Leviathan

Jesus Christ in battle with the great Serpent

**Leviathan** (/lɪˈvaɪ.əθən/ *liv-EYE-ə-thən*; Hebrew: לִוְיָתָן, romanized: *Līvyāṯān*; Greek: Λεβιάθαν) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. The Leviathan is often an embodiment of chaos and threatening to eat the damned after their life. The Leviathan of the Book of Job is a reflection of the older Canaanite *Lotan*, a primeval monster defeated by the god Baal Hadad. Parallels to the role of Mesopotamian Tiamat defeated by Marduk have long been drawn in comparative mythology, as have been wider comparisons to dragon and world serpent narratives such as Indra slaying Vrtra or Iver Knivgud slaying Jörmungandr. Leviathan also figures in the Hebrew Bible as a metaphor for a powerful enemy, notably Babylon (Isaiah 27:1). Some 19th-century scholars pragmatically interpreted it as referring to large aquatic creatures, such as the crocodile. The word later came to be used as a term for *great whale* and for sea monsters in general.

## Etymology and origins

Gesenius (among others) argued the name לִוְיָתָן was derived from the root לוה *lwh* "to twine; to join", with an adjectival suffix ן-, for a literal meaning of "wreathed, twisted in folds". If it exists, the adjectival suffix ן- (as opposed to -ון) is otherwise unattested except perhaps in Nehushtan, whose etymology is unknown; the ת would also require explanation, as Nechushtan is formed from *neḥšoeṯ* and Leviathan from *liveyah*; the normal-pattern f.s. adjective would be לויון, *liveyon*. Other philologists, including Leskien, thought it a foreign loanword. A third school considers it a proper noun. Bauer proposed לוית+תן, for "wreath of serpent."

Both the name and the mythological figure are a direct continuation of the Ugaritic sea monster *Lôtān*, one of the servants of the sea god Yammu defeated by Hadad in the *Baal Cycle*. The Ugaritic account has gaps, making it unclear whether some phrases describe him or other monsters at Yammu's disposal such as Tunannu (the biblical Tannin). Most scholars agree on describing Lôtān as "the fugitive serpent" (*bṯn brḥ*) but he may or may not be "the wriggling serpent" (*bṯn ʿqltn*) or "the mighty one with seven heads" (*šlyṭ d.šbʿt rašm*). His role seems to have been prefigured by the earlier serpent **Têmtum** whose death at the hands of Hadad is depicted in Syrian seals of the 18th–16th century BC.

Sea serpents feature prominently in the mythology of the ancient Near East. They are attested by the 3rd millennium BC in Sumerian iconography depicting the god Ninurta overcoming a seven-headed serpent. It was common for Near Eastern religions to include a *Chaoskampf*: a cosmic battle between a sea monster representing the forces of chaos and a creator god or culture hero who imposes order by force. The Babylonian creation myth describes Marduk's defeat of the serpent goddess Tiamat, whose body was used to create the heavens and the earth.

## Christianity

Leviathan can also be used as an image of the Devil, endangering both God's creatures—by attempting to eat them—and God's creation—by threatening it with upheaval in the waters of Chaos. A "Dragon" (*Drakon*), being the usual translation for the Leviathan in the Septuagint, appears in the Book of Revelation. Although the Old Testament nowhere identifies the Leviathan with the devil, the seven-headed dragon in the Book of Revelation is. By this the battle between God and the primordial chaos monsters shifts to a battle between God and the devil. Only once, in the Book of Job, the Leviathan is translated as Sea-Monster (*ketos*).

In the following chapter, a seven-headed beast, described with the same features as the dragon before, rises from the waters endowing a Beast of the Earth with power. Dividing the beasts into monster of water and one of dry earth is probably a recalling of the monstrous pair Leviathan and Behemoth. In accordance with Isaiah 27:1, the dragon will be slain by God on the last day and cast into the abyss. The annihilation of the chaos-monster results in a new world of peace, without any trace of evil.

Jerome comments on Psalm 104:26 that "this is the dragon that was cast out of Paradise, that beguiled Eve, and is permitted in this world to make sport of us. How many monks and clerics has it dashed headlong! "They all look to you to give them food in due time," for all the creatures of God live at His bidding."

Thomas Aquinas described Leviathan as the demon of envy, first in punishing the corresponding sinners (Expositio super Iob ad litteram). Peter Binsfeld likewise classified Leviathan as the demon of envy, as one of the seven Princes of Hell corresponding to the seven deadly sins. Leviathan became associated with, and may originally have been referred to by, the visual motif of the Hellmouth, a monstrous animal into whose mouth the damned disappear at the Last Judgment, found in Anglo-Saxon art from about 800, and later all over Europe.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible suggests in a footnote to Job 41:1 that Leviathan may be a name for the crocodile, and in a footnote to Job 40:15, that Behemoth may be a name for the hippopotamus.

## Satanism

Anton LaVey in *The Satanic Bible* (1969) has Leviathan representing the element of Water and the direction of west, listing it as one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell. This association was inspired by the demonic hierarchy from *The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage*. The Church of Satan uses the Hebrew letters at each of the points of the Sigil of Baphomet to represent Leviathan. Starting from the lowest point of the pentagram, and reading counter-clockwise, the word reads "לויתן": (Nun, Tav, Yod, Vav, Lamed) Hebrew for "Leviathan".