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American Journal of Archaeology106 (2002) 187227187

AKetosin Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whalesand Sea Monsters in the Greek World

JOHN K. PAPADOPOULOS AND DEBORAH RUSCILLO

AbstractThis article publishes a fragment of a scapula of a fin

whale (Balaenoptera physalus) found in an Early Geomet-ric well in the area of the later Athenian Agora. Derivingfrom the carcass of an immature beached whale, the bonewas brought to Athens and was used probably as a cuttingsurface, before being discarded ca. 850 B.C. The contextof this extraordinary artifact is analyzed and discussed, asare its possible functions. The occurrence of whales inthe Aegean and Mediterranean is reviewed, so too theuse of whales and whalebones in ancient Greece and inother cultures. Although the incidence of whalebone israre in archaeological contexts in the Aegean, Classicalliterature is full of references to both fantastic sea mon-sters and real whales. The words that the Greeks andRomans used for whales and the language of whales inmythology and natural history reveal a rich and variedtradition. There is a similarly rich and long tradition oficonographic representations in ancient art, particularlyof fabulous sea monsters, one that extends from Aegeanprehistory into the Classical era and well beyond. TheAgora whalebone provides a unique insight into the ar-chaeology of whales and sea monsters in Greek litera-ture, natural history, art, and material culture.*

How vain and foolish, then, thought I, for timiduntravelled man to try to comprehend aright thiswondrous whale, by merely poring over his deadattenuated skeleton.

One of the most enigmatic objects to have beenfound in the heart of Athens is the so-called boneartifact (Agora inv. BI 115), encountered in an Ear-ly Geometric well (well K 12:2) in the central por-tion of the area that was to become the Classical Agora (fig. 1).2 So unique was the object that thewell from which it derived came to be known, for atime, as the well with the bone artifact. Although

unearthed in 1934, the bone languished, appar-ently forgotten for many years, first in the storeroomsof the old Agora dig-house, and later in the uppergallery of the Stoa of Attalos, above the Agora Muse-um. The bone is of interest both on account of thefact that it preserves a portion of a scapula of a finwhale, a member of the Balaenopteragenus of whales,the second largest mammal to have inhabited theearth after the blue whale, as well as for the use itwas put to prior to being discarded. The bone, al-though fragmentary and now preserving only a smallportion of the original scapula, has a series of cutmarks on its upper, flat surface, and a neat rectan-gular cutting for presumed attachment to anotherelement, now lost. While the exact function of theartifact in the context of the Early Iron Age settle-ment of Athens is not immediately obvious, analy-sis of the various cuttings, together with the wearon the bone, provide important insights into thelife history of this uncommon find. The compara-tive rarity of whale bones in archaeological contextsin the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean gener-ally, coupled with the use that the bone was put to,warrant its detailed publication. Moreover, the phys-

ical existence of such a bone serves as a useful fo-cus for the more numerous appearances of whalesand other sea monsters in Greek literature, mythol-ogy, natural history, and art.

In this article, a detailed description and analysisof the bone is provided, which aims at establishingthe salient details of its life history, including thenature of the leviathan from which it derived andthe context in which it was finally deposited. Fromthere, the incidence of both stranded and sighted

Herman Melville, Moby Dick.1

* We gratefully acknowledge our debt to our colleagues inthe Athenian Agora for facilitating our work and for various

types of assistance, particularly John McK. Camp II, Sylvie Du-mont, Anne Hooton, Jan Jordan, and Craig Mauzy. We aregrateful to many friends and colleagues for providing illustra-tions, for allowing access to material in their care, and for dis-cussion on a variety of topics connected with this paper, espe-cially the following: Aphrodite Argyrakis, Mary Jean Blasdale,Laura Bonomi, David Clarke, John Clegg, Roger Colten, SimonDavis, Peter Dawson, Susanne Ebbinghaus, Sherry Fox, MichaelJehle, Hans Christian Kochelmann, Roel Lauwerier, SusanLawrence, Nino Luraghi, Yvonne Marshall, Dave Maxwell,

Adrienne Mayor, Greg Monks, Sarah Morris, Jacqui Mulville,Tom Palaima, Stavros Paspalas, Carolyn Riccardelli, Richard Sab-

in, William Schniedewind, Gianni Siracusano, Aleydis Van deMoortel, Cornelius Vermeule, and Jennifer Webb. We wouldlike to record our special thanks to Adrienne Mayor for herinsightful comments and her great enthusiasm for monstersof the land and sea.

1Melville 1851, ch. 103, Measurement of the Whales Skel-eton, 4945.

2 For the topography of Athens in the Early Iron Age, seePapadopoulos 1996, 2002.

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JOHN K. PAPADOPOULOS AND DEBORAH RUSCILLO188 [AJA 106

whales in the Aegean and Mediterranean are re-viewed, and a brief overview is provided of the use ofwhales and whalebones in Greece, as well as in othercultures. Next, the words that the Greeks and Ro-mans used for whales and the language of whales inmythology and natural history are discussed. Finally,an analysis is presented on the manner in whichGreek and other artists represented these creatures

of the deep and the iconographic traditions that wereformulated and established in Aegean prehistoryand in Classical archaeology.

Although Classical literature is full of referenc-es to mythical creatures of the deepas well as toreal whalesand fantastic sea monsters featureprominently in Greek and Roman art, Classicalphilologists and iconographers have been ham-pered in their attempts to link the word and theimage, on the one hand, with the material remainsof actual whales on the other. This is in part theresult of the paucity of verified whalebones in ar-chaeological contexts and the lack of general in-

formation with regard to their specific species orgenera, which has sometimes given rise to the mis-taken belief that larger whales, such as blue, fin,and sperm whales wereand areuncommon inthe Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. It is ouraim in this paper to (re-)establish the link between

once living whales and the rich literary and icono-graphic traditions of kete in the Greek world. Theshoulder blade of the Early Iron Age ketos in Ath-ens, together with discoveries of several other whale-bones in various contexts in the Aegean and Med-iterranean, permit an archaeology of whales andsea monsters in Greek tradition that draws on theevidence not only of philology and iconography,

but also faunal remains and material culture.the archaeological context

Before describing Agora BI 115, it is importantto establish the details of its context and its date.The deposit in which the whalebone was found wasone of two early wells that were located near thecenter of the later Agora, beneath the so-called Civ-ic Offices.3 The stylobate of an Early Roman build-ing intersected one of them, K 12:2 of Early Geo-metric date, in which BI 115 was found; the other,Protogeometric well K 12:1, was located about 2 mto the south (figs. 23). The shafts of both wells

had been cut down to the surviving level of the bed-rock by early Roman times. Turkish storage pits over-lay both wells and extended down into the raggedmouth of K 12:1, which opened in bedrock as anirregular pit, ca. 2 2.4 m, narrowing to 11.2 m atthe bottom. The shaft was about 4.8 m in depth

Fig. 1. General view of the area of the Athenian Agora, with the Akropolis, from the west, before the reconstructionof the Stoa of Attalos. (Photo by Alison Frantz; courtesy of the Agora Excavations, American School of ClassicalStudies at Athens)

3 The well is noted in Shear 1935, 3623.

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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF WHALES AND SEA MONSTERS IN THE GREEK WORLD 1892002]

from the level of the surrounding bedrock4 and layunder the porch of the Civic Offices, 17.5 m northof Middle Stoa pier 9 (from the west). The MiddleStoa terrace appears to have been built along theline of an earlier eastwest road that may have beenin service during the life of the well, though such aconclusion is speculative. The material from well K

12:1 can be assigned to a developed phase of theProtogeometric period.5

Just over 2 m to the north of K 12:1 was well K12:2 (figs. 23), also referred to by the excavatoras Protogeometric.6 There appears to have beenno physical barrier between the two wells until thestylobate of the Civic Offices was built betweenthem. It is worth adding that during excavationpersistent water was met in both wells, even as high

as the level of the first meter below the surround-ing bedrock. The diameter at the mouth of well K12:2 as first exposed was 1.3 m, narrowing to 0.7 mat the bottom. The depth of the well below the topof the overlying wall B was 6.25 m; its depth fromthe preserved level of the surrounding bedrockapproximately 5.3 m (fig. 3). Well K 12:2 was one

of several Early Iron Age wells that were stratified.The lower deposit (period of use) yielded com-plete and almost-complete vessels recovered fromdepths ranging between -4.2 and -5.3 m. These vessels, used to draw water, were inadvertentlydropped by their owners; a selection of some ofthe period-of-use pots is presented here (figs. 45). The upper deposit, filling the remainder ofthe well, represents the fill dumped into the shaft

Fig. 2. Well K 12:1 in foreground and well K 12:2 (the Early Geometric well with the whalebone) incenter during excavation in 1934. View from the south. (Courtesy of the Agora Excavations, AmericanSchool of Classical Studies at Athens)

4That is, 54.45 m above sea level. Section M: well at 70/ME.Deposit first noted 22 and 27 March 1934; cleared 29 March

14 April 1934 by D. Burr [Thompson]. A number of completevessels from the deposit, primarily oinochoai, may have beenpart of the period-of-use material, but on account of severaljoins noted throughout the deposit, all of the pottery was com-bined, without a record of the depth noted. As such, it is notpossible to establish beyond doubt whether the complete ves-sels were indeed period of use, or if the entire fill was deposit-ed at one time.

5 Evelyn Smithsons division of the Early Iron Age into dis-tinct phases coincides with that of Coldstream (1968, 828)for Early and Middle Geometric. Coldstreams division of the

Geometric period into Early, Middle, and Late, with subsequentphases follows that originally devised by Eva Brann and Evelyn

Lord Smithson, see Papadopoulos 1998; see further Brann 1961,95; Coldstream 1968, 45; Coldstream 1995, 391. Smithsondivided the Protogeometric period into various phases on thebasis of the internal evidence provided by the Agora gravesand deposits, particularly the well deposits (well K 12:1 was as-signed by Smithson to PG III). For further notes on thesechronological phases, see Papadopoulos 1996, 119, n. 34.

