there are no national records what- 56Reported in the Greek newspaper, Kathimerini 20-22 April
soever. 2001.
whale, for example, was recorded stranded by Gulf not far from the Early Iron Age settlement of
Lacepiede on St. Marguerite Island off the coast of Athens.
France in 1798,57 and live fin whales have been spot-

THE USE OF WHALES AND WHALEBONES IN
ted off the coast of Italy, including a splendid spec-
THE GREEK WORLD AND BEYOND
imen of a Balaenoptera physalus photographed be-
tween Calvi and San Remo.58 The fin whale is espe- Archaeological finds of whale remai
cially common in the western Mediterranean, common in Greece. The earliest extant whalebone
where it has been recorded all year round, with remains from Greece were recovered from the Late
peaks in the summer months, particularly betweenNeolithic settlement at Saliagos, now a small islet
Corsica and the French Riviera and around the Ital-
between Paros and Antiparos. The two vertebrae
ian coasts.59 In Greece, fin whales have been sight-
are suspected to have originated from Pilot or Kill-
ed primarily in the continental slope area in the
er whales."65 Small cetacean vertebrae have also been
recorded from the excavations at Torone in Cha-
southern part of the Aegean, and especially around
Rhodes, Karpathos, and Crete, though in 1997likdike,
a in mixed levels, but are most likely from
fin whale was found stranded in the harbor of Kav-
dolphins or small whales.66 The excavations at Phais-
tos in Crete also yielded a whale vertebra, discov
ala in the north Aegean.60 Stranded fin whales have
also been reported in the eastern and southeast-
ered under the pavement of one of the magazines
ern part of the Mediterranean basin.61 Several of
au-the Minoan palace.67 More recently, a massive
thoritative guides mention the presence of fin piece of a whale vertebra was seen by one of the
whales in the Mediterranean,62 and Whirtz and authors (Ruscillo) in the storage area of the Corinth
Repetto not only stress the incidence of Balaenopteraexcavations. No one is sure of its provenance, but it
physalus in the Mediterranean, but assert that Med- appears to be a modern find, since body oil was still
iterranean fin whales are genetically isolated frompresent in the bone. The specimen consists only of
the Atlantic population.6" Although they are most trabecular bone, with no surfaces extant. The di-
common in the Southern Hemisphere, fin whales mensions are approximately 0.45 x 0.35 m (great-
inhabit the North Atlantic and North Pacific in est length x width). The surviving trabecular piece
smaller populations.64 Most importantly,seems the fin too large to originate from a sperm whale,
whale is the only rorqual commonly found inreconstruction
but the is impossible without any corti-
Mediterranean. Consequently, the discovery of cal asurface
fin preservation. Outside of the Aegean,
whale scapula in the heart of what was tothe become
incidence of whalebone in ancient contexts in
historic Athens should not be seen as unusual, and the central and eastern Mediterranean is similarly
it is even possible that the animal represented byrare. Reese describes four sperm whale vertebrae
BI 115 was stranded along the coast of the Saronicfrom the Phoenician colony at Motya in western Sic-
5 Hershovitz 1966, 165-6. 62 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 55; Notarbartolo di Sciara and
58 For confirmed sightings of fin whales off the coastDemmaof It- 1994, 61, 69; Ridgway and Harrison 1985,176; Tinker
aly, see Van den Brink 1967. For the illustrated fin whale, 1988,see288. We owe many of these references to Richard Sab-
in.Pilleri
Pilleri and Pilleri 1982, 54, fig. 4. See further Pilleri and
1987.
63Wfirtz and Repetto 1998, 133. For the differences be-
59 Duguy and Vallon 1977; Marchessaux 1980, 62-3. tween the scapulae of European and American fin whales, see
60 Carpentieri et al. 1999, 72. The authors further note thatTrue 1904, 142, figs. 33-6.
the relatively high frequency of sightings of all types of whales 6 See Leatherwood et al. 1983, 55. Some populations mi-
between Rhodes and Karpathos could be related to the up- grate between warm, low latitude winter mating grounds and
welling phenomenon, discussed by Panucci-Papadopoulou etcooler, high latitude summer feeding grounds, but their move-
al. (1992), that occurs in this area at various times of the year.ments are less predictable than other large whales. Some low-
Marchessaux (1980, 63) lists two specimens of fin whales that er latitude populations, such as in the Gulf of California (Sea
were observed and photographed near the island of Gavdos, of Cortez) and Mexico seem to be resident year round. Fin
south of Crete. whales are least common in the tropics and will enter polar
61Marchessaux and Duguy 1979; Marchessaux (1980, 63) waters, but not as often as Minke or Blue whales.
notes a fin whale of 16.5 m length found stranded at Askelon 65 See Renfrew et al. 1968, 119. Dr. Frazer of the British
inJanuary 1956; he further notes that Israeli fishermen some- Museum writes that it is impossible to give a specific identifica-
times pick up fin whale mandibles in their dragnets. See fur- tion to these two vertebrae.
ther Carpentieri et al. 1999, 72. At least two stranded fin whales 66The identification of these was made by the late Dr. San-
have been reported on the coast of Egypt: one near Alexan- dor Bkonyi.
dria in 1860 (see Paulus 1966), another near Mersa Matruh in 67Pernier 1935, 119; Reese 1991, 5.
December 1926 (see Flower 1932).
which are composed of a whale vertebra.

the butchering of fish are relatively rare i
vase painting. We know of only four ex
black-figure olpe in Berlin with two wreath
preparing to cut up a tuna,70 and three rep
tions which depict a fish, invariably larg
on a small table, which stands either on t
(fig. 15) or else on a conical support (fig.
all three cases, the upper part of the table,
which the fish is actually placed, is a circul
varying thickness that could very well be p
large whale vertebra.
Be that as it may, the few examples of wh
finds in the Aegean listed above, togeth
Agora BI 115, represent the sum total of w
found in archaeological contexts in Gree
generally assumed that all are likely to hav
from stranded whales, though the possib
some may have been hunted, perhaps acc
cannot be ruled out. In this context, the evidence
from Neolithic Saliagos is potentially informative.
There, large scombridae (tunny and albacore) ac-
count for 97% of the fish bones identified.72 These
Fig. 15. Campanian red-figure krater from
tunaLipari, now
bones from in
Saliagos are from fish measuring
the Museo Mandralisca, Cefalui, depicting a fishmonger
between two and six feet in length (a five foot tuna
slicing a large fish for a customer on a table conceivably
can weigh up to 800 lbs.), and thus represent a
made of a whale vertebra. Name vase of the Tunny-seller
Painter. (Photo byJohn Papadopoulos) substantial source of food.73 The killing was per-
formed by spears with obsidian spearheads, though
it is possible
ily dating from the sixth to fifth centuries that and
B.C. nets, perhaps strengthened with
a few possible additional fragments found
leather, wereat Isola
used to corral the fish during their
Lunga near Motya.68 It is important to note
annual that all
migration.74 In the light of this information,
of these finds are vertebrae (cf. fig. it
14), and
is not similar
too difficult to imagine the occasional small
whale vertebrae used as chopping whale blocks are
speared offwell
the coast of Antiparos.
known in British sites, such as Maidencastle,
Against and in
the backdrop of these few whalebones
Canadian British Columbia.69 Although
from Aegeanthere
sites, are
Agora BI 115 stands out both by
no attested whale vertebrae chopping blocks
the fact that itinis athe
scapula, as opposed to the more
common vertebrae,
Aegean, a number of Archaic and Classical repre- and for the fine cut marks on
sentations depicting fishmongers chopping
the flat side, or slic- that it was used as a cutting
suggesting
ing large fish may show tables, thesurface.
upper parts
Such ofa whale scapula is rare even
a use for
68 Reese 1991, 1-2, 5. The Isola Lunga piece comprised two 71The three vases include: a Campanian red-figure krater
teeth identified as probably from a false killer whale (Pseudor- from Lipari (fig. 15), Trendall 1967, 207-8 (the name vase of
ca crassidens, Owen 1846) associated with the third-century B.C. the Tunny-seller Painter; Tullio in Consolo et al. 1991, 68-9,
Punic shipwreck; see further Ryder 1975, 213, fig. 1. For the fig. 55); a south Italian red-figure krater in a private collection,
incidence of false killer whales in the Mediterranean, see Evans Bielefeld 1966, 253, fig. 1; and a black-figure kylix (Type C),
1987, 94. theJ. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 96.AE.96 (fig. 16), True and
69We are grateful to Simon Davis of the Ancient Monuments Hamma 1994, 92-4, no. 38.
Laboratory of English Heritage for information, including illus- 72 Renfrew et al. 1968, 118-21.
trations, of a whale vertebra from Maidencastle with chopping 73 Renfrew et al. 1968, 119.
marks on it. Yvonne Marshall of the Department ofArchaeolo- 74 The story of the annual fishing of tuna by the tonnaroti of
gy, Southampton University, and Greg Monks of the Depart- Favignana, a small island off the coast of Sicily-and its associ-
ment of Anthropology at the University of Manitoba both gen- ated way of life, is dramatically related by Theresa Maggio (2000)
erously offered information on whale vertebrae used as chop- in her account of the mattanza. For the tuna runs in the Atlan-
ping blocks from various sites on the west coast of Canada. tic near Gibraltar, see Brown 1968, 56-61.
70 Durand 1979, 28, fig. 9.
Fig. 16. Detail of Athenian black-figure kylix showing a fishmonger cutting up a fish on a bi
table, perhaps with a whale vertebra at the top. Malibu, the J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 96.A
(Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum)
in cultures that extensively exploited whales and

and a similar function is possible for the T'uukw'aa
whalebones. Indeed, the only comparandum scapula.
we
The sur-
have been able to find for this type of working use of whale products by cultures with ac-
cess to the creatures, whether stranded or hunted,
face is a scapula from a humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae) found on the west coast of is wide ranging,
Canada at since whales have an enormous
the pre-contact period site of T'uukw'aa (1200 number of usable parts. Whale meat was used as
B.P.), a site believed to have been settled by the food both for human and animal consumption,
Nootka people. Five pieces of a left scapula blade whale oil was burned for light, as well as for lubrica-
were identified with fine cut marks over the later- tion and soap, and even the skin of cetaceans was
al surface, with additional cut marks on the medi- used.76 Of the toothed whales, particularly the
al surface (fig. 17).75 The cut marks do not appear sperm whale, the teeth were used for elaborate carv-
to be oriented in any particular direction, and the ing (scrimshaw), while the jaws were worked in a
glenoid has been removed. Although clearly used fashion similar to ivory. In certain cultures, such as
as cutting surfaces, the Athenian and west Cana- the Arctic populations of Alaska, Canada, Russia,
dian scapulae could not have been used as chop- and Greenland, whale meat was a subsistence sta-
ping blocks-unlike the whale vertebrae noted ple, as it was in the Azores and Madeira island groups
above-on account of the thinness of the cortex in the Atlantic, or in the Lembata and Solor Islands
and the fragility of the spongy trabecular
of bone.
Indonesia and parts of the Philippines." In oth-
Leatherworking has been suggested for BIer115,
cultures, at certain times, whale meat enjoyed a
75We are most grateful to Greg Monks of the Department whale products in the 19th century. For the curing of whale
ofAnthropology at the University of Manitoba for sharing this meat by the Basques, see Kurlansky 1997, 19-22.
information with us and for providing the photograph illus- 77 Connor and Micklethwaite Peterson 1994, 208. Elsewhere,
trated in figure 17, now published in Monks 2001, 143, fig.4. in the Faroe Islands, for example, the hunting of whale was a
76 Melville (1851) gives a wonderful overview of the enor- more seasonal activity, particularly during the summer months
mous number of usable parts of a whale and the various uses of (see Connor and Micklethwaite Peterson 1994, 207-8).
ville discusses the various instances where whale-
bone has been incorporated into Neolithic and Iron

Age sites in Scotland, especially at Skara Brae, Dun
Vulan, Freswick, Cheardach Mhor, and Scalloway
Smith, and part of a blue whale humerus was incor-
porated into a stone wall at a building at the Norse
site at Kilpheder.82 Although there does not appear
to be a clear pattern of bone usage at these sites,
whalebones seem to have been used opportunisti-
cally rather than strategically, and, in some cases,
for display effect. In this context it is important to
note the testimony of Pliny the Elder, who men-
tions that the "admirals of the fleets of Alexander
[see below] have stated that the Gedrosi [the in-
habitants of modern Makan] who live by the river
Arabis [either the Purali or the Habb] make the
doorways in their houses out of the monster's jaw
and use their bones for roof-beams, many of them
having been found that were 60 feet long."83 Whale-
Fig. 17. Detail of the left scapula of a bones
humpback whale
were similarly used in other parts of the world.
(Megaptera novaeangliae), showing fine cut marks on the
A.B. Smith and J.
lateral surface, from the site of T'uukw'aa on the west coast
Kinahan review the use of whale-
of Canada (ca. 1200 B.P.). bones by the indigenous coastal peoples of west-
ern and southern Africa, who exploited whales for
symbolic value considerably greater than
food a subsis-
and housing materials.84 Although most of the
tence resource. Mark Gardiner haswhalebones arguedused thatfor building material in the cul-
stranded whales in Medieval England were
tures claimed
noted above are typically the ready-to-use ribs,
by the king as "royal fish," and he mandibulae, goes on and to maxillae,
note the scapula enjoys a
that the possession and consumption small
ofbut important role in the archaeological
cetaceans-
whales, porpoises, and dolphins-was one arena record for shelter construction in a number of dif-
in which social tensions and the aspirations of ferent cultures.
groups competing for power were worked out.78 Several other uses for whale scapulae have been
The use of whalebones, as opposed to the skin documented in the archaeological and ethnograph-
and flesh of the animal, is even more varied and far ic literature. In the Channel Islands of southern
less ephemeral in archaeological contexts. Many California, for example, whale scapulae were used
coastal cultures exploited whalebones in architec- as tomb covers and grave markers.85 In Ameland,
ture. Whalebone houses, for example, can be off the northern coast of the Netherlands, whale
found in abundance in the Canadian High Arctic, scapulae were used as doorstops and signboards
where alternative building resources are scarce.79 on the houses of whalers in the 17th and 18th cen-
The Thule Inuit culture, ca. 1,000 years ago, built turies.86 Whale scapulae, as well as ribs and man-
semi-subterranean houses using whale mandibu- dibulae, were also hung outside town halls in whal-
lae and ribs as rafters,80 whereas whale scapulae ing societies in the Netherlands as a sign of policy
were often set upright in the foundations to keep and wisdom of the authorities.87 Scapulae of vari-
the ribs and jaws stable.8s For Europe, Jacqui Mul- ous other animals, including cattle, rhinoceros, and
7" Gardiner 1997, esp. 173, 188-9. the passage in Arrian, Indica, cited below.
79 See Dawson 2001; Habu and Savelle 1994; Kershaw et al. 84 Smith and Kinahan 1984. It is likely that Polynesian and
1995; McCartney 1979; Mathiassen 1928; Savelle 1997; Taylor coastal Australian indigenous peoples also used whalebones in
1960. shelter construction, and it is worth adding that there are
80 Mathiassen 1927, 132-55; Dawson 2001. The curvaturenumerous representations of whales in Australian Aboriginal
of these elements bound together at the top resulted in a dome- rock art, particularly in the Sydney Basin (see Campbell 1899,
shaped house that was covered with skins, turf, and moss. esp. 34-5, pl. 13, fig. 4; McCarthy 1941-1947; 1954-1962, esp.
81 A similar use of whalebones can be observed at archaeo- 23-4, fig. 9A).
logical sites on the Canadian west coast. 85Walker 1952; Bryan 1970.
82 Mulville 2002. 86 Lauwerier 1983.
83Pliny the Elder 9.2.7 (H. Rackham translation). See also 87 Brongers 1995, 15.
mammoth, have been found in archaeological con-

