Typhon

Pan And The Sea Goat

In one famous story the gods turn into animals in order to flee Typhon, the Father Of All Monsters. (27) Pan, the god of shepherds and hunters, (28) is the first to spot Typhon and raise the alarm. To escape, Pan transforms into a sea goat and jumps into the river Euphrates. (29 and 30) A sea goat, in case you haven't heard of it, is a mythical hybrid with the front legs of a goat and the body and tail of a fish. Here’s a picture of one on a Roman coin. 

Illustration 23: Sea goat on a Roman coin, circa 80BC

Capricorn in the zodiac represents Pan in the form of a sea goat. The creature doesn’t seem suited to “fleeing quickly” either on water or land. In some versions Pan, who resembles a goat, is trying to turn himself into a fish but moves too quickly and his top half remains goat-like. (31).

Illustration 23: Pan with his flute?

If you create the archer character in your palm and then move your thumb towards the base of your middle finger, you will see a smaller character. It makes sense than Pan would be small as he is the son of Hermes, the boy god. Could the character now be playing a flute, with the lines behind his head now representing his hands? You may think that’s a stretch but there is a good reason for thinking that it might be. If you lift your fingers it turns into a sea goat.

Illustration 24: Sea goat in  palm

Illustration 25: Sea goat drawing

The Sea Goat Raising Zeus 

In the myths, Zeus is said to have been suckled by a goat. (33) A bizarre plot, it has to be said. But it seems that even this strange tale can be animated in the hand. Illustration 26 is a video showing how the archer figure can be "raised" from the figure of the sea goat.

Illustration 26: Sea goat turns into "Zeus"

Shield Of Sea Goat Hide

It is also said that Zeus’s shield was made from the hide of a goat (34). That’s a strange idea if ever there was one. And it’s a good example of how the hand symbols seem to not just illustrate and animate the myths - they seem to explain some odd plots. If you consider some of the characters we have seen it may make sense that the shield of Zeus should be made from the hide of the goat that suckled him. Look at the triangular area in the archer character. Could this be his shield? If so it’s also the body of the sea goat.  

Illustration 27: Triangular shield?

What suggests this idea is that the triangular area in question is the same area that forms the fish-like body of the sea goat.

Illustration 28: Shield of goat hide?

Is this another example of the ingenuity of the original hand storyteller, making a strength of the weakness of these pictures? All the characters and stories are made from the same four lines. By making this a feature of the stories, another objection has been removed. Why does that shield look like the body of a goat? Well, it was once. And that’s another story . . . for another night. The sea goat is the second hybrid creature we have seen. The bull and man characters can be merged into a half-man, half-bull. If there really was a storyteller way back in the mists of time, they had a cracking idea making animals out of the palm lines. You can easily show a man, a bull, a ram, a horse and more. But you are soon going to run out. Though not when you are as ingenious as this prehistoric author seems to have been. Because when you run out you start making hybrids, creating ever more fantastic mythical beings. Philosophers have discussed the meanings and origins of these creatures since history began. Is it possible that their original purpose was simply to keep the story going? The words “prehistoric storyteller” conjure up images of priests in bear skull hoods hopping around fires. Or at least someone whose full-time job is to tell stories. But the findings of this study suggest that perhaps a better word for these ancient mythographers would be “parents.” Not only are they storytellers - they are storytellers who have to produce new material night after night. There is something about these stories that suggests the author may already have had a full-time job. All the characters and myths on this site can be illustrated and animated with just one hand. The left hand. Did the original hand animator have something else to do with the right hand? Like hold a small child? The essence of these stories seems to be that they can be told with minimum movement. Pan becomes a sea goat by moving three fingers slightly. The next section of this study shows how Aphrodite becomes a fish with the same slight movement of two fingers.  In other words, with the least possible effort on behalf of the storyteller.

Illustration 26 . . . shiny metal shield

Despite starting out as a goat hide, Zeus’s shield was made of shiny metal, especially from Roman times onwards. (36 and 37). How do you create a shiny metal shield from a goat hide? Shine a light on to it.