6 Section M. Protogeometric well at 70/MH. Cleared in-termittently between 2 and 26 April 1934 by Dorothy Burr[Thompson]. See also Coldstream 1968, 10, 13.

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when the well had gone out of use; a selectionfrom the more numerous and fragmentary materi-al recovered from this level is also presented (fig.6). Nicolas Coldstream lists the lower deposit as

one of the earliest of his significant Early Geomet-ric I deposits;7 the upper fill is listed as the earli-est of the Early Geometric II significant depositson the basis of the latest diagnostic material recov-ered from it.8 The upper deposit yielded someearlier material, including pottery deriving per-

haps from disturbed tombs.9

The chronologicalconsistency of the pottery recovered from the low-er deposit would indicate that the well was openand in use for a relatively short period of time, anobservation supported by the latest material re-covered from the dumped filling comprising theupper deposit. Although the well, with the possi-ble exception of one piece (P 20618), does notcontain any obvious potters waste, a number of whole pots from the period-of-use deposit aresomewhat poorly fired.10 These are in addition toseveral handmade cooking vessels or chytrai (fig.5), all clearly fire-stained or burnt from normal

domestic use. The poorly-fired vessels, on the oth-er hand, are all wheelmade and painted and mayindicate that factory seconds were commonlyused for more mundane purposes, such as draw-ing water from wells, though it is worth stressingthat damaged vessels sometimes occur in tombs.11

The whalebone, BI 115 (figs. 78), was found inthe upper deposit at a depth of 1.75 m below wallB and, therefore, at least 1 m in the fill as mea-sured from the level of the surrounding bedrock.Such a depth is well below the level of the intru-sive material encountered at the mouth of the well,and the bone artifact may be dated on the basis of

the diagnostic pottery recovered from the upperfill of well K 12:2. This would indicate the chrono-logical phase Early Geometric II, or ca. 850 B.C. inthe conventional absolute chronology, as a termi-nus post quem for BI 115.12 How long the bone wasin use prior to its having been discarded cannotbe determined. It is worth noting, however, that

Fig. 3. Plan and section of Agora wells K 12:1 and K 12:2.Inked by Richard Anderson, after a sketch in the excavation

notebook. (Courtesy of the Agora Excavations, AmericanSchool of Classical Studies at Athens)

7 Coldstream 1968, 10. Well K 12:2 is listed behind Agoragraves C 9:8 and N 16:4.

8 Coldstream 1968, 13.9 Three vessels, a lekythos (P 3826), a pyxis (P 14207), and

a fruit stand (P 3967), all clearly Protogeometric and quiteearly, must derive from disturbed burials, perhaps even fromthe same grave; this will be treated in more detail in the forth-coming volume on the Early Iron Age tombs in the AthenianAgoraseries.

10 See Papadopoulos 1996, 2002. P 20618 is a fragment of aone-handled cup preserving less than one-half of body, includ-ing handle scars, but nothing of the base. The clay body is inpart reduced and the paint has mostly fired brown, in placesapproaching black. It is not inconceivable that the fragmentwas once a test-piece. The cup is stylistically earlier than the

other material in the deposit and thus represents earlier resid-ual material dumped into the well. Apart from the inventoriedpieces already noted, there are, among the many sherds fromthe deposit stored in context, a few that are very poorly fired,

including some that may even be fragments from possiblewasters or production discards, though their fragmentary stateis such as to render any statement uncertain. The whole potsfrom the period of use that are poorly fired include P 3687, P3688, P 3939; other poorly fired vessels from the lower depositinclude the fragmentary oinochoe P 3941.

11See Papadopoulos 1998.12 Many of the pieces illustrated in figure 5 from the upper

fill were recorded as coming from a similar depth as BI 115;others were recorded as coming from a depth down to 1.54 m.

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although fragmentary, the state of preservation ofBI 115 as an artifact is such that it is less likely to

have been a residual object, kicking around forany significant length of time. Apart from the threevessels recovered from the upper fill of well K 12:2and believed to derive from disturbed tombs,13 thevast majority of residual pottery recovered from thisand other Early Iron Age deposits consists of smalland very worn scraps of pottery. The possibility thatBI 115 was deposited in an earlier tomb and sub-sequently disturbed cannot be ruled out, nor canit be verified on account of the unique nature ofthe object. Here it is important to emphasize thatthe whalebone was not the only bone recoveredfrom the fill of well K 12:2. The analysis of the

faunal sample from well K 12:2 reveals a pattern ofbone finds, the interpretation of which may assistin casting light on the use of the whalebone, and

perhaps even of the immediate surrounds, in theEarly Geometric period. Table 1 summarizes the

faunal remains from well K 12:2 as they were pre-served and collected in 1934. Apart from the whalebone, which is described

more fully below, at least five other species are rep-resented in the faunal sample from well K 12:2,including canids, bovids, and equids. Most of thespecimens in the sample represent lower extremi-ty skeletal elements with a predominance ofmetapodial bones. The significance of these par-ticular remains is that, with the exception of theEquus mid humerus and acetabulum fragments,there are no meat-bearing skeletal elementspresent.14 There are, for instance, no elements from

the trunk of the skeleton, such as vertebrae or ribs,that are typical debris from butchered portions ofmeat. Particularly meaty bones like sheep/goat and

Fig. 4. Well K 12:2. Selection of wheelmade and painted pottery from the period-of-use deposit: inv. P 3938, P 3688, P 3687,P 3939.

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. 9.14 The equid humerus and acetabulum bones were neither

butchered nor burnt; therefore the evidence suggests that

these bones were not meal remains. It is generally believedthat equids were not considered a normal source of meat inancient Greece.

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cattle femora or scapulae are also not present inthe assemblage. Most of the bones in the existingsample represent the mid and lower leg portionsof the skeleton. Bones from the lower extremitiesare typical refuse from the preparatory butcheringfor meat, but they are also the first parts of the skel-eton to be discarded during the removal of the hide.The bones do not exhibit cut marks from hastybutchery or skinning, a feature indicative of a

skilled butcher. The bones in the sample couldtherefore be refuse from preliminary butcheringfor meat or for skinning, or conceivably for both. Atleast 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 mightsuggest that leatherworking was carried out in theimmediate vicinity. As we shall see, such a scenario

may go a long way in explaining the numerousscratch marks on the surface of the whalebone (fig.7). The possibility that part of this area northwest ofthe Athenian Akropolis was an industrial districtin the Early Iron Age is in keeping with the copi-ous evidence for potters activity, in addition to oth-er industrial debris in this area, which suggest that

this was the original Kerameikosthe Potters Quar-ter of early Athens.15

the whalebone and its possiblefunctions

The whalebone BI 115 (figs. 78) is the remnantof the right articular section of a broken scapula,

Fig. 6. Well K 12:2. Selection of pottery from the upper deposit. Top row, P 3963, P 3964, P 3969; bottom row, P 3966, P20608, P 20617.

Fig. 7. Whale scapula (glenoid) fragment, Athenian Agorainv. BI 115. (Drawing by Anne Hooton)

15 The evidence is fully outlined in Papadopoulos 2002; fora summary, see Papadopoulos 1996. For evidence of metallur-

gy in this area, see esp. Mattusch 1977.

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also known as the glenoid. The glenoid articu-lates with the proximal humerus in the pectoralgirdle in all mammalian species, and its scapulais 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 lighterthan one might expect for its size because of theporosity of the spongy trabecular bone, a resultof life in an aquatic environment. Body weight isreduced significantly in saline marine habitatsand the bones of marine mammals acquire in-creased buoyancy rather than the weight-bearingstamina that terrestrial animals develop.

Agora BI 115 was compared with specimensmaintained by the British Museum of Natural His-tory in London, where some 66 individual whaleskeletons from a variety of species are availablefor examination.16 In terms of classification and

nomenclature, whales belong to the order Ceta-cea, from the Greek word ketos(Latin cetusor ce-tos, see below), which includes three suborders:the Archaeoceti, or ancient whales, extinctforms known only from fossils;17 the Mysticeti, ormoustached whales, which include at least 10living 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.18

Because of the fragmentary nature of BI 115, spe-cies identification was not straightforward. Theclassification was further impeded by the fact that

the scapula originated from an immature indi-vidual, with the result that the diagnostic featuresof the animal had not had a chance to developfully prior to death. The remnants of the juve-nile cortex around the glenoid cavity, as well asthe exposure of the epiphysial surface of the gle-noid, indicates that the bone is underdeveloped(fig. 8b). Through a comparison with modernspecimens, the bone most closely resembles theglenoid of an immature fin whale (Balaenopteraphysalus, Linn. 1758) (fig. 10), a baleen whale ofthe suborder Mysticeti. The individual was ap-proximately two to three years of age at the timeof death.19

16 The whalebone comparative collection is stored off-sitein Wandsworth Outstation.

17 For a useful overview of fossil whales, see Jones 1999, 178. The evidence of fossils suggests that the distant ancestors ofwhales were hyena-like beasts called mesonychids, scavengersfor carrion and hunters of fish (Jones 1999, 17). Bernadette Arnaud (http://www.archae ology.org/online/ne ws/whale.html) reports the discovery of a fossilized whale, proba-bly a baleen, some 18 ft. long, near Benguela in Angola. This

is evidently the first time a dismembered whale has turned upat a Paleolithic site. For exposed Eocene whale skulls in theMediterranean, see Mayor 2000, 160.