60o-v litponX6Irqv), and the Greek victory was thus
texts around the world, used by different cultures assured. On its return from Troy to Greece, the ship
at various times. At prehistoric Langhnaj, in Gujar- carrying Pelop's scapula was wrecked by a storm off
at, India, a rhinoceros shoulder blade, with a vari- the coast of Euboia, but it was not until many years
ety of cut marks and small notches or pits, appears later that a certain Damarmenos, a local fisherman
to have been used as an anvil of sorts by a microlith- from Eretria, happened to haul up the bone in his
maker.88 Experiments conducted with the shoul- nets. Staggered by its size, Damarmenos hid the bone
der blade of a modern horse suggest that the rhi- in the sand, but his conscience got the better of him
noceros scapula may have been used between the and led him to Delphi to enquire as to whose bone
knees of microlith-maker, thus leaving the hands this was and what he should do with it. Adrienne
to be freely used. The small notches on the surface Mayor speculates that the huge bone that Damar-
of the bone were interpreted as being the places menos netted off Euboia belonged to a Neogene
where the blades were struck, and the cuts on the mastodon, and she provides a sketch indicating its
edge the places where the "backing" operation was approximate size to that of the fisherman.95 Given its
carried out.89 In their book on mammoths, Adrian aquatic associations, might it not be possible that the
Lister and Paul Bahn enumerate some of the uses creature whose bone Damarmenos retrieved was a
of large scapulae found in archaeological sites, as as George Huxley first suggested?96

whale,
anvils (indicated by dents and notches not unlike Whalebones could also be used as tools or as raw
those on the Langhnaj shoulder blade), percus- material for tool production, and we wonder how
sion instruments, and as tomb covers."9 In China, many bone tools in Greece that have not been ana-
lyzed with regard to the animal from which they
cattle scapulae were used at various times as oracle
bones,91 and a related function for incised cattle derive may be of cetaceans (whales or dolphins).
shoulder blades, for necromancy, was known in an- In Scottish, Norse, and Arctic populations, whale-
cient Cyprus.92 In discussing the Cypriot ox scapu- bone was fashioned to make a variety of tools, rang-
lae, Jennifer Webb adduces examples from various ing from fine needles to the heftier blades used as
parts of the ancient Near East (Tell Arpachiyah, blubber mattocks.97 In Iron Age Scotland and in
Byblos, Tabara el Akrad, G6zlfi Kule [Tarsos], Nuzi, the Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and the Hebrides
among others), as well as Italy and various Cypriot Islands, as Clark notes, cetacean bone was used,
sites of the later Bronze and Iron Ages, down into among many others things, for "weaving-combs,
the Classical period.93 In Greece, Michael Psellus perforated mallet-heads, knife-handles and copies
described the method of divination (Opionca-- of metal hair-combs, keys, harness-pieces and the
TOOKornIEca), current in the 11th century A.D., by like" (fig. 18). Vertebral epiphyses have been inter-
inspecting shoulder blades, and John Cuthbert preted as "pot-lids" from Scottish sites, and hol-
Lawson traced the same practice in parts of Greece lowed-out vertebrae have been identified as vessels
into the 19th and 20th centuries.94 or lamps."9 Whale ribs and mandibulae were also
There is also the story, recorded in Pausanias used at various Medieval coastal European sites as
(5.13.1-7), that the Akhaians would never captureyokes and harnesses for traction animals.99 In addi-
Troy until they brought a bone of the legendarytion to the bone, the baleen itself served many pur-
Pelops to the besieged city. The bone that was ac-poses, though this rarely survives in the archaeo-
cordingly sent from Pisa was a shoulder blade (-rvlogical record. Among the Inuit it is employed for a
" Zeuner 1952. birth in the 1940s and predicted his name and occupation, an
89 Zeuner 1952, esp. 182-3. incident that shows the persistence of scapula oracles to the
90 Lister and Bahn 1994, 108-10. In the United States, at modem era. It is also worth adding that one of the oldest en-
the Lange-Ferguson site in South Dakota, two mammoths weregraved bones, found in ca. 70,000-year-old Middle Stone Age
butchered using heavy cleaver-choppers made from the flat levels at Blombos Cave in South Africa, probably derives from a
part of a mammoth scapula 10,670 years ago (see Lister andmandibular fragment, rather than a scapula fragment (see Hen-
Bahn 1994, 110). shilwood and Sealy 1997; d'Errico et al. 2001, esp. 313-8).
91 See, e.g., Chou 1976, where a wide variety of such oracle 95 Mayor 2000, 109, fig. 3.3, 268.
bones are illustrated. For further discussion, with references, 96 Huxley 1975, 45; 1979, 147; Mayor 2000, 300, n. 4.
see Webb 1977, 79. 97 Clark 1947, 95, 99, pl. I; MacGregor 1985; Hall6n 1994;
92 See esp. Webb 1977, 1985. Mulville 2002.
93 Webb 1977, 76-9. 98 Childe 1931; Hamilton 1968; Hedges 1987; Campbell
94 Lawson 1964, 321. Adrienne Mayor informs us that she1991; Smith 1998; Mulville 2002.
heard from a native of Samos that a lamb scapula was read at his 99 Brongers 1995.
thy successor of Hesione's ketos that terrorized the

coast near Troy (see below). Porphyrios, according
to Procopius (7.29.9-16), annoyed the city of Byz-
antion and neighboring towns for some 50 years,
"eluding all means devised by the Emperor Justin-
ian for its capture.""'' Procopius adds that Porphy-
rios's reign of terror was not continuous; the whale
occasionally disappeared for long periods of time.
In the end, however, the great Porphyrios met his
demise: pursuing a large group of dolphins that
had gathered near the mouth of the Euxine Sea
one day, the whale came too close to land, found
itself stranded in deep mud, and was dragged to
shore by the local people and finally killed. The
carcass of the creature was placed on wagons, and it
was found to be 30 cubits (about 15 m or 45 ft.) long
and 10 cubits (5 m or 15 ft.) broad. Its length and
color could refer to any number of whales, includ-
ing mysticeti, such as blue or fin whales, or odontoceti,
such as sperm whales. Porphyrios's size, longevity,
color, and temperament are all, however, in keep-
ing with male sperm whales, which can reach a
length of 18 m, with current averages of slightly
more than 15 m, and are characteristically a dark
brownish gray.102 Identifying Porphyrios, however,
as a male sperm whale remains, at best, a tentative
Fig. 18. Objects of cetacean bone from Scottish
guess, Iron
since Age
Procopius's account gives no more use-
sites. (After Clark 1947; courtesy of the National Museums
ful details to assist in determining species or ge-
of Antiquities of Scotland)
nus, but Melville himself was strongly inclined to
believe that Porphyrios was a sperm whale.'03 The
incidence
multitude of purposes, and was used of whales in the area of Istanbul is also
in ancient
recorded byand
Ireland for making saddle-trees, sieve-bottoms, later authors, not least of which is Ev-
even hoops for small vessels.'00 The liya Qelebi, the
versatility of17th-century Ottoman Pausanias,
whalebones, together with baleen, havealso made
knownthemas Dervi? Mehmed Zilli. In his descrip-
a valuable resource throughout human tionhistory
of the fishmongers
for of the city (Bailiksatajian),
use as tools, construction materials, objects of writes:
Evliya (elebi per- "The fishermen [many of whom
sonal adornment, and everyday items. are Greeks from Kaissarieh, Nikdeh, and Mania]
adorn their shops on litters with many thousand
FROM KETOS TO PHALLAINA: THE LANGUAGE
fish, amongst which many monsters of the sea are to
OF WHALES IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
be seen. They exhibit dolphins in chains, sea-hors-
es, beavers, whales, and other kind of fish of great
Despite the rarity of whales in the Mediterranean
as opposed to the Atlantic seaboard of Europe andsize, which they catch."'04
the great oceans of the northern and southern In describing the antics of Porphyrios, the word
hemispheres, it is not uncommon to find referenc-that Procopius uses to describe the creature is ketos
es to whales in Classical literature. We even know
(I6 K?IoS; plural KlIl- or Kfl[Ea). It is from the
Greek word ketos (Latin cetus) that the order Ceta-
the personal name of one particularly belligerent
cea-referring to both whales and dolphins-is de-
later Roman whale-Porphyrios ("Purple")-a wor-
100 Clark 1947, 99; see also Joyce 1903, 288. 10' Melville 1851, 228-9.
'01 The story of Porphyrios is eloquently told byJocelyn 104 Evliya Qelebi, section 14 (210), see von Hammer 1834,
Toynbee (1973, 208). 160. We are grateful to Speros Vryonis, Jr. for assistance with
102 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 84-6. For the character of sperm Evliya Celebi and for allowing us to use his forthcoming paper
whales, see further Philbrick 2000, passim, esp. xiii, for a sperm on the Greeks and sea (Vryonis forthcoming) prior to its pub-
whale with the vindictiveness and guile of a man, and 224-5. lication.
quintessential Greek monsters as the Gorgons and,

in subsequent generations, Kerberos, Hydra, Pegas-
os, Chimaira, Sphinx, and the Nemean lion, to men-
tion only a few."1
As for a huge fish, as opposed to a sea monster,
the word ketos is sometimes used to refer to a tuna,
as in Archestratos (Fr. 34.3). Oppian, writing in the
third century A.D., in his Halieutica (or Fishing)
uses the word ketos to refer generally to any large
Fig. 19. Detail of Corinthian black-figure amphora, depicting

Andromeda and the ketos, with Perseus to the rescue. Berlin,
Staatliche Museen, F 1652, from Cerveteri. Second quarter
of the 6th century B.C. (Drawing after Pfuhl 1923, fig. 190)
rived. The word is found in Greek literature as early

as Homer, and normally refers to any sea monster or
huge fish. In his account of Odysseus's adventures
with the Sirens, Skylla and Charybdis, Homer pro-
vides a particularly gory description of Skylla (Odys-
sey 12.85-100). In that description we hear of
"6eA(iv6q IcT KiUVq ITE, KCtt Ei no0t PieTov iEn
KqTlOCq" ("dolphins and dogfish or anything bigger,
some sea monster").105 A similar usage of ketos is
found elsewhere in Homer, both in the Odyssey and
Iliad.o06 In one only Homeric passage (Odyssey 4.446,
452), the word ketos is used specifically for seals, but
this is for poetic effect, and the normal word for a
seal in Homer, as in Greek generally, is phoke
((46K'jq).107 Ketos is also the sea monster to which An-
dromeda was exposed, a story that led to no shortage
of iconographic depictions of beauty and the beast,
ranging from the Archaic (fig. 19) through Roman
(fig. 20) periods and into the modern era (fig. 21).~10
The association of the sea monster and Andromeda
extends to the very heavens, for KIf[OC in Greek was

also the name of a constellation.'09 In Hesiod's Theog-
Fig. 20. Andromeda exposed to the ketos, with Perseus flying
ony (238) we find a certain fair-cheeked Keto to the rescue. Roman wall painting from Pompeii (1.7.7).
(Kqr(ib), who, when paired with Phorkys, begat such (After Blanckenhagen 1987, pl. XXVII:2)
105 Od. 12.96-97. 218) and Van Dyck in 1637-1638 (see Price 1988, 74), both
106 Od. 5.421; Il. 20.147. of which appear to have been inspired by Titian's Perseus and
107 LSJ sv xOjKq. Andromeda, of ca. 1562, now in the Wallace Collection in Lon-
108 See, e.g., Euripides, Fragmenta 121;Aristophanes, Clouds, don (fig. 21; see Wallace Collection 1968, 318-22, P11).
556; Thesmophoriasouzai 1033. For the iconography ofAndrom- 109See Aratus 354; Eudoxus (Astronomus) apud Hipparchos
eda and the ketos, see Schauenburg 1981. Figure 19 is a detail (Astronomicus) 1.2.20. See further Manilius Astromica Book
of a Corinthian black-figure amphora from Cerveteri, now in V, and esp. Coleman 1983.
Berlin, Staaliche Museen, F 1652; see Pfuhl 1923, fig. 190; 1"oAs West (1966, 235) notes, Kqrxb is probably formed sim-
Boardman 1987, pl. XXIV (top left). For the Roman wall paint- ply from KqTflO(Apollodoros 1.2.7 actually has a Nereid called
ing from Pompeii (fig. 20), see von Blanckenhagen 1987, 85, Keto). As for genealogy of the offspring of Keto and Phorkys,
note 4 (=Pompeii 1.7.7). Andromeda and the ketos is a popular the details are not quite certain, but West (1966, 244) pro-
theme in European art from the 16th century on. Rubens vides one likely stemma.
painted a version in 1636 (see Held 1980, 291-2, no. 209, pl.
Fig. 21. Andromeda and the ketos by Titian, painted for Philip II about 1562, now
Collection, London. (Courtesy of the Wallace Collection)
creatures of the sea."' These include monsters,

