Ceto | Greek Goddess

Cetus or Keto (Greek: Κητώ), in Greek mythology, is a primordial marine deity daughter of Pontos, the Sea, and Gaia, the Earth. The name Cetus, meaning "monster," is how the ancient Greeks named whales, which to them were sea monsters. Cetus is the personification of the dangers of the sea. She was more specifically a goddess of whales, sharks and sea monsters.

Also regarded as a goddess of the horrors and strange, colorful and exuberant shapes that the sea can produce and reveal to men. Sister and wife of Fórcis, the goddess is given these epithets: Krataiis (Κράταιις, "mighty, of the rocks"); Lamía (Λαμία, "the shark"); Tríenos (Τρίενος, "within three years"). Their symbols are whales; sharks; large fish and the sea.

According to Hesiod, in his Theogony, Ceto was an extremely beautiful goddess who begot beautiful but dangerous daughters hated by the gods.

However, as is common with marine deities, Keto has a dual aspect: while she was considered the owner of a divine beauty, she was also seen as an abyssal monster capable of generating other monsters like herself: the Gorgons, the Greys, and the insomniac dragon Ladon. Equidna, also her daughter, was an ambiguous creature, with the torso of a beautiful nymph and the tail of a serpent instead of limbs.