18 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 2.19We are indebted to Richard Sabin, the cetacean specialist

of the Mammals Group at the Natural History Museum in Lon-don. We gratefully acknowledge his assistance in identifyingthe species represented by this bone and his help with theliterature, particularly for earlier authors.

Fig. 8ac. Front and lateral views of the whale scapula, BI115. (Photos by Craig Mauzy)

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The fin whale is also known as the CommonRorqual, deriving from the Norwegian word for fur-row, and refers to the pleated grooves runningfrom its chin to its navel.20 Alternative names in-clude Finback, Finner, Finfish, Razorback, andHerring Whale. As already noted, fin whales arethe second largest mammal on Earth after the blue

whale (Balaenoptera musculus, Linn. 1758); theformer can measure up to 27 m (89 ft.) long, thelatter can reach a length of up to 33 m (109 ft.). Inboth species, female individuals are larger than themales by more than 10%.21 Herman Melville relatesthat in the days of Joseph Banks and Daniel Solan-der, Captain James Cooks naturalists, a Swedishmember of the Academy of Sciences set down cer-tain Iceland whalesreydar-fiskuror Wrinkled Bel-

liesat 120 yards (or 360 ft.).22 Although likely tobe exaggerated, such a description (wrinkled bel-lies) can only refer to blue and fin whales. Here itis important to remember that in the days ofMelville, although there were stories of large levia-thans, not least of which was Moby Dick (MochaDick),23 the largest of the whales that could be

caught commercially was the sperm whale or cacha-lot, followed by the bowhead and right whales.24 Itwas their size and the quality of their oilparticu-larly the spermacetithat made the sperm whaleone of the most commercially viable commoditiesof the sea in the modern era, and the lives of thewhalers who hunted them hazardous (fig. 11).25

Here it is important to note that 11 of the 80 or soknown kinds of whales and dolphins were discov-

Balaenoptera(whale)Canis (dog)Ovis/Capra (sheep/goat)

Bos (cattle)

Equus (horse/donkey)

1 right glenoid fr1 left unfused humerus1 fr metacarpus2 mid tibiae

2 right metatarsi1 left metatarsus1 mid metatarsus1 mid metacarpus1 left calcaneum1 right astragalus1 right distal tibia2 right metatarsi2 left metatarsi2 left metacarpi1 right metacarpus1 distal metapodial2 metapodial frr1 proximal phalanx1 left tibia

1 left radius2 tarsi1 right mid humerus1 fr acetabulum

1 (BI 115)11

21

2 (likely donkeys)2 (another donkey and a horse)

Species Element Number of Individuals

Table 1. Fauna from Well K 12:2

20 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 526. The throat grooves, inaddition to streamlining the shape of the whale, allow the throat

area (cavum ventrale) to expand considerably during feeding,thus allowing the intake of tons of food-laden water, which isthen discarded through their baleen plates, leaving the fish orkrill for swallowing. This efficient system enables the largestcreatures to feed on some of the smallest.

21 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 52; Wrtz and Repetto 1998,133.

22 Melville 1851, 501.23 Melville 1851. For the great white whale of the Pacific,

Mocha Dick, which Melville used for his novel, see Reynolds1932. For the story of the whaleshipEssexrammed by a sperm

whale in 1820 that inspired the ending of Melvilles narrative,see Philbrick 2000. See also Jones 1999, 19.

24 Melville 1851, 14557, 194203, 4935.25One of the most highly prized parts of a sperm whale was

ambergris, a peculiar substance that occurs in the lower intes-tine in lumps weighing up to 100 kg. It is formed around squidbeaks that remain in the stomach. It was once highly prizedfor a variety of uses, including as a fixative or base for perfume,in medicine, to spice wine and other foods, and as an aphrodi-siac. In 1912 a 1,003 lb. lump sold for $69,000. See Leather-wood et al. 1983, 87; Reese 1991, 6; Philbrick 2000, 56. For thefavorite meal of the sperm whalethe giant squidsee Ellis1998.

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ered in the 20th century.26 Although the fin whalewas known in the earlier 19th centurya monsterwhich, by the various names of Fin-Back, Tall-Spout,and Long John, has been seen almost in every seaand is commonly the whale whose distant jet is sooften descried by passengers crossing the Atlan-ic 27it was considered an unconquerable levi-athian by the whale fishery of the time. Melvilledescribes the Fin-Back as a shy and solitary crea-ture, gifted with wondrous power and velocity of

swimming, so much so as to defy all present pur-suit from man.28

Melvilles remark on the velocity of fin whales issupported by modern research, which indicates

that they are one of the fastest of the big whales,possibly reaching burst speeds in excess of 32 kmper hour (sei whales, Balaenoptera borealis, may beslightly faster).29 This is a contributing factor as to why photographs of this species are rare and per-haps why casual sightingsin antiquity as in thepresentwould have been few and far between.One of the most numerically abundant of the largewhales, the fin whale was the first species to be hunt-ed with the harpoon gun and was heavily exploited

by the whaling industry, particularly in the 20thcentury, its population severely depleted, especial-ly in the southern oceans.30 The head of the fin whale is flattish and can be between one-fifth and

Fig. 9. Skeleton of a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) exhibited at the Royal College of Surgeons, London,after a 19th-century drawing. Arrow points to scapula.

Fig. 10. Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)

26Jones 1999, 50.27 Melville 1851, 150.28Melville 1851, 151. According to Leatherwood et al. (1983,

53) fin whales are sometimes found singly or in pairs, but moreoften in pods of three to seven individuals.

29 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 54.30 See Leatherwood et al. 1983, 556, 2430; Connor and

Micklethwaite Peterson 1994, 2027. As Jones (1999, 72) hasnoted the steam-powered harpoon appeared in 1864 and thenumber of whales it killed rose from 30 in that year to 66,000in 1961. Pre-whaling estimates suggest that there were300,000650,000 fin whales swimming the oceans of the world.Current figures suggest that a mere 123,000 animals are left.

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one-quarter of the total body length. A distinctlyridged tailstock gave rise to the whalers nameRazorback. 31 Fin whales have twin blowholeswith a single longitudinal ridge extending fromthe blowholes to near the top of the snout. The

baleen plates in the mouth of fin whales (260480on each side) reach a maximum length of 0.70.9m and a width of 0.20.3 m.32 Agora BI 115, whenreconstructed to its approximate original dimen-sions, suggests a total body length of an individual1012 m long. Fin whale calves are born at an ap-proximate length of 6 m.33 Accordingly, the indi-vidual represented by BI 115 must have been a calfbetween two and three years of age when it met itsdemise.

The greatest dimensions of the scapula are asfollows: 0.12 m preserved length on the shortestside, 0.16 and 0.195 m on the adjacent sides, and0.22 m on the longest side (fig. 7). The bone is

0.0675 m thick on the articular end (glenoid) and0.015 m thick on the blade (fig. 8c). If reconstruct-ed to its original state, the scapula from this individual would measure approximately 0.6 0.35 m(fig. 12);34 consequently, the preserved portion of

the scapula represents only about 20% of the orig-inal bone (fig. 12a).

The lateral surface of the scapula is marked byfine cuts made by a fine metal instrument (figs. 7,8).35 The marks have no regular orientation andoccur in random directions of varied length mea-suring from 2 mm to 5 cm. The marks form no pat-terns or signs but rather exhibit cut marks fromfine specialized work. The palimpsest nature of themarks seems to suggest work carried out over a pe-riod of time rather than all the marks having beenmade at one time. On account of the irregularity ofthe markings, we can rule out a number of possibleuses of the bone. For instance, a scapula bound to a

Fig. 11. Aquatint, after Garneray, entitled Pche du Cachalot, the Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Mass. (Courtesyof the Whaling Museum)

31On some animals the white of the right side can continueonto the upper lip and to the side of the neck giving it a char-acteristic asymmetrical appearance.

32 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 53. The baleen bristles are softin comparison to the blue whale and vary from yellowish whiteto grayish white.

33 Leatherwood et al. 1983, 52.

34 Dimensions were calculated on the smallest metrical fig-ures of the Balaenopterascapula as provided in True 1904, 144.

35 Microscopic analysis of the cut marks indicates that theywere made by a fine metal instrument rather than a chippedstone blade. For the differentiation of metal and stone toolmarks on bone, see Greenfield 1999.

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wooden shaft and used in the fields as a hoe to tillthe ground would exhibit regular markings andscrapes following a dorsal to ventral pattern on thebone surface.36 Although the complete bone wouldhave been large and sturdy, the 0.015 m thicknessof the blade renders the specimen inappropriatefor certain tasks: the blade, for example, could not

withstand blows from a cleaver without snapping.The rectangular cut hole at the articular end

measures 0.035 0.025 m and appears to have beencut by a sharp implement. The shape of the holeand the care with which it was cut suggests that itacted as a juncture between the bone and anotherobject, perhaps a wooden leg, thereby transform-ing the original large scapula into a useful smalltable or working surface. If so, the scapula couldhave had similar cut holes at adjacent points forother wooden legs, no longer preserved (fig. 12).Here it is important to note the other faunal re-mains from the well, discussed above. A whale scap-ula used as a leatherworking surface appears toconform nicely with the possible hide-removalrefuse implied by the other associated faunal finds,

and also accounts both for the fine cut marks onthe flat surface and the rectangular cutting. Theadvantages of such a whalebone in leatherworking,particularly for the cutting of leather, lie in the softand 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 uponwith sharp instruments. Bone, however, provides ahard yet elastic surface that will rarely splinter whencut repeatedly by a sharp blade. Bone is also easierto maintain and wash and will not warp when ex-posed to frequent humidity. These traits, along withthe versatility of bone to accommodate many usesin its basic form, make large bones particularly de-sirable commodities. A whale scapula, such as BI115 in its original form, with its ample smooth andflat working surface would have appealed to indus-

trial and domestic workers alike, a worthy commod-ity of exchange.Unlike whalebone, the incidence of elasmo-

branch or cartilaginous fish, such as shark, ray, skate,sawfish, and guitarfish (evidenced primarily by ver-tebrae), is well known and fully documented in Ae-gean and Cypriot archaeological contexts.37 In re-viewing the 120 or so such examples collected anddiscussed from approximately 40 sites, and placedin the larger context of fish bone assemblages fromAegean and Cypriot sites, David Reeses impres-sion was that these fish were the result of chancenettings, rather than having been specifically hunt-

ed.38 In the case of the few specimens of cetaceansor whalebones that occur in archaeological contextsin the Aegean, it is usually assumed that the mam-mal was stranded close to the settlement in which itwas found;39 many of the larger whales, even imma-ture individuals, would destroy most nets.

