Mehen, whose name means “he who is coiled,” is a god in ancient Egyptian mythology. He is the protective snake god who watches over Ra’s sun boat. During the nighttime voyage through the Duat (the Underworld), the sun god was shielded by Mehen’s coils. This was because both the sun and the wicked deity Apophis symbolized the unending fight between good and evil. Had Apophis succeeded in stopping Ra’s boat and flipping it over, the world would have ended and darkness would have returned.
Mehen wrapped himself around Ra to shield him from Apophis.
From the copy of the Book of Gates in the tomb of Ramses I (KV16).” class=”wp-image-42807″/>Ra traveling through the underworld in his solar barque while shielded by the snake Mehen. From the copy of the Book of Gates in the tomb of Ramses I (KV16).
Apophis managed to devour the sun at least once because the guardian of the solar boat, Mehen, actually failed in his duty. However, as shown in Ramesses IX’s tomb, Mehen caused Ra to emerge out of a hole in Apophis’ belly, enabling the sun god to finish his trip and be reborn again.
The Old Kingdom’s (2700–2200 BC) Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and papyri all include references to the primeval deity Mehen, and it’s possible that his devotion extends back to at least the Predynastic Period.
In the New Kingdom (1550–1352 BC), a law was established that enabled the dead to take part in Ra’s nighttime voyage, but only if they were buried very deeply in the earth; this gave rise to the concept of hypogea (“underground”).
The whole Egyptian creation myth began around 3100–2686 BC.
The snake deity Mehen is prominently featured in scenes from the literary work Amduat. There is also a funerary text called the Book of Gates found in the pharaoh tombs in the Valley of the Kings. There are twelve scenes in Amduat that correspond to the twelve hours of the night, and the Book of Gates text describes the journey of the sun god and the pharaoh across the sky at night.
In the Valley of Kings, this iconography is found inside the tombs of the following pharaohs:
RamessesI: In his tomb, the solar boat of Ra with a ram’s head, called Auf-Ra, is depicted in the “third hour” of the Book of Gates. Both are protected by the god Mehen and the minor deities Sia and Heka.
Horemheb: In this tomb, the Book of Gates is partially missing, yet you can see the snake Mehen multiple times.
Seti I: His tomb has one of the most richly adorned types of Books. There are many depictions of the Book of Gates in which Mehen and other deities stop Apophis from blocking Ra’s journey.
Ramesses VI: It is filled with depictions of Mehen painted with impeccable craftsmanship. The full versions of the Books of Gates, Heavens, and Caverns may be found here.
Thutmose III: The Twelve Hours of the Night of the Amduat are represented here with Ra’s boat protected by Mehen.
Since the sun’s nighttime voyage became the most common magical-religious motif in burial depictions, Mehen was often shown in them.
Ra’s voyage had to be closely guarded by Mehen due to widespread Egyptian anxiety over the possible end of the world. The Egyptians also believed that they would be reincarnated by following the sun’s path, thereby vanquishing death.
While the pharaoh, accompanied by Ra and the guardian deities, marched triumphantly towards his own rebirth and that of his predecessors, others in Egypt were still dying.
The goddess was featured in a 3000 BC ancient Egyptian board game called Mehen. (Anagoria, cc by 3.0)
Also originating in the Old Kingdom (2700–2200 BC), the board game called Mehen is said to have had a sacred significance beyond that of a simple pleasure due to its intimate association with the snake deity. It is speculated that this board game was a ceremony that took place between the deity Mehen and the dead, with the winner being spared from a poisonous bite.
How It Was Played
In a game of Mehen, to establish who would go first, dice were thrown, and the highest-rolling player would get the first turn. By rolling the dice, players advanced from the snake’s tail to its head. If they made it to the head, they became a lion or lioness and had to make their way back to the tail. After the transformation, each point of the dice was counted as a double. The winner of Mehen was the first one to reach the tail.
The goddess Mafdet also took part in the game. Her mission was to keep the pharaoh safe as the pharaoh tried to rescue Ra. Six lions and six sets of marbles were used in this game.
Thökk, or Thokk (Þökk), as she is also called, was a giantess (gýgr) in Norse mythology. Her name means “thanksgiving”, “reward”, and “joy”. Thökk, who many believe to be Loki in disguise, is the only figure who shows no emotion during Baldur’s funeral. Baldur is stuck in Hel’s Realm of the Dead, Helheim, because of this rejection by the giantess. Chapter 49 of Snorri’s Gylfaginning (a part of the Prose Edda, which was written in the early 13th century) explains this story in detail.
The Story of Thökk (Þökk)
Thökk prevents the return of the god Baldur from the realm of the dead of Hel.
In this story, Loki is responsible for the death of the deity Baldur. Baldur now lives in the underworld of Hel, much to the chagrin of his fellow Aesir deities. Hermod is selected to ride to the land of the dead (sometimes called Hel) and plead with the goddess protecting the afterlife to let Baldur’s spirit go free.
Hel agrees, but only if everyone in the universe mourns Baldur’s loss. Since Baldur is a cherished deity, the gods sent messengers all around the globe to encourage all things to cry for him in order to release him from the underworld.
After concluding that the giantess was indeed Loki in disguise, the gods resolve to harshly punish him, setting in motion the events that lead to Ragnarök. According to Rudolf Simek, the giantess gave herself the name “joy” or “happy” since she didn’t have anything to be sad about in life, including Baldur.
Thökk (Thokk or Þökk) in the AM 738 4to, an Icelandic manuscript from the late 17th century.
Chapter 49 of Gylfaginning from the 13th century ends with the following text:
Returning, the messengers found in a cave a giantess who said her name was Thokk. They begged her to weep for Baldur to secure his release from Hel, Thokk she declared:
Thokk will shed Dry tears On the funeral of Baldr Neither alive nor dead, the old man’s son I had no cause to rejoice. May Hel keep what she has!
It is inferred that it was Loki, Laufey’s son, who caused the most harm to the Aesir.
The authorship of this poetry actually remains mysterious. Like most of the lyrical portions in the Prose Edda, it was likely written by Snorri Sturluson himself while he was working on this Old Norse textbook, or else it was stolen by him from an earlier poem that has since been lost.
Chapter 50 follows with Gylfi (Gangleri) saying, “Loki did something very grave when he ensured, first that Baldur was killed, and then that he was not redeemed from Hel. Was there any kind of consequence for his actions?”
Loki’s arrest and torture are detailed in the following paragraphs and the crime Thokk committed became synonymous with hatred and selfishness.
