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Ceto's name comes from the Greek 'κῆτoς' which means any sea monster or large fish. It does not seem to have an Indo-European root.
Hesiod's Theogony contains the most substantive reference to Ceto and it is one of the earliest. Mainly Hesiod includes her geneology and describes that she is the mother of Monsters. It has been said that she cannot be both beautiful and the mother of so many monsters. But her relation to the cultures of Greece may not have been considered. Artemis is called the 'Mistress of the Animals' by Homer. What if Ceto is similarly the mistress of the sea creatures? What we see in Hesiod is a matriarch surrounded by her children. There is a suspicion that the Minoan religion consisted of possibly a number of such matriarchs. An analysis of the names used by Hesiod in the part of the Theogony describing Ceto reveals few names that might have descended from the Indo-European Language. They could be names from the Minoan Culture on Crete. Michael Ventris proved the language of the Mycenaeans was a form of early Greek. Since Greek is an Indo-European language any names that do not have their roots in that language could be loan words from Minoan Crete, the Hittite culture, or they could even be from the Mideast. Ceto and her decendents could have been borrowed entirely from the Minoan or other culture. One argument that they are Minoan is that so many of the names relate to the sea. The Minoan culture had been in place perhaps 1000 years or more when the Indo-Europeans arrived and formed what is called the Mycenaean Culture. It is thought that the Mycenaens can be identified with the Achaeans of Homer.There are other suggestions of Minoan Culture. In particular 'Pemphredo' is a kind of wasp and such insects are found illustrated in Minoan art. The name 'Chrysaor' is said to be derived from a semetic language such as Hebrew. This is consistent with the maritime nature of the Minoan Culture. The name is commonly translated as 'golden sword' but it may simply mean golden weapon. This may connect it to the comon image of the golden axe of the Minoan culture. A number of the monsters are snake-like and this corresponds to Minoan worship of snakes. That caves are mentioned is consistent with cave worship on Crete. Geryoneus has a similarity to the Minotaur
Another remarkable fact is that many of the children of Ceto can be located in the west or related to the Hesperides. The Hesperides are daughters of Hesperus. The name 'Hesperus' is derived from Indo-European 'wespero-', 'Evening, night' and is not Minoan. So we might want to locate Ceto in the west as well.
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Created 20081203, last edit 20090503