[10], In most versions of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who was sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphus because Polydectes wanted to marry Perseus's mother. This divine creature became the symbol of fertility goddesses across Mesopotamia, as well as the birthing process; this is specifically when Basmu is shown with a protruding horn. If your web page requires an HTML link, please insert this code: . While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In North America, the Brule Sioux people told of three brothers transformed into rattlesnakes which permanently helped and guided their human relatives. Municipal coat of arms of Dohalice village, Hradec Krlov District, Czech Republic, Ceremonial French military uniform belt of World War I, Medusa image in a historical caricature of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, Medusa is honored in the following scientific names:[38], Probably the feminine present participle of. Etruscan, from Italy, 6th century BC. Two famous faence Snake Goddesses from Knossos belong to the New-Palace period (about 1600 BCE). In fact, in their final showdown, the two end up killing each other. Continuing on, it would be unfair to neglect the inimitable powerhouses that are the Gorgons. Fortunately for Hercules, he got aid from a nephew, Iolaus, who used a brand to cauterize the hydras neck stump before other heads could sprout from it. Since the snake is also symbol of the underworld deity, the Snake Goddess has some chthonic aspects as well. The Mayan sky-goddess was a common attribute. Certainly, Evans was interested in finding a goddess at Knossos. . In ancient Mesopotamia, Nirah, the messenger god of Itaran, was represented as a serpent on kudurrus, or boundary stones. There is a chapter in the Book of the Dead that gives a detailed list of all these gods and the region they are associated with. According to Ovid, in northwest Africa, Perseus flew past the Titan Atlas, who stood holding the sky aloft, and transformed Atlas into a stone when Atlas tried to attack him. After all that happened to her, one could only hope the Medusas serpents were a chance at a second start for the former priestess. Modern states that composed Kuru include Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Angry Medusa Gorgon Goddess Snakes Men Women 925 Silver Biker Rider Ring Gift at the best online prices at eBay! Eopsin is the goddess of wealth and storage in Korean folk mythology. She made humans one at a time with clay. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes; unlike the Gorgons, she was sometimes represented as very beautiful. Medusa has been depicted in several works of art, including: Medusa remained a common theme in art in the nineteenth century, when her myth was retold in Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology. She also prophesied the downfall of the Aztec Empire. This other Naga king is best known as a companion of Lord Shiva. Snake deities can either be nice or nasty. Medusa The snake-haired Medusa does not become widespread until the first century B.C. The terra-cotta models of painted snakes were found in the cult center of Mycenae and the motif of snakes appear among the decoration of vessels for funeral cult from the Late Mycenaean cemeteries in the mainland and in the islands of Rhodes, Kos and Cyprus. [21] Sea monsters lived in every ocean from the seven-headed crocodile-serpent Leviathan of Hebrew myth to the sea-god Koloowisi of the Zuni people of North America and the Greek monster Scylla with twelve snake-necks. Also, he cannot be having a great time when his siblings include the demon wolf Fenrir and the Norse goddess of death, Hel. snakes symbolized the umbilical cord, joining all humans to Mother Earth. In Korean mythology, the goddess Eobshin was the snake goddess of wealth, as snakes ate rats and mice that gnawed on the crops. For this reason, it is taboo in Serer culture to kill snakes. Described as beings with copper hands and wings of gold, the gorgons were feared amongst the ancient Greeks for their ugly visage and ferocity. Hygieia's primary attribute was a large snake, which was one of her father's symbols as well. How old is the United States of America? Besides the ritual function, they are among the best examples of Minoan art with its dominant features naturalism and grace. During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The underworld was part of a mythical world tree. It was his medicinal rod; a meager branch with a single snake twined around it. A great degree of respect is afforded to snakes in Serer culture, as they are the very embodiment and symbol of their saints and ancestral spirits. "Medusa has since haunted Western imagination, materializing whenever male authority feels threatened by female agency," writes Johnston. [37][incomplete short citation]. She was the protector deity of the city of Dep and also believed to be the protector of kings and of women in childbirth. This anthropomorphic serpent goddess was worshipped to heal and prevent snakebites, as well as for fertility and prosperity. Of course, snakes do relate to another symbol often used in the Greek world. [22] A dragon-like creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian Period until the Hellenistic Period (323 BC31 BC). 3. [5][6][7][8] Like their Serer counterparts, the Dogon people of Mali also have great reverence for the serpent. "[25][incomplete short citation], Medusa's visage has since been adopted by many women as a symbol of female rage; one of the first publications to express this idea was a feminist journal called Women: A Journal of Liberation in their issue one, volume six for 1978. 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. Such a sacrilege attracted the goddess' wrath, and she punished Medusa by turning her hair to snakes. He believes that one reason for her longevity may be her role as a protector, fearsome and enraged. The faience figurines identified as the "snake goddess" were discovered in 1903 by the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in the so-called Temple Repositories at the palace of Knossos on the island of Crete. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). She mainly worshipped for preventing snakebites, curing them, blessing the humans with fertility and prosperity. Edward Burne-Jones' Perseus Cycle of paintings and a drawing by Aubrey Beardsley gave way to the twentieth-century works of Paul Klee, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, Pierre et Gilles, and Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture The Gates of Hell. As a result, God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden and curses the snake. Inscribe the breath of the whole woman. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by the conscious mind.