Editing Sea serpent (section)

==Mythology==

===Mediterranean and Western Asia===
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The {{lang|de|[[Chaoskampf|Drachenkampf]]}} mytheme, the chief god in the role of the hero slaying a sea serpent, is widespread both in the [[Religions of the ancient Near East|ancient Near East]] and in [[Indo-European mythology]], 
e.g. [[Lotan]] and [[Hadad]], [[Leviathan]] and [[Yahweh]], [[Tiamat]] and [[Marduk]] (see also [[Labbu]], [[Bašmu]], [[Mušḫuššu]]), [[Illuyanka]] and [[Tarhunt]], [[Yammu]] and [[Baal]] in the [[Baal Cycle]] etc. The [[Hebrew Bible]] also has mythological descriptions of large sea creatures as part of creation under Yahweh's command, such as the [[Tannin (monster)|Tanninim]] mentioned in [[Book of Genesis]] 1:21 and the "great serpent" of Amos 9:3. In the [[Aeneid]], a pair of sea serpents killed [[Laocoön]] and his sons when Laocoön argued against bringing the [[Trojan Horse]] into Troy. [[Claudius Aelianus]] in his work ''On the Nature of Animals'' mentions a giant sea centipede, which has a tail that is similar to a crayfish and which moves using numerous feet on each side of its body.<ref>{{cite book |title=Epigrams from the Greek Anthology |date=26 November 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-259688-8 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-MJEAAAQBAJ |access-date=13 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> [[Guillaume Rondelet]] mentions a similar imaginary creature called centipede cetacean in his work ''L'histoire entière des poissons''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pilleri |first1=Georg |title=Investigations on Cetacea |date=1969 |publisher=Hirnanatomisches Institut der Universität |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rl0MAQAAIAAJ |access-date=13 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

===Germanic Scandinavia===
In [[Nordic mythology]], ''[[Jörmungandr]]'' (or ''[[Midgarðsormr]]'') was a sea serpent or [[Germanic worm|worm]] so long that it encircled the entire world, [[Midgard]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simek |first1=Rudolf |title=Dictionary of northern mythology |date=1993 |publisher=D.S. Brewer |location=Cambridge [England] |isbn=0859915131|page=179}}</ref> Sea serpents also appear frequently in later [[Scandinavian folklore]], particularly in that of Norway, such as an account that in 1028 AD, [[St. Olaf|Saint Olaf]] killed a sea serpent in [[Valldal]] in Norway, throwing its body onto the mountain Syltefjellet. Marks on the mountain are associated with the legend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://loype.kulturminneaaret2009.no/kulturminneloyper/heilag-olav-i-valldal/ormen-i-syltefjellet/image/image_view_fullscreen|title=Ormen i Syltefjellet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724181621/http://loype.kulturminneaaret2009.no/kulturminneloyper/heilag-olav-i-valldal/ormen-i-syltefjellet/image/image_view_fullscreen|archive-date=July 24, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nb.no/cgi-bin/galnor/gn_sok.sh?id=147257&skjema=2&fm=4 |title=Galleri NOR |publisher=Nb.no |date=July 11, 1934 |access-date=July 10, 2014}}</ref>