The Sun and the Serpent

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The rainbow-god of the Ashanti was also conceived to have the form of a snake. His messenger was said to be a small variety of boa, but only certain individuals, not the whole species, were sacred. Hamish died on Burn’s night, 2010. We are continually meeting people who have their own treasured memories of him, all individual stories but with one common thread, that of an unassuming but wise man with a great sense of humour. He is greatly missed. Ting, Nai-tung. "The Holy Man and the Snake-Woman. A Study of a Lamia Story in Asian and European Literature". In: Fabula 8, no. Jahresband (1966): 145–191. doi: 10.1515/fabl.1966.8.1.145 In Greek and Roman mythology, the snake symbolizes a guardian spirit and was inscribed on many altars. In the temple of Athena in Athens, a snake held in a cage was believed to be the reincarnation of Erichthonius, an early king in ancient Greece. A snake was likewise kept at the shrine of Apollo where it was tended to by a naked virgin. In Greek mythology, Medusa and other gorgons (female creatures) had sharp fangs and live snakes for hair. The association of women and serpents extended to Medea, who was pulled in a chariot led by serpents, as well as the Minoan snake goddess who held a snake in each hand. Celtic, Norse and Native American Beliefs

Typhon, the enemy of the Olympian gods, is described as a vast grisly monster with a hundred heads and a hundred serpents issuing from his thighs, who was conquered and cast into Tartarus by Zeus, or confined beneath volcanic regions, where he is the cause of eruptions. Typhon is thus the chthonic figuration of volcanic forces. Serpent elements figure among his offspring; among his children by Echidna are Cerberus (a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and a serpentine mane); the serpent-tailed Chimaera; the serpent-like chthonic water beast Lernaean Hydra; and the hundred-headed serpentine dragon Ladon. Both the Lernaean Hydra and Ladon were slain by Heracles. Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great and a princess of the primitive land of Epirus, had the reputation of a snake-handler, and it was in serpent form that Zeus was said to have fathered Alexander upon her. [36] Aeëtes, the king of Colchis and father of the sorceress Medea, possessed the Golden Fleece. He guarded it with a massive serpent that never slept. Medea, who had fallen in love with Jason of the Argonauts, enchanted it to sleep so Jason could seize the Fleece. (See Lamia).

Jail didn't stop his sex life

Sometimes the Tree of Life is represented (in a combination with similar concepts such as the World Tree and Axis mundi or "World Axis") by a staff such as those used by shamans. Examples of such staffs featuring coiled snakes in mythology are the caduceus of Hermes, the Rod of Asclepius, the Staff of Moses, and the papyrus reeds and deity poles entwined by a single serpent Wadjet, dating to earlier than 3000BCE. The oldest known representation of two snakes entwined around a rod is that of the Sumerian fertility god Ningizzida, who was sometimes depicted as a serpent with a human head, eventually becoming a god of healing and magic. It is the companion of Dumuzi (Tammuz), with whom it stood at the gate of heaven. In the Louvre, there is a famous green steatite vase carved for King Gudea of Lagash (dated variously 2200–2025BCE) with an inscription dedicated to Ningizzida. Ningizzida was the ancestor of Gilgamesh, who, according to the epic, dived to the bottom of the waters to retrieve the plant of life. But while he rested from his labor, a serpent came and ate the plant. The snake became immortal, and Gilgamesh was destined to die. Snake cults were well established in Canaanite religion in the Bronze Age, for archaeologists have uncovered serpent cult objects in Bronze Age strata at several pre-Israelite cities in Canaan: two at Megiddo, [22] one at Gezer, [23] one in the sanctum sanctorum of the Area H temple at Hazor, [24] and two at Shechem. [25]

In pre-Columbian Central America Quetzalcoatl was sometimes depicted as biting its own tail. The mother of Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec goddess Coatlicue ("the one with the skirt of serpents"), also known as Cihuacoatl ("The Lady of the serpent"). Quetzalcoatl's father was Mixcoatl ("Cloud Serpent"). He was identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerican cultures.Sundermann, Werner. "VII. Friedmar Geißler (f), Erzählmotive in der Geschichte von den zwei Schlangen". In: Ein manichäisch-soghdisches Parabelbuch. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2022 [1985]. pp. 57-68. doi: 10.1515/9783112592328-007 HELIUS (Helios) - Greek Titan God of the Sun (Roman Sol)". www.theoi.com . Retrieved 15 March 2018. Malkowski, Edward F. (October 3, 2007). The Spiritual Technology of Ancient Egypt. Inner Traditions/Bear. p.223. ISBN 978-1-59477-776-9 . Retrieved December 7, 2012.

Following the Christian context as a symbol for evil, serpents are sometimes featured in political propaganda. They were used to represent Jews in antisemitic propaganda. Snakes were also used to represent the evil side of drugs in such films as Narcotic [59] and Narcotics: Pit of Despair. [60] Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index tale type ATU 433B, "King Lindworm": a childless queen gives birth to a boy in snake form. Years later, he wishes to marry, but either devours his brides on their wedding night or cannot find a woman brave enough to accept his serpentine form. The snake prince is disenchanted by a maiden who wears layers of clothing in their nuptial night to mirror his layers of snakeskin. [53] Example: King Lindworm, a Danish fairy tale. Similarly Níðhöggr (Nidhogg Nagar), the dragon of Norse mythology, eats from the roots of the Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Furthermore, the psychoanalyst Joseph Lewis Henderson and the ethnologist Maude Oakes have argued that the serpent is a symbol of initiation and rebirth precisely because it is a symbol of death. [9]

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Oskar Seyffert (1901). A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities: Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art (6ed.). Swan Sonnenschein and Co. p.271 . Retrieved 2022-01-02. Ji pagrįstai gali būti laikoma baltų – lietuvių ir latvių – pasaka, nes daugiausia jos variantų užrašyta Lietuvoje ir Latvijoje." Bagočiūnas, Saulis. ""Eglė žalčių karalienė": pasakos topografijos paieškos" ["Eglė - the Queen of Serpents": in search of the tale's topography]. In: Tautosakos darbai [Folklore Studies]. 2008, 36, p. 64. ISSN 1392-2831 [2] This understanding was maintained, and these rituals observed, until the rise of Christianity in the 4th century CE. At this time, the old model of humanity as co-workers with the gods was replaced by a new one in which human beings were fallen creatures, unworthy of their deity, and utterly dependent upon their god's son and his sacrifice for their salvation. These rituals encouraged the understanding that human beings played an important role in the workings of the universe. The sun was not just an impersonal object in the sky which appeared to rise every morning and set each evening but was imbued with character and purpose: it was the barge of the sun god who, throughout the day, ensured the continuation of life and, at night, required the prayers and support of the people to ensure they would see him the next day. Jörmungandr, alternately referred to as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent, is a sea serpent of Norse mythology, the middle child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða. According to the Prose Edda, Odin took Loki's three children, Fenrisúlfr, Hel and Jörmungandr. He tossed Jörmungandr into the great ocean that encircles Midgard. The serpent grew so big that he was able to surround the Earth and grasp his own tail, and as a result he earned the alternate name of the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent. Jörmungandr's arch enemy is the god Thor.