a variety
long before
of the deacon took his
whales (among which are the dashing Physaloi), as
plunge."114
well as a number of large fish, someThe of monster-infested
which arewaters around Athos are
well reflected
specifically named (e.g., tuna, sawfish, the Lamna, in a series of engravings (XaAKo-
ypa(qiS)
and the Maltha), as well as different types ofdepicting
sharks, the various monasteries of the
dogfish, and rays, including ycakeot."2Holy Mountain."15
Oppian alsoOf the many such paper icons,
includes among his kete those animals thathere
we present leave only one example, dating to 1850
the salt water and come forth upon andthe land, such
illustrating the Monastery of Esphigmenou, on
as eels, turtles, and seals."31 the east coast of the Akte peninsula (fig. 22). It
In Classical literature, two locations of kete are depicts, in the lower left corner, a sea-creature de-
preeminent in Greek-especially Aegean-geog- scribed as a "fantastic ketos.""6 The kete on some of
raphy: Athos and "hollow Lakedaimon." With re- the Athos engravings are truly fantastic creatures of
gard to the former, Emily Vermeule wrote: "As in the imagination; others, however, more closely re-
the sad tale of the Deacon and the Shark, an en- semble real whales. The double spouting creature
counter the abbots of Mount Athos remember well, in figure 22, with its huge body, strange mouth, and
though it happened in the ninth century-A.D. or flukes takes certain elements from the real world,
B.C.?-certain places were always hunted by theria, others from a more imaginary realm.
the wild animals of the sea. Herodotos knew that The second geographical topos for kete in the
the waters off Mount Athos were packed withAegean
sea- is the Lakonian Gulf between Malea and
"1 Halieutica 1.48, 1.360-408; 5.21, 5.71. 114 Vermeule 1979, 183.
112 Halieutica 1.360-82. 115 For these, generally, see Mylonas 1963; Papastratou 1990.
113 Halieutica 1.394-408. 11"6Baltogianne 1997, 86-7, no. 36 (inv. XAE 3052).
Fig. 22. Paper icon depicting the Monastery of Esphigmenou on the Mt. Athos
Peninsula, with a whale in the left corner, ca. 1850, Byzantine Museum, Athens,
XAE 3052 (0.42 x 0.27 m). (Courtesy of the Byzantine Museum)
Tainaron. In the Homeric poems, the kingdom

as theof
"hollow" valley of the Eurotas River, and stan-
Menelaos is twice introduced with a formulaic de- dard translations provide variations of "hollow Lake-
scription that has inspired scholarly comment sincedaimon." Rather than "hollow," Morris goes on to
show that the passage refers to the sea monster-
antiquity."117 In the Catalogue of Ships (Iliad 2.581)
the allies of Menelaos are introduced thus: bound shores (Kqr-feoocuv) of Lakedaimon."11
As Emily Vermeule so cogently expressed, the
Oi 68' EtXOV KOLfrlv AQaKXt4POV KrflTOoa(V
Homeric kete, like Herodotos's theria, sounded
The same line, with a change of verb, announced
more dangerous for not having specific names; they
the arrival of Telemachos and Peisistratos at Sparta
were nameless monsters, which perhaps grew less
(Odyssey 4.1):
threatening as the science of marine biology devel-
Oi 6' ikov KoiArlv AaKE.citaOV KlrTO[oavo oped, studying, classifying, and perhaps dissecting
np6S 8' 6pa 6px 1a' Ayov MevwAXoU KUClhi1pOlO
them."9 It is not until the fourth century B.C., how-
ever, that we find the word ketos associated with nat-
As Sarah Morris has shown, the prevailing inter-
ural history, generically referring, in the modern
pretation derives from an understanding of KohAqv
"117 Morris 1984, 1-2. I"Vermeule 1979, 183.

118 Morris 1984.
In Strabo
sense, to the spouting cetacea. Aristotle, in his (16.3.7)
Histo-we hear of a whale some 50 cu-
ria Animalium (6.12 [566b, 2]), writes: bits (25 m) in length that was stranded on a beach
in the Persian Gulf (cf. Arrian, Indica 39.4). Arrian
AAXtiAq &6 K' 4dXkLXACtlvQ KIi Icl t Axc Kflrl, 6ocL pil
(Indica 39.5) further reports that the whale's hide
~EXt 3pdPYXta &AXA Uorlrppc, (cOOIOKOOOlV....
was as much as a cubit thick, and that it had many
The dolphin, the whale, and the other Cetacea, as
oysters, shellfish,
many as have no gills but a blowhole instead, are vi- and seaweeds growing on it, a fea-
viparous. ... ture common to many varieties of whales. The word
that Arrian and Strabo use in this context is Kq-Toq,
Elsewhere in Aristotle we read:
and it is clear that both words-KIfTOO and
6dAAXcvau-were interchangeable, up to a point,
avcxnvi 6 8E t piv nE_(J ndv-rc, ivta F Kc'tsoiJV
far as whales were concerned.
Fv'L6p(ov, oiov 6XAhhctvca Kai 5EA ic KXiOne T of the longest and liveliest accounts in Greek
tvac+uo~vizrt KlyTl ndHvca" of the sighting of whales is to be found in Arrian.
All land animals breathe, as do some of the water The report, which was used by Pliny the Elder (see
animals, such as the whale, the dolphin, and all the above), is all the more vivid as it evocatively relates
spouting cetacea.'"2
the surprise and wonder of Alexander the Great's
Although the ketos is used to refer to all the men when they confronted large whales (KqiLl).
spouting cetecea, the word that Aristotle uses spe- Arrian's account is of interest not only for the infor-
cifically for whale is phallaina ( 6AAactva or mation it offers on living whales, but also for the
architectural use that the bones of stranded whales
46Atxtvcx), hence the Latin bal(l)aena (whale), and
ultimately baleen. From the fourth century B.C. on- were put to by the indigenous peoples of the outer
ward, phallaina is a common word for whale in Greek, ocean (Arabian Sea).'24 Arrian (Indica 30.1-9)
found in authors as varied as Aristotle, Strabo, Ae- writes:
lian, Philostratos, Nonnos, Babrius, Galaenus, Por- Monstrously large sea animals feed in the outer ocean,
phyrius Tyrius, and others (some of these authors much larger than those in our inland sea. Nearchos
also used ketos with specific reference to whales).121 says that when they were sailing along the coast from
Kyiza, about daybreak they saw water being blown
Although we have now entered the world of scien-
upwards from the sea as it might be shot upwards by
tific enquiry, the word phallaina could occasionally the force of a waterspout. They were astonished, and
be used to denote any devouring monster. Indeed, asked the pilots what it might be and how it was caused;
one of the earliest uses of the word, in Aristophanes' they replied that it was these great animals spouting
Wasps (35, 39), has precisely such a meaning.'22 In up water as they moved about in the sea. The sailors
were so startled that the oars fell from their hands.
Oppian (Halieutica 1.404), the word phallaina is
Nearchos went along the line encouraging and cheer-
used only once to refer to the whale (Oppian coming them, and whenever he sailed past them he sig-
monly uses ketos when referring to whales), which naled them to turn the ships in line towards the ani-
"leaves the sea for the dry land and basks in the mals as if to give them battle, to raise their battle cry
sun." This reference, together with Porphyrios's last in time with the plash of oars and to row with rapid
strokes and with a great deal of noise. So they all took
charge through the Bosphoros, is one of a number
heart and sailed together according to signal. But
of passages in classical literature that alludes to the when they were actually nearing the beasts, then they
stranding of whales, even though Oppian is mis- shouted with all the power of their throats, the trum-
taken in his belief that whales basked in the sun.'":1 pets gave the signal, and the rowers made the utmost
on." In Aristophanes, 6dX?Acavu is used as a comic devise in

120Arist. Part.s qofAnimals 3.6 (669a, 7-9). See also 4.13 (697a,
16). the place of Kleon, both for his greed ("with scales in hand
1' For Aristotle, in addition to the passages already cited, weighing pea pulse") and for his voice ("holding forth in tone
see, e.g., Hist. an. 1.5 (489b, 4), 3.20 (521b, 24), 4.10 (537a, and accents like a scalded pig"). For a related meaning of phal-
31). See also Strabo 3.2.7; Ael. NA 9.50, 16.18; Philostr. VA laina, see also Lykophron 841. Another meaning for phallai-
2.14; Nonnos, Dion. 6.298; Babrius 39.1; Galenus 6.728, 737, na, but one that is very rare, is moth, LSJ sv 6AXcatva.
also De UsuPartium3.12; Porphyrius Tyrius, DeAbstinentia3.20. "3 Elsewhere, Oppian (Halieutica 5.70-71) refers to a com-
122 The normal translation of the Aristophanic 6rXXacnvac panion fish, referred to as 'Hyqfljpa (Guide), which was es-
varies. In some English translations it appears as "grampus" (e.g., pecially close to whales (KjTq), i.e., the pilot-fish or whale-
in Rogers 1924 Loeb edition), and thus could refer to any of guide.
the smaller cetaceans commonly found in the Mediterranean, 124 In the passage that follows and in Pliny 9.2 (7) on the
such as a variety of dolphins, perhaps also some of the smaller Gedrosi, both authors have clearly whales and whalebones in
toothed whales, such as the killer whale.Jeffery Henderson in mind. Mayor's (2000, 331) suggestion that these are fossil
his 1998 translation translates phallaina as a "ravening drag- bones seems, in this case, unlikely.
splashing with their oars. So the animals, now Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, Pliny (9.3 [8]),
visible
at the bows of the ships, were scared and notes divedthat
intothe largest creature in the Gallic ocean
the depths; then not long afterwards they came up to
(Bay of Biscay) was the physeter, almost certainly a
the surface astern and again spouted water over a
great expanse of sea. The sailors clapped at their whale, often translated as a sperm whale, "which
unexpected escape from destruction and praised rears up like a vast pillar higher than a ship's rig-
Nearchos for his courage and cleverness. Some of ging and belches out a sort of deluge."'29 In mod-
these large creatures go ashore at many parts of the ern taxonomy, physeter (to which was added macro-
coast, and when the ebb comes are caught in the
cephalus) became the species name for the sperm
shallows, while some are cast on the dry land by heavy
storms and as a result putrefy and die; their flesh rots whale. Closer to home Pliny (9.5 [12]) notes that
away and the bones are left, to be used by the natives whales penetrated the Mediterranean ("Ballaenae
for their huts. In fact the bones in their ribs served et in nostra maria penetrant"), a fact corroborated
for the larger beams of their dwellings, the smaller
by several other authors, not least of which was Dio
for rafters and the jawbones for doorposts, since
Cassius. In Book 75.16.5, Dio recounts how a huge
many of these creatures reached a length of five-and-
twenty fathoms. whale (KqfToc 6npprye0sq) in the reign of Septi-
mius Severus was washed up on shore in the Portus
A range of meanings similar to those in Greek is
Augusti near the mouth of the Tiber River. Dio goes
on to relate that a model was made of the ketos for
found in Latin for cetus and bal(l)aena. Cetus in Latin
display at a wild beast show; the model was large
can refer to any large sea animal, such as a whale,
dolphin, or porpoise; it can also refer to the sea
enough to accommodate 50 bears that were driven
monster to which Andromeda was exposed, as well into it.'"o Somewhat earlier, in the reign of Claudi-
as the constellation "the Whale."125 As with the us, Pliny (9.5.[14-15]) tells of an orca in the har-
Greek )6AAXatva, the Latin ballaena (sometimes bor of Ostia. Although Pliny specifically uses the
word In
ballena) referred more specifically to "whale."'26 orca, often translated as a grampus or killer
Petronius's Satyricon (21.2) we even find thewhale (in keeping with the species name for the
adjec-
tival ballaenaceus-"made of whalebone"-as in killer whale in modern taxonomy) -correctly in our
Quartilla's whalebone rod ("Quartilla balaenaceam
estimate-some translators prefer to envisage a larg-
tenens virgam"). er whale."' Be that as it may, the emperor ordered a
Latin authors located whales in different seas. barrier of nets to be stretched out at the mouth of
Juvenal (10.14), for example, locates whalesthe in harbor,

