by Andrei BAKIEV, Cand. Sc. (Biol.), senior research fellow, RAS Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin, Togliatti, Russia; Andrei MALENYOV, head of the Herpetology and Toxicology Laboratory of the same research Institute Black water snakes look like local species to people of Asia, but they are exotic to Russians. Now what are such snakes like, as found in Russia's European part? FROM SUPERSTITION ON TO SCIENCE Ordinary or common grass (Natrix natrix) and water snakes (Natrix) belong to nine ophidian families. Non-venomous, they pose no danger to man. They will live near water, and are good swimmers and divers. Black snakes ("melanists") often occur in populations of both species. Snakes have attracted interest since time out of mind--of scientists and the common run alike. The worshiping of snakes (or ophiolatry*, from the Greek ophis, a snake) was common among tribes in what is now European Russia back in the Bronze Age (second millennium B.C.)**. There is archeological evidence on that in burial places of the Volga region and Caucasia. This cult could have possibly come from the East. * Ophiolatry (ophiolatria, ophitism) was a widespread cult in all parts of the world with the exception of Australia. The branch of zoology dealing with ophidians (snakes, serpents) is known as ophiology--Ed. ** The Bronze Age, the second and late phase of the Epoch of Early Metal after the Copper Age and prior to the Iron Age.--Ed. стр. 101 Ahmed Ibn-Fadlan noted this worship among the Bashkirs populating the middle reaches of the Volga*. According to an old popular belief in Russia, there used to be a land of grass snakes ruled by a czar wearing a crown studded with gems. Should somebody kill a snake, the ophidian czar would wreak vengeance. Adam Elschläger (better known as Adam Olearius)** mentions water snakes in a note dated 27 August 1636--he says he saw such snakes near the town of Samara in the middle reaches o ... Читать далее