Those of his companions who were present were horrified, but she just calmly stroked the smooth, sleek neck of the crested dragon, and at once there were two serpents intertwined, who presently went crawling off and found a hiding place within a nearby grove.
But these days, they no longer flee from men, nor do they harm them; mindful of their former identities, they’re very gentle dragons.
Hello! Excuse me, I'd like to make a weird question, but your blog is one of the bests in this area. I'm doing some research about snakes in mythology around the world, but I lack knowledge in the Antiquity period. Would you have any good information or source recommendation towards the vision or legends about snakes in Egypt and Grece? Thank you very much for your attention.
Hi! I’ll try my best to answer your question–thanks for the vote of confidence!
There are many appearances of snakes in Greek mythology, and they were particularly associated with the god Apollo. Off the top of my head, I can think of the myths of Apollo slaying the serpent Python at Delphi (giving the title “Pythia” to the oracle at Delphi), the hero Heracles strangling snakes as an infant, and the archer Philoctetes (who appears in Sophocles’ play of the same name) suffering from a festering snakebite wound which prevents him from going to Troy. If I remember correctly (it’s been a while since I’ve read Herodotus), visions or portents involving snakes appear in Herodotus’ Histories (you can search the text on the Perseus database of ancient works).
For some more ideas, I would suggest looking through the list of mythological beasts on the website Theoi. The entries include quotes from primary sources and images from ancient art, which should give you some other things to check out. I’m sure there are probably loads of academic articles and books on this particular subject, but unfortunately I don’t have access to any academic databases right now to take a look.
As for snakes in Egyptian mythology, I’m not very familiar with Egyptian myths. The only thing I can think of is the snake-headed goddess Wadjet, whose symbol of sundisk and snake, the uraeus, appeared on Egyptian crowns.
I hope this gives you at least a few ideas of what to look into. If any of my followers have further suggestions, feel free to comment or send me a message!
Roman Marbled Glass Snake - Eastern Mediterranean or Italy, circa late 1st Century BC - early 1st Century AD
There were snakes in use in various oracle temples in ancient Greece and the early Roman Empire. The snake, in pre-Christian cultures, often represented eternal life, as the snake sheds its skin regularly, and keeps growing and surviving.
Hiss is a snake bracelet from the 1st century A.D.
Designed to look like a coil around the wearer, this would have been worn in a pair on the wrist or upper arm. A tinier head appears coming from the snake’s tail. Look closely.
Snake Bracelet, A.D. 1 - 100, Romano-Egyptian. J. Paul Getty Museum.
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