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Shahmaran is a mythical creature, half-snake and half-woman, portrayed as a dual-headed creature with a crown on each head, possessing a human female head on one end, and a snake's head on the other, possibly representing a phallic figure. [3]
Snakes are a common occurrence in myths for a multitude of cultures. The Hopi people of North America viewed snakes as symbols of healing, transformation, and fertility. Snakes in Mexican folk culture tell about the fear of the snake to the pregnant women where the snake attacks the umbilical cord. [1]
Scylla – A monster from Greek mythology which has the body of a woman, six snake heads, twelve octopus tentacles, a cat's tail and four dog heads in her waist. Fenghuang – A Chinese creature with the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot and the wings of a ...
Nure-onna (濡女, "wet woman") is a Japanese yōkai which resembles a reptilian creature with the head of a woman and the body of a snake. They are also seen as a paranormal phenomenon at sea under the name of nureyomejo. In legends, they are often said to consume humans, but they have no single appearance or personality.
Some djinn in Islamic mythology are described as alternating between human and serpentine forms. Echidna, the wife of Typhon in Greek mythology, was half woman, half snake. Fu Xi: serpentine founding figure from Chinese mythology. Glycon: a Roman snake god who had the head of a man. The Gorgons: Sisters in Greek mythology who had serpents for hair.
Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her was turned to stone. [4] Medusa and her Gorgon sisters Euryale and Stheno were usually described as daughters of Phorcys and Ceto ; of the three, only Medusa was mortal.
In a tale from the Lutsi Estonians collected by linguist Oskar Kallas with the name Ussiks nõiutud mees (German: Der in eine Schlange verwandelte Mann; English: "The Man Enchanted to be a Snake"), a couple prays for a son, and God gives them a snake. When the snake is older, he goes to a neighbour to court his daughters.
The term "maenads" also refers to women in mythology who resisted the worship of Dionysus and were driven mad by him, forced against their will to participate in often horrific rites. The doubting women of Thebes , the prototypical maenads or "mad women", left their homes to live in the wilds of the nearby mountain Cithaeron .