Leviathan Vs. Kraken

RedeemedChild

New member
Here is an interesting article that I found last night.

Leviathan Eats Krakens for Breakfast
Thursday, July 1, 2010, 5:40 PM
Joe Carter
How did Krakens become the hot-new sea monster? You hear about Krakens all the time now (see: Clash of the Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alfred Tennyson poems), yet you never hear much about Leviathan. This is an outrage.

With a Kraken you can play with him as with a bird, or put him on a leash for your girls. Not so with Leviathan; it says so in the Bible. (No, seriously, it’s really in the Bible.) You know how many times Leviathan in mentioned in the Bible? Six times. He even gets an entire chapter in Job. You know how many times the Kraken is mentioned? Zero times. There’s a reason for that. Krakens are unbiblically lame.

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Fortunately, the Leviathan may finally get his due respect now that scientists are discovering that he was (a) real, (b) really big, and (c) really, really awesome:

Researchers have discovered the fossilised remains of an ancient whale with huge, fearsome teeth.

Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists have dubbed the 12 million-year-old creature “Leviathan”.

It is thought to have been more than 17m long, and might have engaged in fierce battles with other giant sea creatures from the time.

Leviathan was much like the modern sperm whale in terms of size and appearance.

But that is where the similarity ends. While the sperm whale is a relatively passive animal, sucking in squid from the depths of the ocean, Leviathan was an aggressive predator.

According to Dr Christian de Muizon, director of the Natural History Museum in Paris, Leviathan could have hunted out and fed on large sea creatures such as dolphins, seals and even other whales.

“It was a kind of a sea monster,” he said.

A kind of sea monster? Leviathan would eat other sea monsters (a Kraken for breakfast, a Scylla for lunch, an Aspidochelone for dinner, and a few white whales as a between meal snack). No, Mr. French Scientist, Leviathan wasn’t a sea monster he was the sea monster. Show some respect, dude.


Source:http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/07/01/leviathan-eats-krakens-for-breakfast/

I must admit folks, that before I saw Pirates of the Caribbean I had no idea what a Kraken was. I knew of Mega Giant Squid thanks to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea but no Krakens.
 
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Stoo

Well-known member
RedeemedChild said:
I must admit folks, that before I saw Pirates of the Caribbean I had no idea what a Kraken was. I knew of Mega Giant Squid thanks to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea but no Krakens.
No need to admit it. 'Tis already a known fact.:p
 

Montana Smith

Active member
You know how many times Leviathan in mentioned in the Bible? Six times. He even gets an entire chapter in Job. You know how many times the Kraken is mentioned? Zero times. There?s a reason for that. Krakens are unbiblically lame.

The Kraken heralds from Scandinavian mythology, a creature of northern waters, specifically around Iceland and Norway. Probably deriving from early sightings of actual giant squid.

Krakken is the definite article form of krake, a Scandinavian word designating an unhealthy animal, or something twisted. In modern German, Krake (plural and declined singular: Krakken) means octopus, but can also refer to the legendary Krakken.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
Technically speaking "Jaws" is a leviathan. A leviathan is not a specific race of creature... its like the word mammoth, yes there are woolly mammoths but mammoth also refers to size.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Dr. Gonzo said:
Technically speaking "Jaws" is a leviathan. A leviathan is not a specific race of creature... its like the word mammoth, yes there are woolly mammoths but mammoth also refers to size.

"Leviathan" seems to originate from the Hebrew meaning "twisted, coiled", and associated in their culture with a sea monster.

It has also been described in the Bible as having multiple heads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan

It may be the origin of the many-headed Lernaean Hydra (or vice verse), slain by Heracles as one his twelve labours at the lake of Lerna. The hydra was also said to dwell beneath the waters at an entrance to the underworld.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lernaean_Hydra

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So, in myth the Kraken is squid-like, and the Leviathon serpent or dragon-like.

Tolkien referred to his dragons as "worms", and the Watcher in the Water at the entrance to the Mines of Moria combined myths by describing it in all but name as a Kraken.

As you wrote, Dr. Gonzo, the term 'Leviathan' has become synomous with large creatures of all descriptions.
 
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