The possibility that the Agora bone derives froma beached whale appears to be confirmed by its sur-face wear. The edges of the glenoid have been nat-urally worn down and smoothed by wave action andsand friction. There are no tools marks around theglenoid, even microscopically, to suggest that theedges were filed down by human use. The wearfound around the glenoid is typical of bone thathas been tossed around the surf for quite sometime. The coracoid process has been worn down

Fig. 12. Reconstruction of the original shape and size ofthe whale scapula, BI 115, restored with three hypotheticalcuttings for the attachment of legs (a, acromion process; b,glenoid fossa; c, coracoid process). (Drawing by DeborahRuscillo)

36Cattle scapulae have been known to be used in rural Afri-ca as hoes.

37Reese 1984. Although we refer to sharks in passing through-out this study, we have avoided more specific discussion of these

creatures. Various types of sharks are common in the Mediterra-nean and the bibliography on them is extensive.

38 Reese 1984, 191.39 See, e.g., Renfrew et al. 1968, 119.

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(fig. 12) from the posterior side of the glenoid,and the acromion process broken off. The water-worn edges indicate that the whale was likely nothunted out of the waters, but was washed ashoreafter its death, or else stranded on the beach, where

it subsequently died. The age of the individual rep-resented by BI 115 supports such a hypothesis.Immature whales must maintain a close relation-ship with their mothers, even after nursing for thefirst three or four years of life; otherwise the calfwill have little chance of survival on its own. If thecalf strays away from its mother, it will likely starve orfall prey to predators.40 When a whale dies in water,provided its skin is not punctured, its body expandswith decompositional gases (methane), causing thecarcass to float.41 The carcass can be carried by wa-ter currents until it is ultimately washed up upon ashore. A classic illustration is the engraving, exe-

cuted by Jacob Matham after an original drawing byHendrick Goltzius, of a 21 m Sperm whale that wasstranded at Katwyk in Holland in February of 1598(fig. 13).42 The excitement and curiosity around

the stranded creature is evident in the host of spec-tators, from gentlemen on horseback to barefootchildren. When a whale is beached, the body de-generates within weeks, exposing the skeleton tothe elements. During rough weather the skeleton

is dismembered by wave action and the bones canbe drawn into the surf. Sea currents can then redis-tribute the bones onto other shores. These bonesare often found and collected for use as tools orkeepsakes, particularly as the time spent in salt waterand on the sand exposed to the sun has minimizedthe fat content of the bone and the pungent scentsassociated with it. A classic example of part of abeached whale skeleton is illustrated in figure 14,showing seven semi-articulated vertebrae of whalestranded on the coast of the Aegean island ofSchoinousa in the 1990s and photographed by Ni-kos Panagiotopoulos.

Whale strandings are particularly common innorthwest Europe, and by 1947, Grahame Clark wasable to enumerate some 80 instances of archaeo-logical sites yielding whalebone in prehistoric con-

Fig. 13. Stranded sperm whale on the shore near Katwyk, Holland in 1598. Engraving by JacobMatham after an original drawing by Hendrik Goltzius. New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 51.501.6056. (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

40 Roger Crane, Cetacean Specialist, research support forIMAX documentary, Whales(1999).

41 Richard Sabin (pers. comm. 1997).

42New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Elisha Whit-telsey Fund, 51.501.6056. See, e.g., den Broeder 1972, 823,no. 80.

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texts ranging from the Mesolithic through the IronAge.43 Although scholars have long been aware thatwhales and whale products were extensively utilizedby different peoples on the Atlantic seaboard ofEurope, it is generally assumed that strandedwhales provided the main source of supply in an-tiquity.44 The problem of determining whetherstranded whales were exploited or whether liveanimals were hunted is not straightforward.45 Thisis important to bear in mind, because it is possible

that coastal cultures in those parts of the worldwhere whales are less common than northwest Eu-rope, such as the Aegean, may have exploited strand-ed whales from time to time. So far as western Eu-rope is concerned, from at least the ninth century

A.D. whaling was widespread along the Channelcoast of France between Normandy and Flanders,and there is evidence of similar activity off the Bis-cay coast of France and Spain.46 The exploitation ofthe whale by the inhabitants of the Atlantic sea-board inspired numerous myths and motifs, but theleviathan also left its mark on the peoples of theMediterranean.

leviathans in the mediterranean

For any reader of the Old Testament, the literaryimage of Leviathan was above all else frightening, abold symbol of evil in Judeo-Christian literature,and a constant reminder of the wrath and omnipo-tence of God. More importantly, these massive sea

Fig. 14. Seven semi-articulated vertebrae of a whale beached on the Aegean island of Schoinousa. (After the Greek magazineTachydromos)

43 Clark 1947, 1002. Although Clark listed examples fromthe British Isles, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands,and France, by far the more common occurrences were at pre-Viking Iron Age sites in Scotland. Scottish sites have produceda great variety of implements made of whalebone (see below),and the Firth of Forth has yielded numerous remains of whalesstranded on its shores during the Stone Age (see Clark 1947,

92, fig. 3 [Firth of Forth], and pls. III for whalebone imple-ments). In addition to these physical remains of whales, pre-historic representations of cetaceans are common in north-west Europe, especially in Norway (see Clark 1947, 948, figs.6, 9), and more recently, Whittle (2000) has suggested thatthe motifs on certain Breton menhirs often interpreted as anaxe or axe-plow could be representations of whales.

44 See discussion in Childe 1931, esp. 97; 1935, 248; Nord-mann 1936, 1278. For the view that whales were hunted bythe Erteblle, see Mathiassen 1935, 150; 1927. The evidenceand much of the earlier literature is usefully presented in Clark

1947. Similarly, there is little evidence for the practice of whal-ing in Anglo-Saxon or later Medieval England, although thevenerable Bede, at the opening of the Historia Ecclesiastica,mentions that seals, dolphins, and sometimes whales werecaught off the coast of Britain (see Gardiner 1997, 1734; seefurther Wallace-Hadrill 1988, 6).

45 In dealing with the archaeology of whaling in southern

Australia and New Zealand, Susan Lawrence and others haveadvocated a more nuanced ethnography of place, one thatmeshes documents and artifacts into an integrated historicalaccount, which is sensitive to local material horizons and cul-tural landscapes very different from our own. See Lawrence1998; Mayne and Lawrence 1999.

46 The evidence is summarized in Gardiner 1997, 175. Forwhaling in Normandy and Flanders see Musset 1964; Lestoc-quoy 1948. For whaling in the Bay of Biscay see Fischer 1881;Jenkins 1971.

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creatures, whatever their precise nature (see be-low), did not inhabit some far off realm; they repre-sented, if only in a poetic sense, a stark reality of theMediterranean:

Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teams withthings innumerable, living things both small andgreat.

There go the ships, and Leviathan which thou didstform to sport in it (Psalms104:2526).

In his seminal study on whales as an economicfactor in prehistoric Europe, Clark wrote:

Several species of whale penetrate the Mediterraneanand some are at home there, but there is no indica-tion that whales were economically important in an-cient any more than in modern times. Dolphins areparticularly numerous and were commonly depictedby the Minoans, as in the well-known fresco in theQueens Megaron at Knossos; although the bar-barians of the Black Sea used their fat for oil and atetheir flesh salted, the Greeks and Romans regarded

Dolphins auspiciously as guardians of mariners andrefrained from slaying them, except for medicinalpurposes.47

Despite the fact that the Greeks enjoyed dolphin,especially pickled slices of the mammal, as muchas their barbarian neighbors,48 it is clear thatwhales were not systematically exploited in Aegeanprehistory and in Classical antiquity.

