Ophiotaurus

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In Greek mythology, the Ophiotaurus was a creature that was the part bull and part serpent. According to some sources, this hybrid was slain by one of the Titan's allies during the Titanomachy. The Ophiotaurus' entrails could be burned for eternal power, making one capable of destroying all the gods, even Zeus. According to legends the cow was once killed and had its entrails almost burnt but Zeus sent a giant eagle to take the entrails.^[1]

[edit] In Fiction

The Ophiotaurus (nicknamed Bessie by the main character, Percy Jackson) plays a large role in the third installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Titan's Curse.

[edit] Footnotes

^ Theoi Project - OPHIOTAUROS (the "serpent-bull") was a monster born with the foreparts of a black bull and the tail of a serpent. It was slain by an ally of the Titanes in their search for a victory against Zeus. The Ophiotauros was probably placed in the heavens as the combined Constellations Taurus and Cetus (bull fore-parts with a sea-monster tail), alongside the kite as Lyra, and the altar Ara. This story may have been part of the lost Greek epic known as the Titanomachia (War of the Titanes), in which the giant Aigaion was represented as an ally of the Titanes. Ovid here calls Aigaion Briareus, the name of his son in both the Titanomachia and the Iliad.