Aapep
Mythology: Egyptian
This creature is a celestial reptilian god, and it's known for its deadly behavior.
A cosmic serpent. Also known as the ‘moon serpent’. It is said that it emerged from the great void at the beginning of the world.
Sometimes described as a snake with a human head, sometimes just as a large serpent or as a contorted crocodile. It lives in the deep Nile and symbolises all the dark features of existence such as death, the cold night, chaos and storms. The body of the vast serpent was not coiled but undulated in pleats like a concertina (like the motion of a caterpillar). This enabled it to shoot out and engulf its prey.
The hapless souls of mortals on their journey between this life and the next became victims. If the Aapep successfully devoured and ripped such people to shreds, they would live in a non-existent form. However some people were rescued by gods and taken to celestial realms.
Stories were told of the battles Aapep had with the Egyptian god of the sky, Ra. The snake used its hypnotic gaze to captivate Ra, and then attack him with the Demons, Sek and Mot. To defeat it, Ra was assisted by the prayers of priests who bound the beast and subdued it. The monster was finally killed by the god Aten or in some tales, by the cat goddess Bastet.
A hymn to Osiris tells the story of how the monster was finally defeated. It tells how the god Horus bound the creature tight. Osiris then cut it into pieces.
In the most of the tales, it is Seth who battles with Apep, defending Ra. It is only in the most recent tales that Seth becomes 'the enemy'. Proud of his loyalty towards Ra (the true original God), Seth didn't tolerate Osiris to be the new king of the gods, as he wanted that role for himself after Ra's relinquishment of the crown. So, he killed Osiris and become an outlaw. In the end he was defeated by Osiris's son, Horus, (who embodied the new war god). Horus was managed to beat Seth as he was just as being strong, but loyal and good, something that Seth ceased to be due to his thirst for revenge. Many myths tell the fact that Seth's claim for the crown was legitimate, thus making Osiris and then Horus nothing but usurpers.
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Book of Shadows (MYTHICAL CREATURES A-Z)
RandomThis book is about all the mythical creatures around the world. I hope that you have fun exploring and learning about new creatures. I know its hard for people to find mythical creatures when writing a book or simply to read about, I tried. Finally...
