Ceto

deity water Greek single tradition · 6

Ceto is a primordial sea goddess in Greek mythology, the daughter of Pontus and Gaia. She bore a host of monstrous children fathered by Phorcys, another child of Gaia and Pontus. Ceto was also called Crataeis and Trienus, and was occasionally conflated by scholars with the goddess Hecate.

↻ synthesized from 6 sources

When

First attested
800 BCE
Attested period
-800 – 2020
Historical notes
Attested in Ancient Greek texts.

Relationships

syncretized with
Hecate
consort of
Phorcys
sibling of
Eurybia, Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys
creator of
Nemean lion, sphinxes
child of
Pontus, Gaia

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“Pliny the Elder mentions worship of "storied Ceto" at Joppa (now Jaffa), in a single reference, immediately after his mention of Andromeda, whom Perseus rescued from a sea-monster.”

#5997 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Lamia, Campe, Echidna, and many representations of Ceto, Scylla, and Delphyne had the head and torso of a woman.”

#6107 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“According to Hesiod, Echidna was born to a "she" who was probably meant by Hesiod to be the sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's likely father the sea god Phorcys; however the "she" might instead refer to the Oceanid Callirhoe, which would make Medusa's offspring Chrysaor the father of Echidna.”

#6184 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“They were the daughters of the primordial sea gods Phorcys and Ceto and sisters of, among others, the Gorgons.”

#28343 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“By her son, Pontus, Gaia bore the sea-deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia.”

#28402 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001