Thökk Is Rarely Mentioned in Nordic Mythology
Only in the AM 738 4to, an Icelandic manuscript from the late 17th century, is the name “Thökk” accompanied by an illustration. In this illustration, Thokk looks exactly like Loki. However, her name does not appear anywhere else in the surviving mythical narratives about Nordic mythology.
In German folklore, Knecht Ruprecht (or Servant Rupert) is one of Saint Nicholas‘s traveling companions. His first documented appearance is in a Nuremberg Christmas parade from the 17th century. He is a Christmastime figure who brings gifts. A black or brown robe, a sack of ashes, and occasionally a white horse are common accessories in his depictions. Children are asked whether they can pray by Knecht Ruprecht, who rewards those who can with candy and ashes those who cannot. This character is well-known in Germany, where it is linked to pagan notions of the spirits of the home. The Krampus, who torments wayward youngsters, also travels with him in certain areas.
Knecht Ruprecht’s Role in Christmas
Hans Trapp is a similar figure.
On the evening of December 5th, Saint Nicholas and his helper Knecht Ruprecht pay visits to the homes of children in northern and central Germany. Kids are supposedly beaten with Knecht Ruprecht’s sack of ashes if they can’t pray during Christmas, but they are given apples, almonds, and gingerbread if they can. In other tales, Ruprecht rewards good behavior with treats while punishing misbehavior with lumps of coal, rods, and stones.
He is similar to a French character called Pere Fouettard and another character named Hans Trapp, both of which also scare children around Christmastime.
In the past, Knecht Ruprecht was commonly shown with a dark complexion (similar to Zwarte Piet in the Netherlands) and wore a brown or black robe. He would have a weapon like a birch switch (a flexible rod) or a walking stick at his belt and a basket full of treats like mandarin oranges, peanuts, chocolate bars, and gingerbread cookies.
His appearance in art has evolved throughout time, although he is often shown with long, shaggy hair and even horns. Depending on the region this metal character received many other names, albeit all similarly sounding.
Both Knecht Ruprecht and Krampus may be traced back to one of the pre-Christian Alpine traditions called Perchten. Frau Perchta was an ancient goddess, and the scary masks depicting her court were called Perchten (plural of Perchta).
This ritual was part of the pre-Christian holiday Twelfth Night to mark the coming of the epiphany. This was a winter expulsion ritual in the Alpine areas of Upper Bavaria, Austria, and South Tyrol. But it’s likely that both traditions have taken on new shapes throughout time.
Unlike Krampus, who emerges as a horde of demonic creatures, Ruprecht operates alone. Krampus employs birch switches as a weapon against misbehaving youngsters, but Knecht Ruprecht only gives them out. When compared to Krampus, Knecht Ruprecht is more common across the whole German-speaking world.
The origins of Knecht Ruprecht lie in a long-standing practice connected to Saint Nicholas. While Saint Nicholas is shown in a favorable light, the other characters are always portrayed negatively. The dynamic between Saint Nicholas and his antithesis persists, much like the contrast between King David and Nabal the Fool or Carnival and Lent, which have major parallels with Saint Nicholas’s practices. One plays the role of an angelic messenger, while the other is a “tamed devil” who functions as an intimidating and punitive figure.
Origin of the Name
Knecht Ruprecht was not a customary name in the late Middle Ages; variations on the name were more common, such as Belsnickel, Beelzebub, Schmutzli, or even just devil. However, Knecht Ruprecht rose to prominence as the canon’s most recognizable name at some point in history for unknown reasons. This name likely originated in the Thuringian or Alpine regions. In fact, Ruprechtsburg Castle, which is located close to Zella-Mehlis, is a potential candidate for the origin of this name.
Origin of the Character
According to German linguist Jacob Grimm, “Ruprecht” uses the Old High German term “hruodperaht,” which means “glorious,” implying that he was either the servant (“Knecht”) of the goddess Frau Perchta or the Germanic deity Odin.
However, contemporary studies discredit such etymological origins. Current theory attributes the name’s etymology to Alpine folk art. Knecht Ruprecht might be derived from the word for “rough” or “rough man,” “Ruhperht,” (or Rupert) which links him to other figures from the Twelfth Night holiday who participate in the winter parade.
There is a link between Knecht Ruprecht, Twelfth Night, and the story of the German goddess Perchta. However, the exact beginnings are still unknown because of the lack of historical records.
History of Knecht Ruprecht
In Medieval Times
Knecht Ruprecht might also be descended from late-medieval scary figures that were crafted to scare children such as scarecrows. As a supplement to parental discipline, pamphlets with scary images pushing youngsters into piety have been widely distributed since the 16th century, notably in the 17th.
The “Kindlifresser” (Child Eater) was a popular theme for that. This type of character is most famously seen in Bern, Switzerland‘s Kindlifresserbrunnen (Child-Eater Fountain) today. The idea that the devil ate people’s souls was the inspiration for this figure.
This character, who was sometimes accompanied by another companion, would threaten disobedient youngsters with dire consequences in bloodcurdling lyrics. He attempted to jam children into a huge bag or basket, much like Knecht Ruprecht.
Traditional children novels portrayed Black Pete or Zwarte Piet, a fearsome dark-skinned assistant of Saint Nicholas who chastised misbehaving children. (Image: W. Commons)
Knecht Ruprecht as a Holy Saint
In Protestant regions, Saint Nicholas was eventually supplanted by the Christ Child or Holy Christ, although the legend of Knecht Ruprecht remained. In certain areas, he even took over the roles of rewarder and punisher on his own. This figure, who was not really Saint Nicholas’s companion, is described in a piano composition by Robert Schumann.
In the 17th century, the initial conception of Knecht Ruprecht as a negative character or antagonist of Saint Nicholas quickly got confused, particularly in Protestant countries. Saint Nicholas and Ruprecht seem to have been combined in certain accounts, as seen by names like “Lord Saint Ruprecht“.
In this tradition, Knecht Ruprecht was supposedly named after a priest named Ruprecht who, according to a folklore tale involving dance, a miracle, and the Cölbigk district in 1020, was said to have cursed the heretical dancers of Cölbigk. Those dancers were actually farmers who, after imbibing heavily on beer, disrupted the Christmas celebration by singing and dancing loudly in front of the church.
A Literary and Creative Look at Knecht Ruprecht
In the German dub of “The Simpsons,” Bart’s dog is known as Knecht Ruprecht instead of “Santa‘s Little Helper.”
