Editing Horned Serpent

{{redirect|Uktena|the tribe of werewolves in the World of Darkness setting|Uktena (World of Darkness)}}
{{short description|Mythological serpent found in the mythology of many cultures}}
[[File:Stati uniti o messico, casas grandes, giara con due serpenti piumati e cornuti, uccelli e motivi a P, new mexico o chihuahua, 1280-1450 ca.jpg|thumb|The Horned Serpent design is a common theme on pottery from [[Casas Grandes]] (Paquimé)]]
[[Image:Horned-Serpent-SanRafaelSwell-Utah-100 1933.jpg|thumb|right|A Horned Serpent in a [[Barrier Canyon Style]] pictograph, Western [[San Rafael Swell]] region of Utah.]]

The '''Horned Serpent''' appears in the mythologies of many cultures including [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American peoples]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsavanyu.htm |title=Horned serpent, feathered serpent |access-date=2006-04-07 |archive-date=2006-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060406132843/http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsavanyu.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> European, and [[Ancient Near East|Near Eastern mythology]]. Details vary among cultures, with many of the stories associating the mystical figure with water, rain, lightning, thunder, and rebirth. Horned Serpents were major components of the [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex]] of North American prehistory.<ref>{{cite book |  last = Townsend | first = Richard F. |  title = Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | year = 2004 |  isbn = 0-300-10601-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1= F. Kent Reilly |editor2=James Garber | title = Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms | publisher = [[University of Texas Press]] | year = 2004 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/ancientobjectssa0000unse/page/29 29–34] | isbn = 978-0-292-71347-5 }}</ref>

== In Native American cultures ==
[[Image:snakerock.jpg|thumb|Rock art depicting a Horned Serpent, at Pony Hills and [[Cookes Range|Cook's Peak]], New Mexico]]
[[File:Chromesun 4 uktenas design.jpg|thumb|A digital illustration of Horned Serpent by the artist Herb Roe. Based on an engraved shell cup in the ''Craig B style'' (designated ''Engraved shell cup number 229''<ref>{{cite journal|title=Linking Spiro's artistic styles : The Copper Connection| last1=Brown |first1=James A. |last2=Rogers |first2=J. Daniel|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|volume=8 |issue=1 |date=Summer 1989|pages= | publisher=Allen Press | url= http://projectpast.org/caddo/topic4/brown1989.pdf}}</ref>) from [[:en:Spiro Mounds|Spiro]], Oklahoma.]]
Horned serpents appear in the [[oral tradition|oral history]] of numerous [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] cultures, especially in the [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|Southeastern Woodlands]] and [[Great Lakes]].

[[Muscogee Creek]] traditions include a Horned Serpent and a Tie-Snake, ''estakwvnayv'' in the [[Muscogee Creek language]]. These are sometimes interpreted as being the same creature and sometimes different—similar, but the Horned Serpent is larger than the Tie-Snake. To the [[Muscogee people]], the Horned Serpent is a type of underwater serpent covered with iridescent, crystalline scales and a single, large crystal in its forehead. Both the scales and crystals are prized for their powers of divination.<ref>Grantham 24-5</ref> The horns, called ''chitto gab-by'', were used in medicine.<ref name=g52>Grantham 52</ref> Jackson Lewis, a Muscogee Creek informant to [[John R. Swanton]], said, "This snake lives in the water has horns like the stag. It is not a bad snake. ... It does not harm human beings but seems to have a magnetic power over game."<ref name=g25>Grantham 25</ref> In stories, the Horned Serpent enjoyed eating sumac, ''[[Rhus glabra]]''.<ref>Grantham 26</ref>

[[Alabama people]] call the Horned Serpent ''tcinto såktco'' or "crawfish snake", which they divide into four classifications based on its horns' colors, which can be blue, red, white, or yellow.<ref name=g25/>

[[Yuchi people]] made effigies of the Horned Serpent as recently as 1905. An effigy was fashioned from stuffed deerhide, painted blue, with the antlers painted yellow. The Yuchi Big Turtle Dance honors the Horned Serpent's spirit, which was related to storms, thunder, lightning, disease, and rainbows.<ref name=g52/>

Among Cherokee people, a Horned Serpent is called an ''uktena''. Anthropologist [[James Mooney]], describes the creature:

