Vyala Yaksha - Circa 1st Century BCE - ACCN 42-2944 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6175

The Anguiped ( Latin: ''angui'', 'snake'; ''ped-'', 'foot') is a kind of divinity that is often found on magical

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

s from the Greco-Roman period, and is characterized by having serpents for legs. Abraxas, the most common kind of Anguiped, is depicted as a creature with the head of a rooster and snakes for legs, symbolism thought to be of Persian origin. Sometimes inscribed below is ''Iao'', a form of the Tetragrammaton – the four letters used to represent the name of the God of Judaism. Such amulets, as well as the repeated usage of the name ''Iao'' in magical papyri, curse tablets, gems, and other amulets, provide evidence of syncretic cults combining elements of Judaism with paganism. In the Talmud, people who turned away from Judaism to such cults are referred to as '' minim'' – often translated as " heretics" or " apostates". In Graeco-Roman art, both Typhon and the giants (after around 380 BCE) are often conventionally depicted as anguipeds. A common religious motif in Roman Germany and eastern Gaul depicts an equestrian Jupiter riding down an anguipedal giant.

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