The butcher who slaughtered and pickled three children is revealed to be Saint Nicholas’s companion in “Le Miracle de Saint Nicolas,” a cantata written by French composer Guy Ropartz.
Robert Schumann‘s “Album for the Young” (op. 68, No. 12) has a piano composition named “Knecht Ruprecht.”
In Paula Dehmel‘s satirical children’s poetry “Knecht Ruprecht in Distress” from her 1919 book, an old Ruprecht bemoans the fact that all the kids now want for Christmas is to travel in an airship.
There is an 1862 poem called “Knecht Ruprecht” by Theodor Storm. In this poem Knecht Ruprecht describes his activity in dialogue with the Christ Child: “From outside the forest, I come here; I must tell you; it is very Christmassy.” It is still common practice to recite the opening words of this poem aloud during the Advent season.
In Egyptian mythology, Kek is a distinct god who represents the overarching idea of nighttime. Kek was one of the eight primordial deities, known as “Ogdoad,” worshiped in Hermopolis. His name, in Ogdoad cosmology, means “darkness.” According to German Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch, Kek corresponds to Erebus, a figure from Greek mythology.
Kek has been documented since the Middle Kingdom (2055 BC–1650 BC) as an ancient Egyptian god. Since the New Kingdom (1539–1075 BC), he formed a divine pair with his consort Kauket and, from that time, has been regarded as a primordial deity within the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, a major ancient city located in middle Egypt. In the above depiction, he is shown with a Was scepter, an Egyptian staff of hegemony and authority.
A Middle Kingdom (2040–1782 BC) explanation of Kek’s mythological connections states this:
Shu was enveloped with the life breath from the throat of the Bennu on the day Atum emerged in Heh, Nun, Kek, and Tenemu.
Kek was thought to be hermaphroditic since it was an abstract creature like the Hermopolitan Ogdoad couples. Kauket is the feminine variant of Kek, and she refers to his mythical wife.
Kek stands for mystery, the ethereal, and maybe even anarchy, all of which are associated with the night. Among other things, he was regarded as the bringer of light because he represented all that came before light. It was his doing that the darkness gave way to light and that the skies above “Kemet”, an ancient name of Egypt meaning “the black land,” gave birth to the sun.
As a symbol of darkness, Kek also represented the unnoticed and the unknown, and therefore chaos.
Erebus as the Greek Equivalent of Kek
Along with his partner, Kauket and Kek represented the masculine and feminine powers of darkness that covered the primordial abyss of the waters and have been compared by the Egyptologist Brugsch with the god Erebus from Greek mythology, who also personified darkness and obscurity. In Hesiod’s Theogony poem, he is the offspring of Chaos, and the father of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Nyx (Night).
Like the other three frog-headed male deities worshipped in Ogdoad—Ḥeḥ, Nāu, and Amen—Kek is always shown as a frog or as a person with a frog head. Similarly, all four goddesses are depicted with serpent heads, including his female consort Kauket.
The Hermopolitan tradition links the preference for frogs symbolizing male aspects and serpents representing female aspects in primordial deities’ iconography to ancient Egyptians observing amphibious creatures emerging from Nile mud deposits, signifying the emergence from non-being.
Kek in Egyptian Mythology
In the Circles of Duat (12 hours of night in the underworld), Wallis Budge mentions Kek as one of the four gods hiding beyond the ninth gate. Kek waits at the ninth gate in the seventh hour of the deceased’s journey through the Duat (underworld). At this point, the deceased arrives at Osiris’ concealed residence.
Theologians in Hermopolis believed that Kek was an emanation of Thoth. As an ibis-headed holy man, Thoth was the true creator of the world. The egg that contained our universe hatched in Great Hermopolis because of Thoth.
They taught that the first time he awoke within the god Nun (“Watery One”), he opened his lips, and the sound of his voice materialized into the shape of four gods and four goddesses, completing the job of creation with only his voice.
Khmounou, meaning “city of the eight,” likely refers to the eight primal and abstract gods, which may explain why Hermopolis was originally given this name. Kek may have been associated with light because the eight ancient and impersonal gods, who maintained creation via words, also used hymns to attempt to keep the sun on its merry way.
Thus, the couple were also referred to as “raiser up of the light” (Kek) and “raiser up of the night” (Kauket) because of their symbolic relationship to night and day.
Kek’s Meaning in Modern Culture
1
In the video game “World of Warcraft,” players from different factions communicate in encrypted languages. For races unable to understand each other, the widely used acronym for laughter, “LOL,” is replaced by “KEK.”
2
Since the 2010s, the term “KEK” has become a rallying cry and emblem for extremists on the far right. The term has become a largely ironic icon for far-right and neo-Nazism, particularly among young people, thanks to its usage in hilarious memes on the anonymous image-sharing community 4chan.
The initials “KEK” have been rendered as a swastika- or iron cross-like symbol and placed in a green variant of Hitler’s Germany’s “war flag” (Reichskriegsflagge), as well as in parodic versions of, say, the racist “rebel flag” of the Confederate States (“Southern Cross”), alluding, perhaps, to Nazism in 1930s Germany.
3
Pepe the Frog, another pop culture figure connected with young, far-right counterculture and the American alt-right movement, has been artificially linked to the acronym KEK because of its similarity to the ancient Egyptian frog-headed chaos god Kek.
4
On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters invaded the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., carrying a variety of flags, including the “KEK” flag and banners portraying Pepe the Frog.
5
Elon Musk has also made several allusions to Pepe and even to Kek, but it was probably just a memetic coincidence.
She represented the feminine counterpart, or consort, of the male deity Amun. As members of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, the pair stood for the hiddenness. These first members were paired up as such:
Nun and Naunet, representing the chaos of the primordial waters.
Kek (male) and Kauket (female), symbolizing darkness.
Heh and Hehet, representing boundlessness.
Niau and Niaunet, symbolizing air and wind.
The “Pyramid Texts,” particularly those from Huni’s pyramid (Fifth Dynasty), reference the gods Niau and Niaunet, who were eventually supplanted by Amun and Amunet. During the Middle Kingdom, Mut became a more popular deity than Amunet. Nonetheless, Amunet was still worshiped in various contexts.
Amunet Goddess: The Sacred and the Divine
Pyramid Text inscribed on the wall of a subterranean room in Teti’s pyramid, at Saqqara.
In addition to Amun, the name Amunet also appears often in the “Pyramid Texts,” and its meaning is “The Hidden One.” Amunet combined the meanings of “air and wind,” symbolizing the unfathomable currents and ferocious winds that blew across the primordial chaos before order was established in the universe.
