Sea Legends - Thalassophobia

Looking at these odd sea creatures dotted along the sea on the map sparked my interest in looking further into the sea creatures and exploring if there is a connection between love and fear of the sea if those feelings are manifested in the myths surrounding these massive bodies of water.

I found this book by Jon Hackett and Sean Harrington that looks at the connection between sea creatures we have created and the cultural impact that they have had on our collective psyche, thinking about some now the obvious choice for an impactful sea myth is that of mermaids. Because they are seen as beautiful creatures that lure you in, this seems like a clear connection to the sea itself. Sailors and people alike see the sea as this beautiful place to be explored and enjoyed however it lures you in with this promise only to be much darker and scary than before.

There was one chapter of this book that instantly drew my attention, it was about Thalassophobia. I had never heard of this sort of phobia however searching it told me that Thalassophobia is the fear of deep bodies of water, this could be the sort of fear that has made us as a species build these mythologies and creatures that prowl the deep oceans as a way to cope with them?

I would have thought that the actual depth and not knowing of what is down there would be what causes the phobia of the sea however this chapter poses a different view about it which is really interesting, it suggests that there is a reflective nature to the sea that we can look back at ourselves in both the reflection and the depths of our being, its a really interesting way of looking at the fear of the sea and why so many folklores and stories around it end up being reflective in some way.