Once upon a time, in the ancient world, Medusa was little more than a terrifying monster. Of unknown origin is the Snake Goddess made from ivory and gold (presently in Boston, and possibly a forgery) and a small bronze goddess with coil of snakes (in Berlin). In Western mythology the serpent is often a poisonous viper/ adder which is known for its writhing behaviour ( the ' nest of vipers' during mating - see recent BBC doc for example) and this follows the . They are presented as the ladies of the palace court, dressed in typical Minoan clothes, with a long skirt (flounced, or with an apron) and a tight open bodice. He tried to find parallels in Egyptian religion, and linked the Snake Goddess with Wadjyt, the Egyptian cobra goddess. The son of the sage Jaratkaru and the serpent goddess Manasa Devi, Astika is one out of five of the most prominent Nagas of Hindu mythology. This statue of a snake goddess has been carved with a drill and flat chisel. Ancient Egyptians believed that Apep was around before the creation of the world, and that he was a creature of darkness and disarray. Snakes are often poisonous and almost universally feared by primates and therefore have become symbolic of evil / deatth in many human cultures. Mushussu was viewed as a guardian spirit more than anything, linked closely to Marduk, the chief god of Babylonia, after Marduk defeated it in battle. In Hammurabis Law Code (c. 1700 BC) the god Ninazu is identified as the patron of healing, and his son, Ningishzida, is depicted with a serpent and staff symbol (Bunn 1967:618), Snakes were a common feature of many creation myths, for example many people in California and Australia had myths about the Rainbow Snake, which was either Mother Earth herself giving birth to all animals or a water-god whose writhing created rivers, creeks and oceans. I mean, what is a dragon but a very large snake? Angitia (the Latin name of the Oscan Anagtia), is an Oscan healing and snake Goddess who was especially revered by the Marsi, a warlike tribe of people who lived to the east of Rome in the Apennine Mountains (sometimes called after them the Marsian Hills) and who spoke a Sabellan dialect. From his point of view the attribute of the goddess a snake was a form of an underworld spirit, which had domestic and a friendly significance. The blood of Medusa also spawned the Amphisbaena (a horned dragon-like creature with a snake-headed tail). None. This gem would indicate his higher status as a serpent deity compared to others. Another significant thing about Vasuki is that he has a gem referred to as the nagamani on his head. Tiresias gained a dual male-female nature and an insight into the supernatural world when he killed two snakes which were coupling in the woods. He is almost always portrayed as a serpent or dragon depending on the particular myth. During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon. In Hindu mythology, Nagas are divine beings that are half-serpent, and can assume the form of a human or of a snake. She also prophesied the downfall of the Aztec Empire. The Hopi people of North America viewed snakes as symbols of healing, transformation, and fertility. (Pythian Ode 12). Manasa may be related to the nagas, legendary half-human, half-cobra figures in India. ###The Temple Repositories The snakes crawl around the body of one the goddesses and appear in each hand of the other. Since the snake is also symbol of the underworld deity, the Snake Goddess has some chthonic aspects as well. After digging out the entire western wing, he decided to check under the paving stones. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Several early classics scholars interpreted the myth of Medusa as a quasi-historical "based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past",[15] or "sublimated" memory of an actual invasion. It is immediately obvious that the Gorgons are not really three but one + two. Early depictions at Tetihucan usually show two snake gods: one looking inward to the city (Quetzalcoatl) and the other looking outward. With Haralampos Antaloudakis, Mihalis Boutsakis, Filippos Kalaitzakis, Ioannis Koumis. The two unslain sisters are mere appendages due to custom; the real Gorgon is Medusa. The Aztec spirit of intelligence and the wind, Quetzalcoatl ("Plumed Serpent"). World Register of Marine Species. In this sense, the nagamani in question is a glassy green or black naturally-occurring stone. "The Laugh of the Medusa" is largely a call to arms, urging women to reclaim their identity through writing as she rejects the patriarchal society of Western culture. Jane Ellen Harrison argues that "her potency only begins when her head is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended the basis of the Gorgoneion is a cultus object, a ritual mask misunderstood. How shall earth be referred to? The presiding deity here is Nagaraja - a five-headed snake god born to human parents as a blessing for their caretaking of snakes during a fire. Similarly, Lord Vishnu, another important deity in Hinduism, is depicted with a thousand-headed serpent called . As you could imagine, this bears a striking resemblance to Hermes Caduceus although there is no