After last week’s step aside for the cover reveal of my prequel novella The Rider in the Night and the previous post on the four-headed god Svetovid/Świętowit, we’re starting a series of dragons this Slavic Saturday with one that has been depicted in multiple ways – the Aspid.
(June 2021 Updated) Note: If you enjoy Slavic mythology, check out A Dagger in the Winds, the first book in my Slavic fantasy series called The Frostmarked Chronicles. You can also join my monthly newsletter for updates and free novellas (such as the prequel, The Rider in the Night) set in the world of the series.
The Head of a Snake or Bird?
The Aspid suffers like most of Slavic mythology from a lack of primary sources about the creature. All that remains is a few tales of the dragon, and even some of those are conflicting. A dragon is a dragon, though, and all those stories confirm the Aspid could be a destructive beast.
The main conflict between stories is what form the Aspid takes: a dragon with elements of a bird or a snake (particularly a viper).
In the first case, it is pictured with a beak and some feathers upon its scales, creating an odd mix of reptile and avian. The second form replaces the beak with that of a snake’s head. Regardless of the form, though, there were similarities in the rest of the creature’s descriptions. Such traits include precious stones often being built into its wings and/or hide, sometimes two heads – each which could breathe fire – and a remote nature, preferring to keep to the mountains. When the Aspid descended, though, the destruction it caused could be widespread.
Dragons with elements of other animals appear in at least a couple other cases in various European myths. First, is the rooster-headed Cockatrice from English mythology. The Cockatrice, though, has powers more like the Greek Medusa than a Slavic dragon. Another similar creature is the Aitwar, a smaller Slavic and Lithuanian dragon that was fond of stealing. This one, like many Slavic creatures and dragons, could potentially shape-shift and appear as either a dragon that looked like a shooting start or even a flaming rooster. We’ll talk more about this one in a future post.
The story of the snake is one that permeates through many stories, both among various pagan societies and Christian ones. It’s hard to know if this was a post-christianization change to the story of the Aspid, turning its appearance into an appearance like the Devil’s snake, or if it is similar to the story of Weles/Veles, who appears as a snake at times in his battle against Perun.
Stories say the Aspid either couldn’t be killed or was extremely difficult to fight. Trickery was often required, and many bars of hot iron or other metals could wound it if you could trick the Aspid to fly into a pit. In this case, still, you merely managed to send the creature away, not kill it.
Another victor against the Aspid was Dadźbóg/Dazhbog, the god of the sun. It was said that an Aspid stole three women from him. These could’ve been his daughters, the Zorza/Zorya, or other women, but regardless, he chased the Aspid into the mountains and defeated it. Seeing the god was too powerful, the Aspid instead stole princesses from across the realms, hiding them deep in the kingdom of Koschei the Deathless in at least one tale.
In The Frostmarked Chronicles
Avoiding spoilers, you will see the Aspid in the prequel novella The Rider in the Night and book 2 in the series (name coming soon). It probably won’t be in the form you’re expecting. Regardless, I’ve gone in favor of the bird-like dragon in the books, as I found it a fun appearance that is more unique than the snake. Throughout the series, you’ll see both the Aspid and multiple other dragons in many forms.
That’s all for this week’s Slavic Saturday. Be sure to keep a lookout for more posts next week, and if you haven’t seen the full series of posts, be sure to check them out.
*As always just a quick disclaimer. Slavic mythology is broad and not written in many if any primary sources, so there’s a variety of interpretations. The interpretations I’m using here are from the sources I’ve found to be reliable.