I'm sorry if my blog postings have been sporadic lately.
Ever since I received my job, I haven't had much time to post on my Mythology Worlds blog.
However, my work holiday has given me quite some opportunity for some new post ideas.
Since summer is just about here in the North of the World, I will present my own theory about a very common worldwide mythical theme:
Storm Gods vs. Sea Serpents
In many mythological traditions around the world, gods of sky and storms are at odds with serpents of the underworld and watery depths.
Some notable examples include...
Zeus vs. Typhon (Greek mythology)*
Thor vs. Jormungard (Norse mythology)
Ra vs. Apep (Egyptian mythology)**
Indra vs. Vritra (Hinduism)
Yahweh vs. Leviathan (Judaism and Christianity)
Marduk vs. Tiamat (Babylonian mythology)
Batara Guru vs. Naga Padoha (Indonesian mythology)
Thunderbird vs. Horned Serpent (Native North American mythology)
I believe that this was based on people's observations of birds of prey eating snakes, matched in miniature by tiny songbirds eating earthworms.
Since snakes tend to hang out in holes in the ground and in the water, I believe that this is how serpents came to be associated with the underworld as well as with water.
I made the image above using Photoshop.
I modified an image of a snake on top of a picture of a stormy sky above the sea to illustrate the mythological theme of storm gods fighting serpents of the depths.
*I know that Typhon is not a serpent, but he has serpents all over his body.
**I know that Ra is not a storm god but rather a sun god; but since the sun is in the sky, Ra is still technically a god of the sky.
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