Ophiotauros

Mosaic in the Yorkshire Museum, York

The Ophiotauros ( Greek Ὄφιοταῦρος to dt. Snake Taurus ) is a hybrid creature of Greek mythology from snake and bull.

In the myth he is a son of Gaia . He has the front of a bull and the rear of a snake. According to a prophecy of the Moiren , whoever sacrifices the bowels of the beast in a fire will gain power over the Olympians . Therefore Zeus had the Ophiotaurus guarded by Styx .

Nevertheless, it managed the giant Aigaion (or Briareos), the creature with an Adamant to kill -Axt. Then he prepared the sacrifice of the innards. The giant was considered an ally of the Titans and the sacrifice would have meant a victory against the Olympian gods in the Titanomachy .

So Zeus sent a kite to carry the entrails away. The bird succeeded and the prophecy remained unfulfilled.

Web links

Ophiotauros in the Theoi Project (engl.)

Individual evidence

^ Julius Adolf Bernhard : Aigaion . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1.1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 140-143 ( digitized version ).
^ Ovid : Fasti 3, 793.

[1] Julius Adolf Bernhard : Aigaion . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1.1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 140-143 ( digitized version ).

[2] Ovid : Fasti 3, 793.