Amunet, a goddess who first appeared in the Old Kingdom, is almost frequently referenced in the same breath as Amun.
She has a female body and a cobra’s head, much as Amun has a male body and a frog’s head. The goddess, however, was also often represented with a cat’s head.
It was necessary for the New Kingdom’s most influential group, the Theban priesthood, to develop its own cosmology. They borrowed concepts from old teachings and reinterpreted Amun and Amunet as a couple of serpents to distance themselves from their Hermopolitan roots.
The most powerful clergy of the day determined what a deity was like and how he behaved. In Thebes, Amunet merely represented Amun’s feminine element, but in Karnak, she continued to serve as Amun’s wife. In fact, she was even more revered than Amun’s second wife, Mut, since, unlike Amunet, Mut bore him the son Khonsu.
High-ranking priests like the “prophets” were in charge of the Amunet worship, which was already widespread during the Eighteenth Dynasty. It lasted until at least the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, when the temple of Karnak made reference to Horakhbit, High Priest of Amun and Prophet of Amunet. Even throughout the Ptolemaic era, devotion to Amunet remained widespread.
Depiction of Amunet Goddess
Thutmose III included a statue of Amunet in the Hall of Annals of the Karnak temple. The statue is located on the temple’s VI pylon. One of the red granite columns has a papyrus design, representing Lower Egypt, while the other features a lotus flower design, representing Upper Egypt.
Two sculptures of Amun and Amunet stand between these columns. Amunet, in human form, wears the Nile Delta’s traditional crimson crown. Tutankhamun, who built a magnificent temple for the holy pair, is responsible for these sculptures. This statue captures the goddess’s likeness well.
The goddess is shown in ornate relief decorations beside the pharaoh and other gods during the Sed festival (Jubilee Feast) in the Temple of Karnak’s third pylon, in the kiosk of Senusret I.
On the east wall of the atrium in Luxor’s Temple, images depicting the pharaoh presenting Amun and Amunet with milk, fish, birds, and ointments are carved.
Tutankhamun honored Amunet, the goddess Mut, and the deity Amun at the southern end of the colonnade in the Temple of Luxor.
Amunet is shown as the head of the pantheon of gods celebrating the pharaoh’s jubilee on Thutmose III’s monument.
Amunet is often portrayed in art as a woman:
Inscribed on a papyrus stem with the hieroglyph for life, it represents the unending rebirth of the souls of the virtuous.
Having wings, as befits a primeval air goddess.
‘With an ostrich’s or falcon’s feather perched on her head.
In one illustration from Ippolito Rosellini’s “Monuments of Egypt and Nubia,” Seti I stands in front of Osiris, while Amunet, dressed in the hieroglyph for the west and with a falcon perched on her head, is shown standing behind him as the goddess of the west. She is shown with an ankh in one hand and the deity Osiris in the other, in the traditional embrace of Egyptian couples.
The West meant the place of the deceased in ancient Egyptian mythology.
Parallels to Amunet
Amunet’s identity was frequently muddled as she was combined with other mythical characters as the deity Amun gained prominence among the Egyptian priesthood. The identification method is further complicated by the fact that Egyptian, Greek, and modern names are sometimes interchangeable. Amunet is also known as Amenet, Amentet, Amentit, Amonia, Amonet, Imentet, Imenti, etc.
Note that Amunet has also been linked to the following for the sake of completeness:
Imentet was the personification of the Egyptian goddess Amenti (or Ament, Amentet), whose name literally translates to “hidden land” (i.e., the afterlife). Symbolizing the west, the goddess Imentet was shown holding the ankh of life and the scepter of the goddesses (uadj).
The hieroglyph representing the west is a semicircle balanced on two poles, the longer of which rests on Amunet’s head through a band. In this form, she was known as Imentet. Amunet is shown as Hathor in a tomb painting from Seti I’s tomb, although she is distinguished from Hathor by the presence of the hieroglyph for the west just over her head. Menna is seen in her tomb with a bird as a headdress. Beautiful wall reliefs represent Osiris, Maat, Renpet, Isis, Imentet, and Nephthys in the second hypostyle hall of Seti I’s temple at Abydos. Nefertari’s tomb also has an image of Amunet dressed as Imentet/Hathor in the entrance hall.
Amunet, the goddess, was equated with a number of other deities.
Goddess Amentit (or Amentet, Imentit): She was the personification of Amenti, the realm of the virtuous and blameless spirits, and was known as the goddess Amentit (also spelled Amentet and Imentit). The Book of Amduat depicts Amenti, whose name means “he who is in the Duat (underworld).” There are twelve zones or hours in the Duat, and Amenti may be found on the fifth night. The departed gathered there before being transported. However, only the spirits of those who had lived righteously and were well-versed in the ceremonies of the sea were allowed on board.
Goddess Iusaaset: Iusaaset, whose name means “the shadow of Atum,” was worshiped as the Egyptian mother goddess and was also known as “the mother who is the father.”
Goddess of the Sycamore Tree: Amunet, the goddess of the sycamore tree, was responsible for welcoming the dead and nurturing them so that they might return to life as part of the Underworld’s population. In this way, the sycamore tree became a symbol for her. She lived on a tree on the outskirts of the desert, with her back to the Underworld, and she welcomed all those who had to make the big voyage. Pharaoh Philip III Arrhidaeus (Philip III of Macedon), half-brother of Alexander the Great, was pictured as a celestial infant as she nursed him during the Ptolemaic era.
Goddess Iusaas of Heliopolis: Iusaaset is the name of a goddess worshiped at Heliopolis. She is also known as “the hand of god,” as her name derives from the phrase “she comes with her power,” which refers to the annual Nile floods. This appellation also referred to the goddess as the Divine Wife of Amun, implying that she formed herself like the deity Atum. She, like Amunet, was the feminine manifestation of Atum and helped bring the world into being. The three female deities that appeared beside Atum were named Iusaaset, Nebethetepet, and Temet. She was worshiped as the patron goddess of Heliopolis and was often pictured with a scarab beetle on her head.
Goddess Neith: Later on, Amunet became synonymous with Neith, albeit she still maintained her own identity.
Goddess Taweret: Southern Taweret is dedicated to the goddess Taweret, a Theban hippopotamus.
Pharaohs would pray to Amunet goddess at the Sed festivals, and some eras in the pharaonic succession were named after her. Therefore, she represented the Egyptian pharaohs as the guardian goddess of the whole country.