In modern times, a variety of whales have beenrecorded in the Mediterranean, but our knowledgeis limited by the lack of systematic records.49 SteveJones notes that even today the Mediterranean hasmore than 3,000 whales.50 Species that have been

identified in the Mediterranean include the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), with stranded speci-

mens recorded from Tenos, Euboia, and Karpa-thos,51 and, more recently, a number of sperm whalessighted in the Saronic Gulf on 20 May 1998. 52 Small-er cetacean species in the Mediterranean includethe Cuviers beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris),which is quite common, as well as the Minke whale

(Balaenoptera acutorostrata), pilot whale (Globicepha-la melas), and the killer whale (Orcinus orca), all ofwhich are rather rare.53 In July 1999, the Greek presscarried a story of a blue whale (Balaenoptera muscu-lus) reportedly spotted in the Gulf of Kavala, head-ing southwest, according to fishermen who said theyalmost collided with the large sea mammal, whichwas moving between the Strymon Gulf and MountAthos.54 The Kavala-based fishermen were fortunatein comparison to Dariuss fleet, which in 492 B.C. was wrecked by the storm vividly related by Hero-dotos (6.44) in the waters around Mount Athos.According to Herodotos, the Persians lost 300 ships

and more than 20,000 men, some dashed againstthe rocks, others dying from exposure or drown-ing, while many were carried off by the wild sea-beasts, which abounded in the coasts around Athos( ).55 Most recently, in April 2001, a rare sighting of a humpback whale(Megaptera novaeangliae) was reported off the coastof Tolon in the Argolic Gulf.56

As for the larger fin whales, although actual sight-ings of these creatures are not very common in theMediterranean, they are not unknown, so the inci-dence of a Balaenopterascapula in the Aegean could

be explained either by a beached whale or by cur-rents carrying the carcass of a dead animal. A fin

47 Clark 1947, 84, n. 1, with reference to Keller 19091913,40810.

48For pickled slices of dolphin carried in amphoras, see Pritch-ett 1956, 2023, n. 192; Papadopoulos and Paspalas 1999, 177,n. 82. For the consumption of fish in Classical Athens, seeDavidson (1997, 8), where it is clear that the dolphin was notconsidered among the great piscifaunal delicacies, such as tuna,sea-perch or grouper, conger eel, gray and red mullet, gilt-head,sea-bass, and various other fish. Common species of dolphin inGreece includeDelphinus delphis, Tursops truncati, Stenella coer-uleoalba, and Grampus griseus. To this list, Ragnar Kinzelbach

(1986b) has added Rissos Dolphin (Grampidelphis griseus),through a specimen found stranded between the mouths ofthe rivers Vassilipotamos and Eurotas, 5 km southwest of Skalain Lakonia, a place famous for kete (see below).

49One of the great problems impeding a detailed analysis ofthe distribution of whales in the Mediterranean is the fact thatsystematic records of sightings and strandings have only beengathered annually since the early 1980s, primarily in Franceand Spain. In some Mediterranean countries, as Pilleri andPilleri (1982, 49) lament, there are no national records what-soever.

50 Jones 1999, 258.51Kinzelbach 1986a, 15; Marchessaux 1980, 62; Reese 1991,

35. The sperm whale is also recorded in Israel (Aharoni 1944)and Egypt (Flower 1932).

52 Reported in the national news of Greece on that day.53 For these species, see Marchessaux 1980, 613; the Cuvi-

ers beaked whale is also discussed in Bauer 1978; Kinzelbach1985, with recorded specimens from various parts of Greece(Rhodes, Karpathos, near Gythion, and Tilos), Turkey (nearanakkale and near Karatas), Egypt (Sabkhat al-Bardawil), andIsrael (Bet Yannay, Ras Haniqra, near Tel Aviv and Tantura

[Dor]). For Israel, see further Ilani 1980. In May 1996, 12Cuviers beaked whales were stranded on the coast of theWestern Peloponnesos (Kathimerini6 July 1998, 3).

54 Athens News10 July 1999, 4. The whale reportedly mea-sured over 20 m in length.

55 It was this wretched passage around Athos, with its seamonsters, which led to Xerxes decision to cut the canalthrough the neck of the peninsula of Akte in 483481 B.C.(Hdt. 7.224).

56Reported in the Greek newspaper, Kathimerini2022 April2001.

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ily dating from the sixth to fifth centuries B.C. anda few possible additional fragments found at IsolaLunga near Motya.68 It is important to note that allof these finds are vertebrae (cf. fig. 14), and similar

whale vertebrae used as chopping blocks are wellknown in British sites, such as Maidencastle, and inCanadian British Columbia.69 Although there areno attested whale vertebrae chopping blocks in the Aegean, a number of Archaic and Classical repre-sentations depicting fishmongers chopping or slic-ing large fish may show tables, the upper parts of

which are composed of a whale vertebra. Scenes ofthe butchering of fish are relatively rare in Greek vase painting. We know of only four examples: ablack-figure olpe in Berlin with two wreathed menpreparing to cut up a tuna,70 and three representa-tions which depict a fish, invariably large, placed

on a small table, which stands either on three legs(fig. 15) or else on a conical support (fig. 16).71 Inall three cases, the upper part of the table, that onwhich the fish is actually placed, is a circular disk of varying thickness that could very well be part of alarge whale vertebra.

Be that as it may, the few examples of whalebonefinds in the Aegean listed above, together withAgora BI 115, represent the sum total of whalebonefound in archaeological contexts in Greece. It isgenerally assumed that all are likely to have derivedfrom stranded whales, though the possibility thatsome may have been hunted, perhaps accidentally,

cannot be ruled out. In this context, the evidencefrom Neolithic Saliagos is potentially informative.There, large scombridae(tunny and albacore) ac-count for 97% of the fish bones identified.72 Thesetuna bones from Saliagos are from fish measuringbetween two and six feet in length (a five foot tunacan weigh up to 800 lbs.), and thus represent asubstantial source of food.73 The killing was per-formed by spears with obsidian spearheads, thoughit is possible that nets, perhaps strengthened withleather, were used to corral the fish during theirannual migration.74 In the light of this information,it is not too difficult to imagine the occasional small

whale speared off the coast of Antiparos. Against the backdrop of these few whalebones

from Aegean sites, Agora BI 115 stands out both bythe fact that it is a scapula, as opposed to the morecommon vertebrae, and for the fine cut marks onthe flat side, suggesting that it was used as a cuttingsurface. Such a use for a whale scapula is rare even

Fig. 15. Campanian red-figure krater from Lipari, now inthe Museo Mandralisca, Cefal, depicting a fishmongerslicing a large fish for a customer on a table conceivablymade of a whale vertebra. Name vase of the Tunny-sellerPainter. (Photo by John Papadopoulos)

68Reese 1991, 12, 5. The Isola Lunga piece comprised twoteeth identified as probably from a false killer whale (Pseudor-ca crassidens,Owen 1846) associated with the third-century B.C.Punic shipwreck; see further Ryder 1975, 213, fig. 1. For the

incidence of false killer whales in the Mediterranean, see Evans1987, 94.

69We are grateful to Simon Davis of the Ancient MonumentsLaboratory of English Heritage for information, including illus-trations, of a whale vertebra from Maidencastle with choppingmarks on it. Yvonne Marshall of the Department of Archaeolo-gy, Southampton University, and Greg Monks of the Depart-ment of Anthropology at the University of Manitoba both gen-erously offered information on whale vertebrae used as chop-ping blocks from various sites on the west coast of Canada.

70 Durand 1979, 28, fig. 9.

71 The three vases include: a Campanian red-figure kraterfrom Lipari (fig. 15), Trendall 1967, 2078 (the name vase ofthe Tunny-seller Painter; Tullio in Consolo et al. 1991, 689,fig. 55); a south Italian red-figure krater in a private collection,

Bielefeld 1966, 253, fig. 1; and a black-figure kylix (Type C),the J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 96.AE.96 (fig. 16), True andHamma 1994, 924, no. 38.

72 Renfrew et al. 1968, 11821.73 Renfrew et al. 1968, 119.74 The story of the annual fishing of tuna by the tonnarotiof

Favignana, a small island off the coast of Sicilyand its associ-ated way of life, is dramatically related by Theresa Maggio (2000)in her account of the mattanza. For the tuna runs in the Atlan-tic near Gibraltar, see Brown 1968, 5661.

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in cultures that extensively exploited whales and whalebones. Indeed, the onlycomparandum wehave been able to find for this type of working sur-face is a scapula from a humpback whale (Megaptera

novaeangliae) found on the west coast of Canada atthe pre-contact period site of Tuukwaa (1200B.P.), a site believed to have been settled by theNootka people. Five pieces of a left scapula bladewere identified with fine cut marks over the later-al surface, with additional cut marks on the medi-al surface (fig. 17).75 The cut marks do not appearto be oriented in any particular direction, and theglenoid has been removed. Although clearly usedas cutting surfaces, the Athenian and west Cana-dian scapulae could not have been used as chop-ping blocksunlike the whale vertebrae notedaboveon account of the thinness of the cortex

and the fragility of the spongy trabecular bone.Leatherworking has been suggested for BI 115,

and a similar function is possible for the Tuukwaascapula.

The use of whale products by cultures with ac-cess to the creatures, whether stranded or hunted,

is wide ranging, since whales have an enormousnumber of usable parts. Whale meat was used asfood both for human and animal consumption,whale oil was burned for light, as well as for lubrica-tion and soap, and even the skin of cetaceans wasused.76 Of the toothed whales, particularly thesperm whale, the teeth were used for elaborate carv-ing (scrimshaw), while the jaws were worked in afashion similar to ivory. In certain cultures, such asthe Arctic populations of Alaska, Canada, Russia,and Greenland, whale meat was a subsistence sta-ple, as it was in the Azores and Madeira island groupsin the Atlantic, or in the Lembata and Solor Islands

of Indonesia and parts of the Philippines.77 In oth-er cultures, at certain times, whale meat enjoyed a

Fig. 16. Detail of Athenian black-figure kylix showing a fishmonger cutting up a fish on a biconicaltable, perhaps with a whale vertebra at the top. Malibu, the J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 96.AE.96.(Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum)

75We are most grateful to Greg Monks of the Departmentof Anthropology at the University of Manitoba for sharing thisinformation with us and for providing the photograph illus-trated in figure 17, now published in Monks 2001, 143, fig.4.

76 Melville (1851) gives a wonderful overview of the enor-mous number of usable parts of a whale and the various uses of

whale products in the 19th century. For the curing of whalemeat by the Basques, see Kurlansky 1997, 1922.

77Connor and Micklethwaite Peterson 1994, 208. Elsewhere,in the Faroe Islands, for example, the hunting of whale was amore seasonal activity, particularly during the summer months(see Connor and Micklethwaite Peterson 1994, 2078).

