Tannin (monster)


Tannin or Tunnanu was a sea monster in Canaanite, Phoenician, and Hebrew mythology used as a symbol of chaos and evil.

Name

The name may derive from a root meaning "howling" or from coiling in a manner like smoke.
In modern Hebrew usage the word Tanin means "crocodile."

Canaanite mythology

Tannin appears in the Baal Cycle as one of the servants of Yam defeated by Baʿal or bound by his sister, ʿAnat. He is usually depicted as serpentine, possibly with a double tail.

Hebrew mythology

The tanninim also appear in the Hebrew Bible's of Book of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Job, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. They are explicitly listed among the creatures created by God on the fifth day of the Genesis creation narrative, translated in the King James Version as "great whales". The tannin is listed in the apocalypse of Isaiah as among the sea beasts to be slain by Yahweh "on that day", translated in the King James Version as "the dragon".
In Jewish mythology, Tannin is sometimes conflated with the related sea monsters Leviathan and Rahab. Along with Rahab, "Tannin" was a name applied to ancient Egypt after the Exodus to Canaan.
The word "Tannin" is used in the Hebrew Bible fourteen times. Aaron's staff becomes Tannin in the Book of Exodus, it is used in the meaning "snake" in the Book of Deuteronomy and Psalms. It represents the Nebuchadnezzar I in Jeremiah and Pharaoh in Ezekiel. In the Book of Job the protagonist questions God "Am I the sea or the sea dragon that you have set a guard over me?"
In modern scholarship, Tannin is sometimes associated with Tiamat and, in modern Hebrew, the name tannin means crocodile. The name has subsequently been given to three submarines in the Israeli Navy: the first, an S-class submarine formerly known as HMS Springer, was in commission from 1958 until 1972. The second, a Gal-class submarine, was in commission from 1977 until 2002. The third INS Tanin is a Dolphin-class submarine in commission since 2014.

Citations