Guardian of Hel: Garmr, in Norse myth, guards the underworld’s entrance.
Mythical Dogs: Various mythologies feature dogs guarding afterlife realms.
Modern Depictions: Garmr appears in literature, music, and video games today.
Garmr (from Old Norse) is the dog that stands watch over the portal to Hel, the Nordic underworld, in Norse mythology. In Norse mythology, Garmr represents a vision of the Last Days.
Cerberus, the ancient Greek mythological dog associated with Hel, might have had a part in the origin of Garmr. Guarding the entrance to the underworld at the river Gjöll is Garmr, the dog of the death goddess Hel, who resides in the cave Gnipahellir (literally “overhanging cave”).
Origin of the Garmr Myth
If you try to get close to the underworld, he will attack you. On the way to Niflheim, Odin runs into him. On the day of the end of the world (Ragnarok), Garmr will let out a terrible howl and join the giants in their battle against the Aesir. Both Garmr and Tyr are going to die in that battle. Garmr is a name that some writers have used interchangeably with Fenrir, the great wolf of Norse mythology.
However, the ancient Icelandic poets rarely used the character Garmr, due to the abundance of mythical animal figures.
The island Lyngvi, where Loki and Fenrir are bound in the cave Gnipahellir, is guarded by Garmr, a large dog that cries loudly when the shackles of Loki and Fenrir threaten to burst before the approaching apocalypse, according to the Völuspá, the first poem of the Codex Regius, written about 1000 AD:
Now Garmr howls terribly, in front of the Gnipahellir, the fetters will break, and the wolf will run.
Poems from the Icelandic Poetic Edda, which were originally passed down orally, were written down in the 13th century. In verse 44 of the Grímnismál (also known as Grimnir’s Song), Garmr is called the “Best of hounds.”
In this verse, Odin describes the greatest of the legendary world, beginning with the tree Yggdrasil and continuing through the Aesir, the horse Sleipnir, and ending with the dog Garmr. In Baldrs Draumar, another section of the Poetic Edda, Odin is followed by a blood-spattered hound that barks loudly the whole way to Niflheim, the underworld.
However, this dog remains unidentified and its relationship to Garmr is unproven.
Story of Garmr in Norse Mythology
Hel is the ruler of Hell, and his dog Garmr on her side, 1889.
In the Gylfaginning, the heart of Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, the author dubs Garmr “the greatest monster” and provides a detailed account of the apocalyptic battle of Garmr and Tyr in front of the cave Gnipahellir, where both Garmr and Tyr ultimately perish. The presence of the chains suggests a connection to Fenrir.
In the Gylfaginning, Garmr is mentioned once more, this time as the wolf Managarmr (Moon-Hound) or Hati Hródvitnisson, the destroyer of the moon, who feasts on the flesh of the dead and, during the apocalypse (Ragnarok), stains the seat of the gods with blood as he and his brother Skoll eat the sun and moon.
The destructive character of Garmr is described in further detail by other kennings, such as “Garmr of the wood,” which represents fire, in certain Old Norse poetry.
Dogs, also called Garmr, protect the lovely castle Menglod in the 13th-century poetry Fjölsvinnsmál. According to some poetry, the only way to please Garmr is with bread that has been given to a beggar.
Ragnarok. Garmr on the left attacks Tyr. 1905 illustration by W. G. Collingwood.
Dogs Similar to Garmr in Other Mythologies
Cerberus vs. Garmr
Numerous mythologies include dogs as guardians of Hades or the afterlife. There are canine or canine-like animals with names in Greek mythology. Cerberus, a two- or multi-headed dog with a dragon or snake tail, is the counterpart of the Norse Garmr, guarding the entrance to Hades and ensuring that the souls of the dead can never depart.
In Greenlandic Mythology
After an unsuccessful seal hunt, the Greenlandic Inuit shaman (Angakkuq) goes to the ocean floor to beg Sedna, the sea goddess, to let the seals go free. However, to reach her, one must go through the afterlife, across an abyss guarded by a great dog, and over yet another abyss on a bridge as thin as a knife.
In Slavic Folklore
The goddesses of the morning light, known as Zorya, appear in Slavic mythology. The gate to the sun’s daily voyage across the sky is opened by the morning dawn (Zorya Utrennyaya) and closed by the evening dawn (Zorya Vechernyaya) upon the sun’s return.
Another Zorya, this one signifying midnight, was added to the mythology in subsequent retellings. The three sisters are responsible for keeping an enslaved dog from the constellation Ursa Minor from escaping, should the planet be destroyed.
An Updated Look at Garmr
Farmer Giles’ dog Garmr appears in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Farmer Giles of Ham.“
The human-eating, Christian-blood-craving Garmr is the subject of the song “Helvetes Hunden Garmr” by the Norwegian folk-metal band Trollfest.
Garmr is a companion animal of Eir, a ranger who plays a significant part in the player’s adventure as a member of Destiny’s Edge in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Guild Wars 2.
Senua, the game’s protagonist, must work her way through a maze-like tunnel vault to reach the end of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. When she needs to flee into the darkness, she is constantly followed by a huge creature known only as Garmr. Garmr can’t get to her in the light, so that’s her only hope.
In addition to his appearance in God of War, Garmr plays a pivotal role in the events of God of War: Ragnarok.
Mammoths symbolize the underworld and appear in Siberian and Asian folklore.
They cause earthquakes and form rivers in Siberian mythologies.
Feared and revered, mammoths embody various creation myths.
The mammoth is a legendary creature that appears in the folklore of Siberian and Asian cultures. In many stories, it lives in the depths of the earth or at the bottom of lakes and rivers, where it towers over other creatures. It is said to build riverbeds and cause earthquakes by digging a tiny tunnel into the ground with its horns. A prominent mythical creature in Siberian myths, sometimes depicted as a chimera, a hybrid monster, it represents an important creature of the underworld.
The History of the Mammoth Legends
Northerners often uncovered mammoth skeletons in riverbed deposits. Items such as bone handles and pipes were made from these mammoth bones. Thus, the name of a legendary creature was likely associated with the actual mammoth itself due to its enormous bones.
Representations of mammoths are common in art from northern Eurasia, China, and other nearby countries, and they may be used to recreate the mythopoetic picture. The earliest of these images was discovered in the La-Madelaine cave in France. Myths, folklore, folktales, beliefs, omens, and anything else passed down from generation to generation in these areas all play a role in piecing together the mythopoetic picture.
