Editing Cetacea (section)

=== Culture ===

{{More citations needed section|date=August 2024}}

[[File:Destruction of Leviathan.png|thumb|''Destruction of Leviathan''; engraving by [[Gustave Doré]], 1865]]
[[File:Tarentum.jpg|thumb|Silver coin with [[Taras (mythology)|Taras]] riding a dolphin]]
[[Stone Age]] [[petroglyphs]], such as those in Roddoy and Reppa (Norway), and the [[Bangudae Petroglyphs]] in South Korea, depict them.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.pcas.org/Vol36N2/11Meighan.pdf| title = PCAS Quarterly - Rock Art on the Channel Islands of California}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3638853.stm| title = BBC News - Rock Art Hints at Whaling Origins| date = 20 April 2004}}</ref> Whale bones were used for many purposes. In the [[Neolithic]] settlement of Skara Brae on [[Orkney]] sauce pans were made from whale vertebrae.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} The whale was first mentioned in [[ancient Greece]] by [[Homer]]. There, it is called Ketos, from which was derived the Roman word for whale, [[Cetus (mythology)|Cetus]]. In the [[Bible]] especially, the leviathan plays a role as a [[sea monster]]. The prophet [[Jonah]], on his flight from the city of [[Nineveh]], is swallowed by a whale.
Dolphins are mentioned far more often than whales. Aristotle discusses the sacred animals of the Greeks in his ''[[Historia Animalium]]''. The Greeks admired the dolphin as a "king of the aquatic animals" and referred to them erroneously as fish. [[Dolphins in mythology|Dolphins appear in Greek mythology]]. Because of their intelligence, they rescued multiple people from drowning. They were said to love music, probably because of their own song, and in the legends they saved famous musicians, such as [[Arion]] of [[Lesbos]] from [[Mithymna|Methymna]]. Dolphins belong to the domain of [[Poseidon]] and led him to his wife [[Amphitrite]]. Dolphins are associated with other gods, such as [[Apollo]], [[Dionysus]] and [[Aphrodite]]. The Greeks paid tribute to both whales and dolphins with their own constellation. The constellation of the Whale (Ketos, lat. [[Cetus]]) is located south of the Dolphin (Delphi, lat. [[Delphinus]]) north of the [[zodiac]]. Ancient art often included dolphin representations, including the Cretan [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]]. A particularly popular representation is that of Arion or [[Taras (mythology)|Taras]] riding on a dolphin. In early [[Christian art]], the dolphin is a popular motif, at times used as a symbol of [[Christ]].

==== Middle Ages to the 19th century ====
{{See also|History of Whaling|Cryptid whales}}
[[File:La Baleine.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of baleen whaling, 1840]]
[[File:Im Februar 1598 an der holländischen Küste gestrandeter Walfisch.jpg|thumb|right|Stranded sperm whale engraving, 1598]]

[[St. Brendan]] described in his travel story ''Navigatio Sancti Brendani'' an encounter with a whale, between the years 565–573.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Most descriptions of large whales from the Middle Ages until the whaling era, beginning in the 17th century, were of beached whales. [[Raymond Gilmore]] documented seventeen sperm whales in the estuary of the Elbe from 1723 to 1959 and thirty-one animals on the coast of Great Britain in 1784. In 1827, a blue whale beached itself off the coast of Ostend. Whales were used as attractions in museums and traveling exhibitions.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
Whalers from the 17th to 19th centuries depicted whales in drawings and recounted tales of their occupation. Although they knew that whales were harmless giants, they described battles with harpooned animals. These included descriptions of sea monsters, including huge whales, sharks, sea snakes, giant squid and octopuses.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Among the first whalers who described their experiences on whaling trips was Captain [[William Scoresby]] from Great Britain, who published the book ''Northern Whale Fishery'', describing the hunt for northern baleen whales. This was followed by [[Thomas Beale]], a British surgeon, in his book ''Some observations on the natural history of the sperm whale'' in 1835; and Frederick Debell Bennett's ''The tale of a whale hunt'' in 1840. Whales were described in narrative literature and paintings, most famously in the novels ''[[Moby-Dick|Moby Dick]]'' by [[Herman Melville]] and ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas]]'' by [[Jules Verne]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Baleen was used to make vessel components such as the bottom of a bucket in the Scottish National Museum. The [[Norsemen]] crafted ornamented plates from baleen.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} In the Canadian Arctic (east coast) in Punuk and [[Thule]] culture (1000–1600 C.E.),<ref>{{cite journal|title=The circumpolar zone|last1=Cunliffe|first1=B.|last2=Gosden|first2=C.|last3=Joyce|first3=R.|journal=The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology}}</ref> baleen was used to construct houses in place of wood as roof support for winter houses.<ref>{{cite journal|author=J. Savelle| title=The Role of Architectural utility in the formation of archaeological Whale Bone Assemblages|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=24| issue=10|year=1997|pages=869–885|doi=10.1006/jasc.1996.0167| bibcode=1997JArSc..24..869S}}<!--|access-date=4 September 2015--></ref>

==== Modern culture ====
{{Further|Whale#Interactions with humans}}
[[File:Sea World1.jpg|thumb|Sea World show featuring [[bottlenose dolphin]]s and [[false killer whale]]s]]

In the 20th century, perceptions of cetaceans changed. They transformed from monsters into creatures of wonder, as science revealed them to be intelligent and peaceful animals. Hunting was replaced by whale and dolphin tourism. This change is reflected in films and novels. For example, the protagonist of the series ''[[Flipper (1995 TV series)|Flipper]]'' was a bottle-nose dolphin. The TV series ''[[SeaQuest DSV]]'' (1993–1996), the movies ''[[Free Willy]]'' and ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home]]'', and the book series ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' by [[Douglas Adams]] are examples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.movieretriever.com/videohound_lists/90895/Whales|title=Movie Retriever: Whales|author=unknown|work=movieretriever.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015214719/http://www.movieretriever.com/videohound_lists/90895/Whales|archive-date=2015-10-15}}</ref>

The study of [[Whale vocalization|whale songs]] also produced a popular album, ''[[Songs of the Humpback Whale (album)|Songs of the Humpback Whale]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Dell |first=Cary |title="Songs of the Humpback Whale" (1970) |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/humpback%20whales.pdf |website=Library of Congress}}</ref>