Dragons of Fame

Python

Type/Species: Wurm
Origin: Greek and Roman Mythology

History: Python was an enormous dragon that formed from the slim near Delphi after the great flood.¹ Some sources claim that Python is the child of Gaia, the earth-mother goddess.^2,4 In some texts Python is cited as female and in others male; in the case of a female Python, there is an association with the Mother of Monsters, Echidna, and, much like Echidna, the female Python is depicted with the upper torso and head of a woman.⁴

Python grew so vast that is coils surrounded the entire region of Delphi,¹ where the monster lived to protect the oracle of its mother, Gaia.² The dragon made its home in a lair in the cave of Mount Parnassus.³

Before Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, had married Hera, his sister-wife and queen of the gods, he became Leto's lover. When Leto became pregnant with the twins Appollo and Artemis, Hera, wanting Zeus for herself, sent the monster Python to torment and to kill Leto during her pregnancy.¹ When Python finally got near Leto, Poisedon, the god of the sea, hid her in a wave to save her.¹

When the monster, giving up its search for Leto, returned to its home in the mountain, the newly born god Apollo waited for it in the Gorge of Parnassus.¹ With the arrows forged by the god Hephaestus, Apollo slew his mother's tormentor, which writhed on the ground before finally meeting its demise.¹

In honor of his victory, Apollo instituted the Pythian Games, and the oracle took the name Pytho, the meaning from the rotting corpse of the beast.

Physical Description: An enormous serpent of tremendous powers and a huge, coiling body.

1. Rose [Monsters] 302
2. Lurker 292
3. Turner [Ancient] 393
4. PYTHON: She-dragon of Delphi

For more information about footnotes and references, please see the bibliography.