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The Real Life Sea Monster That Terrified Byzantine Sailors
Just a whale or something more?
Recently, a string of killer whale attacks in Europe has been making headlines. These whales have been hitting and sinking small boats, raising eyebrows and questions in equal measure. But this is not the first time whales have terrorized humans at sea. A suspected whale terrorized Byzantine sailors during the time of Justinian in the 6th century BCE.
The previous whale was seen as a monster, and it lurked in the waters around Constantinople for 50 years. The whale was such an issue that Emperor Justinian put a bounty on its head and bid anyone brave enough to try and capture the beast though none ever did. The whale, named Porphyrios, made its way into numerous contemporary histories and has been a feature in whale lore ever since.
Before modern science was able to open up the secrets of the deep and technology advanced to allow whaling to become an enduring industry, many people in antiquity believed that whales were simply sea monsters. And it is not hard to see why. A mysterious beast that surfaces sinks boats, and vanishes does sound quite monstrous. According to eyewitnesses, Porphyrios measured 45 feet long and 15 feet white. Its skin was supposedly inky in appearance.
