Winged Serpent / Laculi / Javalin snakes / Iaculi
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Time Period: 1200
References in Literature: Aberdeen Bestiary
Sources: Illiana, Tysha Dragon, Circle of the Dragon
Notes:
- Some guard frankincense trees
- Shown with either 0, 2 or 4 wings, bat-like and not feathered.
- Found in tombs as the symbol of the dead.
- Wings may stand for the departed.
- Some theorize that it is an early representation of the Mexican Quetzalcoatl, or the snake-goddess Neheb-ka (although the goddess does not have wings).
- Winged serpents appear in the Aberdeen Bestiary dating from the 1200.
- “The iaculus is a snake which flies. Lucan says of it: ‘the iaculus that can fly’ (Pharsalia, 9, 720). For they spring into trees and when anything comes their way, throw themselves on it and kill it. As a result, they are called iaculi, “javelin-snakes”“.
- May be related to the amphiptere
- Known to ambush its victims from up in the trees
- Quetzalcoatl
- Neheb-ka
- amphiptere