Reptiles In Mythology.

Long ago, people used to entertain themselves with tales of natural phenomena. They used myths to explain aspects of their surroundings that they didn’t understand scientifically.

Reptiles have always been mysterious creatures. They often appear in mythology and folklore , frequently as mysterious dangerous creatures. There are so many stories about their origin and features.

In the beginning of the Bible in Gen 3:15 , God says to the serpent ,“ I will put enemity between you and the woman , and between your seed and her seed ; he shall bruise his heel. “

There are some legendary stories and misconceptions which people believe. Two of the famous examples are from Greek mythology.

Medusa was a wild woman who had snakes for hair . People were afraid of her because anyone caught looking in her eyes would turn into stone.

She was finally killed by the Greek hero Perseus , who cut off her head . The winged horse Pegasus rose from her blood .

The evil Cerberus also had a snake connection . He was a three headed dog with a snake tail and snakes wrapped around his neck. Cerberus guarded the entrance to the underworld, Hades. One of the Hercules 's 12 labors was to conquer Cerberus .

Though many movies, cartoons and books show people interacting with dinosaurs , the fact is that would be impossible . Humans weren’t around until about 65 million years after the dinosaurs became extinct! It is also wrong to think all those early reptiles were huge . Most dinosaurs were small or medium sized. In fact , one of the smallest , compsognathus , was only about 2 feet long .

Legends also arose of imaginary reptiles such as dragon . Although no one had ever seen a dragon , storytellers passed on exciting tales of these fire breathing , scaly creatures from faraway lands .Back then there was a great deal of land that was unexplored , a thought that made people uncomfortable . They wondered which kinds of wild , dangerous creatures lurked beyond the familiar parts of the world . Sometimes people imagined the worst . Dragons also played a important role in legends about heroes such as Siegfried and St George . Anyone able to kill an enormous, fire breathing monster was a hero indeed .

In Hindu and Chinese mythology it’s a belief that world turtle supports the world. This turtle is known as Akupara in Sanskrit.

This clearly shows that ignorance and fear could lead to wildimaginations and superstitions. Fear has the power to block the logical and rational thinking.