Evenki tales of the mammoth creating snakes and the earth, shamanic tales of mammoths entering the water and churning sand, earth, and stones with their tusks, the belief in a mammoth standing in the cosmic ocean and supporting the world, etc., all belong to the category of creation myths. Other types of mammoth stories include etiological tales that explain geographical features or the origin of a particular tradition; and metamorphosis myths (where the mammoth is a “transformed” animal).
Legendary Mammoths in Many Cultures
The mammoth, in the minds of many Siberians and Far Easterners, is a terrifying and mysterious beast, the biggest known animal (the weight of five or six elks). It avoids the light of day and instead makes its home in dark places, such as the sediment of lakes and rivers. The Nenets think it creates a short passageway underground with its horns and may be heard roaring from below the ground. The mammoth has the potential to trigger earthquakes, riverbed formation, riverbank collapse during floods, terrible cracking sounds when ice breaks during ice drifts, and more. It can run fast and survive on a diet of plants and dirt.
The mammoth was present in the prehistoric era in the origin myths of the Komi (called the “earthly deer”), Nenets, and Ob Ugrians. Because of its weight, it dug itself a hole in its breast. Riverbeds and streams were shaped by its actions. The land was completely submerged in water after a while. The Komi, who are acquainted with the story of Noah and the deluge from the Bible, say that the mammoth sought to take shelter in Noah’s ark but was too big. The beast then attempted to swim in the sea but was ultimately doomed when birds perched on its horns. Mu Kul, a subterranean imp from whose huge fossils are stored underground, is mentioned in the legends of the Syktyvkar Komi gold prospectors. Narts, constructed from mammoth bones, are mentioned in the Komi epic.
The Nenets believed that the subterranean anthropomorphic creatures known as Sihirtia kept herds of mammoths (which they called “earthly deer”).
The mammoth is not seen as a unique creature, but rather as a metamorphosis of several species that occurs over time in certain mythologies.
For example, the Ob Ugrians of the Vasjugan area believed that the mammoth was a terrible underground monster that looked like an elk when young, but lost its fangs and horns as it aged and retreated under or under the river.
During this time, fresh, upright tusks sprouted. The Narym Selkup recognized two different types of mammoths: the amphibious surp-kozar (or “beast mammoth”) and the pike-like kwoli-kozar (or “fish mammoth”). This mammoth may have lived for a thousand years, at which time it would have swelled to enormous proportions and submerged itself in a lake.
Koshar Pitchi (or “Mammoth Pike”) is a legendary fish that the Selkup believe lives in the “Devil’s Lakes”. It can eat a human, becomes covered in moss as it ages, and snatches fish from traps. Sometimes the otter shares a nickname with the mammoth because it is a shaman’s spirit animal. The otter symbol on a shaman’s breastplate has the same name. The Ket had some familiarity with qot-tel’ (“mammoth pike”), “the animal the shamans sang about. Its common name, however, is “crocodile. Hybrid monsters such as the mammoth pike or mammoth fish are well known to the Salym Khanty, Mansi, and other groups of people.
As Practiced in Altai Culture and Beyond
The kar-balyk (or “mammoth fish”) is a cultural phenomenon with deep roots in Altai mythology. Its appearance has been compared by some scientists to that of a whale. The Teleuts tell a story in which the mammoth fish plays a role as a “fish head with its mouth cut off,” the patron of the shaman, and the son of the Sea King. Shamanic drums often contain representations of this monster. In addition, the mammoth fish has a role in the birth of the universe. There are a number of mammoth-related hybrid creatures in Altai mythology, including the nine-headed mammoth serpent, a mythological monster with a mouth that touches both the sky and the ground, and the giant bird Kar-gush, which kidnaps children.
The Kazym Khanty believed that the mammoth was the result of an underground metamorphosis of an ancient elk, bear or pike. As a result, many species of mammoth were identified. The Pribytkal Evenki tribe in the north associated the mammoth with a big-horned sea fish. The mammoth was often depicted as a fish-like monster with human legs and a moose skull. The Evenki word for mammoth, seli or heli, is the same as the Evenki word for lizard, ekhele, the shaman’s primary spirit guide. The Evenki provided the name for the mammoth used by the Yakuts, who portrayed the mammoth as a dangerous subterranean dweller of the Arctic. Trails and lakes were left on the site. According to Yakut mythology, the mammoth (or “water bull”) is the spirit lord of water and can shatter ice with its horns.
The Paleo-Asiatic peoples of northern Asia use more realistic descriptions and fewer depictions of hybrid mammoths. The mammoth is more prominent in the mythology of these cultures. The image of the mammoth is more consistently associated with ceremonies in these societies. In one Chukchi legend, a group of people discover mammoth tusks sticking out of the ground. They gather around them while beating a drum and chanting incantations. These actions culminate in the mammoth’s bones being covered with flesh, which is later consumed by humans as food. The Eskimo etiological story says that the huge reindeer that came from the east and were wiped out by a great sorcerer were the source of the mammoth tusks.
The Manchu and Chinese mythologies also include the mammoth, an image derived from their northern neighbors.
However, it has been modified according to local customs. The mammoth is compared to a giant rodent or mouse that lives in the Arctic ice.
Mythological Mammoth
In many traditions, the mammoth symbolizes the afterlife, the land of the dead, the underworld, or even water. The Selkup believe that the horned mammoth guards the gate to the underworld, which they call “the land of the dead. The kalir-kelur, an aquatic mammoth or monster in Evenki mythology, lives on a great river in the Land of the Dead, either in the northern or central region of the lower shamanic world.
The mammoth serves as the main antagonist in the Ket myth of the Nest Destroyer, and is probably the master of the underworld as opposed to the eagle of the overworld. The Altai kar-balyk (“mammoth fish”) is said to be the shaman’s most trusted friend. However, in certain Siberian folktales and legends, the mammoth is also said to have connections to the middle and higher realms, and perhaps all three.
Toporov claims that the mythopoetic creation of hybrid mammoth forms was driven by this relationship and the general ambiguity of their appearance. Among the Ob-Ugric peoples, the Selkups and the Evenki, the mammoth could be described as a giant bird. Its image was intertwined with other zoomorphic classifiers of the underworld (fish, snake, lizard), as well as symbols of the middle world (moose, deer, horse-like indrik, bear) and the upper world (bird).
The mammoth Seli appears in Evenki mythology as the Creator’s partner in shaping the world with the serpent Dyabdar. Stories of mammoth hunting exist in Evenki mythology. Scholars have documented a mythical tradition from the 1980s about hunting mammoths with a spear by piercing the mammoth’s jugular vein, causing the mammoth to bleed to death. The mammoth is the most powerful spirit in Evenki shamanism, guarding the realm of the living.
