Bestiary |
Atlas
Many Greek gods, creatures, and heroes have survived in names and words, but none of them come close to the perfect nesting that Atlas achieved.
A collection of maps, an ocean, astronomical objects, legendary continents, mountain ranges – one would guess that he was a truly important person, but in reality he was the son of Clymene, daughter of Oceanus, and the Titan Iapetus. A giant who, since his involvement in the Titan rebellion (which he commanded, just as he had previously commanded Cronus's armies during Zeus's coup), had made only a few occasional appearances in minor roles.
It couldn't have been any other way, because for his anti-Zeus activities, he was condemned to hold up the sky at the western end of the world. So the stories had to come to him.
The two most famous were brought to him by the two greatest Greek heroes, Heracles and Perseus. In a somewhat strange order, but we'll get to that later.
Heracles stopped at Atlas's place when he was supposed to bring Eurystheus three golden apples from the Hesperides. The orchard had a sleepless guard, the dragon Ladon, so the hero gladly accepted Atlas's offer that the Titan himself would fetch the fruit (not to forget, the Hesperides were giant daughters, just like the Pleiades and the Hyades). The hero took over the role of the heavenly pillar for a moment, Atlas stepped away, and when he returned, he did not want to go back under the sky. He said he would take the apples straight to their destination. Heracles, of course, did not believe him, which is a well-known story.
The same goes for Atlas' transformation into a mountain range, which you can walk through today in Morocco. Medusa's head and Perseus played an important role in this, but unfortunately, according to poorly synchronized mythical genealogies, Perseus was Heracles' great-grandfather. But this is a common problem, stemming from the fact that Greek myths were not cooked up in one kitchen, as it seems to us today with the benefit of hindsight.
Atlas and the Hesperides painted by John Singer Sargent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
20.11.2025 (17.4.2006)
Cacus
Cacus was not just an oversized humanoid creature. He also enjoyed the luxury of three heads that breathed fire and smoke. He probably inherited this from his father, who was none other than the divine metallurgist Hephaestus. Cacus' mother was another ancient celebrity, Medusa.
The three-headed giant was a robber by profession, living in a cave decorated with human skulls on the Palatine Hill, and like the previous one, he also encountered Heracles; in this case, the hero was leading cows to Mycenae that he had stolen from another giant, Geryon, whom we will discuss in a moment. Cacus wanted to profit from the robbery, so he took four cows and two or four bulls, but despite his efforts, he failed and the hero killed him in combat.
20.11.2025 (17.4.2006)
Grant
Appears after dark or at midnight in English villages, walking through them, dogs barking and horses neighing, but he is no dangerous intruder. Grant is a protector, and when he arrives, it is clear that the village is in danger—perhaps the moment you see him, your house will start to burn. Or German bombers are approaching—information from knowledgeable observers also comes from World War II.
You cannot mistake Grant for anyone or anything else—he looks like a small, slightly strange horse and, above all, he walks on his hind legs.
20.11.2025 (30.4.2006)
Hedley Kow
The bogeyman who haunts the village of Hedley near Ebchester, England, is one of the less dangerous specimens of his kind, meaning that he doesn't kill people. But it's no fun either, at least not for humans. Hedley Kow enjoys himself more than enough.
He appears out of nowhere, neighs behind his poor victims, rides along with an unsuspecting old woman among the collected brushwood, like a blade of straw, only to suddenly jump up and startle her, then turns into a horse and carries the rider across the sky. With a safer landing than, for example, Each uisge. All his tricks are more or less from the same barrel, using his metamorphic abilities and sense of black humor.
20.11.2025 (30.4.2006)
Cauld Lad
While Cold Lad is the specific ghost of a specific person (I wrote about him elsewhere), Cauld Lad is a specific brownie from a specific place, namely Hilton Hall in the northern English county of Tyne and Wear.
Like other domestic helpers, Cauld Lad set about cleaning after dark, when the servants had closed their eyes. He focused mainly on the kitchen, where he rearranged the dishes in such an order that, in today's technical jargon, could be called ergonomic. When people rearranged the utensils according to their own preferences the next day, they could hear Cauld Lad's resigned sighs.