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symbolic value considerably greater than a subsis-tence resource. Mark Gardiner has argued thatstranded whales in Medieval England were claimedby the king as royal fish, and he goes on to notethat the possession and consumption of cetaceanswhales, porpoises, and dolphinswas one arenain which social tensions and the aspirations ofgroups competing for power were worked out.78

The use of whalebones, as opposed to the skin

and flesh of the animal, is even more varied and farless ephemeral in archaeological contexts. Manycoastal cultures exploited whalebones in architec-ture. Whalebone houses, for example, can befound in abundance in the Canadian High Arctic, where alternative building resources are scarce.79

The Thule Inuit culture, ca. 1,000 years ago, builtsemi-subterranean houses using whale mandibu-lae and ribs as rafters,80 whereas whale scapulae were often set upright in the foundations to keepthe ribs and jaws stable.81 For Europe, Jacqui Mul-

ville discusses the various instances where whale-bone has been incorporated into Neolithic and IronAge sites in Scotland, especially at Skara Brae, Dun Vulan, Freswick, Cheardach Mhor, and ScallowaySmith, 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 appearto 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 tonote 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 thedoorways in their houses out of the monsters jawand use their bones for roof-beams, many of themhaving been found that were 60 feet long.83 Whale-

bones were similarly used in other parts of the world.A.B. Smith and J. Kinahan review the use of whale-bones by the indigenous coastal peoples of west-ern and southern Africa, who exploited whales forfood and housing materials.84 Although most of thewhalebones used for building material in the cul-tures noted above are typically the ready-to-use ribs,mandibulae, and maxillae, the scapula enjoys asmall but important role in the archaeologicalrecord for shelter construction in a number of dif-ferent cultures.

Several other uses for whale scapulae have beendocumented in the archaeological and ethnograph-

ic literature. In the Channel Islands of southernCalifornia, for example, whale scapulae were usedas tomb covers and grave markers.85 In Ameland,off the northern coast of the Netherlands, whalescapulae were used as doorstops and signboardson the houses of whalers in the 17th and 18th cen-turies.86 Whale scapulae, as well as ribs and man-dibulae, were also hung outside town halls in whal-ing societies in the Netherlands as a sign of policyand wisdom of the authorities.87 Scapulae of vari-ous other animals, including cattle, rhinoceros, and

Fig. 17. Detail of the left scapula of a humpback whale(Megaptera novaeangliae), showing fine cut marks on thelateral surface, from the site of Tuukwaa on the west coastof Canada (ca. 1200 B.P.).

78 Gardiner 1997, esp. 173, 1889.79 See Dawson 2001; Habu and Savelle 1994; Kershaw et al.

1995; McCartney 1979; Mathiassen 1928; Savelle 1997; Taylor1960.

80 Mathiassen 1927, 13255; Dawson 2001. The curvatureof these elements bound together at the top resulted in a dome-shaped house that was covered with skins, turf, and moss.

81A similar use of whalebones can be observed at archaeo-logical sites on the Canadian west coast.

82 Mulville 2002.83 Pliny the Elder 9.2.7 (H. Rackham translation). See also

the passage in Arrian, Indica, cited below.84 Smith and Kinahan 1984. It is likely that Polynesian and

coastal Australian indigenous peoples also used whalebones inshelter construction, and it is worth adding that there arenumerous representations of whales in Australian Aboriginalrock art, particularly in the Sydney Basin (see Campbell 1899,esp. 345, pl. 13, fig. 4; McCarthy 19411947; 19541962, esp.234, fig. 9A).

85Walker 1952; Bryan 1970.86 Lauwerier 1983.87 Brongers 1995, 15.

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multitude of purposes, and was used in ancientIreland for making saddle-trees, sieve-bottoms, and

even hoops for small vessels.100 The versatility ofwhalebones, together with baleen, have made thema valuable resource throughout human history foruse as tools, construction materials, objects of per-sonal adornment, and everyday items.

from ketos to PHALLAINA: the languageof whales in classical antiquity

Despite the rarity of whales in the Mediterraneanas opposed to the Atlantic seaboard of Europe andthe great oceans of the northern and southernhemispheres, it is not uncommon to find referenc-es to whales in Classical literature. We even knowthe personal name of one particularly belligerentlater Roman whalePorphyrios (Purple)a wor-

thy successor of Hesiones ketos that terrorized thecoast near Troy (see below). Porphyrios, accordingto Procopius (7.29.916), 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.101 Procopius adds that Porphy-

rioss reign of terror was not continuous; the whaleoccasionally disappeared for long periods of time.In the end, however, the great Porphyrios met hisdemise: pursuing a large group of dolphins thathad gathered near the mouth of the Euxine Seaone day, the whale came too close to land, founditself stranded in deep mud, and was dragged toshore by the local people and finally killed. Thecarcass of the creature was placed on wagons, and itwas found to be 30 cubits (about 15 m or 45 ft.) longand 10 cubits (5 m or 15 ft.) broad. Its length andcolor could refer to any number of whales, includ-ing mysticeti, such as blue or fin whales, or odontoceti,

such as sperm whales. Porphyrioss size, longevity,color, and temperament are all, however, in keep-ing with male sperm whales, which can reach alength of 18 m, with current averages of slightlymore than 15 m, and are characteristically a darkbrownish gray.102 Identifying Porphyrios, however,as a male sperm whale remains, at best, a tentativeguess, since Procopiuss account gives no more use-ful details to assist in determining species or ge-nus, but Melville himself was strongly inclined tobelieve that Porphyrios was a sperm whale.103 Theincidence of whales in the area of Istanbul is alsorecorded by later authors, not least of which is Ev-

liya elebi, the 17th-century Ottoman Pausanias,also known as Dervis Mehmed Zilli. In his descrip-tion of the fishmongers of the city (Bliksatajin),Evliya elebi writes: The fishermen [many of whomare Greeks from Kaissarieh, Nikdeh, and Mania]adorn their shops on litters with many thousandfish, amongst which many monsters of the sea are tobe seen. They exhibit dolphins in chains, sea-hors-es, beavers, whales, and other kind of fish of greatsize, which they catch.104

In describing the antics of Porphyrios, the wordthat Procopius uses to describe the creature is ketos( ; plural or ). It is from theGreek word ketos (Latin cetus) that the order Ceta-ceareferring to both whales and dolphinsis de-

Fig. 18. Objects of cetacean bone from Scottish Iron Agesites. (After Clark 1947; courtesy of the National Museumsof Antiquities of Scotland)

100 Clark 1947, 99; see also Joyce 1903, 288.101 The story of Porphyrios is eloquently told by Jocelyn

Toynbee (1973, 208).102Leatherwood et al. 1983, 846. For the character of sperm

whales, see further Philbrick 2000,passim, esp. xiii, for a spermwhale with the vindictiveness and guile of a man, and 2245.

103 Melville 1851, 2289.104 Evliya elebi, section 14 (210), see von Hammer 1834,

160. We are grateful to Speros Vryonis, Jr. for assistance withEvliya elebi and for allowing us to use his forthcoming paperon the Greeks and sea (Vryonis forthcoming) prior to its pub-lication.

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rived. The word is found in Greek literature as earlyas Homer, and normally refers to any sea monster orhuge fish. In his account of Odysseuss adventureswith the Sirens, Skylla and Charybdis, Homer provides a particularly gory description of Skylla (Odys-sey 12.85100). In that description we hear of , (dolphins and dogfish or anything bigger,some sea monster).105 A similar usage of ketos isfound elsewhere in Homer, both in the OdysseyandIliad.106 In one only Homeric passage (Odyssey4.446,452), the word ketosis used specifically for seals, butthis is for poetic effect, and the normal word for aseal in Homer, as in Greek generally, is phoke().107Ketosis also the sea monster to which An-

dromeda was exposed, a story that led to no shortageof 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).108

The association of the sea monster and Andromedaextends to the very heavens, for in Greek wasalso the name of a constellation.109 In Hesiods Theog-ony (238) we find a certain fair-cheeked Keto(), who, when paired with Phorkys, begat such

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.110

As for a huge fish, as opposed to a sea monster,the word ketosis sometimes used to refer to a tuna,

as in Archestratos (Fr. 34.3). Oppian, writing in thethird 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, depictingAndromeda and the ketos, with Perseus to the rescue. Berlin,Staatliche Museen, F 1652, from Cerveteri. Second quarterof the 6th century B.C. (Drawing after Pfuhl 1923, fig. 190)

Fig. 20. Andromeda exposed to the ketos, with Perseus flyingto the rescue. Roman wall painting from Pompeii (I.7.7).(After Blanckenhagen 1987, pl. XXVII:2)

105 Od. 12.9697.106 Od. 5.421; Il. 20.147.107 LSJ sv.108See, e.g., Euripides, Fragmenta 121; Aristophanes,Clouds,

556;Thesmophoriasouzai1033. For the iconography of Androm-eda and the ketos, see Schauenburg 1981. Figure 19 is a detailof a Corinthian black-figure amphora from Cerveteri, now inBerlin, Staaliche Museen, F 1652; see Pfuhl 1923, fig. 190;Boardman 1987, pl. XXIV (top left). For the Roman wall paint-ing from Pompeii (fig. 20), see von Blanckenhagen 1987, 85,note 4 (=Pompeii I.7.7). Andromeda and the ketos is a populartheme in European art from the 16th century on. Rubenspainted a version in 1636 (see Held 1980, 2912, no. 209, pl.

218) and Van Dyck in 16371638 (see Price 1988, 74), bothof which appear to have been inspired by Titians Perseus and

Andromeda, of ca. 1562, now in the Wallace Collection in Lon-don (fig. 21; see Wallace Collection1968, 31822, P11).

