#giant serpent

[atomic-chronoscaph]

The Story of Adam and Eve - Massimo Carnevale (c. 1992)

[fhtagn-and-tentacles]

GAASYENDIETHA

by Ashley A. Adams

[totenkopfmotte]

Story of a Storm.

The Battle of William Against the Giant Corsolt.

Story of Twelve Vultures and the Square City.

Aphrodite and Eros.

Eros and Psyche.

Art by Joseph Kuhn-Regnier

[thomaswaynewolf]

New & very fun episode has dropped!

Friend & fellow podcaster The Paranormalist joins me on the show and we talk about aliens, UFOs, skinwalkers, giant serpents, our own encounters with the paranormal, what causes the Southwest to be so strange, and a whole lot more. It’s a very fun interview episode, especially if you like the weird and the spooky. Suspend your disbelief and join us.

Spooky Southwest With Special Guest The Paranormalist — The American Southwest

Friend & fellow podcaster The Paranormalist joins me on the show and we talk about aliens, UFOs, skinwalkers, giant serpents, our own en

[sirstarryknight]

From The Book of Romance by Andrew Lang, 1902.

[jurakan]

Last day of school was yesterday!! I am now free on Fridays to ask for fun facts, and think about fun facts, and ponder the fun facts...

[kicks open door] AND FUN FACTZ YOU SHALL GET! Today You Learned about the Serpent of Carthage!

[Online the articles I've found refer to this as the Serpent of Bagradas, but in Natural History of Dragons by Shuker (the main account I'm using because I have that in front of me), which is where I first saw the story. I should note that this book has a lot of references to stories that I can't find elsewhere, but this actually DOES appear in other records so it's cool. We're cool.]

The story goes that in 256 BC, during the First Punic War (the wars were between Rome and Carthage), Marcus Atilius Regulus was leading his men through the terrain in Northern Africa when they came to the Riber Bagrada. Shuker has it that when the first man tried crossing the river, he was immediately grabbed by something in the water and dragged under. I don't know if that's how it went down, but it makes a terrifying mental image.

So basically, popping out of the river was this huge serpentine monster. Regulus, being a good Roman commander, drew up a battle plan and had his men surround this serpent and start attacking it with spears and arrows. Except after whaling on this monster for a while, they realized that none of it worked.

Not to be daunted, Regulus pulled out the big guns. And by that I mean siege weapons. The Romans wheeled out ballistae and catapults and started shooting the shiz out of this monster, and finally it started taking damage. After crushing its skull, they presumably poked it a few times to make sure it was dead, and then had a large party.

The story goes that the serpent was skinned, and the trophy was taken back to Rome, where it was measured at 120 feet what the heck. It was put on display on Capitoline Hill in a temple as a sign of Roman awesomeness, but the skin disappeared in the Numantine War in 133 B.C.

Now, okay, I recognize this story is pretty out there, and I'm not expecting you to believe it as reported by the Romans. I can promise you that *I* don't. I certainly don't think that the Romans fought a giant dragon monster with ballistae in the Punic Wars.

But it IS a really cool story and I think it's underreported in historical fiction and fantasy dealing with the Romans.

There's an article on JSTOR about it and other giant serpents from the ancient world, though.

[charlesreeza]

Hercules Fighting Achelous Transformed into a Snake, bronze, 1824, by Francois-Joseph Bosio

Louvre Museum, Paris

[mecthology]

Jörmungandr from Norse mythology.

According to the Prose Edda, Odin took Loki’s three children by Angrboða—the wolf Fenrir, Hel, and Jörmungandr—and tossed Jörmungandr into the great ocean that encircles Midgard. The serpent grew so large that it was able to surround the Earth and grasp its own tail. As a result, it received the name of World Serpent. When it releases its tail, Ragnarök will begin.

Jörmungandr's arch-enemy is the thunder god, Thor.

In one story, Thor encounters the giant king Útgarða-Loki and has to perform deeds for him, one of which is a challenge of Thor’s strength. Útgarða-Loki goads Thor into attempting to lift the World Serpent, disguised by magic as a huge cat. Thor grabs the cat around its midsection but manages to raise the cat only high enough for one of its paws to leave the floor. Útgarða-Loki later explains his deception and that Thor’s lifting the cat was an impressive deed, as he stretched the serpent so that it almost reached the sky. Many watching became fearful when they saw one paw lift off the ground. If Thor had managed to lift the cat completely from the ground, he would have altered the boundaries of the universe.

As recounted in Snorri's Gylfaginning based on the Eddic poem Völuspá, one sign of the coming of Ragnarök is the violent unrest of the sea as Jörmungandr releases its tail from its mouth and thrashes its way onto land. It will advance, spraying poison to fill the air and water, beside Fenrir, whose eyes and nostrils blaze with fire and whose gape touches the earth and the sky. They will join the sons of Muspell to confront the gods on the plain of Vigrid. Here is where the last meeting between the serpent and Thor is predicted to occur. He will eventually kill Jörmungandr but will fall dead after walking nine paces, having been poisoned by the serpent’s deadly venom. Thor’s final battle with Jörmungandr has been identified, with other scenes of Ragnarök, on the Gosforth Cross.

Follow @mecthology for more mythology and lores. https://www.instagram.com/p/CR0jiH8rUC8/?utm_medium=tumblr