the and setting out in person with the prae-
waters around Britain ("ballaena Britannica"), while torian cohorts made a spectacle for the Roman peo
Pliny (Naturalis Historia 9.2) discusses the whales ple by attacking the stranded creature. The orca,
of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, where the however, did not go down without a fight, and man-
ballaena can reach sizes of over four iugera (one iugeraged to sink at least one of Claudius's boats with it
is about two-thirds of an acre!).27" Pliny marveled spouting.
that the same region produced lobsters that grow Pliny's use of terms such as orca and physetershows
to four cubits (six feet) in length, and he even tellsan interest in describing different species of ceta
us of eels in the River Ganges that can grow to "tri- cea in the Mediterranean. Such an interest goes
cenos pedes" (300 ft.). Pliny's three-acre Arabian back at least as early as Aristotle. In Book 3.12 (519a,
Sea whales bring to mind the massive leviathan on24), Aristotle refers to a pUoo( K6KqTOg, or "mous-
which the Irish Saint Brendan, the noted traveler, tache-whale." Alternatively given as puo06KrzTOg or
built a chapel.128 After the massive whales of the pUOTOKrTOq, 6 'Of)q T, KfTOc refers to the fact tha
125 See, among many others, Pliny, HN 32.10, 32.83, 9.78; 129 Pliny HN9.3 (8), translated by H. Rackham, who trans-
Vergil, Aeneis 5.822; Manilius 1.433, 5.15, 5.500, 5.656; lates
Vitr.the
De physeter or physteras "sperm whale."
arch. 9.5.3; Plaut. Aulularia 375; Captiui851; Celsus 2.18.2;130 Toynbee 1973, 208; Mayor 2000, 138-9.
Sta-
tius, Achilleis 1.55; Silius 11.480; Varro, Menippeae 406. 3' Rackham, for example, in his Loeb edition of Pliny, trans-
126 See, for instance, Plaut. Rud. 545; Ov. Met. 2.9; Pliny HN as "killer whale," but adds that this is unlikely, and
lates orca
9.4, 11.235;Juvenal 10.14. goes on to state that it was probably a cachalot (sperm whale)
127 Pliny also notes in the same passage the smaller There is enough internal information in Pliny, however, to
pistris,
perhaps a smaller whale or shark that can measure over 20 suggest
cubits that the creature he refers to as an orca is indeed
(10 m) in length. See further Toynbee 1973, 208. killer whale (Orcinus orca). At 9.5 (12-13), for example, Pliny
128 See Little 1945; Selmer 1959; Ashe 1962. For an illustra-
notes that orcas attack other whales (ballaenae), often in a
tion of St. Brendan and his monks celebrating massgroup,
on the
a pattern of behavior that is well known for killer whales
but
back of the giant whale,Jasconius, on the 1621 map by not for sperm whales, nor any of the baleen whales.
Hon-
orius Philoponus, see Nigg 1999, 172-4; see also 135-6.
such whales lack teeth in their mouths, and "have feeding upside-down. Similar disorientation is ex-
instead hairs similar to pigs' bristles." Aristotle's pressed by Pliny (9.6 [16]):
meaning here is perfectly clear, as he is describing Ora ballaenae habent in frontibus, ideoque summa
the characteristic baleen plates of the whalebone aqua natantes in sublime nimbus efflant.
whales (blue whales, fin whales, etc.). Indeed, the
term for the mysticeti sub-order of whales (i.e., ba- Whales have their mouths in their foreheads, and
leen whales) is derived from Aristotle's puo- consequently when swimming on the surface of the
water they blow clouds of spray into the air (Rack-
-caK6KIIrtO (cf. the musculus marinus qui ballaenam in ham translation).
Pliny, Naturalis Historia 11.62 [165]).132 Such usage
highlights the importance of the original texts, as In a similar vein, we have heard many modern
opposed to translations, and it is our experience whale-watchers express doubt or reservations as to
that certain misunderstandings that have crept into which side of the animal is up or down at the sight
the literature concerning whales are sometimes at of a breaching humpback whale. Although the dol-
the level of the translation. The natural historians, phin was well known to Greek artists and a popular
like Aristotle and Pliny, go to some length to de- iconographic subject from prehistory through late
scribe the physical characteristics of whales and oth- antiquity, the baleen whales, particularly those of
er cetaceans, descriptions that are based on direct the Balaenoptera genus (e.g., blue, fin, sei, Bryde's,
observation or secondhand testimony from mari- and minke whales) are more difficult to observe
ners and others. Aristotle speaks about various as- because they surface less frequently and rarely frol-
pects of the lives and habits of cetaceans, details ic on the surface. Actual sightings of this genus in
ranging from their milking habits (3.20 [521b]) the eastern or central Mediterranean would have
and copulation (5.5 [540b]), to the manner in been few and far between (see above).
which the animals sleep: "there are people who There is one other Latin text that deserves spe-
have actually heard a dolphin snoring" (4.10 cial mention with regard to cetology: Manilius's
[537b]). Such information, however, is only as good description of the sea monster- Cetos-both as a
as its observer. Even in those instances when classi-heavenly constellation and, especially, as the myth-
cal authors state a physical characteristic of a ological
ceta- monster associated with Andromeda. In a
cean that seems clearly wrong, a closer reading will paper fully devoted to Manilius's monster, Kathleen
point to some illuminating detail. For example, Coleman
in cogently unravels a baleen whale from
describing various cetaceans, Aristotle (7 [8], 591b,Manilius's text, a creature that lies in contrast to
24-30) states: "Generally the other fishes catchthe the
more poetic sea monsters of Ovid and Vergil.134
smaller ones in their mouths while swimming As Coleman has shown, Manilius described his Cetos
straight ahead in their natural attitude. But the directly,
se- treating it as a creature in its own right.
lachians and the dolphins and all cetaceans The arrival of this Cetos is presaged by the swelling
(ndvTrE oi KqTI()&tq) turn over on their backs to surface of the water (5.579-581) and by a mouth
take them, as their mouth is placed down below, full of water (5.581-583). According to Coleman,
thus allowing a fair chance of escape to the smaller "the picture of sea foaming inside toothed jaws is
fishes."'13 an accurate reflection of the feeding-habits of the
Dolphins do not have to turn on their backs to mysticeti," and she goes on to describe the baleen
consume fish, and this rather strange mis-descrip-plates and feeding habits of the whalebone
tion of the dolphin has troubled classical philolo-whales.135 The picture that emerges is not quite pure
gists, so much so that several editors have suggest-scientific description: in addition to its enormous
ed deleting it altogether. The baleen whales, how- size and jaws, the creature does have scales and it is
ever, have the characteristic mandible that closes described as "coiled"; but Manilius was, after all,
uniquely upward toward the dorsal side of their dealing with a mythological creature. As Coleman
cranium (fig. 10). If one expected the mouth to concludes, Manilius's Cetos is all the more menac-
curve downward on the ventral side of the body like ing for being recognizable as a whale, but with night-
most fish, it would appear as if a baleen whale was marish additions.'36 In this, it is little different to
'"' See also Coleman 1983, 230. not its mouth much below its snout, almost in the middle of its
'3. Cf. Arist. Parts ofAnimals 4 (696b, 24). A similar descrip- belly, not a single fish would escape its speed."
tion is echoed by Pliny (9.7 [20]) who writes: "The swiftest of 134 Coleman 1983.
all animals, not only those of the sea, is the dolphin; it is swift- 135 Coleman 1983, 229-30.
er than a bird and darts much faster than ajavelin, and were 136 Coleman 1983, 232.
the kete with which the monks of Mount Athos that Marcus Scaurus, aedile in 58 B.C., brought the
adorned their paper icons (fig. 22): part fact, part from Jaffa (Joppa) to Rome to be shown
skeleton
fantasy. among other marvels collected during his aedile-
We have already discussed several instances of ship. The beast-also referredL to as belua-was 40
stranded whales in Greek literature, but some of ft. long, the height of the ribs exceeding the ele-
the most spectacular stories in Classical literature phants of India, and spine being 1.5 ft. thick. The
of stranded sea animals are to be found in Pliny. In fact that this skeleton was brought from Jaffa is in-
Book 9.4 (10), Pliny reports that during the reign triguing, because it was atJaffa that Andromeda was
of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), in an island off the coast said to have been fettered, and it was at Jaffa that
of the province of Lyon (Lugdunensis), the reced- Jonah boarded a ship,'14 bound for Tarshish, in or-
ing ocean tide left more than 300 monsters at the der to escape the Lord's command for him to go to
same time, of marvelous variety and size, and an Nineveh. Once at sea, the story is well known (fig.
equal number on the coast of Saintes (Santonum 23): "And the Lord appointed a great fish to swal-
litore).'" The word that Pliny uses to describe these low up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish
creatures is belua, which simply means "beast." We three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17).
cannot be sure what sort of animal Pliny had in mind, The small book ofJonah, unique among the pro-
but the passage is concerned with possible sight- phetic books of the Old Testament, has as its prin-
ings of Nereids and a Triton. Reports of stranded cipal figure an obscure Galilean prophet from Gath-
sea creatures that are not whales are well known in hepher who counseled Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.).
Greek literature. In the Anthologia Graeca, for ex-"great fish" was not the principal item of the
The
ample, there are at least two reports of the body story;
of a just like the tempest, the plant, and several
skolopendra (oKoA6nrEv6pa) washed ashore. The first other natural devices, it was an obedient agent of
(6.222 [Theodoridas]) is described as a thousand- God's purpose. The word that is used for the ani-
footed shkolopendra, found on the rocks of lapygia in mal in Hebrew is dag gadol, which is a rather gener-
south Italy; the mutilated body of a second such ic reference to a big sea creature, usually taken to
creature (6.223 [Antipater]) was discovered by be a whale, with some justification.'4' There is not
Hermonax. The skolopendra found on land is clearly much development of Hebrew vocabulary for crea-
a millipede, and the sea-skolopendra must be a tures of the sea. The generic word for fish (dag) is
related worm-like creature of enormous size."13 The sometimes modified, as in the "big fish" of Jonah
creatures of the Anthologia Graeca, however, are not 1:17, but the Israelites' lack of firsthand familiarity
your average millipede: both are described as sea with fish is reflected by the fact that not a single
monsters, and one even had a vast rib (pFcyac species name is preserved in the entire Old Testa-
nAeupbv), which was dedicated to the gods, a fact ment. In Jonah, we are dealing with a large fish,
which led Adrienne Mayor to suspect the possibil- probably a great whale. This is not, however, the
ity of a fossil.'" Biblical Leviathan that looms large in the Old Tes-
Pliny's beluas do not end with the strandings offtament, the archetypal sea monster found in differ-
Lyon and Saintes. Pliny (9.4 [11]) mentions Turra- ent cultures throughout the world.142
nius's report of an enormous sea monster cast According to John Day, Leviathan (Hebrew liw-
ashore on the coast at Cadiz (Gadir, on the Atlanticytn) is the name of a mythological sea serpent or
coast of Spain near the Strait of Gibraltar), which dragon, personifying the chaos waters, mentioned
had some 120 teeth ranging in size between sixin the Ugaritic texts, in the Old Testament, and in
and nine inches long. But the most fabulous oflater Jewish literature.143 Leviathan appears six times
Pliny's stranded sea beasts was at the far eastern in the Old Testament: Job 3:8, Job 40:15-24, Job
end of the Mediterranean, and none other than 41:1-34, Psalms 74:14, Psalms 104:26 (cited above),
the skeleton of the monster to which Andromeda Isaiah 27:1. In Job 41:1, the passage: "Can you draw
herself was exposed. In Book 9.4 (11), Pliny relates out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down his
"' Mayor 2000, 264, no. 10.

"' Pliny's text continues: "and among the rest elephants,
and rams with only a white streak to resemble horns, and also
140 Boardman 1987, 77; Mayor 2000, 138-9.
many Nereids" (Rackham translation). 141 We are grateful to Professor William Schniedewind for
1's For the land version, see Arist. Hist. an. 1.5 (489b, 22);
assistance with the Biblical passages cited in this paper.
4.7 (532a, 4). For the sea-skolopendra see, e.g., Arist. Hist.142
an. See Thompson 1955.
2.14 (505b, 13), which is different to the sea snake; 621a, 6; Day 1992a, 295; with further details in Day 1985. Etymo-
14"3
Ael. NA 7.26; Oppian, Halieutica 2.424. logically, the name means "twisting one," as befits a serpent.
Fig. 23. '"Jonah and the Whale," shown as a great fish. Persia, Herat, ca. 142
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pulitzer Bequest Fund, 1933. (Courtesy of the Met
of Art)
tongue with a cord?" is often equated with a croc- a number of times in the Old Testament in two
odile. Similarly, the Behemoth in Job 40:15-24, distinct contexts: as the sea monster defeated at
"he who eats grass like an ox," is usually under- the time of creation and as a metaphorical name
stood as a hippopotamus, but there are good rea- for Egypt.148 There is also in the Bible Tannim
sons against these identifications, particularly the (Hebrew tnyn), first appearing in Genesis 1:21,
equation of Leviathan with crocodile.144 The fact, often translated as "dragon," but sometimes as
for example, that Leviathan breathes out fire and "sea monster, serpent," occasionally as a snake
smoke (Job 41:19-21), coupled with his seven (as in Exodus 7:9-12), and sometimes associat-
heads in later Jewish literature, suggests a myth- ed with Rahab. In Isaiah 27:1 this serpent is men-
ological creature. The Leviathan in Psalms tioned in parallel to Leviathan: "In that day the
104:25-26 is often supposed to be the whale, butLord with his hard and great and strong sword
again, Day believes that it is rather a mythologicalwill punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Levia-
creature that is in view.145 The discovery of the than the twisting serpent, and he will slay the
Ugaritic mythological texts also allude to a con- dragon that is in the sea."
flict between Baal or Anat and Leviathan, this in Whatever the precise nature of the Biblical Le-
addition to the more detailed account of Baal's viathan (and Rahab and Tannim), the narrative of
defeat of the sea-god Yam. The Ugaritic texts the Old Testament required, at various points, par-
point to a possible Canaanite background to Le- ticularly in Jonah and in Psalms 104:26, the Medi-
viathan.146 A related Biblical creature is Rahab terranean to be infested with creatures of enor-
(Hebrew rahab), a mythological sea serpentmous or proportions. As we have seen above, the Med-
dragon-literally the "boisterous one"-that iterranean was no stranger to more gentle levia-
functions similarly to Leviathan.147 Rahab appearsthans every bit as real as fin and sperm whales.
144 Day 1992a, 296. counted in Enuma Elish, of Marduk's victory over the sea
145 Day 1992a, 296. monster Tiamat. Day (1985) points to the Canaanite back-
146 Gunkel (1895) argued that the Biblical allusions to a suggested by the Ugaritic texts.
ground
conflict between Yahweh and the dragon and the sea consti-
147 See Day 1985; Day 1992b for a useful summary.
tuted an Israelite appropriation of the Babylonian myth,
148Job
re- 9:13, 26:12; Psalms 87:4, 89:10; Isaiah 30:7, 51:9.
TRYING TO PICTURE THE WHALE:
great Rembetissa Sotiria Bellou, about dying on a
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF GREEK SEA MONSTERS
ship. The second stanza of the song goes:
The power of the sea, as Emily Vermeule noted
"Av-r,
so well, to swallow and conceal a human odv neW06ve o6 Kapdflt, piT lE P~S ( o6 ytCA6,
completely
civie, v6 }I ECvC c Ua6pCa tdpta KC( M 6 dpTup6
and the numerous flesh-eating creatures under its
vwp6-4Pav, a1P6v.
surface-stealthy and voiceless hunters-made the
Ah, if I die on the boat, throw me into the sea
sea a focus for poetic death in GreekSotradition.'49
that the black fish and the salt water can eat me,
The poetic phrase "food for fishes" was,Aman!
as Vermeule
Aman!152
explains, "worse than for birds and dogs, because it
The waters
is harder to find the body again, and bury of the sea were not for cheerful swim-
it proper-
ly."150 In one of his weaker moments ming, unless wily
Homer's they were not much more than an-
hero Odysseus laments: kle-deep; "a hero might step into the waves to
I fear that once again the whirlwind will the wash worstme
snatch of his sweat off, as Odysseus and
and carry me out on the sea where the Diomedes
fish do at the end of the Doloneia, but only
swarm,
groaning heavily, as far as the hip-joint and thigh."'15 It was this
or else the divinity from the deep will let loose against
me
frightening aspect of the sea-a sea full of coop-
erating sea monsters ready to mete out death in a
a sea monster (KqofO), of whom Amphitrite keeps so determines and defines the
single gulp-that
many.151
iconography of kete, generically, in classical art.
A few millennia later a similar sentiment per- This is nowhere better captured than in the scene
vaded modern Greek Rembetika-the once under- of a capsized ship and drowning men on the well
ground songs of love, sorrow, and hashish-and known Late Geometric krater from Pithekoussai
nowhere more evocatively than a song, first re-

