background preloader

Myth/Symbolism

Facebook Twitter

Symbols. Hydra is a simple fresh-water animal which lives in the swamps and has a significant regenerative ability.

Symbols

Those characteristics were the subject of creation of different myths and it’s transformation into the monster. In mythology and symbolism Hydra is presented as a monstrous serpent, chthonic water beast with seven or nine heads which outgrow if they are cut down. They are often compared with the deltas of rivers because of their multiple arms. Hydra figures multiple vices. It’s heads are the symbol of vices which reappear after being destroyed. In the Bestiary of Pierre de Beauvais, Hydra kills the crocodile from interior as Jesus Christ destroyed the Hell after having descended there. In Greek mythology Hydra is a star constellation symbolizing the serpent thrown to the sky by Apollo or Lernaean Hydra defeated by Heracles (as his Second Labor – Hydra was the guardian at the entrance of the Underworld). Like this: Like Loading... Serpent (symbolism) The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols.

Serpent (symbolism)

The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind[1] and represent dual expression[2] of good and evil.[3] In some cultures snakes were fertility symbols, for example the Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit) and to renew fertility of Nature. During the dance, live snakes were handled and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. "The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force.

Symbolism In English Architecture - The Griffin, Hydra And Crocodile, Mantichora And Mermaid Or Syren. ( Originally Published 1913 ) THE griffin is a fabulous bird which lives in the deserts of India, where it can find nothing to eat.

Symbolism In English Architecture - The Griffin, Hydra And Crocodile, Mantichora And Mermaid Or Syren

To obtain sustenance for its young it will go off to other regions, and it is so strong that it can fly away with a live ox. The griffin signifies the devil who is ready to carry away our souls to the deserts of hell. This monster is to be seen on the Tournai font of Lincoln Cathedral, and on Norman tympana such as those of Barfreston and Ridlington, Rutlandshire.

At Ridlington it seems to be fighting with a lion. In heraldry and in the Bestiaries the griffin has the forepart, beak and claws of an eagle, and the hinder part of a lion ; but the architectural examples are more like animals than birds. The hydra (Greek ) was not like, except in name to the mythical monster of the classics, which was killed by Hercules near the Lerneau lake, but it probably is the water-snake. Mr. Homer knows only of two syrens, but Plato increases the number to eight. Mr. Mr. Freaks, Hercules and the Hydra. Tod Browning's 1932 film "Freaks" is often regarded as one of the most significant films about disability in history - however, it has much wider significance as well.

Freaks, Hercules and the Hydra

It was among the first films to use genuine disabled actors playing disabled roles, and is arguably unique - not only for its time, but perhaps even now among cinema-released films - in its portrayal of disability community and identity. Its plot centres around a travelling circus and its community of sideshow freaks, most of whom (with a few exceptions) are disabled people, and an attempt by a non-disabled woman to con one of them out of a fortune he has inherited. (The original poster for the film, with its slogan "Can a fully grown woman truly love a midget?

", totally misrepresents the plot, making it look as if it is a more conventional "love triangle" with Cleopatra in love with Hans and Hercules jealous of them.) Both Browning's "Freaks" and "The Many-Headed Hydra" are incredibly inspiring to me.