Since we finished our dinosaurs A-Z list, we are starting on mythical and legendary monsters and I thought it would be fun to start with a reptile that is very closely based upon an actual animal: The amphisbaena.
‘Amphisbaena’ means ‘to go both ways’ in Ancient Greek and refers to a legendary serpent with two heads, one at each end of the body. Amphisbaenae fed on corpses and ants and had a very weird origin. The first Amphisbaena was born when Perseus, a Greek hero, flew across Libya with the head of Medusa, a monster with snakes for hair. The blood dripping from the head formed into the Amphisbaena. Quite gruesome but a common origin for monsters.
According to Claudius Aelianus, a Roman author, the amphisbaena could move both forward and backward due to its two heads. The earliest accounts made it venomous and legless, but medieval sources put scaly legs and bird wings on the creature. Many sources also describe it as having glowing eyes, although the Greek physician Nicander described Amphisbaena as being ‘dull of eye.’ This representation is closest to the actual family of reptiles known as amphisbaenians.
Amphisbaenians only have one head, but it is very small and the eyes are weak, only able to detect light, and it has no outer ears. Its scales are different from those of snakes, however. The myth of the second head probably originated from the fact the tail is rounded and is very similar to the head. Amphisbaenians can in fact, slither backwards as well as forwards. These animals are as old as dinosaurs, having evolved before the supercontinent Pangaea broke up, and are therefore found in many corners of the world.
All in all, amphisbaenae are very interesting and are from all other monsters have the most similarity to their real-life inspirations. I just hope we’ll get to the end of this series without skipping any letters: it was hard enough to find that many dinosaurs!
Anay Ganesh 