(fig. 24), painted just over a century after the Ag-
corded by Katsaros and later immortalized by ora the
whalebone was discarded.'54 Two of the men
Fig. 24. Late Geometric krater from Pithekoussai, inv. 168813, depicting capsized ship and sailors
drowning, some swallowed by fish. (After Buchner and Ridgway 1993)
149Vermeule 1979, 179-209, esp. 184-5. text); the English translation follows that of Holst 1975, 85.
150Vermeule 1979, 184. 153Vermeule 1979,183. See further Couch 1935-1936; Scott
1936-1937;
151 Odyssey 5.419-422, Richmond Lattimore translation. See Combellack 1952-1953, with references to the
also Odyssey 14.133-6; 15.477-80; Combellack 1952-1953, earlier
259- literature; Brown 1968; Hall 1994.
60. 154 Buchner 1953-1954; Brunnsviker 1962; Buchner and
152 Petropoulos 1979, 159 (with annotations for the Greek
Ridgway 1993, 695, pls. CCIV-CCV, 231.
immediately under the capsized ship, way ofthose with

rendering a large sea monster, such as a man-
eating fish
arms bent in different directions, appear on the
to be Pithekoussai krater (fig. 24), or
alive,
as if trying to swim. Of the drownedthe 15th-century
men, one has A.D. Persian Jonah in the mouth
lost his head, another is in the process of "whale,"
of the losingshown
his; as a large scaly fish (fig. 23). A
some of the men appear to have lost their
related genitals.
representation is that of the man-eating ke-
All around swarm fish-over 20 of tos them-ranging
(misspelled Ki-LO along the lower border) on a
in size from man-eaters to "little spectators.""55 Roman sarcophagusThe in the Konya Museum, miles
scene on this fragmentary krater could fromhave
any sea (fig. 25). The center of the sarcopha-
served
as a useful illustration of Herodotos's account of gus is occupied by a wreath that encloses a cruci-
the plight of Darius's men wrecked by the storm form off
object, conceivably a ship's mast, with sails (?)
Mount Athos some 200 years later. suspended from the horizontal beam; the base of
In the mythological and heroic realms only the
the vertical beam splays out to form two foot-like
occasional Ubermensch, such as a Herakles (see be- projections, each of which appears to be nibbled at
low) or Perseus (figs. 19-21), stood any chance by a fish. Below, and to one side, an enormous fish
against the creatures that the sea could summon. has engulfed the head of Jonah (the inscription
So while classical natural historians like Aristotle
below reads: KITOE KIK2NAZ, one way of writing
and Pliny described a variety of whales, sometimes
Jonah in Greek) who is about to be swallowed whole.
quite accurately, Greek artists never depicted a
Although about a millennium later than the Pithek-
clearly recognizable whale, though a few represen-oussai krater, the Konya (Iconium) ketos carries on
a well-established tradition. The representation
tations come close. The relative rarity of whale sight-
ings and strandings in the Mediterranean (most does not allow for species identification-shark,
sightings offer only partial glimpses of whales, tuna,
while whale?-nor does it matter: image and word
the flesh of stranded animals decays rather quick-
combine to convey ketos.
ly), coupled with the fact that whales were never An alternative manner of representing the ketos
actively hunted in the Greek and Roman worlds, is as a large serpent-like creature: a snake by any
was not conducive to artistic photorealism. other name. Like the big fish, a suitably massive
The iconography of the classical sea monster (ke-
snake was one, relatively straightforward, way of giv-
ing iconographic substance to a massive sea crea-
tos) has been a popular subject of modern scholar-
tureof
ship, and there is no shortage of useful overviews that was, above all else, mysterious and fright-
ening. One of the earliest such representations,
Greek, Etruscan, and Roman representations.'"6
dating to ca. 520 B.C., is that on the Athenian black-
Our purpose here, therefore, is not to review what
figure cup in Taranto showing Herakles fighting a
is a rich iconographic tradition that has been much
commented on, but rather to point to certain sea sa-
monster with mouth wide open; Hesione stands
lient aspects of that tradition, with particular refer- the hero, out of harm's way, while he dan-
behind
ence to the iconography-or lack thereof-of gerously clutches the tongue of the beast, as if ready
whales. We have already illustrated a number of Ar- to cut it off (fig. 26).'58 Scholars have attempted to
chaic, Classical, and Roman kete. By the time that see elements of certain land animals on this mon-
Aristotle and Pliny were writing there was no short- ster's head, but we are essentially dealing with a
age of fantastic dragon-like monsters with all sorts large serpent. A clearly identifiable snake's head,
of hideous addenda that appear on later Classical albeit one with a curly nose, is found on the fourth-
through Roman representations of the Andromeda century B.C. Etruscan red-figure krater in Perugia
story (fig. 20), beasts that any St. George would be (fig. 27), the name vase of the Hesione Painter.15"'
proud to slay.15' But in essence all Classical kete, Here the hero proceeds solo, without the damsel
however fabulous, were depicted in one of several (Hesione or Andromeda) in distress, although he
characteristic ways. The first is the most straightfor- does appear in the company of Hesione on the oth-
ward and least imaginative: a large fish, such as the er side of the vase. In another place and time, Her-
dag gadol of the Old Testament. This is the easiest akles or Pereus could easily replace Marduk (fight-
'55 Vermeule 1979, 184. '7 For these see Boardman 1987, esp. pls. XXI-XXIII; von
156Among many others, see, in particular, Shepard Blanckenhagen
1940; 1987, pl. XXVII.
Vermeule 1979, 179-209; Boardman 1987, 1997; von Blanck- 1"'58Taranto, inv. 52155; see Boardman 1987, 80, n. 49 (with
full
enhagen 1987, all with further references. See also Rumpf references).
1939,
esp. 112-20; Keller 1909, 409-14; Thompson 1947; Lattimore159Beazley 1947, 124, no. 1; Boardman 1987, 80-1, pl. XXV,
1976; Boosen 1986. fig. 16.
Fig. 25. Ketos andJonah (inscribed: Kioco Ktvcvaq). Roman sarcophagus, Konya Museum. (Photo
Morris)
ing the sea monster Tiamat), or Baal or Anat (do- both a snake of the land and a large sea creature.
ing battle with the sea-god Yam or Leviathan) or These are worthy opponents for a Herakles or a
Yahweh pitted against the dragon and the sea. The Perseus, and their association with such heroes has
kete on the Taranto and Perugia pots are all the the effect of removing them to an otherworldly
more frightening for their gaping mouths and, es- realm. However much they resemble the serpen-
pecially on the Taranto cup, scaly bodies, as befit tine bodies of real creatures of the sea, such as the
Fig. 26. Athenian black-figure cup, ca. 520 B.C., showing Herakles clutching the tongue of
the sea monster, with Hesione behind him. Taranto, Museo Nazionale, inv. 52155. (After
Boardman 1987, pl. XXV:15)
at hand.16' The ketos has a pointed muzzle, ho
like ears resembling fins, and sharp glittering te
picked out in added white. Its body, however, lac
scales, and the animal enjoys a number of feat
that seem-to quote Shakespeare (Hamlet, act
scene II)-"very like a whale." These include ce
cean-like flippers, one prominent on either sid
the body, and flukes, plus what looks suspicio
like a whale fin about two-thirds down the body
The overall effect, however, is not of a real wha
and the contrast between the mythological and n
ural worlds seem all the more stark on account of
the careful rendering of the dolphins, octopus, and
seal. Indeed, the vase painter has gone to great
lengths to draw these smaller creatures as accurate-
ly as possible, and it is worth stressing that this is
one of the very few representations of the seal in all
of Classical art.'63 Generally speaking, Greek and
Fig. 27. Etruscan red-figure krater, name vase of the Hesione

Painter, Perugia, Museo Archaeologico Nazionale (Museo
del Palazzone all'Ipogeo dei Volumni), from Perugia.
(Courtesy of the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale)
oarfish (Regaleus glesne) about 2 m long caught in

Sydney harbor in June 1954 or that illustrated by
Vermeule,160 mythological kete could not be caught
by average mortal hands.
Among the numerous serpentine sea creatures
in Greek art, one of the most menacing is the ketos
on the Caeretan hydria dating to ca. 520-510 B.C.
(fig. 28). The naked hero-Herakles or Perseus or
Anonymous-pitted against the monsterFig.seems es- hydria, ca. 520-510 B.C., private collection,
28. Caeretan
pecially focused, particularly as his weaponshowing
of choice,
hero fighting ketos, with a seal (phoke) behind the
a small sickle, seems grossly inadequate for the task
sea monster.
the scene is related to a myth, lost from tradition, of the

