Ceto was also variously calledCrataeis[citation needed] (Κράταιις,Krataiis, fromκραταιίς "mighty") andTrienus[citation needed] (Τρίενος,Trienos, fromτρίενος "within three years"), and was occasionally conflated by scholars with the goddessHecate (for whom Crataeis and Trienus are alsoepithets).
This goddess should not be confused with the minorOceanid also named Ceto, or with various mythological beings referred to asketos (pluralkētē orketea); this is a general term for "sea monster" in Ancient Greek.[1]
The mythographersApollodorus andHyginus each name three daughters as the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys: Pemphredo,Dino andPersis, collectively called theGraeae ("old women").[7] Apollodorus and Hyginus also make Ladon the offspring of Echidna and Typhon, rather than Ceto and Phorcys.[8]
The Scholiast onApollonius Rhodius cites Phorcys and Ceto as the parents of theHesperides, but this assertion is not repeated in other ancient sources.
Pliny the Elder mentions worship of "storied Ceto" at Joppa (nowJaffa), in a single reference, immediately after his mention ofAndromeda, whomPerseus rescued from a sea-monster. S. Safrai and M. Stern suggest the possibility that someone at Joppa established a cult of the monster under the name Ceto. As an alternative explanation, they posit that Pliny or his source misread the namecetus—or that of the Syrian goddessDerceto.[10]
^"κῆτος" in Liddell, Henry and Robert Scott. 1996.A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by H.S. Jones and R. McKenzie. Ninth edition, with revised supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^Hesiod,Theogony270-300. ThoughHerbert Jennings Rose says simply that it is "not clear which parents [for Echidna] are meant",Athanassakis,p. 44, says that Ceto and Phorcys are the "more likely candidates for parents". The problem arises from the ambiguous referent of the pronoun "she" inTheogony295. While some have read this "she" as referring to Callirhoe (e.g. Smiths.v. Echidna; Morford, p. 162), according to Clay,p. 159 n. 32, "the modern scholarly consensus" reads Ceto, see for example Most,p. 27 n. 16 ("Probably Ceto"); Gantz, p. 22 ("Phorkys and Keto produce Echidna"); Caldwell, pp. 7, 46 lines 295–303 ("presumably Keto"); West, p. 249 line 295 ("probably Keto"); Grimal, s.v. Echidna ("Phorcys and Ceto").
^Hesiod,Theogony326–327. Who is meant as the mother is unclear, the problem arising from the ambiguous referent of the pronoun "she" in line 326 of theTheogony, see Clay,p.159, note 34
^Colitur illic fabulosa Ceto. Pliny, Book 5, chapter 14, §69; this same paragraph will be referred to as v.14, v.69, V.xiv.69; and v.13 (one of the chapter divisions is missing in some MSS). For Ceto as a transferred name, see Rackham's Loeb translation; for emendations, seeThe Jewish people in the first century. Historical geography, political history, social, cultural and religious life and institutions. Ed. by S. Safrai and M. Stern in co-operation with D. Flusser and W. C. van Unnik, Vol II, p. 1081, and Oldfather's translation of Pliny (Derceto).
Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1),ISBN978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Hard, Robin (2004),The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN9780415186360.Google Books.
Rose, Herbert Jennings, "Echidna" inThe Oxford Classical Dictionary, Hammond and Scullard (editors), Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 1992.ISBN0-19-869117-3
