Myth of the Week 014

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An illustration from a 15th-century German manuscript, depicting "Saint Brendan and the whale", an event described in the immram Voyage of Saint Brendan.

The Aspidochelone is a mythic sea creature, variously described as an enormous whale, gigantic sea turtle, and a sea monster with ridged, protruding spines along its back. Sailing passersby might mistake the creature for an island, as its back is rocky, interspersed with valleys and greenery. This early myth—and all its brethren, superior and subordinate alike, varying from Leviathan to Pristis to Jasconius—may have served as the inspiration behind everything from moralistic allegory (Physiologus) to 19th-century literature (Pinocchio and Baron Munchhausen).