160 See the photograph published in National Geographic,
nymph of Phokaia, personified by the seal (phoke) and
August 2000,120. A somewhat larger example, photographed
at Yarmouth in 1897, was published in Vermeule anonymous
1979, 183,hero.
fig. 5. Oarfish can grow to a length of over 12 m and162 As Leatherwood
weigh as et al. (1983, 13) explain, the horiz
much as 650 lbs.; specimens up to 17 m in length tally
haveflattened
been tail flukes of cetaceans have no skeletal sup
while
reported. Oarfish are found worldwide in all tropical andthe rear third of the body is a powerful tail (tail sto
tem-
perate waters. caudal peduncle) that is laterally compressed to reduce d
during
161 Hemelrijk 1983, 45-6, no. 29, pls. 103-4; Isler 1983,swimming.
18-
28, figs. 1-11; Boardman 1987, 80, pl. XXIV, fig. 163 This is the only representation of the seal in Greek
14; Board-
that we both
man 1997, 732, no. 26; Marangou 1995, 124-33. Although know of, apart from the seal (phoke) on the coina
Phokaia,that
Herakles and Perseus have been suggested, it is possible for which see Kraay 1976, pl. 3, no. 70.
vase" is of
Roman artists were very careful to depict a variety a more realistic expose of a large fossil skull
sea creatures, including different species emerging
of fish,from the earth.'68 In contrast to it, the ke-
octopus, kalamari, various crustaceans, and tosso
in on,
figure 19 is not only more fleshy and alive, it
as accurately as possible on diverse media clearly
ranging emerges out of water.
from red-figure fish-plates to mosaics.164 As forThisthe
third category of iconographic representa-
Caeretan hydria, do we have here, like Coleman's
tions, quadruped head on a fish-like body, is in many
literary analysis of Manilius's sea monster, ways
the the
core most interesting: part land animal, part sea
creature, what else is a whale? In 1859 a confident
of a real whale, with the addition of nightmarish
elements for artistic effect? Charles Darwin discussed his Leviathan thus: "I can
The third manner of representing kete in Classi- see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered,
cal art was to place the head of a clearly-sometimes by natural selection, more aquatic in their structure
less clearly-recognizable land animal onto a fishy and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a crea-
or scaly body. Such an ingenious scheme led to ture a was produced as monstrous as a whale."'169
great deal of variety, and, once established, there wasTo pose the question differently, how would a
no shortage of other bodily parts that could be add- Greek artist depict a whale, especially given the
ed, as individual artists saw fit. The animal-headed rarity of large cetacean sightings in the Mediterra-
beast depicted in figure 19, identified in the idio- nean? The vast majority of the assembled represen-
syncratic epichoric alphabet of Corinth as "ketos," tations of kete show the creature either alone, usu-
appears on the left; Andromeda stands on the far ally stressing its frightening attitude, or in some
right, while Perseus, at center stage, hurls stones at mythological context, such as with Perseus and
the monster. We already know that the action takes Andromeda, with Herakles (with or without He-
place atJaffa. The head of this ketos is typical of one sione), with Thetis and the Nereids, or with Posei-
don, Amphitrite, Skylla, Triton, or Eros, to mention
of several distinctive ways that Greek artists repre-
sented sea monsters with the head of a terrestrialonly some.170 Among this wealth of representations,
animal. John Boardman has discussed this type thereatis, however, one that stands alone, outside
the established canon. It is an Athenian red-figure
some length.'"" There appear to be a variety of differ-
ent quadruped heads: lion or dog are often identi-cup, attributed to the manner of the Epeleios Paint-
fied, or thus claimed, and occasionally the head er, now
is in the Allard Pierson museum in Amster-
that of a boar, such as the fragmentary ketos on the(fig. 29).1~7 Dating to about 500 B.C., it depicts
dam
a young man or boy climbing onto the head of a
west pediment of the Parthenon, which accompa-
nies Amphitrite.166 In some representations theketos,
head which is partly in the water. This is not a men-
resembles that of a crocodile, in others we find kete acing ketos of myth, but an evidently benign ani-
with multiple heads, of whatever animal.'67 Occasion- mal. If anything, the iconography of the scene ap-
ally, a well-established ketos in Greek art has been pears to be related to a number of genre scenes,
partly deconstructed, or shown for what it really is. such as an early fifth-century B.C. Athenian cup by
The best example is the late Corinthian column- the Ambrosios Painter showing a boy perched on a
krater depicting Herakles and Hesione confront- rock fishing.'72 Although the head resembles the
ing the legendary monster on the coast of Troy, near muzzle of a land animal, as some scholars suggest,
Sigeion (Sigeum), now in Boston. As Adrienne May- it also resembles the heads of a number of beaked
or has shown, rather than a scary white monster's whales of the genus Mesoplodon, some of which oc-
head painted by a naive artist, the "Monster of Troy cur in the Mediterranean.'73 The size of the crea-
164 For fish-plates, see McPhee and Trendall 1987; for fish added an apologetic "almostlike a whale." AsJones (1999,
Darwin
mosaics, see, e.g., Meyboom 1977-1978 (with references); 17) for
goes on to explain, the extant fossil evidence suggests that
mosaics with real, as well as unreal, creatures of the deep, the distant
see, ancestors of whales were hyena-like beasts called
e.g., Szabados 2000. For a glossary of Greek fish, see Thomp- mesonychids, scavengers for carrion and hunters of fish.
son 1947. 170 See the useful overview of mythological representations
65 Boardman 1987, esp. 81; see also Boardman 1997. in Boardman 1997.
166Yalouris 1984, pls. 28-9. '71 Inv. 3702: Para 336; Boardman 1997, 732, no. 27.
'67 For the crocodile headed ketos, see Boardman 1987, 81; 172 ARV2, 173. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 01.8024; Ver-
for kete with multiple heads see Boardman 1997, 731, nos. 1-2. meule 1979, 180, fig. 1. For later, Hellenistic, representations
168 Mayor 2000, 158-162, figs. 4.1-3. The vase is Museum of of fishermen, see Laubscher 1982.
Fine Arts, Boston, 63.420; see further Boardman 1987, pl. XXIV, 173 See Leatherwood et al. 1983, 122-51, especially Gervais's
fig. 10; 1997, 732, no. 24. Beaked Whale (131-2), with a close-up detail of a stranded
"9 Darwin 1859; quoted and further explained inJones 1999, creature published in Connor and Micklethwaite Peterson
xxvi. By the sixth edition of On the Origin of the Species in 1872, 1994, color pl. 4 (top).
Fig. 29. Athenian red-figure cup, ca. 500 B.C., attributed to the manner of the Epeleios
Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, depicting a young man or boy climbing onto the head
Allard Pierson Museum)
ture precludes the possibility of a of

dolphin:
the mostthis is
enduring images of dolphins, cephalo-
no boy-on-a-dolphin. Rather than a ketos,
pods, a this
wide variety
pic- of fish, not least of which are
ture could be one of the very rare the
representations
flying-fish, come from the prehistoric Aegean,
of a phallaina-a whale-painted at about the
whether sameon palace or house walls, on pot-
depicted
tery (not
time that the word first appears in Greek just the Late Minoan "Marine Style"), on
literature.
Thus far we have been concerned with historic engraved gems, or on other media. In addition to
representations of kete in the Classical world, but could be called the commonly edible species,
what
what of older, prehistoric, pictures of the ketosthere
or are representations of more frightening sea
phallaina? The Aegean Bronze Age is full of imag-creatures, such as dragons, crocodiles, and possi-
ble sharks."75 Some of these creatures, such as the
es of all sorts of wondrous sea creatures, despite
crocodile,
the fact that there is nothing referring to any fish or are not native to the Aegean, and point
sea mammals in the extant corpus of Linear Btotab- the movement of people, commodities, and ideas
lets, with the exception of a solitary squid. It ap-
between the Aegean, Egypt, and the Levant. In dis-
cussing the Minoan and Homeric Skylla, Spyridon
pears as po-ru-po-de-qe (that is, polupodeikwe, referring
tb its many legs) mentioned in a tablet (Ta 722.1); Marinatos illustrated an intriguing Minoan sealing
this squid, however, was not a living creature, but Knossos (fig. 30),176 showing a man on a boat
from
part of an inlaid ornament on a sitting stool.174 threatened
Some by the emerging head of a sea monster,
'74We are grateful to Tom Palaima for this information.

ly Minoan representation of a shark, see Marinatos 1926, 61,
Ventris and Chadwick (1973, 345, Pylos 246), translate the fig.word
4.
as "octopus," but Palaima prefers squid. '76Marinatos 1926, 58, fig. 2:1; Marinatos 1927-1928, 53-
4, like-
175 For "dragons" and crocodiles, see Poursat 1976; for a figs. 1-2.
gean, the rich iconography of the Minoan and Myce-

naean worlds has failed to produce any clearly rec-
ognizable whales. In this, too, the prehistoric Ae-
gean anticipates iconographic developments in the
historic period. There is, however, one Mycenaean
image that cannot go unmentioned: the scene on a
Pictorial Style krater from a tomb in Enkomi, Cy-
prus, depicts charioteers chased by (or hauling) a
strange large-eyed creature on either side of the
vessel (fig. 31).178 What creature, real or imaginary,
the potter had in mind, we do not know, but it is
reasonably clear that a terrestrial quadruped was
never intended. Occupying the available space
Fig. 30. Drawing of a Minoan clay sealing from Knossos
depicting a creature of the water pitted against abelow
man each
on aof the handles, the creatures on this
boat. (After Marinatos 1927-1928) Mycenaean vase look distinctly like sea mammals.
The fluke-like tail, albeit diminutive, the stumpy
originally described as a dog-headed beast legs suggesting flippers or fins, the beaked head
(KuvoK"4)xAOV -pcxq), and anticipating later rep-with striations (an allusion to baleen?) and stream-
resentations, such as some of those discussed above. lined body, all seem suggestive. The words for sea
In hindsight, and with a better drawing, Marinatos mammals such as dolphins, whales, and seals, have
reinterpreted this beast as a hippopotamus, but the not survived in Linear B, but as Kquog is used more
image of sea monster pitted against man is a famil- than once in Homer, a good case can be made for
iar story. The name of the Minoan-looking man on the existence of the word in the Late Bronze Age
the boat confronting the creature is not known, and Aegean. As for the prehistoric and historic images,
if the animal is a hippopotamus,'77 then we can place they were drawn, painted, or engraved by artisans
the action-the story--on the Nile. Like later na- whose knowledge of whales would have been, at
tives of the Aegean-Herakles who fought the ke- best,"very limited.
tos on the Anatolian coast near Troy, and Perseus Many of the ancient kete illustrated or discussed
who saved Andromeda on the Levantine coast at above are not all that different to some later represen-
Jaffa-this Minoan fought a fabulous creature in of
tations a whales. The ketos on the Caeretan hydria
foreign context, a worthy prehistoric ancestor of for example, is in essence not that far re-
(fig. 28),
Herakles and Perseus. Although this Minoan seal-
moved to what seems, at first sight, like a similarly
ing anticipates later Classical representations, and creature on the map of Iceland in the The-
menacing
despite numerous realistic renderings of fishatrumand
Orbis Terrarum by the Flemish cartographer Abra-
other creatures of the sea in the Bronze Age ham Ae-
Ortelius, first published in 1570 (fig. 32).'79 The
Fig. 31. Mycenaean Pictorial Style amphoroid krater from Enkomi, Cyprus, tomb 11, no. 33. (After Sj6qvist 1940, fig.
20, no. 1)
"'77 The possibility that the monster's head represents the a lucid and compelling account of sea monsters and other imag-
prow or ram of a ship seems, in the case of this sealing, unlike- inary-and real-creatures in modern cartography, see Har-
ly. For kete as ship's rams from the later Archaic through Ro- vey 2000, esp. ch. 2, including an illustration of Sebastian Miin-
man periods, see Boardman 1997, 734-5. ster's fantastic sea monsters published in the 1550 edition of
178 Sj6qvist 1940, fig. 20, no. 1.; Vermeule 1972, pl. XXXII:B. Cosmographia.
17'9 Detail taken from the 1603 edition of Ortelius 1570. For
Fig. 32. Detail of the Steipereidur, "the tamest of the whales," by Abraham Ortelius, F
his map of Iceland in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, first published in 1570 (this detail take
(Photo courtesy of the Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Mass.)
ries.180
accompanying text, in Latin, proclaims that It derived
this is from the carcass of a
beached
the Steipereidur, the tamest of whales (the word whale,
in Lat- where exactly we cannot t
in is cetus), which "fights other whales
theon behalf
bone had of
been worn by the action of wa
perhaps
fishermen. Public laws forbid anyone to further
harm it. It is bleached by the sun and w
a hundred cubits long." This ratherfigs.
fabulous-look-
13-14). Picked up, it was brought to
ing whale of the 16th century A.D. was
perhaps
neverdirectly,
depict- conceivably indirectly, a la
ed as a mythological creature, but unusual
a purportedly
bone. Once there it was put to use
bly
"known" type of whale, illustrated only a as
fewa cutting
decades surface, perhaps supported b
before Hendrick Goltzius and his followers were il- thus forming a small table of sorts, and con
lustrating accurately rendered sperm whales (fig. used for leatherworking in an area that was,
time, an industrial district, surrounded by
13). The Steipereidur on Ortelius's map warns us that
what may seem to modern eyes-who know whales cemeteries. We do not know precisely how lo
and other cetaceans from cinema, television, and a bone saw service, but it is difficult to imagi
variety of documentaries-as a representation of a significant length of time, particularly as th
rather fantastic sea creature was, in the context of its was used as a cutting surface. As for its depo
own time, an image rendered after a real animal. this can be pinpointed with greater precision
time in the course of the Early Geometri
CODA
(ca. 850 B.C.), a large fragment of the broke
The fin whale scapula thrown into a ula ninth-centu-
was thrown into its not-so-ultimate rest
in the fill
ry B.C. well in the area that was to become theof a Athe-
well.
nian Agora has a complex and extraordinary cul- together with stranded ceta-
Sightings of whales,
ceans
tural biography and the potential to tell on thesto-
many vast coastlines of the Aegean and Ion-
180 Cf. various papers in Appadurai 1986, and esp. Kopytoff 1986.
ian Seas, as well as waterworn bones found on a mythology, human and natural history, as well as
beach, not unlike our scapula, inspired natural his-entific enquiry.
torians like Aristotle, and later Pliny, among many The wonder and allure of whales continue to this
others-the forebears of Carolus Linnaeus and day.18' We will never know what the Early Iron Age
Charles Darwin-to enquire into the nature of inhabitants of Athens who came across this bone
whales and other cetaceans. In time, they learned thought of it; we can only recall our own wond
of the character and habits of these gentle levia- and astonishment when we first sighted it, throug
thans, and preferred to refer to them, in certain a dusty vitrine, on the first floor of the Stoa of At
los above the Agora Museum.
contexts, as U6AAcXtva or ballaena, instead of ketos.
Stories of large animals inhabiting the Mediterra-
nean inspired a rich oral and literary tradition ex- DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS AND
tending from the Old Testament and the earlier THE COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Ugaritic mythological texts, to Ovid and Vergil, and UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
in the Greek world from Homer to Procopius and A2 10 FOWLER
far beyond. Well before many of these stories were LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1510
ever written down, Aegean artists were depicting JKP@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU
fabulous sea creatures, monsters of the deep, wor-
thy opponents of Herakles, Perseus, Marduk, Baal, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
and Yahweh. This was the beginning of what was to WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
develop into a rich iconographic tradition in the CAMPUS BOX 1114

Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods, ONE BROOKINGS DRIVE
a tradition that extended far beyond Late Antiquity ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63130-4899
into the modern era. Occasionally, a sighted or DRUSCILL@ARTSCI.WUSTL.EDU
stranded whale may have inspired a more realistic

rendering of the creatures that have enjoyed a spe-
Works Cited
cial place in human cultural history and memory,
not only of maritime communities.
Aharoni,J. 1944. "Animals Hitherto Unknown to or Lit-
As we have seen, the literary and iconographic tle Known from Palestine." Bulletin of the Zoological
traditions of kete in the Greek world and in the great- Society ofEgypt Suppl. 6:40-1.
er Mediterranean beyond were not totally human Appadurai, A., ed. 1986. The Social Life of Things. Cam-
creations that inhabited an imaginary realm: they bridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ashe, G. 1962. Land to the West: St. Brendan's Voyage to
were very much the product of a fascination with
America. New York: Viking.
living creatures of the sea. As one of the largest and
Baltogianne, C., ed. 1997. Azqdvza Kaz apdPcia ozo Bvyavzvi`
best dated whalebone finds in the Aegean-indeed, Movaeio. Athens: Greek Ministry of Culture.
one of the very rare examples of a whalebone in a Bauer, K. 1978. "Cuvier's Schnabelwal Ziphius cavirostris
Cuvier 1823 im 6stlichen Mittelmeer." Annalen des
good archaeological context anywhere in the Medi-
Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 81:267-72.
terranean-the significance of the Agora whalebone
Beazley,J.D. 1947. Etruscan Vase-Painting. Oxford: Clar-
lies in the fact that it provides a cogent link between endon.
the material remains of real animals and their repre- Bielefeld, E. 1966. "Ein unteritalisches Vasenbild." Pan-
sentations in art and literature, which form the basis theon 24:252-5.
of this study. The date of the Agora whalebone-and Boardman, J. 1987. "'Very Like a Whale': Classical Sea
Monsters." In Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and
of the short life of the young fin whale from which it
derived-was to coincide with one of the most ex-
Medieval Worlds: Papers Presented in Honor ofEdith Pora-
da, edited by A.E. Farkas, P.O. Harper, and E.B. Har-
perimental and formative periods of Greek art, 73-84.
rison, a Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.
.1997. "Ketos." LIMC8:731-6.
period when Greek artists were to forge a renewed
Boosen,
interest in human and animal figures. Moreover, M. 1986. Etruskische Meeresmischwesen: Untersuchun-
the
gen zu Typologie und Bedeutung. Rome: Bretschneider.
whalebone dates a century or so before the tradition-
Brann, E.T.H. 1961. "Late Geometric Well Groups from
al date of Homer, precisely at the time when the
the Athenian Agora." Hesperia 30:93-146.
Greeks were adopting and adapting the Phoenician
Brongers,J.A. 1995. Walvissen en stadhuizen. Amsterdam:
alphabet to create an enduring literature of epic,
Amersfoort.
nia, to the Arctic waters of Alaska and Siberia.

