Seps (legendary creature)

For similar terms, see Tetradactylus and SEPS.

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

Seps (Bestiary Harley MS 3244, ff 36r-71v, 13th century, British Library).

Seps (Royal Bestiary MS 12 C XIX; 1200-1210).

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]

See also

• Tetradactylus seps
• Chalcides sepsoides

References

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.