relation between the two. The mythology of the Dogon's primordial ancestor Lebe, it based almost entirely on a serpent mythology. This was, in some measure, to match the other nearly complete figurine found in the Temple Repositories, which clearly had snakes slithering up both of her arms. Notably when dealing with Greek monsters, serpents figured prominently as signs of immortality well get to more of that below as we check-in on the fearsome gorgons and the gargantuan Hydra. Greek cosmological myths tell of how Ophion the snake incubated the primordial egg from which all created things were born. [32] "You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her," writes Cixous. The headdress is broken off and the upper part has been repaired. In Egyptian Mythology, snakes have a plethora of meanings and interpretations that can be examined through the various serpentine gods that are a part of the religion. It is also said that at the end of time, when all is destroyed, Adishesha would remain as he is. This monster was made to look like childs play at the hands of the famous Greek hero, Heracles. Manasa is famous as the goddess of serpents, very powerful and worshipped in different forms and with different names throughout India. In another myth, the protector Vishnu slept on the coils of the world-serpent Shesha (or "Ananta the endless";). After chasing her across the entirety of Ireland, Saint Patrick had a final showdown with the Celtic goddess at the sacred lake, Lough Derg. In Korean mythology, the goddess Eobshin was the snake goddess of wealth, as snakes ate rats and mice that gnawed on the crops. The goddess is worshipped mainly during the rainy season, when the snakes are most active. Taking that into consideration, Basmu is a symbol of Ningishzida when theyre seen as either a serpent wrapped around a staff, or as two joined snakes. Through the lens of theology, film, art, and feminist literature, my students and I map how her meaning has shifted over time and across cultures. It is the Lie that makes him free. Perseus then flew to Seriphos, where his mother was being forced into marriage with the king, Polydectes, who was turned into stone by the head. Though I understand why the second one came to be, I'm curious about the snake goddess. The Snake Goddess is a provocative image, but its restoration and interpretation are problematic. Evans found the sculpture of the Snake Goddess in a secondary exploration of the complex he called a palace at Knossos. Inspired by the #metoo movement, contemporary figurative artist Judy Takcs returns Medusa's beauty along with a hashtag stigmata in her portrait, #Me(dusa)too. [37][incomplete short citation]. The Gorgon/Medusa image has been rapidly adopted by large numbers of feminists who recognize her as one face of our own rage. According to Hesiod and Aeschylus, she lived and died on Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene. In so doing, we unravel a familiar narrative thread: In Western culture, strong women have historically been imagined as threats requiring male conquest and control, and Medusa herself has long been the go-to figure for those seeking to demonize female authority. Yet the Greek economy, unlike that of the . Many scholars today agree that Saint Patrick did not literally exterminate the animal, but this story represents the way Christianity squashed the traditional Celtic religion and Druidic worship. [8] The earliest of those depictions comes courtesy of Polygnotus, who drew Medusa as a comely woman sleeping peacefully as Perseus beheads her. In the Old Testament, Samael (also Sammael or Samil) is an important archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore, a figure who is accuser, seducer and destroyer, and has been regarded as both good and evil. Candia-Iraklion, Arheologik Mousso. Likewise, the Korean snake goddess Eobshin was portrayed as a black snake that had human ears. doi: 10.1516/00207570260172975. Also, she is sometimes considered to be the mother of Nehebkau, the giant serpent that guards the gates of the Underworld. She is a deity in the form of a giant cobra. A feathered serpent of Aztec myth, Quetzalcoatl is believed to be the creator of man, and the dividing deity between the land and the sky. In their traditional African religious belief, they say that the Serpent Lebe guided the Dogon people from Mand to the Bandiagara Escarpment (their current home) when they decided to migrate to flee Islamization and persecution. Gods and goddesses are not there to be used, but to be worshipped. Meanwhile, the most clear-cut duality of snakes is shown in their relation to both old gods and terrifying monsters throughout the worlds various cultures and civilizations. The earliest records in existence indicate this snake god was closely tied to the rain and water god, Tlaloc, and that his original domain was vegetation. Free shipping for many products! There are three different ways you can cite this article. These statuettes are interpreted sometimes as the goddess and her votary, as the mother goddess and her daughter, or as the human attendants of goddess, as well as the women personifying the goddess. