| Transcript |
| 0:07 | · | sea monsters and lake monsters have |
| 0:10 | · | captivated the human imagination for |
| 0:12 | · | Millennia everyone watching this has |
| 0:15 | · | probably heard the famous Loch Ness |
| 0:16 | · | monster said to live in a lake in |
| 0:19 | · | Scotland and everyone has probably heard |
| 0:21 | · | of the Leviathan a sea serpent which |
| 0:24 | · | appears in the Bible and which has |
| 0:25 | · | connections to an older Canaanite |
| 0:27 | · | monster loton |
| 0:30 | · | the waters surrounding Constantinople in |
| 0:32 | · | the middle of the 6th century were home |
| 0:34 | · | to such a monster one that we actually |
| 0:36 | · | know existed its name was porfirios |
| 0:40 | · | Theodora Empress of the Roman Empire at |
| 0:43 | · | this time and wife of the emperor of |
| 0:44 | · | Justinian did not care for |
| 0:46 | · | Constantinople much preferring the |
| 0:48 | · | nearby town of Huron where a small |
| 0:50 | · | Palace was located |
| 0:53 | · | there however was treacherous because it |
| 0:56 | · | meant sailing along the bus for a |
| 0:58 | · | straight into tracking the attention of |
| 1:00 | · | porfirios |
| 1:01 | · | so what was this Beast |
| 1:04 | · | well the vast majority of our |
| 1:06 | · | information comes from the writings of |
| 1:07 | · | prokopius both his history of the wars |
| 1:10 | · | and the secret history who informs us |
| 1:13 | · | that this was a whale which for whatever |
| 1:15 | · | reason swam into the Mediterranean from |
| 1:18 | · | the Atlantic and then made its home in |
| 1:20 | · | the Black Sea and the Bosphorus for |
| 1:22 | · | about 50 years it's estimated to have |
| 1:25 | · | been approximately 45 feet long and 15 |
| 1:28 | · | feet wide or about 14 meters long and |
| 1:31 | · | 4.5 meters wide and it is not entirely |
| 1:34 | · | certain where the name of the whale came |
| 1:36 | · | from |
| 1:37 | · | there is one idea which suggests that it |
| 1:40 | · | was named after a famous charioteer who |
| 1:42 | · | was active in the Hippodrome at this |
| 1:43 | · | time but the majority of historians |
| 1:45 | · | support a different line of thought |
| 1:46 | · | which argues that the name comes from |
| 1:48 | · | the color of the whale as well as the |
| 1:50 | · | apparent headache that the Beast caused |
| 1:52 | · | for the emperor Justinian because it |
| 1:54 | · | attacked ships indiscriminately both |
| 1:57 | · | military and civilian indeed we might |
| 2:00 | · | best understand porphyrios as meaning |
| 2:02 | · | something like purple boy which if |
| 2:04 | · | nothing else shows that humans have been |
| 2:06 | · | giving nicknames to animals for a very |
| 2:08 | · | long time even violent ones and |
| 2:11 | · | apparently much like the modern day |
| 2:13 | · | activity of whale watching locals |
| 2:16 | · | occasionally attempted to go and see it |
| 2:18 | · | except in these particular instances |
| 2:20 | · | there was every chance that the whale |
| 2:22 | · | attacked the ship |
| 2:24 | · | there are two ideas for exactly what |
| 2:26 | · | kind of animal porphyrus was in this |
| 2:29 | · | video I have been saying that it was a |
| 2:31 | · | whale because identifying porfirios as a |
| 2:34 | · | sperm whale due to the apparent size and |
| 2:36 | · | temperament of the creature makes the |
| 2:38 | · | most sense as well as the color of its |
| 2:40 | · | skin it would be possible to misidentify |
| 2:42 | · | Shades of Gray as Sage of purple |
| 2:44 | · | especially in the water but you should |
| 2:47 | · | be aware that there was another argument |
| 2:48 | · | which says that porphyrios was actually |
| 2:50 | · | an orca of unusual size after 50 years |
| 2:54 | · | of terrorizing Roman ships in the waters |
| 2:56 | · | of Constantinople however porphyrus was |
| 2:59 | · | finally beached when it decided to chase |
| 3:01 | · | Dolphins a bit too close to shore |
| 3:02 | · | struggling to free itself only trap the |
| 3:05 | · | whale deeper in the sand in the mud of |
| 3:06 | · | the coastline and when it was discovered |
| 3:09 | · | locals came with knives Cleavers rope |
| 3:11 | · | and axes to kill the Beast that had |
| 3:13 | · | wreaked havoc for so long finding that |
| 3:16 | · | their blades did little damage and only |
| 3:18 | · | enraged the whale the people returned |
| 3:20 | · | with horses and wagons and pulled |
| 3:21 | · | porphyr rails deeper Inland and cut the |
| 3:24 | · | released into pieces some of them |
| 3:26 | · | apparently devoured the whale flesh |
| 3:28 | · | immediately While others saved the |
| 3:30 | · | pieces for later |
| 3:31 | · | and with that so ended the reign of |
| 3:34 | · | terror of porfirios Tyrant of the |
| 3:37 | · | Bosphorus |
| 3:38 | · | and the shipping lanes were now safe |
| 3:40 | · | once more |