Unfortunately, the past tense of the previous paragraph is appropriate: whether it was out of malice or good will, what is certain is that a fairly standard fairy tale, known from many legends, came true: one night, Cauld Lad found a reward in the kitchen in the form of a new green suit, which is a clear invitation for a brownie to terminate his employment. This one did not resist tradition, changed his clothes, began jumping around the kitchen, cheering, and with the first crow of the rooster, announced to hidden observers that he was quitting.
Since then, he has not had to work any night shifts at Hilton Hall; only occasionally could his sad singing be heard. Especially in the room that remained empty even when the Hilton was full of guests, and which bore his name.
20.11.2025 (30.4.2006)
Demons and Devils
Today, I have prepared a light taste of the deepest darkness. In Christianity, a demon is simply a synonym for the devil (or rather, the title given to fallen angels subordinate to the Devil), and as has already been said here, there are a considerable number of candidates for our collection among them.
To introduce the following menu, I will offer you a few observations from Thomas Aquinas' Summa theologiae (unfortunately not from the original, but through the tea strainer of di Nola's book Il diavolo).
Originally, the devil was the highest of the angels, and his sin was the cause of the sins of the others; he led them astray, but they acted of their own free will – this is related to the fact that demons are not evil by nature, but by their own actions. This means that evil was not created by God, and the Devil initially appeared as a worthy successor to his Lord.
The number of fallen angels is much smaller than those who remained faithful to God.
Demons dwell both in hell, where they punish sinners, and in the air, which is their workplace. This corresponds to the experience of humanity as a species; demons of the air have always been among the strongest and most feared in most mythologies.
There is more to this very condensed sample than meets the eye. Leaving aside the fact that the Summa theologiae was one of the gateways that led to the Inquisition, it opened the door to the development of theoretical and practical demonology (I would like to remind you that the Middle Ages were only a time of formulating opinions, fighting old gods, and the realities attributed to this period were only brought about by later times), it also represents a certain continuity with the pre-Christian world. Despite its best efforts, Christianity could not ignore certain strong folk traditions.
So now to the promised members of the demonic family
Zagam
He feeds on human blood, has an ox's head and bat wings, but his appearance and manners are overshadowed by his field of activity and abilities. Zagam is a demon of counterfeiters, and it is child's play for him to turn copper into gold, lead into silver, or water into wine.
Glasyalabolas
A winged dog who likes to reveal things to come, initiate people into the sciences, help criminals (especially the most serious ones), and make people invisible.
Sabnac
Sometimes called Salmac, he is an expert in a fairly common demonic field – namely, construction. He specializes in fortification work, as the commander of forty or fifty hellish legions and a warrior with a lion's head, riding an apocalyptically pale horse, with whom he has a closer relationship.
Marchocias
A wolf or bull with griffin wings and a serpent's tail, he is a fairly high-ranking figure in the infernal hierarchy, having held a certain position even before Satan's unfortunate attempt to equal God, even as an angel. As duke of the underworld kingdom, he commands thirty legions.
Image of the demon Marchocias: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
20.11.2025 (14.5.2006)
Jamm
Originally a Ugaritic and later Phoenician god of freshwater and sea elements, Lord of the River, was one of a long list of victims of his own ambitions. Even gods are not spared political struggles and coups, often unsuccessful.
Jam's attempt to overthrow the supreme god Baal from his throne was such a shot in the dark. With the benefit of a thousand years of hindsight, the victor is debatable – Jam may have lost at the time, but Baal eventually became a demon in later beliefs.
20.11.2025 (14.5.2006)
Lei Gong
or Duke of Thunder, whose function in the Taoist pantheon can be determined without doubt from the translation. Yes, he is the minister of thunder with a human body, blue skin, an owl's beak, wings, and claws, carrying a thunder drum and hammer, at least as he can be seen in many Chinese temples.
20.11.2025 (14.5.2006)
Pavayoykyasi
In the early morning, a well-dressed young man walks around the fields of Hopi corn growers in Arizona. This might not seem strange, but in this case, he is not an agronomist checking on the future harvest, nor is he a reveler returning from a night out, but a being who sprinkles the plants with dew.
20.11.2025 (14.5.2006)
Český muž
He once lived in the Šumava Mountains, and apart from occasionally moving boundary stones out of mischief, he behaved just like his close inland relatives, the Hejkals. He would shout at night, but as soon as someone heroically responded or even called out to him, the Český muž was on their back and would not let them go until they had run to a wayside shrine or some other holy place.
