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Kētos: marine creature

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

Greek word for the marine creature in Jonah and Matthew; alone it establishes neither a modern species nor the story’s origin.

Roman marble table base depicting Jonah swallowed and cast up by a marine creature, early fourth century CE. Metropolitan Museum,77.7, public-domain photograph. Evidence of Christian artistic reception, not an artifact from the prophet’s time or identification of his fish’s species
Roman marble table base depicting Jonah swallowed and cast up by a marine creature, early fourth century CE. Metropolitan Museum,77.7, public-domain photograph. Evidence of Christian artistic reception, not an artifact from the prophet’s time or identification of his fish’s speciesMetropolitan Museum of Art,77.7 / Public Domain · Public domainObject record

Text

Greek Jonah uses kētos, rendered sea monster by NETS, and a form occurs in Matthew12:40. HebrewHebrewA Northwest Semitic language in the Canaanite group, with ancient and modern forms.Glossary · Click to read the explanation Jonah2:1 says a great fish. Distinguish textual wording, a translator’s choice of whale or monster, and later artistic shape. The accompanying image is from Roman Christian base77.7; it does not establish that the Hebrew animal had the pictured form. [2][6][12][18]

References and notes

  1. Complete Jonah 2 read in Hebrew and facing English; Hebrew numbering, not an original-manuscript inspection. Jonah 2:1–11; Hebrew numbering Return to the text ↑
  2. Introduction p.777 and complete Ionas pp.804–805 read; Nineveh’s differing deadline checked. Neither the whole Twelve nor the Greek critical apparatus read. George E. Howard, NETS, The Twelve Prophets; introduction p. 777 and Ionas pp. 804–805 Return to the text ↑
  3. Complete KJV passage read; Greek12:40 checked for kētos, not the whole Gospel or its manuscripts. Matthew12:38–42; Greek12:40 at https://biblehub.com/text/matthew/12-40.htm Return to the text ↑
  4. Object77.7 description, metadata, photograph and public-domain notice checked; evidence of later Christian art, not the prophet’s time. Metropolitan Museum, Table Base with Jonah Swallowed and Cast Up by the Big Fish;77.7, Roman, early300s CE Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 12 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «Kētos: marine creature», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/ketos-sea-creature