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The amphisbaena (, , or , plural: amphisbaenae; ) is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each ends.
In The Book of Beasts, T.H. White suggests that the creature derives from sightings of the worm lizards of the same name. But it is the other way around. These creatures are found in the Mediterranean countries where many of these legends originated.
The Códice Casanatense (), a Portuguese book describing the areas the Portuguese had visited, includes an illustration of the flora and fauna of India. One of the animals shown is a two-headed snake (conjoined twin snakes), with one head on each end, much like an amphisbaena. The image is captioned, " two headed snakes of India are harmless".
In ancient times, the supposedly dangerous amphisbaena had many uses in the art of folk medicine and other magical remedies. Pliny notes that expecting women wearing a live amphisbaena around their necks would have safe pregnancies ( Naturalis historia XXX, 128); however, if one's goal was to cure ailments such as arthritis or the common cold, one should wear only its skin ( Naturalis historia XXX, 85): lumberjacks suffering from cold weather on the job could nail its carcass or skin to a tree to keep warm, while in the process allowing the tree to be felled more easily.
By eating the meat of the amphisbaena, one could supposedly attract many lovers of the opposite sex, and slaying one during the full moon could give power to one who is pure of heart and mind. primary
In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, the amphisbaena is listed as one of the types of reptiles that torment thieves in the seventh bolgia.
In John Milton's Paradise Lost, after the Fall and the return of Satan to Hell, some of the fallen angelic host are transformed into the amphisbaena, to represent the animal by which the Fall was caused, i.e. a snake.Paradise Lost, 10.524
Amphisbaena appears in some editions of the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons.
Amphisbaena has appeared in several video games as an enemy or boss monster, including La-Mulana and . A creature called Amphisbaena appears in the games and but bears little resemblance to other renditions of the creature, appearing as an eyeless 4-legged reptile with the upper body of a human woman sprouting from its long tail instead of a double-headed serpent.
The amphisbaena is mentioned in The Last Wish, from The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, while protagonist Geralt of Rivia recalls past events. The amphisbaena was endangering the region of Kovir until the beast was slain by Geralt's hand.
Amphisbaena is referenced in RWBY, an animated web series created by Monty Oum, in the form of an evil creature called Grimm. Of the different Grimm, the amphisbaena appears to be the King Taijitu, a two-headed snake or serpent. The king's name references the taijitu, a symbol or diagram in Chinese philosophy representing Taiji in both its monist and dualist aspects. The Grimm's coloration visually symbolizes the taijitu, with one head and body section black and the opposite side white.
The amphisbaena appears in the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Battle Nexus: New York". This version is one of the known champions of the Battle Nexus. Big Mama had Michelangelo and Meat Sweats compete to feed each of its heads in order to satisfy the amphisbaena. They managed to work together to pull it off.
Brandon Sanderson's novel Skyward has a character whose name is Arturo Mendez. His call sign is amphisbaena.
Beyblade has a character named Enrique whose bit beast (ancient spirits contained within spinning tops) is named Amphilyon. It takes the form of a medieval amphisbaena with bat wings.
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