Porphyrios: The Sea Monster that Terrorized the Late Roman Empire I Roman Moby Dick

The sixth century historian Procopius, in both his History of the Wars, and The Secret History, mentions a sea monstera gigantic whalenamed Porphyrios that dwelt in the Bosporus Strait and the Black Sea, and which terrorized the shipping lanes around Constantinople for about fifty years, and which causes significant headaches for the Emperor Justinian the Roman navy. Our information is fairly limited, but what can we say about this real life Moby Dick SOURCES: The Secret History, Procopius The History of the Wars, Procopius A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities, Kaldellis