Ceto

Ceto or Keto (Ancient Greek: Κητώ, Kētō, "sea monster"), is a primordial sea goddess in Greek mythology, the daughter of Gaia and Pontus. Ceto was also variously called Crataeis (Κράταιις, Krataiis, from κραταιίς "mighty") and Trienus (Τρίενος, Trienos, from τρίενος "within three years"), and was occasionally conflated by scholars with the goddess Hecate (for whom Trienus and Crataeis are also epithets). As a mythological figure, she is most notable for bearing by Phorcys a host of monstrous children. The small solar system body 65489 Ceto was named after her, and its satellite after Phorcys.

This goddess should not be confused with the minor Oceanid also named Ceto — who appears in Hesiod's Theogony as a separate character from Ceto the daughter of Pontus and Gaia — or with various mythological beings referred to as ketos (plural ketea); this is a general term for "sea monster" in Ancient Greek.

Ceto in ancient texts

Hesiod's Theogony lists the children of Phorcys and Ceto as Echidna, The Gorgons (Euryale, Stheno, and the infamous Medusa), The Graeae (Deino, Enyo, Pemphredo, and sometimes Perso), and Ladon, also called the Drakon Hesperios ("Hesperian Dragon", or dragon of the Hesperides). These children tend to be consistent across sources, though Ladon is sometimes cited as a child of Echidna by Typhon and therefore Phorcys and Ceto's grandson.

Ceto (disambiguation)

Ceto may refer to:

Places

Other uses

See also

Ceto (Oceanid)

Ceto /ˈsiːtoʊ/ was one of the Oceanids, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was also considered to be a naiad or sea nymph. Ceto consorted with Helios and bore a daughter, Astris, also known as Asteria.

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