cetus

Latin · noun
variant cetos
Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2026-08-21
Meanings
Literal translation
sea monster
Categories
star or constellation
part of zodiac sign
Related Lemmata 3 ›

1. the Sea monster

1.a the Sea monster star or constellation, part of zodiac sign

modern Cetus

In extremis partibus Piscium in laeva parte consurgit Belua quae a Graecis Cetus vocatur.

‘In the last degrees of Pisces on the left side rises the Sea Monster which is called Κῆτος by the Greeks.’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 8.17.5

Genre: astrological compendium Provenance: Sicily Date: ca. 334 CE

Firmicus Maternus. 1897. Ivlii Firmici Materni Matheseos Libri VIII, ed. W. Kroll, F. Skutsch. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner. 2.313

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2026). cetus (Lemma #1498). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1498/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2026). cetus (Lemma #1498). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1498/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2026). cetus (Lemma #1498). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1498/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2026) cetus (Lemma #1498), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1498/ (Accessed: November 5, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1498,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-11-05]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2026},
	title = {cetus ({Lemma} #1498)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1498/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1498/},
}