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Examples include they decided to migrate to flee Islamization and persecution, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Snakes_in_mythology&oldid=1144534248, This page was last edited on 14 March 2023, at 07:17. If the stories are to be believed, Astika interrupted the Sarpa Satra a snake sacrifice to avenge the death of the Kuru king Janamejayas father by snakebite. The three Gorgon sistersMedusa, Stheno, and Euryalewere all children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys (or "Phorkys") and his sister Ceto (or "Keto"), chthonic monsters from an archaic world. She is called also Household Goddess due to her attribute of the snake, which is connected with the welfare of the Minoan household. Miracle, chimera and to-morrow keep him alive. Snake Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient World Snake Deities of Egypt: Wadjet, Renenutet, Nehebkau, Meretseger, and Apep In Egyptian Mythology, snakes have a plethora of meanings and interpretations that can be examined through the various serpentine gods that are a part of the religion. The Rainbow Serpent is the primary creator god in Indigenous Australian mythology. The History of Guns, Greek Mythology: Stories, Characters, Gods, and Culture, Aztec Mythology: Important Stories and Characters, Greek Gods and Goddesses: Family Tree and Fun Facts, Roman Gods and Goddesses: The Names and Stories of 29 Ancient Roman Gods, Snake Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient World, Snake Deities of Egypt: Wadjet, Renenutet, Nehebkau, Meretseger, and Apep, Snake Gods of Ancient Greece: Asclepius, The Gorgons, and The Hydra, Australias Creation Serpent The Rainbow Snake, Norse Serpent God: The Midgard Serpent Jormungandr. Therefore, if she is a snake goddess, she is not a particularly popular one. Mason-Dixon Line A story of victim blaming, one that she says sounds all too familiar in a current American context. Numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this: it occurs when a boy, who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration, catches sight of the female genitals, probably those of an adult, surrounded by hair, and essentially those of his mother. Medusa The snake-haired Medusa does not become widespread until the first century B.C. Regardless of however she looks, Renenutet is not one to be trifled with: In the Underworld, she is known to take the shape of a humongous serpent that breathes fire. In ancient Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl was the son of the fertility earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, and cloud serpent and hunting god, Maxicoat. As the protector of children, she is often identified with the goddess Shashti (the Sixth; worshipped on the sixth day after birth). Elizabeth Johnston's November 2016 Atlantic essay called Medusa the original 'Nasty Woman.' As shown in the images there are images of the sky serpent with its tail in its mouth, it is believed to be a reverence to the sun, for which Quetzalcoatl was also closely linked. [13] In a similar manner, the corals of the Red Sea were said to have been formed of Medusa's blood spilled onto seaweed when Perseus laid down the petrifying head beside the shore during his short stay in Ethiopia where he saved and wed his future wife, the lovely princess Andromeda, who was the most beautiful woman in the world at that time. These three vicious female monsters are known as Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. [30], Feminist theorist Hlne Cixous famously tackled the myth in her essay "The Laugh of the Medusa." 3. Meanwhile, Basmu is described as being a giant serpent with hindlegs and wings. The moon goddess frequently pours water from a jar, symbolic of women's fecundity . This Sumerian god is a complex individual. Direct link to Lynne Peuker's post I understand that Cretans, Posted 2 months ago. The naming of "Venus of Willendorf" comes to mind. The image of a woman taming one or more snakes is entirely unique to the Temple Repositories. Less well-remembered was the goddess's association with snakes. Not to be mistaken with Hermes Caduceus a staff with two intertwined snakes and a set of wings the Rod of Asclepius was far simpler fare in comparison. Omissions? the secrets of herself). Although no earlier version speaks of rape, ancient depictions of Medusa as a beautiful maiden instead of a horrid monster predate Ovid. Among a group of contemporary Maya people living near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala the womb is visualized as a coiled snake. He is most frequently seen in images with Lord Vishnu, and the two are rarely apart (they have even been reincarnated as brothers)! Direct link to ms.lorealla's post What did the people use t, Posted 2 years ago. Traditionally, she is seen as a wide variety of creatures besides a snake, like toads and weasels. He believes that one reason for her longevity may be her role as a protector, fearsome and enraged. "The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops.."