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This thesis offers a holistic study concerning a set of imagined marine figures in Greco-Roman antiquity from archaic Greece to the end of Late Antiquity. Utilizing both textual
and iconographic material, it explores the significance of the seeming paradox of the
sea being home to monstrous figures, creatures generally distinct from humanity, and
simultaneously being inhabited by anthropic figures. This study, then, endeavours to
provide an in-depth examination of this aspect of ancient imagination concerning the
marine world, highlighting the individual evolutions and continuities in the conceptions of
such figures, while also drawing out the significant similarities and contrasts between
them. The apparent paradox of sea monsters and sea people can be explained as a
result of the prominence of one figure, the kētos, and the relationship between
monstrosity and divinity in the ancient world, as demonstrated in the conclusion.
Part One considers the sea monsters of Greco-Roman antiquity and is broken
into three chapters. The first two of these concern the main traditions of the kētos: that
of the divinely associated tradition (1) and the geographical tradition (2). The final
chapter (3) of this part explores the other two sea monsters of the ancient world, Scylla
and Charybdis. Part Two surveys the two most pervasive anthropomorphic figures of
Greco-Roman mythology, with respective chapters devoted to the Tritons (4) and the
Nereids (5). Part Three considers the Christian reflex of the kētos in Late Antiquity,
representing a substantial shift in the ancient traditions of sea monsters. This is divided
into three chapters, the first of which gives the relevant background for the three Old
Testament sea monsters responsible for this transformation and the Christian exegeses
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of them (6), followed by a similarly structured chapter on Jonah’s sea monster (7). The
final chapter (8) concludes with examining the remaining Christian references to sea
monsters in late antique literature. The conclusion, then, draws together some of the
overarching features and trends of these traditions concerning the ancient imagination
of the marine realm. Appendix A examines the hippocamps and other marine versions
of terrestrial animals, figures interrelated to this topic, but which are neither properly sea
monsters nor sea people. Appendix B collates a selection of images referenced
throughout this study.
The word count of this thesis is 94,043 (excluding footnotes, bibliography, appendices,
and preliminaries) |
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