109See Aratus 354; Eudoxus (Astronomus)apudHipparchos(Astronomicus) 1.2.20. See further Manilius AstromicaBookV, and esp. Coleman 1983.

110As West (1966, 235) notes, is probably formed sim-ply from (Apollodoros 1.2.7 actually has a Nereid calledKeto). As for genealogy of the offspring of Keto and Phorkys,the details are not quite certain, but West (1966, 244) pro-vides one likely stemma.

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creatures of the sea.111 These include a variety of

whales (among which are the dashing Physaloi), as well as a number of large fish, some of which arespecifically named (e.g., tuna, sawfish, the Lamna,and the Maltha), as well as different types of sharks,dogfish, and rays, including .112 Oppian alsoincludes among his kete those animals that leavethe salt water and come forth upon the land, suchas eels, turtles, and seals.113

In Classical literature, two locations of kete arepreeminent in Greekespecially Aegeangeog-raphy: Athos and hollow Lakedaimon. With re-gard to the former, Emily Vermeule wrote: As inthe sad tale of the Deacon and the Shark, an en-

counter the abbots of Mount Athos remember well,though it happened in the ninth centuryA.D. orB.C.?certain places were always hunted by theria,the wild animals of the sea. Herodotos knew thatthe waters off Mount Athos were packed with sea-

monsters, long before the deacon took his

plunge.114The monster-infested waters around Athos are well reflected in a series of engravings (-) depicting the various monasteries of theHoly Mountain.115 Of the many such paper icons,we present here only one example, dating to 1850and illustrating the Monastery of Esphigmenou, onthe east coast of the Akte peninsula (fig. 22). Itdepicts, in the lower left corner, a sea-creature de-scribed as a fantastic ketos.116 The kete on some ofthe Athos engravings are truly fantastic creatures ofthe imagination; others, however, more closely re-semble real whales. The double spouting creature

in figure 22, with its huge body, strange mouth, andflukes takes certain elements from the real world,others from a more imaginary realm.

The second geographical topos for kete in the Aegean is the Lakonian Gulf between Malea and

Fig. 21. Andromeda and the ketos by Titian, painted for Philip II about 1562, now in the WallaceCollection, London. (Courtesy of the Wallace Collection)

111 Halieutica1.48, 1.360408; 5.21, 5.71.112 Halieutica1.36082.113 Halieutica1.394408.

114Vermeule 1979, 183.115For these, generally, see Mylonas 1963; Papastratou 1990.116 Baltogianne 1997, 867, no. 36 (inv. XAE 3052).

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Tainaron. In the Homeric poems, the kingdom ofMenelaos is twice introduced with a formulaic de-scription that has inspired scholarly comment sinceantiquity.117 In the Catalogue of Ships (Iliad2.581)the allies of Menelaos are introduced thus:

The same line, with a change of verb, announced

the arrival of Telemachos and Peisistratos at Sparta(Odyssey4.1):

As Sarah Morris has shown, the prevailing inter-pretation derives from an understanding of

as the hollow valley of the Eurotas River, and stan-dard translations provide variations of hollow Lake-daimon. Rather than hollow, Morris goes on toshow that the passage refers to the sea monster-bound shores () of Lakedaimon.118

As Emily Vermeule so cogently expressed, theHomeric kete, like Herodotoss theria, sounded

more dangerous for not having specific names; theywere nameless monsters, which perhaps grew lessthreatening as the science of marine biology devel-oped, studying, classifying, and perhaps dissectingthem.119 It is not until the fourth century B.C., how-ever, that we find the word ketosassociated with nat-ural history, generically referring, in the modern

Fig. 22. Paper icon depicting the Monastery of Esphigmenou on the Mt. AthosPeninsula, with a whale in the left corner, ca. 1850, Byzantine Museum, Athens,XAE 3052 (0.42 0.27 m). (Courtesy of the Byzantine Museum)

117 Morris 1984, 12.118 Morris 1984.

119Vermeule 1979, 183.

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sense, to the spouting cetacea. Aristotle, in his Histo-ria Animalium(6.12 [566b, 2]), writes:

, , . . . .

The dolphin, the whale, and the other Cetacea, asmany as have no gills but a blowhole instead, are vi-

viparous. . . .

Elsewhere in Aristotle we read:

, ,

All land animals breathe, as do some of the wateranimals, such as the whale, the dolphin, and all thespouting cetacea.120

Although the ketos is used to refer to all thespouting cetecea, the word that Aristotle uses spe-cifically for whale is phallaina ( or

), hence the Latin bal(l)aena (whale), andultimatelybaleen. From the fourth century B.C. on-ward,phallainais a common word for whale in Greek,found in authors as varied as Aristotle, Strabo, Ae-lian, Philostratos, Nonnos, Babrius, Galaenus, Por-phyrius Tyrius, and others (some of these authorsalso used ketos with specific reference to whales).121

Although we have now entered the world of scien-tific enquiry, the word phallaina could occasionallybe used to denote any devouring monster. Indeed,one of the earliest uses of the word, in AristophanesWasps(35, 39), has precisely such a meaning.122 InOppian (Halieutica 1.404), the word phallaina is

used only once to refer to the whale (Oppian com-monly uses ketoswhen referring to whales), whichleaves the sea for the dry land and basks in thesun. This reference, together with Porphyrioss lastcharge through the Bosphoros, is one of a numberof passages in classical literature that alludes to thestranding of whales, even though Oppian is mis-taken in his belief that whales basked in the sun. 123

In Strabo (16.3.7) we hear of a whale some 50 cu-bits (25 m) in length that was stranded on a beachin the Persian Gulf (cf. Arrian, Indica39.4). Arrian(Indica 39.5) further reports that the whales hidewas as much as a cubit thick, and that it had manyoysters, shellfish, and seaweeds growing on it, a fea-

ture common to many varieties of whales. The wordthat Arrian and Strabo use in this context is ,and it is clear that both words andwere interchangeable, up to a point,so far as whales were concerned.

One of the longest and liveliest accounts in Greekof the sighting of whales is to be found in Arrian.The report, which was used by Pliny the Elder (seeabove), is all the more vivid as it evocatively relatesthe surprise and wonder of Alexander the Greatsmen when they confronted large whales ().Arrians account is of interest not only for the infor-mation it offers on living whales, but also for the

architectural use that the bones of stranded whaleswere put to by the indigenous peoples of the outerocean (Arabian Sea).124 Arrian (Indica 30.19)writes:

Monstrously large sea animals feed in the outer ocean,much larger than those in our inland sea. Nearchossays that when they were sailing along the coast fromKyiza, about daybreak they saw water being blownupwards from the sea as it might be shot upwards bythe force of a waterspout. They were astonished, andasked the pilots what it might be and how it was caused;they replied that it was these great animals spoutingup water as they moved about in the sea. The sailorswere so startled that the oars fell from their hands.

Nearchos went along the line encouraging and cheer-ing them, and whenever he sailed past them he sig-naled them to turn the ships in line towards the ani-mals as if to give them battle, to raise their battle cryin time with the plash of oars and to row with rapidstrokes and with a great deal of noise. So they all tookheart and sailed together according to signal. Butwhen they were actually nearing the beasts, then theyshouted with all the power of their throats, the trum-pets gave the signal, and the rowers made the utmost

120Arist. Parts of Animals3.6 (669a, 79). See also 4.13 (697a,16).

121 For Aristotle, in addition to the passages already cited,

see, e.g., Hist. an. 1.5 (489b, 4), 3.20 (521b, 24), 4.10 (537a,31). See also Strabo 3.2.7; Ael. NA9.50, 16.18; Philostr. VA2.14; Nonnos,Dion. 6.298; Babrius 39.1; Galenus 6.728, 737,alsoDe Usu Partium3.12; Porphyrius Tyrius,De Abstinentia3.20.

122 The normal translation of the Aristophanic varies. In some English translations it appears as grampus (e.g.,in Rogers 1924 Loeb edition), and thus could refer to any ofthe smaller cetaceans commonly found in the Mediterranean,such as a variety of dolphins, perhaps also some of the smallertoothed whales, such as the killer whale. Jeffery Henderson inhis 1998 translation translatesphallainaas a ravening drag-

on. In Aristophanes, is used as a comic devise inthe place of Kleon, both for his greed (with scales in handweighing pea pulse) and for his voice (holding forth in tone

and accents like a scalded pig). For a related meaning of phal-laina, see also Lykophron 841. Another meaning for phallai-na, but one that is very rare, is moth, LSJ sv.

123 Elsewhere, Oppian (Halieutica5.7071) refers to a com-panion fish, referred to as (Guide), which was es-pecially close to whales (), i.e., the pilot-fish or whale-guide.

124 In the passage that follows and in Pliny 9.2 (7) on theGedrosi, both authors have clearly whales and whalebones inmind. Mayors (2000, 331) suggestion that these are fossilbones seems, in this case, unlikely.

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splashing with their oars. So the animals, now visibleat the bows of the ships, were scared and dived intothe depths; then not long afterwards they came up tothe surface astern and again spouted water over agreat expanse of sea. The sailors clapped at theirunexpected escape from destruction and praisedNearchos for his courage and cleverness. Some ofthese large creatures go ashore at many parts of thecoast, and when the ebb comes are caught in theshallows, while some are cast on the dry land by heavystorms and as a result putrefy and die; their flesh rotsaway and the bones are left, to be used by the nativesfor their huts. In fact the bones in their ribs servedfor the larger beams of their dwellings, the smallerfor rafters and the jawbones for doorposts, sincemany of these creatures reached a length of five-and-twenty fathoms.