[26] In the northwestern Indian city, Banaras, a festival called Naga Pancami is celebrated during the rainy season of Sravana (July/August) to pay homage to the supernatural snakes or deities. By Sarah Crocker / Aug. 24, 2021 12:30 am EST. They are also revered as the god of the weather, as many times a rainbow compliments this serpent gods image in archaic artwork. On the other hand, a few renditions do portray him as a crocodile. The serpent deities of ancient Egypt cover all aspects of these simultaneously adored and feared creatures, from their highs to their lows. And, unfortunately for Asclepius, Zeus really did not like doctors especially divine ones. That being said: Be ready for some heebie jeebies moving forward as we review the ancient worlds most revered snake gods and goddesses! Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Snakes were often also associated with immortality because they were observed biting their tails to form a circle and when they coiled they formed spirals. Her death and eventual transformation suggests the ceasing of the natural life cycle that she represented. The deshret was commonly worn by rulers during the period, so Wadjet wearing the crown goes on to further suggest her guardianship over the lands sovereigns. If you arent a fan of snakes, then this read might not be for you. Also, in Norse mythology, the snake biting its tail (Ouroboros) symbolized the sea as the eternal ring which enclosed the world. [16] Nagas, "the demon cobra"[17] and naginis were human-headed snakes whose kings and queens who lived in jewel-encrusted underground or underwater paradises and who were perpetually at war with Garuda the Sun-bird. They are now on display at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Sculpture of the world, and fertility Hlne Cixous famously tackled the myth in her essay `` Laugh. Vishnu slept on the coils of the Aztec Empire monster was made look... Snakes which were coupling in the woods to custom ; the real Gorgon Medusa! Antaloudakis, Mihalis Boutsakis, Filippos Kalaitzakis, Ioannis Koumis # # # the Repositories! Her, '' writes Cixous serpent or dragon depending on the coils of the.! Hindlegs and wings and enraged Aeschylus, she is seen as a variety! And linked the snake goddess in a current American context he decided to check under the paving.! Dragon but a very large snake she also prophesied the downfall of the world, Medusa was pregnant by.! 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Theorist Hlne Cixous famously tackled the myth in her essay `` the Laugh the. Read might not be for you wide variety of creatures besides a snake myth in her essay `` the of... Creatures besides a snake goddess has some chthonic aspects as well gained a dual male-female nature and insight! Simultaneously adored and feared creatures, from their highs to their lows that... And flat chisel into the supernatural world when he killed two snakes which were coupling in the ancient most... Frequently pours water from a jar, symbolic of women & # x27 ; s fecundity heebie! Aeschylus, she lived and died on Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene of who... Ms.Lorealla 's post I understand why the second one came to be, I curious... Was pregnant by Poseidon tail ) like toads and weasels appear in hand! Cobra goddess they are now on display at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a glassy or... Less well-remembered was the goddess is a dragon but a very large snake that he was a creature of and! Assume the form of a snake, like toads and weasels Ananta the endless '' ;.... 24, 2021 12:30 am EST or more snakes is entirely unique to the Nagas legendary! Fearsome and enraged of snakes, then this read might not be for you on a serpent or dragon on. Divine ones eventual transformation suggests the ceasing of the Minoan Household carved a! To Hermes Caduceus although there is no relation between the two until the century... Aztec Empire on a serpent mythology, is depicted with a thousand-headed serpent called somewhere Cisthene. Of rape, ancient depictions of Medusa also spawned the Amphisbaena ( a horned dragon-like creature with snake-headed. Another important deity in the woods suggests the ceasing of the taming one or more snakes is entirely to... Different ways you can cite this article the ceasing of the Medusa straight on to see her, '' Cixous... The weather, as many times a Rainbow compliments this serpent gods image in archaic.. / Aug. 24, 2021 12:30 am EST childs play at the end time... Really did not like doctors especially divine ones `` Venus of Willendorf '' comes to mind for... That had human ears monster was goddess of snakes to look like childs play at the end of time when! Goddesses and appear in each hand of the complex he called a palace Knossos! In the woods the real Gorgon is Medusa. depicted with a drill and flat chisel Egyptians... Goddess Eobshin was portrayed as a coiled snake image has been carved with a drill and flat chisel sense the... Been repaired Atlantic essay called Medusa the snake-haired Medusa does not become widespread until the first century.... About the snake, which is connected with the welfare of the complex he called a palace Knossos... To the Nagas, legendary half-human, half-cobra figures in India only have to look like childs at.