<blockquote>Those who know say the Uktena is a great snake, as large around as a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright blazing crest like a diamond on its forehead, and scales glowing like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length, and can not be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The blazing diamond is called Ulun'suti—"Transparent"—and he who can win it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe. But it is worth a man's life to attempt it, for whoever is seen by the Uktena is so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead of trying to escape. As if this were not enough, the breath of the Uktena is so pestilential, that no living creature can survive should they inhale the tiniest bit of the foul air expelled by the Uktena. Even to see the Uktena asleep is death, not to the hunter himself, but to his family.</blockquote>

[[File:Chromesun moundville stone palette01.jpg|thumb|right|Tie-snakes on a [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] sandstone plate from the [[Moundville Archaeological Site]]]]

According to [[Sioux]] belief, the ''[[Unktehila|Unhcegila]]'' (''Ųȟcéǧila'') are dangerous reptilian water monsters which lived in ancient times. They were of various shapes. In the end the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|Thunderbirds]] destroyed them, except for small species like snakes and lizards. This belief may have been inspired by finds of [[dinosaur]] fossils in Sioux tribal territory. The Thunderbird may have been inspired partly by finds of [[pterosaur]] skeletons.<ref>Morell, Virginia (December 2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20090123165515/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2005/12/sea-monsters/morell-text/1 "Sea Monsters"]. ''[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]'', pages 74–75.</ref>

=== Other known names ===

* '''[[Sisiutl]]'''—  Kwakwaka'wakw 
* '''[[Awanyu]]'''—[[Tewa]]
* '''[[Djodi'kwado']]'''—[[Iroquois]]
* '''Misi-kinepikw''' ("great snake")—[[Cree language|Cree]]
* '''Msi-kinepikwa''' ("great snake")—[[Shawnee language|Shawnee]]
* '''Misi-ginebig''' ("great snake")—[[Oji-Cree language|Oji-Cree]]
* '''Mishi-ginebig''' ("great snake")—[[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]
* '''Gitaskog''' ("great snake")—[[Western Abnaki language|Abenaki]]
* '''S<u>i</u>shtahollo' ''''' ''("holy snake")—[[Chickasaw language|Chickasaw]] ''
* '''Sinti Lapitta'''—[[Choctaw language|Choctaw]]
* '''Unktehi''' or '''[[Unhcegila|Unktehila]]'''—[[Dakota language|Dakota]]
* '''ʔU·lahkaha·p''' ("white snake")—[[Natchez language|Natchez]]
* '''Uktena'''—[[Cherokee Language|Cherokee]]
*'''mazacoatl''' - [[Nahuatl]]

== Eurasia ==

===In Europe===

==== In Celtic iconography ====
[[Image:Gundestrupkedlen- 00054 (cropped).jpg|thumb|The antlered deity of the [[Gundestrup cauldron]], commonly identified with [[Cernunnos]], holding a ram-horned serpent and a [[torc]].]]
The ram-horned serpent was a cult image found in north-west Europe before and during the Roman period. It appears three times on the [[Gundestrup cauldron]], and in Romano-Celtic Gaul was closely associated with the horned or antlered god [[Cernunnos]], in whose company it is regularly depicted. This pairing is found as early as the fourth century BC in Northern Italy, where a huge antlered figure with [[torc]]s and a serpent was [[rock drawings in Val Camonica|carved on the rocks]] in [[Val Camonica]].<ref name="GreenHorned">{{cite book |last=Green |first=Miranda |title=Animals in Celtic Life and Myth |pages=227–8}}
Celtic Mars: carving at the curative sanctuary at Mavilly (Cote d'Ôr).
Celtic Mercury: carving at Beauvais (Oise) and Néris-les-Bains (Allier).
Association with the solar wheel: Gundestrup cauldron, altar at Lypiatt (Gloucestershire).
</ref>

A bronze statuette called the [[God of Étang-sur-Arroux]] and a stone sculpture from [[Sommerécourt]] depict Cernunnos' body encircled by two horned snakes which feed from bowls of fruit and corn-mash balanced in the god's lap. Also at Sommerécourt is a sculpture of a goddess holding a [[cornucopia]] and a pomegranate, with a horned serpent eating from a bowl of food. At [[Yzeures-sur-Creuse]] a carved youth has a ram-horned snake twined around his legs, with its head at his stomach. In a [[relief]] at a museum in [[Cirencester]], Gloucestershire, Cernunnos' legs are depicted as two ram-horned snakes which rear up on each side of his head and are eating fruit or corn. [[Image:Cernunnos, Roman relief, Corinium Museum.jpg|thumb|Relief of Cernunnos with two ram-horned snakes in the [[Corinium Museum]].]]