A range of meanings similar to those in Greek isfound in Latin for cetusand bal(l)aena. Cetusin Latincan refer to any large sea animal, such as a whale,dolphin, or porpoise; it can also refer to the sea

monster to which Andromeda was exposed, as wellas the constellation the Whale.125 As with theGreek , the Latin ballaena (sometimesballena) referred more specifically to whale.126 InPetroniuss Satyricon (21.2) we even find the adjec-tival ballaenaceusmade of whaleboneas inQuartillas whalebone rod (Quartilla balaenaceamtenens virgam).

Latin authors located whales in different seas. Juvenal (10.14), for example, locates whales in thewaters around Britain (ballaena Britannica), whilePliny (Naturalis Historia 9.2) discusses the whalesof the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, where the

ballaenacan reach sizes of over four iugera(one iugeris about two-thirds of an acre!).127 Pliny marveledthat the same region produced lobsters that growto four cubits (six feet) in length, and he even tellsus of eels in the River Ganges that can grow to tri-cenos pedes (300 ft.). Plinys three-acre ArabianSea whales bring to mind the massive leviathan on which the Irish Saint Brendan, the noted traveler,built a chapel.128 After the massive whales of the

Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, Pliny (9.3 [8]),notes that the largest creature in the Gallic ocean(Bay of Biscay) was the physeter, almost certainly a whale, often translated as a sperm whale, whichrears up like a vast pillar higher than a ships rig-ging and belches out a sort of deluge.129 In mod-

ern taxonomy, physeter (to which was added macro-cephalus) became the species name for the sperm whale. Closer to home Pliny (9.5 [12]) notes thatwhales penetrated the Mediterranean (Ballaenaeet in nostra maria penetrant), a fact corroboratedby several other authors, not least of which was DioCassius. In Book 75.16.5, Dio recounts how a huge whale ( ) in the reign of Septi-mius Severus was washed up on shore in the PortusAugusti near the mouth of the Tiber River. Dio goeson to relate that a model was made of the ketos fordisplay at a wild beast show; the model was largeenough to accommodate 50 bears that were driven

into it.130

Somewhat earlier, in the reign of Claudi-us, Pliny (9.5.[1415]) tells of an orca in the har-bor of Ostia. Although Pliny specifically uses theword orca, often translated as a grampus or killer whale (in keeping with the species name for thekiller whale in modern taxonomy)correctly in ourestimatesome translators prefer to envisage a larg-er whale.131 Be that as it may, the emperor ordered abarrier of nets to be stretched out at the mouth ofthe harbor, and setting out in person with the prae-torian cohorts made a spectacle for the Roman peo-ple by attacking the stranded creature. The orca,however, did not go down without a fight, and man-

aged to sink at least one of Claudiuss boats with itsspouting.

Plinys use of terms such as orcaandphysetershowsan interest in describing different species of ceta-cea in the Mediterranean. Such an interest goesback at least as early as Aristotle. In Book 3.12 (519a,24), Aristotle refers to a , or mous-tache-whale. Alternatively given as or, refers to the fact that

125 See, among many others, Pliny, HN32.10, 32.83, 9.78;Vergil, Aeneis5.822; Manilius 1.433, 5.15, 5.500, 5.656; Vitr.De

arch. 9.5.3; Plaut. Aulularia375; Captiui851; Celsus 2.18.2; Sta-tius, Achilleis1.55; Silius 11.480; Varro, Menippeae406.

126 See, for instance, Plaut. Rud. 545; Ov. Met. 2.9; PlinyHN9.4, 11.235; Juvenal 10.14.

127 Pliny also notes in the same passage the smaller pistris,perhaps a smaller whale or shark that can measure over 20 cubits(10 m) in length. See further Toynbee 1973, 208.

128 See Little 1945; Selmer 1959; Ashe 1962. For an illustra-tion of St. Brendan and his monks celebrating mass on theback of the giant whale, Jasconius, on the 1621 map by Hon-orius Philoponus, see Nigg 1999, 1724; see also 1356.

129 PlinyHN9.3 (8), translated by H. Rackham, who trans-lates thephyseterorphysteras sperm whale.

130 Toynbee 1973, 208; Mayor 2000, 1389.131Rackham, for example, in his Loeb edition of Pliny, trans-

lates orcaas killer whale, but adds that this is unlikely, andgoes on to state that it was probably a cachalot (sperm whale).There is enough internal information in Pliny, however, tosuggest that the creature he refers to as an orcais indeed akiller whale (Orcinus orca). At 9.5 (1213), for example, Plinynotes that orcas attack other whales (ballaenae), often in agroup, a pattern of behavior that is well known for killer whales,but not for sperm whales, nor any of the baleen whales.

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such whales lack teeth in their mouths, and haveinstead hairs similar to pigs bristles. Aristotlesmeaning here is perfectly clear, as he is describingthe characteristic baleen plates of the whalebone whales (blue whales, fin whales, etc.). Indeed, theterm for the mysticeti sub-order of whales (i.e., ba-

leen whales) is derived from Aristotles - (cf. the musculus marinus qui ballaenaminPliny, Naturalis Historia11.62 [165]).132 Such usagehighlights the importance of the original texts, asopposed to translations, and it is our experiencethat certain misunderstandings that have crept intothe literature concerning whales are sometimes atthe level of the translation. The natural historians,like Aristotle and Pliny, go to some length to de-scribe the physical characteristics of whales and oth-er cetaceans, descriptions that are based on directobservation or secondhand testimony from mari-ners and others. Aristotle speaks about various as-

pects of the lives and habits of cetaceans, detailsranging from their milking habits (3.20 [521b])and copulation (5.5 [540b]), to the manner in which the animals sleep: there are people whohave actually heard a dolphin snoring (4.10[537b]). Such information, however, is only as goodas its observer. Even in those instances when classi-cal authors state a physical characteristic of a ceta-cean that seems clearly wrong, a closer reading willpoint to some illuminating detail. For example, indescribing various cetaceans, Aristotle (7 [8], 591b,2430) states: Generally the other fishes catch thesmaller ones in their mouths while swimming

straight ahead in their natural attitude. But the se-lachians and the dolphins and all cetaceans( ) turn over on their backs totake them, as their mouth is placed down below,thus allowing a fair chance of escape to the smallerfishes.133

Dolphins do not have to turn on their backs toconsume fish, and this rather strange mis-descrip-tion of the dolphin has troubled classical philolo-gists, so much so that several editors have suggest-ed deleting it altogether. The baleen whales, how-ever, have the characteristic mandible that closesuniquely upward toward the dorsal side of theircranium (fig. 10). If one expected the mouth tocurve downward on the ventral side of the body likemost fish, it would appear as if a baleen whale was

feeding upside-down. Similar disorientation is ex-pressed by Pliny (9.6 [16]):

Ora ballaenae habent in frontibus, ideoque summaaqua natantes in sublime nimbus efflant.

Whales have their mouths in their foreheads, andconsequently when swimming on the surface of thewater they blow clouds of spray into the air (Rack-ham translation).

In a similar vein, we have heard many modern whale-watchers express doubt or reservations as towhich side of the animal is up or down at the sightof a breaching humpback whale. Although the dol-phin was well known to Greek artists and a populariconographic subject from prehistory through lateantiquity, the baleen whales, particularly those ofthe Balaenoptera genus (e.g., blue, fin, sei, Brydes,and minke whales) are more difficult to observebecause they surface less frequently and rarely frol-

ic on the surface. Actual sightings of this genus inthe eastern or central Mediterranean would havebeen few and far between (see above).

There is one other Latin text that deserves spe-cial mention with regard to cetology: Maniliussdescription of the sea monsterCetosboth as aheavenly constellation and, especially, as the myth-ological monster associated with Andromeda. In apaper fully devoted to Maniliuss monster, KathleenColeman cogently unravels a baleen whale fromManiliuss text, a creature that lies in contrast tothe more poetic sea monsters of Ovid and Vergil.134

As Coleman has shown, Manilius described his Cetos

directly, treating it as a creature in its own right.The arrival of this Cetos is presaged by the swellingsurface of the water (5.579581) and by a mouthfull of water (5.581583). According to Coleman,the picture of sea foaming inside toothed jaws isan accurate reflection of the feeding-habits of themysticeti, and she goes on to describe the baleenplates and feeding habits of the whalebonewhales.135 The picture that emerges is not quite purescientific description: in addition to its enormoussize and jaws, the creature does have scales and it isdescribed as coiled; but Manilius was, after all,dealing with a mythological creature. As Colemanconcludes, Maniliuss Cetos is all the more menac-ing for being recognizable as a whale, but with night-marish additions.136 In this, it is little different to

132 See also Coleman 1983, 230.133 Cf. Arist. Parts of Animals4 (696b, 24). A similar descrip-

tion is echoed by Pliny (9.7 [20]) who writes: The swiftest ofall animals, not only those of the sea, is the dolphin; it is swift-er than a bird and darts much faster than a javelin, and were

not its mouth much below its snout, almost in the middle of itsbelly, not a single fish would escape its speed.

134 Coleman 1983.135 Coleman 1983, 22930.136 Coleman 1983, 232.

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the kete with which the monks of Mount Athosadorned their paper icons (fig. 22): part fact, partfantasy.

We have already discussed several instances ofstranded whales in Greek literature, but some ofthe most spectacular stories in Classical literature

of stranded sea animals are to be found in Pliny. InBook 9.4 (10), Pliny reports that during the reignof Tiberius (A.D. 1437), in an island off the coastof the province of Lyon (Lugdunensis), the reced-ing ocean tide left more than 300 monsters at thesame time, of marvelous variety and size, and anequal number on the coast of Saintes (Santonumlitore).137 The word that Pliny uses to describe thesecreatures is belua, which simply means beast. Wecannot be sure what sort of animal Pliny

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