During the second century AD there was a Roman writer named Lucian of Samosata. Lucian was mostly noted for his satires that he wrote, but he has one particular story he tells that is very interesting. Sometime during that second century in Asia Minor (the Roman name for Turkey) there lived a man named Alexander of Abonutichus. Now the people of this time often associated snakes with the god Asclepius and so Alexander told them that Aesclepius was about to return as a new incarnation. Then one day Alexander gathered the people of his village in the marketplace and pulled out a goose egg. He then split the egg open and out came a small serpent. He took it home and supposedly within one week it had grown to the size of a man. Even stranger was that its face appeared to look like a man with long blond hair. According to Lucian, Alexander was using a trained snake with a puppet head to create "Glycon" the snake god.
Despite how weird and ridiculous this sounds the cult became very large in Asia Minor and Roman governors and even the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius payed homage to the god, who became known for protecting his followers from plagues. Alexander of Abonutichus so changed the world he lived in that even the village he was from became an important town called Ionopolis. This snake cult lasted well over a hundred years and statutes and coins were dedicated to Glycon. While I am not advocating deception or starting your own cult, it just goes to show you that those who speak their mind, are the ones that change things.
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| Hello children, Big Bird couldn't be here this week, but don't worry my name is Glycon the Plague Stopper! |
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-Jason
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