[17]. With snakes for hairhatred of mortal man[5], While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as having monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century BC began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. However, Saint Patrick is credited with driving the snakes from Ireland. The Gorgons of Greek myth were snake-women (a common hybrid) whose gaze would turn flesh into stone, the most famous of them being Medusa. This Sumerian god is a complex individual. WoRMS Editorial Board (2017). 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. The Snake Goddess is a provocative image, but its restoration and interpretation are problematic. The Snake Goddess, as originally excavated, lacked a head and half of her left arm. They are now on display at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The idea of snake-people living below the Earth was prominent in American myth. 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. The Biblical story of the fall of man tells of how Adam and Eve were deceived into disobeying God by a snake (identified as Satan by both Paul and John in II Corinthians and Revelation, respectively). To link to this article in the text of an online publication, please use this URL: https://historycooperative.org/snake-gods-and-goddesses/. Updates? 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. In ancient Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl was the son of the fertility earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, and cloud serpent and hunting god, Maxicoat. [22] The horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) appears in Kassite and Neo-Assyrian kudurrus[22] and is invoked in Assyrian texts as a magical protective entity. Snakes, for some reason or another, have always held a prominent place in myths and religions the world over. They are revered as beneficial deities, though they have proven themselves to be formidable foes throughout mankind in Hinduism. Actually this one is both. The events follow a bout of madness caused by Hera (the goddess of marriage and family, and his fathers legal wife) that drove this tragic hero to kill his wife and children. Usually the serpent goddess takes up residence in the roofs of homes. Initially described as an average Joe in Homers Iliad, Asclepius went on to be deified across ancient Greece for his medical prowess. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Stephen Wilk, author of Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, questioned Medusa's enduring status among the feminist movement. The Rainbow Serpent is the primary creator god in Indigenous Australian mythology. Hymns and offerings were made to it since it was believed that the Goddess could manifest through the snake. Meretseger had guardianship over the sprawling Theban Necropolis. Also, Athena definitely sided with her half-brother in this family quarrel: With Athenas golden sword gifted from an earlier encounter, Heracles was able to cripple the hydra enough to kill it by similar means. Their name roughly translates to Venomous Snake and they seem to represent rebirth, death, and mortality. A Graceful Goddess As the story goes, the Rainbow Serpent slept beneath the earth for millennia, until it rose out of the ground one day. Day in and day out Nw amused herself making mud figures and watching them come to life.[15]. Afraid that he would grant man immortality, Zeus killed Asclepius. Manasa, goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal and other parts of northeastern India, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and general prosperity. Snakes were associated with wisdom in many mythologies, perhaps due to the appearance of pondering their actions as they prepare to strike, which was copied by medicine men in the build-up to prophecy in parts of West Africa. Even before he excavated at the site, he had argued that there was a great mother goddess who was worshiped in the pre-Classical Greek world. Manasa Devi - The Snake Goddess. Candia-Iraklion, Arheologik Mousso. More like a hundred headed serpentine dragon, actually. The day is now celebrated as Naga Panchami in modern practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. This work at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. 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. Manasa is famous as the goddess of serpents, very powerful and worshipped in different forms and with different names throughout India. Archetypal literary criticism continues to find psychoanalysis useful. 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. That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. Medusa - whose name probably comes from the Ancient Greek word for "guardian" - was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, and sisters of the Graeae, Echidna, and Ladon. The crown and cat have no parallel in any image of a Bronze Age woman, so these should be discounted. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Roman author Ovid describes the mortal Medusa as a beautiful maiden seduced by Poseidon in a temple of Athena. [22] Representations of two intertwined serpents are common in Sumerian art and Neo-Sumerian artwork[22] and still appear sporadically on cylinder seals and amulets until as late as the thirteenth century BC. We also know that faience symbolized the renewal of life in old Egypt. [8][9] As the act of killing a beautiful maiden in her sleep is rather unheroic, it is not clear whether those vases are meant to elicit sympathy for Medusa's fate, or to mock the traditional hero. Foregoing the whole deadly Underworld serpent thing, Renenutet sounds like one hell of a mother-figure: She Who Rears is quite the fitting epithet after all. One of the most forgotten goddesses of the Celtic pantheon, Corra is the embodiment of life, death, fertility, and the earth itself. Heracles (Hercules) is said to have obtained a lock of Medusas hair (which possessed the same powers as the head) from Athena and given it to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, as a protection for the town of Tegea against attack; when exposed to view, the lock was supposed to bring on a storm, which put the enemy to flight. iPhone History: A Timeline of Every Model in Order Angitia, Oscan Goddess of Snakes and Healing. She argues that men's retelling of the narrative turned Medusa into a monster because they feared female desire. The gods were well aware of this, and Perseus received help. However, the indisputable root of life that the Rainbow Snake provided was water, regardless of story. The Snake Goddess is a provocative image, but its restoration and interpretation are problematic. Delighted, she made another figure, and another and another, and each came to life in the same way. Looking at the forbidden mother (in her hair-covered genitals, so to speak) stiffens the subject in illicit desire and freezes him in terror of the Father's retribution. The coiled snake headdress is worn by Ix Chel in her moon goddess aspect, associated with women's menstrual cycles and resultant fertility.
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