Links in Mammoth and Indrik Mythology
The image of the legendary beast Indrik probably reflects ideas about the fabled mammoth. The Indrik (also spelled Indrok, inorog, unicorn, etc.) is a horned monster with a hybrid nature (the head and tail of a horse and the body of a fish) and can be found in “Physiologus” and “Abecedarium”. Both Russian and Estonian rural folklore say that the mammoth lives underground, which is consistent with the location of the Indrik beast described in the Russian “Golubinaya Kniga”: “The beast lives beyond the sea.” With the help of its horn, the beast can travel through tunnels at the speed of the sun.
It crosses rivers and cold wells and winds through the mountains of white stone. All earthly creatures bow to it; it gives triumph to none, while it swings its horn like clouds in the sky. V.N. Toporov hypothesized that the name “Indrik” probably derives from the widespread Siberian name for mammoth, such as the Nenets jea (jar) hora, meaning “earth bull,” which could easily have given rise to forms similar to jen-r-, *jindr-, and *jindor-, close to the Russian names for Indrik. Compare this with the Khanty Kazym name muv-khor, meaning “male earth deer,” and the Mansi name ma-khar, meaning “female earth deer.
Analogous Pictures
The mammoth’s likeness can sometimes be seen in sequences of other zoomorphic images of politerions with the same symbolic meaning, such as the Indian Makara, the Russian Indrik, the “composite” creatures on the seals of the Indus Valley civilization, griffins, and others.
Based on reports of the mythical mammoth from people in Siberia, the Far East, and other places, zoologist and one of the pioneers of cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans suggested that the real mammoth could have lived to this day.
The Was scepter was a symbol of power in ancient Egypt.
It originally might have been used as a cattle herding stick.
Deities like Ptah, Seker, Osiris, and goddesses like Satis and Bastet were depicted carrying the Was scepter.
In Egyptian mythology, the Was scepter represented power, strength, and dominance; it had the form of a straight rod topped with the head of a mythological beast and ended in a fork. The Ankh, signifying life, and the Djed pillar, representing stability and dominance, may also appear with this scepter.
One of the most well-liked Egyptian talismans, the Was scepter stood for hegemony and authority. During the predynastic era of Egypt, the Was scepter may have been used as a stick for herding cattle before becoming a symbol of authority and strength. A person with a staff resembling the Was scepter is pictured in “Tomb 100” in Hierakonpolis.
The Was scepter was consistently linked to prosperity in funeral settings.
Was, a Scepter of God
A 66-inch-long Was scepter replica by Sergio Fabris.
Ptah, Seker, and later Osiris were shown with the Was scepter in temple reliefs, tombs, and steles. In the chapel of Ramesses II in the Medinet Habu temple, Amun-Ra and Khonsu were seen holding it, as were Ra-Horakhty in Tutankhamun’s tomb, Seth on the Year 400 Stele at Tanis, and the ancient deities Khepri or Igai.
Head of the monumental Was sceptre discovered in 1895 in Ombos. (Soutekh67, cc by sa 4.0, improved from original)
Although it was usually associated with deities, goddesses like Satis and Bastet were not immune to carrying the Was scepter on occasion.
Symbolism of the Was Scepter
Thebes
The Was scepter is a staff depicting an ancient Egyptian emblem. The end is shaped like a stylized animal head, the base is forked, and the shaft may be straight or wavy. It is unclear why the ancient Egyptian city of Waset, also known as the “City of the Was Scepter,” was renamed by the Greeks as Thebes or Thebai.
Amulet with an ankh and two Was scepters.
This scepter is most often connected with the monarch and the gods, representing strength and good fortune.
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Ptolemaic and Roman temple scenes sometimes show the presentation being made by the monarch to the gods. In addition, it is often used as an emblem in place of the king’s name.
Earliest Appearances
Osiris, chief of the Gods of Tuat, with the Was scepter.
In Upper Egypt, the Was scepter represents the 4th and 19th nomes, a territorial division. As a cult icon, it stands in for the gods Waset, Wasiti, Igai, and Iat and is also regarded as a divine being in its own right.
The earliest appearances of the Was sign are on ancient Egyptian monuments, where it is shown as a pillar of the sky or a celestial scepter. Its history and original significance are the subject of much speculation.
Some have speculated that it was inspired by a stick used for driving donkeys, while others have said that it is a stylized giraffe, snake-necked panther, or even a tool for capturing snakes. Some Ramesside-period tombs show shepherds carrying Was-shaped sticks, suggesting that this scepter might have doubled as a shepherd’s crook.
The Was scepter is kept alive physically by ritual sacrifices, ceremonial burials, and protective artifacts.
It was speculated in Andrew H. Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe’s 2004 book “The Quick and the Dead” that the Ankh, Djed, and Was symbols were inspired by various anatomical features of the bull that were widespread in these societies.
The Ankh – symbol of life – vertebra of a bull
The Djed – symbol of stability – sacrum of the animal
Wosret – The Was scepter is the symbol of this goddess and its name might have derived from her.
The Mushussu is a mythological snake-dragon from Mesopotamian mythology.
It has the body of a lion, the tail of a snake, and a long neck.
Mushussu was worshiped as a symbol of protection and associated with various deities.
Known chiefly from its portrayal on the procession route leading to the Gate of Ishtar in Babylon, the Mushussu (Akkadian: Mušḫuššu, catfish; Sumerian: Muš.HUŠ) is a mythological snake-dragon from Mesopotamian mythology and a holy animal of many gods. The snake-dragon may have first been mentioned during the Early Dynastic era (about 2800–2350 BCE). The Hellenistic era marks the last documentation of Mushussu.
What Does Mushussu Mean?
Depiction of Mushussu.
The Sumerian word MUŠ is the source of the Akkadian term Mushussu (MUŠ (‘snake’) + HUŠ (‘furious’). The meaning of Mushussu as “furious snake” has been widely recognized for a long time.
The name was once misread as Sirrusu because of the ambiguity of cuneiform writing, but this reading is now considered incorrect.
The second part might be interpreted as RUŠ, which meant ‘red’ in the Sumerian language, lending credence to the alternative meaning of “red snake.” Because the HUŠ symbol means “furious” or “reddish,” depending on context.
How Did Mushussu Look Like?
It has the body of a lion but the tail of a snake and a very long neck.