After some time, he disappeared from the mountains – either because Pope Gregory XVI (who served to catholic God from 1831 to 1846) cursed all spirits to ninety years of peace, or because some Neumann exported the Český muž and his German companion, the elf Stilzel, to Transylvania (i.e., Siberia; the geography of past centuries can be tricky) with a spell.
20.11.2025 (21.5.2006)
Mamaragan
When the weather is nice, sunny, and calm (which it definitely isn't right now), he rests in puddles; when there is a storm, he rides on a storm cloud. Thunder is his voice, and he probably uses it to comment on the accuracy of his strikes because he throws lightning bolts at people and trees. His other name is Namarrkun, and both belong to Australian aborigines, which is probably why he does not shoot at tall buildings.
20.11.2025 (28.5.2006)
Ortzadar
After death, the souls of the Basques leave the body, but they do not go to Hell, Purgatory, or Heaven, but to the Moon, where they travel along the rainbow. Even the Moon is not the final destination; souls can return to Earth in the form of rain and enter a new body.
Ortzadar (or Ostadar) is the guide of souls on their way upward and the personification of the rainbow.
20.11.2025 (28.5.2006)
Tartaro
I will refer to Basque folklore once again, this time for a giant called Tartaro (or Tartálo or Torto, depending on the customs of the region). Although in some stories he appears as a strange animal, he usually takes the form of a cyclops, a one-eyed giant.
The name probably came from the east with the Mongol invaders, as did the French and later English ogre. The former refers to the Tatars and the latter to the Huns, or Hongrois.
This tells us something about his nature. Yes, an ogre is an ogre, whether it has one eye or five. Tartars appear in a number of Basque legends and are usually not among the most admirable characters. They have no qualms about eating a human for lunch or kidnapping beautiful princesses; ogres play the same role throughout Europe, including in my country. Occasionally, some of them stoop to cooperating with humans, such as the one who helped a hero fight the Basque dragon Herren-Surge, but most of the time, they are on the dark side of the story.
Sometimes a person can become a Tartaro as a result of a curse, such as the prince in the story who, at the end, walks the path known from the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The enchanted king's son could only be freed if he got married. He met a suitable young lady, but she was understandably frightened of him. He had no choice but to resort to trickery, and Tartaro sent her a ring which, as soon as she put it on, transported her to his residence. However, there was no sweet melodrama; the girl preferred to cut off her finger with the ring and throw it into a lake, to the bottom of which Tartaro himself soon descended.
20.11.2025 (28.5.2006)
Sea serpent
Along with the kraken and the leviathan, the sea serpent is one of the most famous monstrous legendary inhabitants of the ocean. Belief in its existence has essentially survived to this day, although it has moved from bestiaries to cryptozoological works.
Because it is a somewhat universal monster, we can find traces of its existence in the mythologies of many sea travelers. Even the ancient Greeks (actually, in this case, the Trojans) could see with their own eyes two giant sea serpents sent by Poseidon himself to Laocoon, a priest who tried to dissuade the Trojans from their foolish idea of bringing in the large wooden horse that the Greeks had left at their gates before retreating.
The serpents were named either Porkes and Chariboia, or Kúrrisia and Periboia, and they sailed in from the Calydonian Islands and Tenedos. They attacked Laocoön's twins and their father when he tried to defend his sons. This myth may be just a poor explanation of the scene in which snakes lick the twins' ears to give the boys prophetic powers, but that doesn't really matter.
The medieval and Renaissance sea serpent was already a well-known and well-described monster, rampaging mainly in the North Atlantic. This makes sense – most sailors, from Vikings to whalers, ventured onto the waves of this ocean. The most famous description comes from Olau Magnus, a Swedish clergyman and historian who is better known today as an expert on sea monsters. A similar fate befell Jan Amos Comenius, who has survived in the general consciousness of today as a reformer of education, an activity that this polymath did not particularly value.
Magnus described the sea serpent, which according to his information occurs off the Norwegian coast, as a sixty-meter monster that crawls out of rock holes only on warm summer nights, either to the shore, where it devours livestock, or to the open sea, where it feeds on oysters and crabs. From there, the serpent moved on to other works and, above all, back to the sea. However, its successors did not differ much from Magnus's description. Observers usually mentioned a mane around its neck as a distinguishing feature, while other illustrations stick more to a serpentine appearance. No one usually omitted the loops around the hull of the ship or the less action-packed undulating back in the waves.