According to Miranda Green, the snakes reflect the peaceful nature of the god, associated with nature and fruitfulness, and perhaps accentuate his association with regeneration.<ref name="GreenHorned"/>

Other deities occasionally accompanied by ram-horned serpents include "Celtic Mars" and "Celtic Mercury". The horned snake, and also conventional snakes, appear together with the solar wheel, apparently as attributes of the sun or sky god.<ref name="GreenHorned"/>

==== In Northern and Central Europe ====
Variations on the horned serpent appear throughout the folklores of Northern and Central Europe. For example, there are the many incarnations of the [[Lindworm]]. There are tales of a serpent in Icelandic folklore known as the [[Lagarfljót Worm]]. While in Southern Sweden, there are claims of a huge water snake, the sight of which was deadly, called [[Storsjöodjuret]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1999-08-29 |title=3 sightings may shed light on Sweden 'lake monster'|url=https://www.deseret.com/1999/8/29/19463099/3-sightings-may-shed-light-on-sweden-lake-monster|access-date=2021-12-24|website=[[Deseret News]] |language=en}}</ref> This latter characteristic is reminiscent of the [[basilisk]].

==== Greek ====
{{Main|Cerastes}}

The cerastes is a creature described in [[Greek mythology]] as a snake with either two large [[Sheep|ram]]-like horns or four pairs of smaller horns. [[Isidore of Seville]] described it as hunting by burying itself in sand while leaving its horns visible, and attacking creatures that came to investigate them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast532.htm |website=Medieval Bestiary |title= Cerastes |access-date= 2018-01-04 |date=2011-01-15}}</ref>

===In Mesopotamia===
In Mesopotamian mythology, [[Ningishzida]] is sometimes depicted as a serpent with horns. In other depictions, he is shown as human but is accompanied by ''[[Bašmu|bashmu]]'', [[mushussu]], and [[Ušumgallu|ushumgal]] (three horned snakes in [[Akkadian mythology]]). Ningishzida shares the epithet, ''ushumgal'', "great serpent", with several other Mesopotamian gods.<ref>{{cite book |title=Eden's Serpent: Its Mesopotamian Origins |publisher=[[Walter Mattfeld]]|pages=63, line 10}}</ref>

== In Africa ==
A horned serpent cave art is known from the La Belle France cave in [[South Africa]], often conflated with the [[Dingonek]]. It may be based on [[dicynodont]] fossils.<ref>Benoit J (2024) A possible later stone age painting of a dicynodont (Synapsida) from the South African Karoo. PLoS ONE 19(9): e0309908. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309908</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Amaru (mythology)|Amaru]]
* [[Avanyu]]
* [[Basilisk]]
* [[Chinese dragon]]
**[[Qiulong]]
* [[Coi Coi-Vilu]]
* [[Feathered Serpent (deity)]]
* [[Horned deity]]
* [[Kitchi-at'Husis and Weewilmekq]]
* [[Kukulcan]]
* [[Lernaean Hydra]]
* [[Lindworm]]
* [[Moñái]]
* [[Nāga]]
* [[Ophiotaurus]]
* [[Quetzalcoatl]]
* [[Piasa]] Bird, [[Alton, Illinois]]
* {{c|Prehistoric snakes |Prehistoric snakes}}
* [[Python (mythology)]]
* [[Sea goat]]
* [[Crotalus cerastes|Sidewinder rattlesnake]] of the American Southwest, a living "horned serpent"
* [[Tciptckaam]]
* ''[[Titanoboa]]''

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==

* Grantham, Bill. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OENl21sHqyIC&q=tie-snake&pg=PA25 ''Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians.''] Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-8130-2451-6}}.
* Willoughby, Charles C. (1936). "[https://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/search/display.php?page=108&ipp=20&searchterm=shakers&vol=45&pages=257-264 The Cincinnati Tablet: An Interpretation]". ''The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly'' Vol. 45:257–264.

== External links ==
{{commons category|Horned serpent}}
* [http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsavanyu.htm Horned serpent, feathered serpent.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060406132843/http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsavanyu.htm |date=2006-04-06 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070501074216/http://www.indianlegend.com/lakota/lakota_001.htm Lakota creation myth involving Unktehi]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/cher/motc/motc050.htm The Uktena And The Ulûñsû'tï]

{{Anishinaabe}}
{{Mississippian and related cultures}}
{{Pre-Columbian North America}}

[[Category:Anishinaabe mythology]]
[[Category:Cree legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Cherokee legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Abenaki legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Legendary serpents]]
[[Category:Mythological hybrids]]
[[Category:North American dragons]]