The creature’s appearance has evolved greatly over the ages. The Old Akkadian era (2350–2210 BCE) is the source of Mushussu’s classical form. However, the Early Dynastic era has one of the oldest representations of this mythical serpent-dragon.
It has the body of a lion but the tail of a snake and a very long neck. Even though the snake-dragon on an ancient Eshnunna (a Sumerian city-state) relief has a dragon’s head and horns, its hind feet are still those of a lion.
A winged version of the snake-dragon, complete with a scorpion’s sting, gained popularity in Lagash, an ancient city-state in Iraq, under the reign of Gudea (r. 2144–2124 BC). It is shown as a winged hybrid with the lion’s forepaws and the clawed feet of a hyena on Gudea’s Vase, which dates back to circa 2100 BCE. It has two horns on its head and many strands of hair that surround it.
Its First Known Depiction
Deity Marduk adopted the Mushussu as his personal mount.
The lion symbols gradually gave way to the snake ones. The first known depictions of Mushussu on kudurru (a type of Babylonian stele) date to the Middle Babylonian era (ca. 1595–1155 BCE). The snake-dragon already has the long neck, serpent’s head, and forked reptile tongue seen in subsequent depictions.
During the Middle Babylonian era, the deity Marduk adopted the Mushussu as his personal mount. A stele of King Meli-Shipak from this time period depicts the snake-dragon in its distinctive position at the foot of the god. Later, during the reign of King Marduk-zakir-shumi I (c. 9th century BCE), the same design was utilized on a lapis lazuli cylinder seal.
During the Neo-Assyrian era (934–610 BCE), Mushussu (or Mushkhushshu) was often represented without horns or with a feathered tail.
The image of Mushussu is most associated with the Ishtar Gate. Archaeologist Robert Koldewey first identified the connection between the ruins and the Ishtar Gate between 1902 and 1914. He matched the newly unearthed pictures to the king’s inscription, which depicted the bull and dragon reliefs that adorned the Ishtar Gate.
The Myth of Mushussu
Mushussu was never seen among the pantheon of gods or devils. The “DINGIR” determinative, a Sumerian word to denote a divine being, is not actually prefixed to the name of this entity in literature.
The only time this term comes before Mushussu is when talking about the constellation of the same name. On the one hand, it is shown as a creature having ties to several deities in Mesopotamian mythology. On the other hand, Mushussu is just a protecting entity with no particular divine ties.
The god Mushussu represented the element of water, and it is often considered a gender-neutral entity. Tiamat, the sea goddess, fashioned the serpent-dragon as one of the creatures she sent against Marduk. In the ancient texts, it is called “the monster of Lahamu.”
Mushussu is included among the group of supernatural entities called ina libbi (Akkadian for “inside”) in the Babylonian Map of the World, suggesting that it is located in the ocean.
Historically, the snake-dragon was worshiped as a symbol of Eshnunna’s protector deities, the chthonic deity Ninazu, and his son Ningishzida.
Tishpak, the new ruler of Mushussu, took over as city guard at the end of the Early Dynastic era. Tishpak is seen riding the snake-dragon in the newly found Old Akkadian-era artwork at Eshnunna. The snake-dragon’s apparent status as a messenger of chthonic deities suggests that its venomous attacks were seen as an act of obedience to divine order. Elamites also had an impact on the city-state Eshnunna (which was situated in the Trans-Tigris area), hence the deities worshiped there had snake characteristics.
Origin of Mushussu Worshipping
Ningishzida in the middle winding around the world pillar flanked by the dragon Munhussu.
It’s unclear why or when the monster Mushussu started being worshiped by the Babylonians. This probably happened soon after Hammurabi conquered Ennunna and instituted the worship of Tiapak.
In an inscription by Kassite king Agum II, Mushussu is said to have been connected to Marduk for the first time; however, the reliability of this source is in dispute.
Mushussu is seen in art with Marduk and his son Nabu during the Kassite era (the Middle Babylonian era). The snake-dragon is often shown next to other icons of these deities, such as spades and scepters. Following Assyria’s ultimate conquest of Babylon in 689 BCE, the deity Ashur was associated with the figure of Mushussu.
Monsters like the “venomous snake,” basmu (bashmu), were sometimes represented alongside gods linked with Mushussu. During the Kassite era, basmu replaced Mushussu as Tishpak’s emblem in written sources.
Mushussu may have been part of the Urukian zodiac calendar created under the Seleucid dynasty. It shows a hero facing off against a mysterious beast that, to some scholars’ eyes, seems like a snake. Although the identity of the pictured dragon remains a mystery, there is some speculation that the beast is not a literal dragon at all but rather a metaphor for disorder.
Function of Worshipping Mushussu
Mushussu terracotta plaque. It was supposed to protect people and houses against evil. From Southern Iraq, Neo-Babylonian period (c. 800-500 BC). (Zunkir, cc by sa 4.0, enhanced)
Mushussu statues have been used as “guardians” of houses’ front doors since the late 3rd century BCE. The earliest known example was discovered at the Ninurta temple in Girsu, an ancient Sumerian city. Clay plaques with its likeness began appearing in the Old Babylonian era to serve as amulets for individual residences.
Mushussu images on the Ishtar Gate serve a similar purpose. The purpose of these sculpted snake-dragons was to poison the enemies of the Sumerians. This is literally from a discovered inscription from the reign of King Neriglissar (560–556 BCE).
Miniature apotropaic figures of Mushussu dating back to the Neo-Assyrian era have also been discovered.
Constellation
The constellation Hydra.
During the time of the Old Babylonians, a trio of stars was given the same name as the serpent-dragon: MULMUŠ or MUŠL dMUŠ. In late Babylonian astrological literature, chthonic deities like Ereshkigal and Ningishzida were linked to the constellation Hydra, which has a parallel in Greek astrology. The Uruk zodiacal calendar from the Seleucid era has a picture of this constellation.
Mushussu in Christianity
The Mesopotamian Mushussu may have had an influence on the writers of the Bible. The story of Marduk’s conflict with Tiamat and her army of monsters is similar to what is told in the Book of Ezekiel (32:2–8). The religion of a giant snake is mentioned by Daniel (14:23–28) in the Book of Daniel.
The Mesopotamian Mushussu may have served as inspiration for various passages in the Bible. A story from the Enuma Elis, in which Marduk faces off against Tiamat and an army of monsters she has produced, is echoed in Ezekiel (32:2–8). However, the worship of a giant snake is mentioned in Daniel 41:14–23, which describes the religion of the Babylonians.
