Glycon

The Glykon Snake is a mythical creature of Greek mythology and became a cult object of Asklepios cult in ancient South and South East Europe.

The animal is described as a chimera, which consists of an antelope head ( interpreted as a human head ) with human hair and ears and a snake body terminating in a lion's tail.

A ritual meaning acquired this animal in connection with the Glykon oracle. This was mentioned in the reign of Antoninus Pius in the city Paphlagonian Abonuteichos and directed by a con artist, Alexander von Abonuteichos, to do with the superstitions of the people doing business.

Objects

In the ruins of the ancient port city of Tomis on the Black Sea, today at the site of the Romanian city of Constanta, in 1962 an ensemble of buried statues of Greek gods was exposed in excavations that were probably buried in the 4th century for fear of being destroyed by Christian zealots. These objects also a perfectly preserved marble figure of a Glykon Snake belongs. The artwork was carved out of a single block. The art object is now in the Archaeological Museum ( Muzeul de istorie nationala si arheologie Constanta).

A relief in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden shows a bearded man's head with serpent body and lion's tail; it is interpreted as Sarapis with snake body.

Further evidence for Glykon - snakes represent coinages and rare small figures, which were probably in cultic use.