Aphrodite And Eros As Fish

To escape Typhon, Aphrodite and her son Eros transform into fish and dive into the Euphrates. (37) And so they do not get parted, they are held together by a cord. Eros fires love arrows (38) so the storyteller could use the archer character to represent Eros. But what about Aphrodite? Is there a hand symbol to represent her? As we have seen, the head of the male character is depicted using the crease immediately below the tip of your thumb. But you can create a second character by using another thumb crease as the head.

Illustration 27 . . . female figure

You have to contort your hand a little to get this crease to touch the main body line in the palm. Because of this contortion, the character's body is smaller than the body of the male character. It also has a smaller head and shorter arms. Best of all, If you make the female character in the hands and then just lift two fingers you are left with two “fish” in the centre of the palm, joined by a cord.

Illustration 28: Aphrodite figure

Illustration 29: Lift two fingers to see the fish

The most compelling thing about these fish is the line that runs between them. Or to put it another way, the cord that holds them together. This cord is nearly always mentioned in the myths. (39) The story of the two fish dates back thousands of years. There are different versions and lots of reasons why the two fish are held together by a cord. In the story of Aphrodite and Eros the purpose of the cord is to stop the fish being parted. But was there originally a far more practical reason for this cord? Was it simply to explain to a curious child why there is a big line running through the middle of the two fish? You can almost hear a child asking "what's that line for?" Ah, that’s the cord that holds the fish together. And that’s another story . . . for another night.

Typhon - Father Of All Monsters

Illustration 30: Serpent monster Typhon

Typhon may be the best example of the storyteller's ingenuity. Typhon was known as the Father Of All Monsters and he seems to be exactly that - a monster made up of parts of all the other monsters in the hand. Typhon had the body of a man, down to his thighs - and from his thighs instead of legs he has serpents winding together. (Descriptions, 40, 41, 42)

Illustration 31: Typhon in the palm

You might be thinking, er, that’s just a lot of palm lines squeezed together. But look closely at the lines and see how they could be interpreted. We’ve already seen these lines represent a number of two and four-legged creatures. By twisting your little finger around as far as you can you create a number of curved lines in place of the creature’s back leg. Typhon has serpents that start at his thigh. These curved lines start at the human character’s thigh.

Illustration 32: Palm Typhon drawing

Grimy Beard And Pointed Ears

Typhon has a grimy beard, matted and muddy and pointy ears. By using another hand crease as a beard, you see this character front on. Nearly all the other characters are seen in profile. Because you see him from the front, the thumb creases are no longer horns. Now they’re pointy ears. To make the beard muddy, simply dab on a streak of mud. This would allow you to create a longer beard.

Illustration 33: Typhon's eye and beard

Eyes Flashing Fire

Another amazing special effect. This flashing eye is formed by lifting the thumb slightly so a gap appears under the crease. Illustration 35 shows how to make the eyes flash fire.

Illustration 34: Eyes flashing fire

All His Body Was Winged

All we have to do is borrow a wing from Pegasus to complete the picture.

Illustration 35: Typhon figure labelled

Serpents For Fingers

Typhon had fire-breathing serpents for fingers. Illustration 37 shows wriggling "serpent" fingers in front of a fire. Typhon has hundreds of these serpents and the storyteller would only have four. But there could be at least another four wriggling around beneath the audience’s blanket.

Illustration 36: Serpent fingers breathing fire

References

27. Hollar, Wenceslaus, Typhon. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO DIGITAL COLLECTION https://mythopedia.com/topics/typhoeus

Such and so great was Typhon when, hurling kindled rocks, he made for the very heaven with hissings and shouts, spouting a great jet of fire from his mouth. But when the gods saw him rushing at heaven, they made for Egypt in flight, and being pursued they changed their forms into those of animals.

28. Theo Project https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Pan.html

PAN was the god of shepherds and hunters, and of the meadows and forests of the mountain wilds. His unseen presence aroused panic in those who traversed his realm.Pan idled in the rugged countryside of Arkadia (Arcadia), playing his panpipes and chasing Nymphs. One of these, Pitys, fled his advances and was transformed into a mountain-pine, the god's sacred tree. Another, Syrinx, escaped but was turned into a clump of reeds from which Pan crafted his pipes. And a third, Ekho (Echo), was cursed to fade away for spurning the god, leaving behind just a voice to repeat his mountain cries. Pan was depicted as a man with the horns, legs and tail of a goat, a thick beard, snub nose and pointed ears. He often appears in scenes of the company of Dionysos.

29. Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 196 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) https://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Typhoeus.html

"When the god in Egypt feared the monster Typhon, Pan bade them transform themselves into wild beasts the more easily to deceive him. Jove [Zeus] later killed him with a thunderbolt. By the will of the gods, since by his warning they had avoided Typhon's violence." 

30. Greekerthanthegreeks.com https://greekerthanthegreeks.com/capricorn-the-ancient-greek-myth-behind-the-zodiac-sign/

Capricorn is identified as the satyr Pan, the god with a goat’s horns and legs, who saved himself from the monster, Typhon, by giving himself a fish’s tail, becoming a sea – goat and diving into a river, or, as the sea – goat, Pricus.

31. Pan Mythology, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_goat#:~:text=The%20myth%20goes%20that%20Pan,in%20combat%20with%20the%20monster. 

The myth goes that Pan jumped into the river to escape the monster Typhon. He tries to turn himself into a fish while jumping into the river, but he moves too quickly and only his lower half becomes that of a fish. Zeus then engages in combat with the monster. Zeus defeats him, but not without Typhon pulling the muscles out of Zeus' legs. With the help of Hermes, Pan replaces the damaged muscles. As a reward for healing him, Zeus placed Pan in the sky as Capricorn. The god Aegipan is also depicted in Greek art as a sea goat.

32. The Origins Of Pan, Thoughtco.com https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-pan-1524416#:~:text=The%20Origins%20of%20Pan,populated%20part%20of%20the%20country.

Pan is usually said to be the son of Hermes and Dryope, a tree-nymph

33. Hyginus, Gaius Julius. Poetical Astronomy ii. 13 (Wikipaedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis#:~:text=In%20a%20late%20rendering%20by,do%20battle%20against%20the%20Titans

Zeus is said to have used the skin of a pet goat owned by his nurse Amalthea (aigis "goat-skin") which suckled him in Crete, as a shield when he went forth to do battle against the Titans.[6]

34. Shield of Zeus. Perseus Digital Library https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=aegis-cn

AEGIS (αἰγίς), the shield of Zeus. The origin of the word appears to have been confused by the ancients themselves; in the Homeric sense it is probably from the root of ἀί̂σσω, to move violently, but it was early taken to come from αἴξ (Hdt. 4.189). According to the mythologers, the aegis worn by Zeus was the hide of the goat Amaltheia, which had suckled him in his infancy. Hyginus relates (Astron. Poet. 13) that, when he was preparing to resist the Titans, he was directed, if he wished to conquer, to wear a goat-skin with the head of the Gorgon. To this particular goatskin the term aegis was afterwards confined. Homer always represents it as part of the armour of Zeus, whom on this account he distinguishes by the epithet aegis-bearing (αἰγίοχος). He, however, asserts that it was borrowed on different occasions both by Apollo (Il. 15.229, 307-318, 360, 24.20), and by Athena (Il. 2.447-449, 18.204, 21.400).

35. Virgil, Aeneid, Book 8, 608-629 (written 19 BC) Translated by John Dryden, Sparknotes.com

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/aeneid/full-text/book-viii/

The rest refresh the scaly snakes that foldThe shield of Pallas, and renew their gold.Full on the crest the Gorgon's head they place,With eyes that roll in death, and with distorted face."My sons," said Vulcan, "set your tasks aside;Your strength and master-skill must now be tried.Arms for a hero forge; arms that requireYour force, your speed, and all your forming fire."He said. They set their former work aside,And their new toils with eager haste divide.A flood of molten silver, brass, and gold,And deadly steel, in the large furnace roll'd;Of this, their artful hands a shield prepare,Alone sufficient to sustain the war. 

