Seps (legendary creature)

A seps is a legendary snake from medieval bestiaries. They were said to have extremely corrosive venom that liquefied their prey.^[1]

The seps is described as "a small snake which consumes with its poison not just the body but the bones" in the medieval Aberdeen Bestiary.^[2] Lucan's Pharsalia refers to its appearance and the effects of its poison.^[3]

Shelley in Prometheus Unbound writes:

...all my being,
Like him whom the Numidian seps did thaw
Into a dew with poison, is dissolved...^[4]

References

^ Badke, David (2011-01-15). "Seps". The Medieval Bestiary. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
^ Aberdeen Bestiary, folio 69v.
^ Tennant, Roy (date unknown). Lucan's Pharsalia Book 9 ll. 723, 764 (line numbers in the original Latin). Retrieved from http://mcllibrary.org/Pharsalia/book9.html.
^ Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1820), Prometheus Unbound, Act III, scene 1.

This article about a legendary creature is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Badke, David (2011-01-15). "Seps". The Medieval Bestiary. Retrieved 2008-12-28.

[2] Aberdeen Bestiary, folio 69v.

[3] Tennant, Roy (date unknown). Lucan's Pharsalia Book 9 ll. 723, 764 (line numbers in the original Latin). Retrieved from http://mcllibrary.org/Pharsalia/book9.html.

[4] Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1820), Prometheus Unbound, Act III, scene 1.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

See also

References