Porphyrios (whale)

Porphyrios (Greek: Πορφύριος) was a large whale (κῆτος) that harassed and sank ships in the waters near Constantinople in the sixth century. Active for over fifty years, Porphyrios caused great concern for Byzantine seafarers. Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) made it an important matter to capture it, though he could not come up with a way to do so. Porphyrios eventually met its end when it beached itself near the mouth of the Black Sea and was attacked and cut into pieces by a mob of locals.