181 See, most recently, Dick Russell's (2001) sympathetic
account of the migration of the gray whales from Baja, Califor-
vol. the
Brown, J.P. 1968. "Cosmological Myth and 5, edited
Tunaby of
D.N. Freedman, 610-1. New York:
Gibraltar." TAPA 99:37-62. Doubleday.
Brunnsaker, S. 1962. "The Pithecusan Shipwreck: A Den Broeder, F. 1972. Hendrik Goltzius and thePrintmakers
Study of the Late Geometric Picture and Some Basic of Haarlam. Hartford: Museum of Art, University of
Aesthetic Concepts of the Geometric Figure-Style." Connecticut.
OpRom 4:165-242. Duguy, R., and D. Vallon. 1977. "Le rorqual commun
Bryan, B. 1970. Archaeological Explorations on San Nicolas (Balaenoptera physalus) en Mediterrande occidentale:
Island. Southwest Museum Paper 22. Los Angeles: Etat actuel des observations." Rapports etproces-verbaux
Southwest Museum. des reunions Commission Internationale pour l'exploration
scientifique de la Mer MIditerrande 24 (5):21-4.
Buchner, G. 1953-1954. "Figfirlich bemalte spditgeome-
Durand, J.-L. 1979. "Figurativo e processo rituale." Di-
trische Vasen aus Pithekussai und Kyme." RM 60/
61:37-55. alArch n.s. 1:16-31.
Buchner, G., and D. Ridgway. 1993. Pithekoussai L LaEllis, R. 1998. The Search for the Giant Squid: The Biology
necropoli: Tombe 1-723. Scavate dal 1952 al 1961. Rome: and Mythology of the World's Most Elusive Sea Creature.
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Campbell, E. 1991. "Excavations of a Sheelhouse and
Evans, P.G.H. 1987. The Natural History of Whales andDol-
phins. London: Helm.
Other Structures at Sollas, North Uist by R.J.C. Atkin-
Fischer,
son in 1956." Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of P. 1881. "Cetac6s de sud-ouest de la France." Actes
Scotland 121:117-73. de la Socidtd Linnienne de Bordeaux 4th Ser., 35:5-219.
Campbell, W.D. 1899. Aboriginal Carvings of PortJackson Flower, S.S. 1932. "Notes on the Recent Mammals of
and Broken Bay. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Egypt, with a List of Species Recorded from the King-
New South Wales. Ethnological Series 1. Sydney: W.A. dom." Journal of Zoology, London 1932:369-450.
Gullick. Gardiner, M. 1997. "The Exploitation of Sea-Mammals
Carpentieri, P., M. Corsini, and L. Marini. 1999. "Con- in Medieval England: Bones in Their Social Context."
tribute to the Knowledge of the Presence and Distri- ArchJ154:173-95.
bution of Cetaceans in the Aegean Sea." Atti della Greenfield, H.J. 1999. "The Origins of Metallurgy: Dis-
societa italiana di scienze naturali e del Museo Civico di tinguishing Stone from Metal Cut-Marks on Bones
Storia Naturale in Milano 140:65-75. from Archaeological Sites." JAS 26:797-808.
Childe, V.G. 1931. Skara Brae: A Pictish Village in Orkney. Gunkel, H. 1895. Schoipfung und Chaos in Urzeit und
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. Endzeit. G6ttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.
. 1935. The Prehistory of Scotland. Edinburgh: Keg- Habu,J., andJ.M. Savelle. 1994. "Construction, Use and
an Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. Abandonment of a Thule Whale Bone House, Somer-
Chou, H-h. 1976. Oracle Bone Collections in the United States. set Island, Arctic Island." Quaternary Research 33:1-18.
Berkeley: University of California Press. Hall, E. 1994. "Drowning by Nomes: The Greeks, Swim-
Clark, G. 1947. "Whales as an Economic Factor in Pre- ming and Timotheus' Persians." In The Birth of Europe-
historic Europe." Antiquity 21:84-104. an Identity: The Europe-Asia Contrast in Greek Thought,
Coldstream, J.N. 1968. Greek Geometric Pottery: A Survey of 490-322 B.C., edited by H.A. Khan, 44-80. Notting-
Ten Local Styles and Their Chronology. London: Methuen. ham: University of Nottingham Press.
Hallen, Y. 1994. "The Use of Bone and Antler at Foshi-
- . 1995. "The Rich Lady of the Areiopagos and
Her Contemporaries: A Tribute in Memory of Evelyn garry and Bac Mhic Connain, Two Iron Age Sites in
Lord Smithson." Hesperia 64:391-403. North Uist, Western Isles." Proceedings of the Society of
Coleman, K.M. 1983. "Manilius' Monster." Hermes Antiquaries of Scotland 124:189-231.
111:226-32. Hamilton,J.R.C. 1968. Excavations at Clickhimin, Shetland.
Combellack, F. 1952-1953. "Homer's Savage Fish." CJ Edinburgh: H.M.S.O.
48:257-61. Harvey, M. 2000. The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of
Connor, R.C., and D. Micklethwaite Peterson. 1994. The Cartographic Crime. New York: Random House.
Lives of Whales and Dolphins. New York: Holt. Hedges, J.W. 1987. Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney,
Consolo, V., et al. 1991. Museo Madralisca. Palermo: Nove-
pt. 2. BAR-BS 163-5. Oxford: British Archaeological
cento. Reports.
Couch, H.N. 1935-1936. "Fishing in Homer." CJ31:303-
Held, J.S. 1980. The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens: A
14. Critical Catalogue. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Darwin, C. 1859. On the Origin of the Species by Means of Hemelrijk, J.M. 1983. Caeretan Hydriae. Mainz: Philipp
Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in von Zabern.
the Strugglefor Life. 1st ed. London:John Murray. Henshilwood, C., andJ. Sealy. 1997. "Bone Artifacts from
Davidson,J. 1997. Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, Southern
Passions of Classical Athens. London: Harper Collins. Cape, South Africa." Current Anthropology 38:890-5.
Dawson, P.C. 2001. "Interpreting Variability in Thule Hershovitz, P. 1966. Catalogue of Living Whales. Washing-
Inuit Architecture: A Case Study from the Canadian ton, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
High Arctic." AmerAnt 66:453-70. Holst, G. 1975. Road to Rembetika: Music of a Greek Sub-
Day, J. 1985. God's Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea. Culture. Songs of Love, Sorrow, and Hashish. Athens:
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Anglo-Hellenic Publishing.
-. 1992a. "Leviathan." In The Anchor Bible Dictio-
Huxley, G.L. 1975. Pindar's Vision of the Past. Belfast:
nary, vol. 4, edited by D.N. Freedman, 295-6. New Queen's.
York: Doubleday. _. 1979. "Bones for Orestes." GRBS 20:145-8.
- . 1992b. "Rahab." In The Anchor Bible Dictionary,
Jenkins,J.T. 1971. A History of the Whale Fisheries, from the
Thule Whale
Basque Fisheries of the Tenth Century to the Hunting Bone Houses." In Thule Eskimo Culture:
of the
Finner Whale at the Present Day. Port Washington, N.Y.:
An Anthropological Retrospective, edited by A.P. McCart-
Kennikat. Originally published 1921. ney, 301-24. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
MacGregor,
Jones, S. 1999. Almost Like a Whale: 'The Origin A. 1985. Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn: The
of the Spe-
cies' Updated. London: Doubleday. Technology of Skeletal Materials Since the Roman Period.
Totowa, NewJersey:
Joyce, P.W. 1903. A Social History of Ancient Ireland. Lon- Barnes and Noble.
don and New York: Longmans, Green and Co. I., and A.D. Trendall. 1987. Greek Red-Figured
McPhee,
Ilani, G. 1980. "Beaked Whale in Cleopatra'sFish-Plates.
Pool." Isra-Antike Kunst Beiheft 14. Basel: Antike
el - Land and Nature 5:81. Kunst.
Isler, H.P. 1983. "Drei neue Geffisse aus der Werkstatt Maggio, T. 2000. Mattanza: Love and Death in the Sea of
der Caeretaner Hydrien." Jd198:15-56. Sicily. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus.
Keller, 0. 1909-1913. Die antike Tierwelt, 2 bd. (Bd. I, 1909; Marangou, L.I. 1995. Ancient Greek Art from the Collection of
II, 1913). Leipzig: W. Engelmann. Stavros S. Niarchos. Athens: N.P. Goulandris Foundation.
Kershaw, P., P. Scott, and H.E. Welch. 1995. "The Shel- Marchessaux, D. 1980. "A Review of the Current Knowl-
ter Characteristics of Traditional-Styled Inuit Hous- edge of the Cetaceans in the Eastern Mediterranean
es." Arctic 49:328-38. Sea." Vie Marine 2:59-66.
Kinzelbach, R. 1985. "Der Cuvier-Schnabelwal (Ziphius Marchessaux, D., and R. Duguy. 1979. "Note prelimi-
cavirostris) im 6stlichen Mittelmeer." Sdugetierkunde naire sur les c6taces de la M6diterran~e orientale."
50:314-6.
Rapports et procks-verbaux des reunions Commission Inter-
- . 1986a. "The Sperm Whale, Physeter macroceph-nationale pour l'exploration scientifique de la Mer Mediter-
alus, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea." Zoology in ran&e
the 25/26:147-9.
Middle East 1:15-7. Marinatos, S.N. 1926. "Mlvo0YK1 Ka~ 6opq piKl EZKU XC."
ArchDelt 10:51-62.
?. 1986b.
pidelphis "FirstinRecord
griseus, of Risso's
the Eastern Dolphin, Gram-
Mediterranean Sea." 1927-1928. " "AnaE iFi n Epi ptVWYiKqr EKUXhac."
Zoology in the Middle East 1:17-9. ArchDelt 11:53-4.
Kopytoff, I. 1986. "The Cultural Biography of Things: Mathiassen, T. 1927. Archaeology of the Central Eskimos.
Commoditization as Process." In The Social Life of Vol. 2, The Thule Culture and Its Position within the Eski-
Things, edited by A. Appadurai, 64-91. Cambridge: mo Culture. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Cambridge University Press. - . 1928. Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition 1921-
Kraay, C.M. 1976. Archaic and Classical Greek Coins. Ber- 1924. Vol. 6, pt. 1, Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.
keley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Kurlansky, M. 1997. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed - . 1935. "Blubber Lamps in the Erteb6lle Culture?"
the World. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ActaArch 6:139-52.
Lattimore, S. 1976. The Marine Thiasos in Greek Sculpture. Mattusch, C.C. 1977. "Bronze- and Ironworking in the
Monumenta Archaeologica 3. Los Angeles: Cotsen Area of the Athenian Agora." Hesperia 46:340-79.
Institute of Archaeology. Mayne, A., and S. Lawrence. 1999. "Ethnographies of
Laubscher, H.P. 1982. Fischer und Landleute: Studien zur Place: A New Urban Research Agenda." Urban Histo-
hellenistischen Genreplastik. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern. ry 26:325-48.
Lauwerier, R.C.G.M. 1983. "Walviskaken op het droge." Mayor, A. 2000. The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in
Westerheem 32(4):236-9. Greek and Roman Times. Princeton: Princeton Univer-
Lawrence, S. 1998. "An Integrated Approach to the sity Press.
Archaeology of Whaling." In Archaeology of Whaling in Melville, H. 1851. Moby Dick or The Whale (based on the
Southern Australia and New Zealand, edited by S. Newberry Library Edition, Northwestern University
Lawrence and M. Staniforth, 111-5. Canberra: The Press 1988, with introduction by A. Delbanco and glos-
Australasian Society of Historical Archaeology and sary by T. Quirk) (1992). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
the Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology. Meyboom, P.G.P. 1977-1978. "A Roman Fish Mosaic
Lawson, J.C. 1964. Reprint. Modern Greek Folklore and from Populonia." BABesch 52-53:209-20.
Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals. New York:Monks, G.G. 2001. "Ouit Blubbering: An Examination
University Books. Original edition, Cambridge: Cam- of Nuu'chah'nulth (Nootkan) Whale Butchery." In-
bridge University Press, 1909. ternational ournal of Osteoarchaeology. 11:136-49.
Leatherwood, S., R.R. Reeves, and L. Foster. 1983. The Morris, S.P. 1984. "Hollow Lakedaimon." HSCP88:1-11.
Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. San Fran- Mulville,J. 2002. "The Role of Cetaceans in Prehistoric
cisco: The Sierra Club. and Historic Atlantic Scotland." International Journal
Lestocquoy,J. 1948. "Baleine et raitaillement au Moyen of Osteoarchaeology 12:34-48.
Age." Revue de Nord 30:39-43. Musset, L. 1964. "Quelqu -s notes sur les baleiniers Nor-
Lister, A., and P. Bahn. 1994. Mammoths. NewYork: Mac- mands de Xe au XIIIe sidcle." Revue d'Histoire
millan. Economique et Sociale 42:147-61.
Little, G.A. 1945. Brendan the Navigator. Dublin: M.H.
Gill and Son. Mylonas, P.M. 1963. O 'AOo xaz za lovaaOrpzalcd
z6pldtara piEo' and nawej axoypetec uaw (pya rgj
McCarthy, F.D. 1941-1947. "Records of Rock Engrav-
A jZipwtIa evta/zxd yza Zuv yzZdidpovy Stzaapoli rov:
ings in the Sydney District." Mankind 3:42-56, 161- 1963. Athens: I. Makris Papadiamantopoulou.
71, 217-25, 266-72, 322-9. Nigg, J. 1999. The Book of Fabulous Beasts: A Treasur
- . 1954-1962. "Records of the Rock Engravings of Writings from Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford
the Sydney District." Mankind 5:8-32, 201-8, 385-400. New York: Oxford University Press.
McCartney, A.P. 1979. "A Processual Consideration of Nordmann, V. 1936. Menneskets Indvandring til No
New York: Academic Press.
Danmarks Geologiske Undersogelse III raekke 27.
Copenhagen: Geological Survey of Denmark.
Rumpf, A. 1939. Die Meerwesen aufden antiken Sarkophagre-
Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., and M. Demma. 1994. Guida liefs, V.1. Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs. Berlin: G. Grote.
dei mammiferi marini del Mediterraneo. Padova: Franco Russell, D. 2001. Eye of the Whale: Epic Passagefrom Baja to
Muzzio. Siberia. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Ortelius, A. 1603. Reprint. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.Ryder,
Antw- M.L. 1975. "Some Phoenician Animal Remains
erp: loannis Keerbergii. Original edition, Antwerp, from Sicily." In Archaeozoological Studies: Papers of the
1570. Archaeozoological Conference 1974, Held at the Biologisch-
Panucci-Papadopoulou, M.-A., I. Siokou-Frangou, A.
Archaeologisch Instituut of the State University of Gronin-
Theocharis, and D. Georgopoulos. 1992. "Zooplank- gen, edited by A.T. Clason, 213-8. New York: Ameri-
ton Vertical Distribution in Relation to the Hydrolo- can Elsevier.
gy in the NW Levantine and SE Aegean Seas (Spring Savelle, J.M. 1997. "The Role of Architectural Utility in
1986)." Oceanologica Acta 15:365-81. the Formation of Zooarchaeological Whale Bone
Papadopoulos,J.K. 1996. "The Original Kerameikos Assemblages."JAS
of 24:869-85.
Athens and the Siting of the Classical Agora." GRBS Schauenburg, K. 1981. "Andromeda I." LIMCI: 774-90.
37:107-28. Scott, J.A. 1936-1937. "Homeric Heroes and Fish." CJ
. 1998. "A Bucket, by Any Other Name, and an 32:171-2.
Athenian Stranger in Early Iron Age Crete." Hesperia Selmer, C. 1959. Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, from
67:109-23. Early Latin Manuscripts. Publications in Medieval Stud-
- . 2002. Ceramicus Redivivus: The Early Iron Age Pot- ies 16. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
ters'Field in the Area of the Classical Athenian Agora. Hes- Shear, T.L. 1935. "The American Excavations in the Athe-
peria Suppl. Princeton: American School of Classical nian Agora, Seventh Report: The Campaign of 1934."
Studies at Athens. Hesperia 4:340-70.
Papadopoulos,J.K., and S.A. Paspalas. 1999. "Mendaian Shepard, K. 1940. The Fish-Tailed Monster in Greek and
as Chalkidian Wine." Hesperia 68:161-88. Etruscan Art. New York: privately printed.
Papastratou, N. 1990. Paper Icons: Greek Orthodox Reli- Sj6qvist, E., 1940. Problems of the Late Cypriot Bronze Age.
gious Engravings 1665-1899. 2 vols. Athens: Papastra- Stockholm: Swedish Cyprus Expedition.
tos, Recklinghausen and Bongers. Smith, A.B., andJ. Kinahan. 1984. "The Invisible Whale."
WorldArch 16:89-97.
Paulus, M. 1966. "Les balenopteres de la Mdditerranee:
Smith, A.N. 1998. "The Worked Bone and Antler." In
Balenoptere commun (Balaenoptera physalus L.)
echoue aux Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer en 1963." Bulle- Scalloway: A Broch, Late Iron Age Settlement and Medieval
tin du Musee d'histoire naturelle de Marseilles 26:117-39. Cemetery in Shetland, edited by N. Sharples, 110-11,
Pernier, L. 1935. II1 palazzo minoico di Festos: Scavi e studi 130-1, 137, 152-3, 157-8, 164-6. Oxford: Oxbow.
della missione archeologica italiana a Creta, I. Rome: Li-Szabados, A.-V. 2000. "Le serpent de mer refait surface
breria dello stato. t Carthage." In 'AyaO6b i ailtwv: Mythes et Cultes. Etudes
Petropoulos, E. 1979. Peltn~uwca Tpayovi/ta. Athens: Kedros. d 'iconographie en I'honneur de Lilly Kahil, 465-75. BCH
Pfuhl, E. 1923. Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen, III. Suppl. 38. Paris: Ecole franCaise d'Athenes.
Munich: F. Bruckmann. Taylor, W.E. 1960. "A Description of Sadlermiut Houses
Excavated
Philbrick, N. 2000. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the at Native Point, Southampton Island,
Whaleship Essex. New York: Viking. N.W.T." National Museum of Canada Bulletin 162:53-100.
Pilleri, G., and 0. Pilleri. 1982. "Cetacean Records inThompson,
the D'A.W. 1947. A Glossary of Greek Fishes. Lon-
Mediterranean Sea." Investigations on Cetacea 14:49-63.don: Oxford University Press.
. 1987. "Records of Cetaceans in the Mediterra- Thompson, S. 1955. Motif-Index ofFolk-Literature: A Classi-
nean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean in the Period fication of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myth-
1982-1986." Investigations on Cetacea 20:267-80. sm Fables, Medieval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-
Poursat, J.-C. 1976. "Notes d'iconographie prehelle-
Books and Local Legends. Bloomington: Indiana Uni-
nique: Dragons et crocodiles." BCH 100:461-74. versity Press.
Price, L. 1988. Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Tinker, S.W. 1988. Whales of the World. Honolulu: Bess.
Museum of Art Collection. Los Angeles: County Muse- Toynbee, J.M.C. 1973. Animals in Roman Life and Art.
um of Art. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Pritchett, W.K. 1956. "The Attic Stelai, Part II." HesperiaTrendall, A.D. 1967. The Red-Figured Vases ofLucania, Cam-
25:178-317. pania and Sicily. Oxford: Clarendon.
Reese, D.S. 1984. "Shark and Ray Remains in Aegean True, F.W. 1904. The Whalebone Whales of the Western North
and Cypriote Archaeology." OpAth 15:188-92. Atlantic Compared with Those Occurring in European
- . 1991. "Whales and Shell Purple-dye at Motya Waters, with Some Observations on the Species of the North
(Sicily, Italy)." Unpublished report. Pacific. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Renfrew, J.M., P.H. Greenwood, and P.J. Whitehead. True, M., and K. Hamma. 1994. A Passion for Antiquities:
1968. "Appendix VIII. The Fish Bones." In Excavations Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence
at Saliagos Near Antiparos, edited byJ.D. Evans and C. Fleischman. Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum.
Renfrew, 118-21. BSA Suppl. 5. Oxford: British School Van den Brink, F.H. 1967. A Field Guide to the Mammals of
at Athens. Britain and Europe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Ventris, M., and J. Chadwick. 1973. Documents in Myce-
Reynolds,J.N. 1932. Mocha Dick, or, the White Whale of the
Pacific. NewYork and London: Charles Scribner's Sons. naean Greek. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
Ridgway, S.H., and R. Harrison. 1985. The Sirenians and sity Press.
Baleen Whales, vol. 3. Handbook of Marine Mammals. Vermeule, E.T. 1972. Greece in the Bronze Age. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. the English People: A Historical Commentary. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.
. 1979. Aspects ofDeath in Early Greek Art and Poetry.
Berkeley: University of California Press. Webb, J.M. 1977. "A Scapula from Limassol-'Komissaia-
Von Blanckenhagen, P.H. 1987. "Easy Monsters."
to'."In
In Two Cypriote Sanctuaries of the End of the Cypro-
Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Archaic Period, edited by V. Karageorghis, 74-80. Rome:
Papers Presented in Honor ofEdith Porada, edited by A.E. Consiglio nazionale dell ricerche.
1. 1985. "The Incised Scapulae." In Excavations at
Farkas, P.O. Harper, and E.B. Harrison, 85-94. Mainz:
Philipp von Zabern. Kition. Vol. 5, The Pre-Phoenician Levels, pt. 2, edited by
Von Hammer,J. 1834. Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia,V. Karageorghis and M. Demas, 317-28. Nicosia: De-
and Africa in the Seventeenth Century by Evliya Effendi.partment of Antiquities, Cyprus.
Translated by von Hammer. London: Oriental Trans- West, M.L. 1966. Hesiod, Theogony: Edited with Prolegome-
lation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. na and Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon.
Vryonis, S., Jr. Forthcoming. "The Greeks and the Whittle,
Sea: A. 2000. "'Very Like a Whale': Menhirs, Motifs
Yesterday and Tomorrow." In Contours of Hellenism, and Myths in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition of
edited by S.P. Morris and S. Vassilakis, Journal of Northwest
the Europe." CAJ10:243-59.
Hellenic Diaspora. Wiirtz, M., and N. Repetto. 1998. Whales and Dolphins: A
Walker, E.F. 1952. Five Prehistoric Archaeological Sites in Guide
Los to the Biology and Behaviour of Cetaceans. Shrews-
bury: Swan Hill.
Angeles County, California. Los Angeles: Publications
of the Frederick Webb Hodge Anniversary Publica-Yalouris, N. 1984. "Das Ketos des Parthenon-Westgie-
tion Fund. bels," In Parthenon-Kongress Basel: Referate und Berichte
4. bis 8. April 1982, edited by E. Berger, 281-3. Mainz:
Wallace Collection. 1968. Wallace Collection Catalogues: Pic-
tures and Drawings. 16th ed. London: William Clowes Philipp von Zabern.
and Sons. Zeuner, F.E. 1952. "The Microlithic Industry of Langh-
naj,of
Wallace-Hadrill, J.M. 1988. Bede's Ecclesiastical History Gujarat." Man 52:177-9.

