LEVIATHANS behind the scenes: Stories of Sea Monsters

4 May 2010 | By HUSVAR

I’m a big fan of the work of William Blake (1757-1827), an English poet, painter, and printmaker (three of my greatest passions!). His paintings and writings all have a sharp apocryphal edge to them that I find really interesting. You are probably familiar with his painting “The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed With Sun,” which was a pivotal part of the plot to the 2002 film Red Dragon. But his work went largely unknown during his lifetime, and due to his entrenchment in mysticism and enlightenment philosophy (including modern anarchism), he was considered mad by most of his peers. (Plus he often spoke of seeing “visions” from an early age, but who am I to judge?) Later critics and artists have come to revere Blake as a master without equal.

I happened upon his painting “Behemoth and Leviathan,” which is part of his series of illustrations based on the Book of Job. The inscription he used from the Bible is incredibly creepy: “Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee.” Blake’s extensive use of symbolism included designating the right hand as good and the left as evil. In this painting, God is clearly pointing at these creatures with his left hand.

William Blake, "Behemoth And Leviathan" (ca. 1805-1810)

But why did Blake only draw attention to the Behemoth with the inscription? I felt quite certain that it was due to the fact that the Behemoth was some kind of hellish creature, and that the Leviathan was some figment of one of Blake’s visions, perhaps based on some mythological sea creature mixed with childhood nightmares.

I was wrong.

The Bible actually mentions the Leviathan five other times:

“May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.”
“Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.”
“O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.”
“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish the leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

And this last one really caught me by surprise—an entire paragraph of the Bible devoted to describing a sea serpent:

“Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? Or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? Or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of him? Shall they part him among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? Or his head with fish spears? Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.”

So why is the Bible talking this much about a sea monster? After a little more digging, I found an answer. Fragments from parts of the Bible that didn’t make the “final cut,” including the Books of Noah and Enoch, were discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among them was this quote:

“And on that day were two monsters parted, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness…”

This is tied to an ancient Hebrew prophecy, in which the Behemoth and Leviathan will battle to the death at the end of days (kind of like in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster). Before either one wins, the Creator will come down and slay them both with a sword, at which time mankind will serve them as part of an elaborate feast held under canopies made from the Leviathan’s skin. Leave it to the Bible to compete on grossness with a movie about Hannibal Lecter.

The word LEVIATHAN really got into my head, and my mind started working on a new idea for a photo series. What if these sea monsters had actually existed? How closely would they resemble the myths in real life? How much of their reputation came from legend, and how much from fact? I wanted to bring Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea to life, but in an unexpected way… I wanted my sea monsters to feel simultaneously ultra-modern and ancient, as if the images were captured in a dark room at the Bronx Zoo in the 1800’s. These creatures were oddities, left behind by Darwin’s evolutionary machine, and perhaps their time and powers were coming to an end.

So this is my version of the story…

During the summer of 1871, a number of underwater expeditions were conducted in the Tyrrhenian Sea around the isle of Capri. Led by Scandinavian scientist Georg Pettersson, their purpose was to prove or disprove the existence of certain sea monsters still prevalent in the cultural mythology of sailors. Captain Gunnar Dannevig and the crew of the Maelstrom spent three months at sea collecting specimens before mysteriously disappearing on August 29, never to be seen again. Pettersson washed ashore some six weeks later, alive but unable to speak. These silver daguerreotypes and their scant fragments of data, which were found in an airtight container strapped to his back, are the only remaining evidence of what they saw.

These creatures (if they ever existed) were most certainly dangerous. But were they truly more evil than the humans who hunted them down, whether for sport or science?

Visit LEVIATHANS for more behind-the-scenes features and to view the photo series!

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