36. Aegis, Wikipaedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis

Virgil imagines the Cyclopes in Hephaestus' forge, who "busily burnished the aegis Athena wears in her angry moods—a fearsome thing with a surface of gold like scaly snake-skin, and the linked serpents and the Gorgon herself upon the goddess's breast—a severed head rolling its eyes", furnished with golden tassels and bearing the Gorgoneion (Medusa's head) in the central boss. Some of the Attic vase-painters retained an archaic tradition that the tassels had originally been serpents in their representations of the aegis. When the Olympian deities overtook the older deities of Greece and she was born of Metis (inside Zeus who had swallowed the goddess) and "re-born" through the head of Zeus fully clothed, Athena already wore her typical garments.

37. Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 30 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) Theo Project https://www.theoi.com/Ther/Ikhthyes.html

"Pisces (Fishes). Diognetus Erythraeus says that once Venus [Aphrodite] and her son Cupid [Eros] came in Syria to the river Euphrates. There Typhon [Typhoeus\, of whom we have already spoken, suddenly appeared. Venus [Aphrodite] and her son threw themselves into the river and there changed their forms to fishes, and by so doing this escaped danger. So afterwards the Syrians, who are adjacent to these regions, stopped eating fish, fearing to catch them lest with like reason they seem either to oppose the protection of the gods, or to entrap the gods themselves."Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 319 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :"Typhoeus, issuing from earth's lowest depths, struck terror in those heavenly hearts, and they all turned their backs and fled, until they found refuge in Aegyptus (Egypt) and the seven-mouthed Nilus (Nile) . . . Typhoeus Earthborn (Terrigena) even there pursued them and the gods concealed themselves in spurious shapes . . . Venus [Aphrodite] became a fish."

38. Cupid and Greek Mythology, History.com  https://www.history.com/news/who-is-cupid

Armed with a bow and a quiver filled with both golden arrows to arouse desire and leaden arrows to ignite aversion, Eros struck at the hearts of gods and mortals and played with their emotions. In one story from ancient Greek mythology, which was later retold by Roman authors, Cupid (Eros) shot a golden arrow at Apollo, who fell madly in love with the nymph Daphne, but then launched a leaden arrow at Daphne so she would be repulsed by him.

39. Pisces Constellation https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/pisces-constellation/

The Babylonians saw it as a pair of fish joined by a cord. The constellation is usually associated with the Roman myth of Venus and Cupid, who tied themselves with a rope and transformed into fish to escape the monster Typhon

40. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 39 - 44 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) Theoi Project https://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Typhoeus.html

"The defeat of the Gigantes (Giants) by the gods angered Ge (Gaea, the Earth) all the more, so she had intercourse with Tartaros and bore Typhon in Kilikia (Cilicia). He was a mixture of man and beast, the largest and strongest of all Ge's children. Down to the thighs he was human in form, so large that he extended beyond all the mountains while his head often touched even the stars. One hand reached to the west, the other to the east, and attached to these were one hundred heads of serpents. Also from the thighs down he had great coils of vipers, which extended to the top of his head and hissed mightily. All of his body was winged, and the hair that flowed in the wind from his head and cheeks was matted and dirty. In his eyes flashed fire. Such were the appearance and the size of Typhon as he hurled red-hot rocks at the sky itself, and set out for it with mixed hisses and shouts, as a great storm of fire boiled forth from his mouth.

41. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) Theoi Project: https://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Typhoeus.html

"Typhon was the son of Ge (Gaea, Earth), a deity monstrous because of his strength, and of outlandish appearance. There grew out of him numerous heads and hands and wings, while from his thighs came huge coils of snakes. He emitted all kinds of roars and nothing could resist his might."

42. Theoi Project, Typhoeus Description https://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Typhoeus.html

Typhoeus was a winged giant, said to be so huge that his head brushed the stars. He was man-shaped from the waist up with two coiled serpents in place of legs. He had a hundred serpent-heads for fingers, a filthy, matted beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire. According to some he had two hundred hands consisting of fifty serpent-headed fingers on each hands and a hundred heads proper--one was human, the other ninety-nine bestial (of bulls, boars, serpents, lions and leopards). As a volcano-demon Typhoeus hurled red-hot rocks at heaven and fire boiled forth from his mouth.