As time went by, sea serpents went from being monsters to zoological objects. As in most such cases, it was not an easy journey. Snakes began to be described more accurately and also explained. There were even a few discoveries of carcasses, which unfortunately did not shed any more light on the matter. Zoologists rarely got to see them, so imagination took precedence.
The golden age of sea serpents was the nineteenth century. But now we are moving from more or less supernatural beings to modern scientific research. We are also moving into modern myths and superstitions, but I will skip both for now.
A picture of a sea serpent, as observed by Hans Egede in 1734, drawn by Erik Pontoppidan in the book Norges Naturlige Historie, published in 1753, Public Domain license.
(4.6.2006)
Alinnak
While most Inuit believe that Sedna rules over wild animals, in Alaska, this honor is given to Alinnak, the Moon Man. To this end, he owns a huge tub full of whales and seals and countless herds of caribou that run around inside his igloo.
As the chief god, Alinnak is responsible for the spring ritual, when women in their igloos call out to the rising moon and raise shaman-consecrated vessels of water to it. If the sacrifice is accepted, he drops whale figurines into the water, turning them into amulets.
Alinnak's journey to the sky and among the gods began with an irresistible desire for his own sister. One night, he actually committed incest, but when his sister found out, she tore out her heart and ran away. Alinnak pursued her, stumbling through the snow and wandering in the dark. When the pursued girl fled to the sky, he followed her—she turned into the Sun and he into the Moon. And in this form, he pursues her to this day, catching up with her only during eclipses.
(11.6.2006)
Pápakalanósiwa
Like Baxbakualanuxsiwaj and Kwakwakalanooksiwae, this creature belongs to the Kwakuit secret society Hamatsa and its rituals. And like them, he feeds on human flesh. Or rather, it used to, because when it kidnapped the wife of a Kwakuit chief one day, it entered into a story that would spell its demise. The chief's three sons tracked down the kidnapper and discovered that they had a half-sibling and a confused mother who had alerted Pápakalanósiwa to their presence.
What followed was an escape similar to European fairy tales – to prevent the monster from catching up with them, they threw various objects with different magical effects behind them. A stone turned into a mountain upon impact, a comb into thick bushes, an extract from algae into a lake, and a twig into a tall tree.
They escaped safely, reported to their father about the not-so-happy outcome of their search, and the chief quickly devised a war stratagem. He promised the man-eaters that he would let them eat his three sons if they returned his beloved wife, which Pápakalanósiwa, as is often the case, fell for. He ended up in the fire with his offspring, his kidnapped wife created mosquitoes from his ashes, and Pápakalanósiwa departed as a whistle in the winter ceremonies of Tsetseka.
20.11.2025 (11.6.2006)
Seven Scorpions of Isis
Egyptian myths do not reach the vividness of Greek legends, which is due to the nature of their protagonists. Nevertheless, the stories are not uninteresting.
The myth of Set and Osiris somewhat overshadows other Egyptian legends, especially when you become familiar with its broader variant, but from this extensive story (to which I will certainly devote a few words later), I have chosen for today the myth of Isis and the seven scorpions, found on the Metternich Stele, currently located in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The aforementioned piece of stone contains a whole series of incantations, one of which, protecting against scorpion venom, is represented by the story in which Isis, after Set killed her husband Osiris, leaves the royal palace on Thoth's advice to save Horus' son.
She is accompanied by a guard of seven scorpions with precisely defined tasks and positions.
The vanguard is formed by Petet, Tjetet, and Matet, while Tefen and Befen cover her from behind. Mesetet and Mesetef walk under Isis's sedan chair. They are forbidden to speak to anyone along the way so that Set does not find out where the fugitives are. They obey this order, but still manage to go beyond their duties. This happens when Isis contributes to a city called the City of Two Sisters. A universal story takes place here, known in various variations from a number of tales. A rich woman closed the door on Eset, but a poor girl gladly accepted her. The goddess probably didn't care, but her bodyguards were offended by the first lady's behavior. They combined their venom and focused it on Tefen, who then waited for the right moment.