A Ketos in Early Athens - An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in The Greek World

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Ketos in Early Athens - An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in The Greek World

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in the Greek World

Author(s): John K. Papadopoulos and Deborah Ruscillo

Abstract unearthed in 1934, the bone languished, appar-

whales in the Aegean and Mediterranean are

formulated and established in Aegean prehistory

"The well is noted in Shear 1935, 362-3.

from the level of the surrounding bedrock4 asand

4That is, 54.45 m above sea level. Section M: wellGeometric

A one of the earliest of his si

logical phase Early Geometric II, or ca. 850 B.C. in

perhaps even of the immediate surrounds, in the

Fig. 5. Well K 12:2. Selection of handmade cooking pots (chytrai)

13 See n. 9. these bones were not meal remains. It is generally believed

cattle femora or scapulae are also not present

' The evidence is fully outlined in Papadopoulos

also known as the glenoid. The glenoid articu-

Species Element Number of Individuals

ered in the 20th century.26 Although the fin thatwhale

Fig. 10. Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)

one-quarter of the total body length. 0.0675

and also accounts both for the fine cut marks on

(fig. 12) from the posterior side of thethe glenoid,

ship with their mothers, even after nursing are often

40 Roger Crane, Cetacean Specialist, research support

animals were hunted is not straightforward.45 This

4 Clark 1947, 100-2. Although Clark listed1947. Similarly,

creatures, whatever their precise mens

France in 1798,57 and live fin whales have been spot-

which are composed of a whale vertebra.

in cultures that extensively exploited whales and

bone has been incorporated into Neolithic and Iron

in which social tensions and the aspirations of ferent cultures.

mammoth, have been found in archaeological con-

of large scapulae found in archaeological sites, as as George Huxley first suggested?96

thy successor of Hesione's ketos that terrorized the

quintessential Greek monsters as the Gorgons and,

Fig. 19. Detail of Corinthian black-figure amphora, depicting

rived. The word is found in Greek literature as early

extends to the very heavens, for KIf[OC in Greek was

creatures of the sea."' These include monsters,

Tainaron. In the Homeric poems, the kingdom

"117 Morris 1984, 1-2. I"Vermeule 1979, 183.

on." In Aristophanes, 6dX?Acavu is used as a comic devise in

Juvenal (10.14), for example, locates whalesthe in harbor,

"' Mayor 2000, 264, no. 10.

nowhere more evocatively than a song, first re-

immediately under the capsized ship, way ofthose with

Fig. 27. Etruscan red-figure krater, name vase of the Hesione

oarfish (Regaleus glesne) about 2 m long caught in

the scene is related to a myth, lost from tradition, of the

ture precludes the possibility of a of

'74We are grateful to Tom Palaima for this information.

gean, the rich iconography of the Minoan and Myce-

in the Greek world from Homer to Procopius and A2 10 FOWLER

develop into a rich iconographic tradition in the CAMPUS BOX 1114

stranded whale may have inspired a more realistic

nia, to the Arctic waters of Alaska and Siberia.

University of Chicago Press. the English People: A Historical Commentary. Oxford:

You might also like