The cerastes (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: κεράστης, transliteration: ''kerastēs'', meaning "having horns"
Perseus (Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon of Classical Greek)
- kerastês, ou, ho, ''horned'', elaphos Soph. El. 568; kantharos IDEM=S.''Ichn''.300; of a ram, ô kerasta Eur. Cycl. 52 (lyr.); Pan Antip.ti=E. ''Oxy''.662.49, Corn. ''ND27''; Saturoi Luc.''Bacch''.1:-- # fem. kerastis, idos, of Io, Aesch. PB 674. II. as Subst., ''horned serpent'' or ''asp'', ''Cerastes cornutus'', Nic. ''Th''.258, LXX Pr.23.32, D.S.3.50, Ael.''NA''1.57; hoi k. opheis Call.Hist. 3. 2. ''pest which destroys fig-trees'', Thphr.''HP''4.14.5, au=Thphr. HP 5.4.5.) is a creature of Greek legend
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, a serpent
Serpent or The Serpent may refer to:
* Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes
Mythology and religion
* Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature
* Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts
* Serp ...
that is incredibly flexible—so much so that it is said to have no spine. Cerastae can have either two large ram
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
-like horns or two pairs of smaller horns. The cerastes hides its head in the sand with only the horns protruding out of the surface; this is meant to deceive other animals into thinking it is food. When the animal approaches the cerastes, the cerastes promptly kills it.horned viper Horned viper may refer to:
* ''Cerastes (genus)'', North African desert vipers, a group of small, venomous species found in the deserts and semi-deserts of northern North Africa eastward through Arabia and Iran
* ''Bitis caudalis'', the horned puff ...
, whose genus, ''Cerastes
The cerastes (Greek: κεράστης, transliteration: ''kerastēs'', meaning "having horns"ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...
predators, though not nearly large enough to take prey items much larger than a mouse or small lizard.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
wrote the following on the cerastes:
See also
* Horned serpent
*List of Greek mythological creatures
A host of legendary creatures, animals and mythic humanoids occur in ancient Greek mythology.
Mythological creatures
* Aeternae, creatures with bony, saw-toothed protuberances sprouting from their heads.
* Alcyoneus, a giant.
* Almops, a gia ...
Notes
Greek legendary creatures
Legendary serpents
{{Greek-myth-stub