He crawled under the door into the rich woman's house and stung her son. No one can help him, no matter how desperately his mother searches. Isis, who as a goddess could do so... but no, she does not look and say: as you do to me, so I do to you. She, too, is a mother and does not want children to suffer for the sins of their parents. So she recites the names of her scorpions, bringing them under her control and neutralizing all seven components of the venom. She thus adds magic to Egyptian magic, healing the scorpion sting (for which the story is recorded on the stele) with rye bread, garlic, and salt, leads a rich woman to repentantly give away her property (part to Isis and part to a poor girl), and continues with her protectors in a legend whose participants will later not have it as easy as the actors in this moralistic scene.
20.11.2025 (18.6.2006)
Dahaka
also known as Zohak, was a powerful demon in ancient Persia. The lord of death, deception, and lies, he usually appeared with three heads, and scorpions and lizards ran across his body.
In Iranian myths (where he was known as Azhi-Dahaka), he was a three-headed dragon, a demon of storms who stole cattle and instilled a desire for violence in people's minds. He also symbolized Babylonian oppression.
In this form, his fate is remarkably similar to that of the Scandinavian wolf Fenrir – when Azhi-Dahaka was defeated by the god Thraetaona, he was chained to Mount Damavand. He will only escape from there when the world is destroyed.
20.11.2025 (25.6.2006)
Pazuzu
This demon also comes from the same region as the previous one. In Mesopotamia, he was imagined as a composite of sharp lion claws, a scorpion's tail, some kind of body, and eagle wings. These are important because Pazuzu was the personification of the destructive southeast wind.
Today, Pazuzu is sometimes associated with a bird called Zu, which is not entirely wrong, but it is a slightly different creature, and I will leave that for next week.
20.11.2025 (25.6.2006)
Zu
The Sumerian-Akkadian Zu (Anzu in Babylonia) is closely related to the previous southeast wind. He, too, was the embodiment of the same meteorological phenomenon, but much better known is the story in which the angry and powerful bird Anzu became Ellil's personal guard at Ea's intercession. It wasn't a bad idea, but the result was somehow unsatisfactory.
Ellil placed his new bodyguard at the door of his chamber, exposing him to temptation. Anzu couldn't help but notice that the god set aside the symbols of his power when he bathed. He oggled them for so long that one day, while Ellil was taking a bath, Anzu took the Tablet of Destinies and vanished.
It was a monumental disaster because these were not just symbols of power, but divine power itself. This is illustrated by the monotonous responses of the gods, who, when asked to intervene against the thief, all replied:
'Father, who could rush off to the inaccessible mountain?
Which of the gods your sons will be Anzu's conqueror?
For he has gained the Tablet of Destinies for himself,
Has taken away the Ellil-power: rites are abandoned!' 1)
Thus spoke Ada, Gerra, and Ishtar's son Shara, and with that, the supply of potential heroes was exhausted, and the gods did not know what to do next. Fortunately, Ea came up with a solution.
He asked for help from Belet-ili, the great mother goddess, and summoned Ninurta. Then a mighty battle broke out.
Fighting Anzu, who was endowed not only with his own strength but also with the power of the Tablet of Destinies, was no easy task. The seven evil storms that Ninurta had on his side did not help, nor did the arrows, even though they were well aimed, because Anzu deflected them from their course with the Tablet. Ninurta therefore turned to Ea for advice and help, and he received it, so logical that, although the sources do not mention it, the god must have rolled his eyes and sighed: Why didn't I think of that before?
Anzu is, after all, a bird, and Ea's advice takes this into account:
Don't let the battle slacken, press home your victory!
Tire him out so that he sheds his pinions in the clash of tempests.
Take a throw-stick to follow your arrows
And cut off his pinions, detach both right and left.
We can read this, in our case, since we do not speak ancient Mesopotamian, in Stephanie Dalley's translation, in table made of clay, not fateful.
Ninurta, of course, followed the advice and defeated Anzu, returned the symbols of divine power to their owner, and earned himself a myth.
It remains to be noted that, according to other versions, the victorious warrior against Anzu was the god Marduk, that sometimes the battle took place on a high mountain and sometimes in the desert, but these are only local differences, as Dr. Wurm said about the summit meeting at St. Kilda in Čapek's Absolute At Large.
1) DALLEY, Stephanie. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
20.11.2025 (2.7.2006)
