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By Gayne C. Young
For over five decades it terrorized the waters off Constantinople. It sunk ships, killed sailors, and installed fear in those who heard even the whisper of its name. It was a creature so consumed in legend and so mysterious that even after its death, people were unsure of what it really was.
Known as Porphyrios, the creature was first documented in the writings of the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius. He described the creature as a whale and told of its more than 50-year reign and of its deliberately sinking ships in his works “History of the Wars” (VII 29) and “The Secret History.” The whale was said to have sunk hundreds if not thousands of merchant ships, fishing vessels, and military warships and caused the death of almost as many sailors. The whale became so feared that traditional trade routes were changed or abandoned. Procopius wrote of the latter, “And he sank many ships and terrified the passengers on many others, diverting them from their course and taking them great distances.” This disruption to maritime trade and the livelihood it interrupted became so great that Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) decreed the whale be captured or killed.
It never was.
Rather it died by beaching itself near the mouth of the Black Sea. Procopius wrote, “It happened that while a deep calm reigned over the sea, a large number of dolphins gathered near the mouth of the Euxine Sea. Suddenly, they spotted the whale and fled in every direction they could, but most of them ended up near the mouth of the Sangarius River. Meanwhile, the whale managed to capture some of them, which it immediately swallowed. And then, driven either by hunger or a contentious spirit, it continued its pursuit just as fiercely as before until, without realizing it, it came very close to the shore. There, it ran aground in very deep mud, and although it struggled and made every effort to get out of it as quickly as possible, it was still completely unable to escape from this shoal and sank even deeper into the mud.”
A mob of angry locals descended on the whale and began attacking it with axes. When that failed to kill the leviathan, “they dragged it up with some heavy ropes, placed it on carts … Then, after forming several groups and dividing the whale accordingly, some ate the flesh immediately, while others decided to cure the portion they received.”
Talk about a party!
Procopius wrote that the whale was 45-feet long and over 15-feet wide. This description only causes confusion as it doesn’t meld with any current knowledge of whales. Orcas, or killer whales, were and still are the most common Cetacea in the area but aren’t known to exceed 32 feet in length. Many historians and scientist argue that the whale in question was a sperm whale, but that species didn’t and still doesn’t inhabit that area nor does it eat dolphins. Further complicating the matter is the whale’s color. The root of Porphyrios is Porphyra, which in Greek is the name of a color that is blackish to deep purple. Both whales could match that description as orcas are black and sperm whales are grayish to purplish gray.
Regardless of the species, Porphyrios lived on long after its death in history, literature, and in cinema. In the late 1700s, Edward Gibbon theorized that the whale was of an unknown species in his book “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (1776–1789). Porphyrios helped serve as in inspiration for and appears briefly as exposition in Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” in 1851. Several decades later, the rogue whale appeared in Robert Graves’s historical fiction novel “Count Belisarius.” Published in in 1938, this novel proved to be so well written that many in the decades following it believed it to be an actual account of the period. Graves’s interpretation of Porphyrios was said to inspire the story behind the 1977 movie “Orca” starring Richard Harris. I think this is probably the best interpretation of the tale, as the real Porphyrios was most definitely a killer whale.
I say this knowing that the sizes don’t match up—in the modern era. Humans have only been studying whales for a couple hundred years. It’s quite possible that larger specimens existed some 1,500 years ago. It’s also worth noting that the area Porphyrios inhabited has seen several killer whale attacks on boats in recent years. Since 2020, there have been more than 50 reports of orcas attacking crafts in the area.
Porphyrios was definitely a killer whale the likes of which will never roam the sea again.
The post A Killer Whale for the Ages appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
For over five decades it terrorized the waters off Constantinople. It sunk ships, killed sailors, and installed fear in those who heard even the whisper of its name. It was a creature so consumed in legend and so mysterious that even after its death, people were unsure of what it really was.
Known as Porphyrios, the creature was first documented in the writings of the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius. He described the creature as a whale and told of its more than 50-year reign and of its deliberately sinking ships in his works “History of the Wars” (VII 29) and “The Secret History.” The whale was said to have sunk hundreds if not thousands of merchant ships, fishing vessels, and military warships and caused the death of almost as many sailors. The whale became so feared that traditional trade routes were changed or abandoned. Procopius wrote of the latter, “And he sank many ships and terrified the passengers on many others, diverting them from their course and taking them great distances.” This disruption to maritime trade and the livelihood it interrupted became so great that Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) decreed the whale be captured or killed.
It never was.
Death of a Sea Monster
Rather it died by beaching itself near the mouth of the Black Sea. Procopius wrote, “It happened that while a deep calm reigned over the sea, a large number of dolphins gathered near the mouth of the Euxine Sea. Suddenly, they spotted the whale and fled in every direction they could, but most of them ended up near the mouth of the Sangarius River. Meanwhile, the whale managed to capture some of them, which it immediately swallowed. And then, driven either by hunger or a contentious spirit, it continued its pursuit just as fiercely as before until, without realizing it, it came very close to the shore. There, it ran aground in very deep mud, and although it struggled and made every effort to get out of it as quickly as possible, it was still completely unable to escape from this shoal and sank even deeper into the mud.”
A mob of angry locals descended on the whale and began attacking it with axes. When that failed to kill the leviathan, “they dragged it up with some heavy ropes, placed it on carts … Then, after forming several groups and dividing the whale accordingly, some ate the flesh immediately, while others decided to cure the portion they received.”
Talk about a party!
Procopius wrote that the whale was 45-feet long and over 15-feet wide. This description only causes confusion as it doesn’t meld with any current knowledge of whales. Orcas, or killer whales, were and still are the most common Cetacea in the area but aren’t known to exceed 32 feet in length. Many historians and scientist argue that the whale in question was a sperm whale, but that species didn’t and still doesn’t inhabit that area nor does it eat dolphins. Further complicating the matter is the whale’s color. The root of Porphyrios is Porphyra, which in Greek is the name of a color that is blackish to deep purple. Both whales could match that description as orcas are black and sperm whales are grayish to purplish gray.
Legend of the Most Killer of Whales
Regardless of the species, Porphyrios lived on long after its death in history, literature, and in cinema. In the late 1700s, Edward Gibbon theorized that the whale was of an unknown species in his book “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (1776–1789). Porphyrios helped serve as in inspiration for and appears briefly as exposition in Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” in 1851. Several decades later, the rogue whale appeared in Robert Graves’s historical fiction novel “Count Belisarius.” Published in in 1938, this novel proved to be so well written that many in the decades following it believed it to be an actual account of the period. Graves’s interpretation of Porphyrios was said to inspire the story behind the 1977 movie “Orca” starring Richard Harris. I think this is probably the best interpretation of the tale, as the real Porphyrios was most definitely a killer whale.
I say this knowing that the sizes don’t match up—in the modern era. Humans have only been studying whales for a couple hundred years. It’s quite possible that larger specimens existed some 1,500 years ago. It’s also worth noting that the area Porphyrios inhabited has seen several killer whale attacks on boats in recent years. Since 2020, there have been more than 50 reports of orcas attacking crafts in the area.
Porphyrios was definitely a killer whale the likes of which will never roam the sea again.
The post A Killer Whale for the Ages appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...