Leviathan

📷 Wikimedia Commons — domaine public — Gustave Doré — 1865

SpiritualityMythologyBefore ChristAncient Near Eastern and Biblical Antiquity (2nd–1st millennium BCE)

A sea monster from biblical texts and the mythologies of the ancient Near East, Leviathan embodies primordial chaos and the forces of evil. Described as a gigantic sea serpent, it appears notably in the Book of Job and the Psalms. During the Middle Ages, it became the guardian of the gates of Hell in the Christian tradition.

Famous Quotes

« "Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?" (Job 40:25) »

« "It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert." (Psalm 74:14) »

Key Facts

Mentioned in several books of the Hebrew Bible, notably Job (ch. 40–41), the Psalms, and Isaiah (c. 800–500 BCE)
Its origins lie in Ugaritic mythology (Canaan, 14th–13th century BCE), where it appears as Lotan, a seven-headed serpent defeated by the god Baal
In the Book of Job, God describes Leviathan as the mightiest of his creatures, a symbol of all that lies beyond human control
In Jewish and Christian apocalyptic tradition (1st century BCE – 1st century CE), it becomes one of two eschatological monsters alongside Behemoth
Thomas Hobbes adopted the name in 1651 for his philosophical treatise on the absolute state, securing the myth's place in modern thought

Works & Achievements

Enuma Elish (Babylonian Epic of Creation) (19th–17th century BCE)

This Mesopotamian cosmogonic text features Tiamat, the saltwater dragon defeated by the god Marduk. It is the most direct mythological source from which the figure of the biblical Leviathan derives.

Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Tablets) (14th–12th century BCE)

These Phoenician mythological texts describe the victory of the god Baal over Lotan (ltn), a seven-headed serpent of the waters. The linguistic and narrative parallels with the biblical Leviathan are direct and well-attested.

Book of Job (Hebrew Bible) (6th–4th century BCE)

Chapters 40 and 41 contain the most detailed and poetic description of Leviathan in all of ancient literature. This magnificent portrait illustrates divine omnipotence in the face of the creature of chaos.

Psalms 74 and 104 (Hebrew Bible) (10th–5th century BCE)

These liturgical texts evoke Leviathan in the context of praising God as creator and conqueror of primordial chaos. They reflect the integration of the myth into the official religion of Israel.

Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) (2nd–1st century BCE)

This Jewish apocryphal text portrays Leviathan as a female creature of the ocean depths, reserved for the eschatological banquet of the righteous. It profoundly influenced Christian representations of the monster.

Leviathan (Thomas Hobbes) (1651)

A treatise on political philosophy in which Hobbes uses Leviathan as a metaphor for the all-powerful sovereign state. This secular reappropriation represents the myth's most enduring intellectual legacy in modern culture.

Anecdotes

In the Book of Job (chapters 40–41), God describes the Leviathan as an utterly untameable creature: flames shoot from its mouth, smoke pours from its nostrils like a boiling cauldron. This magnificent portrait is meant to show Job the absolute power of God in the face of the incomprehensible.

In Psalm 74, it is recalled that God crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave its remains as food to the creatures of the desert. This image of divine victory over the monster of chaos was central to the liturgy of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Ugaritic texts discovered at Ras Shamra (in present-day Syria) in 1929 reveal a direct ancestor of the Leviathan: the serpent Lotan, defeated by the god Baal. This discovery showed that the biblical myth belongs to a mythological tradition shared across the ancient Near East.

During the Middle Ages, Christian theologians made Leviathan one of the princes of Hell, guardian of its gates and the embodiment of the sin of envy. It appears in medieval Mystery plays and pictorial depictions of the Last Judgment.

In 1651, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes chose the name Leviathan for his landmark political treatise, using the biblical monster as a metaphor for the all-powerful state. This reappropriation illustrates the extraordinary symbolic longevity of the figure in Western culture.

Primary Sources

Book of Job, Chapter 41 (6th–4th century BCE)

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? [...] He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

Psalm 74, verses 13-14 (10th–5th century BCE)

You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

Isaiah 27:1 (8th–6th century BCE)

In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Ugaritic Texts — Baal Cycle (KTU 1.5 I 1-3) (14th–12th century BCE)

When you struck Lotan, the fleeing serpent, when you put an end to the twisting serpent, the tyrant with seven heads...

Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 60:7-9) (2nd–1st century BCE)

On that day, two monsters shall be separated: a female, named Leviathan, to dwell in the depths of the sea above the springs of waters; and a male, named Behemoth.

Key Places

Ras Shamra (Ugarit), Syria

Archaeological site where, in 1929, Ugaritic cuneiform tablets were discovered mentioning Lotan, the direct precursor of Leviathan. These texts dating from the 14th century BCE revolutionized our understanding of the myth's origins.

Mediterranean Sea (The Great Sea of the Ancients)

The Mediterranean Sea, called the Great Sea or the Sea of the Peoples in the Bible, forms the mythological setting of Leviathan. For the peoples of the ancient Near East, its deep waters were home to the forces of chaos.

Jerusalem — Temple of Solomon

The Temple of Jerusalem is where the Psalms celebrating God's victory over Leviathan were sung during royal liturgies. The figure of the defeated monster served to legitimize kingship and the divine order.

Babylon (modern-day Iraq)

The intellectual and religious heart of Mesopotamia, Babylon was where the great cosmogonic myths were developed — including the Enuma Elish, in which Tiamat, a primordial water monster, foreshadows the Hebrew Leviathan.