crocodile
The crocodile is a reptilian entity that Baba Yaga battles against in some late 17th- and early 18th-century Russian wood block prints (lubki). Dmitry Rovinsky interpreted this scene as a political parody, with the crocodile representing Peter the Great. Some scholars interpret the crocodile as a monster who fights witches.
↻ synthesized from 2 sources
When
- First attested
- 2600 BCE
- Attested period
- -2600 – 1800
- Historical notes
- Appears on lubki wood block prints popular in late 17th- and early 18th-century Russia.
Relationships
Sources
Source passages
“Baba Yaga appears on a variety of lubki (singular lubok), wood block prints popular in late 17th- and early 18th-century Russia. In some instances, Baba Yaga appears astride a pig going to battle against a reptilian entity referred to as "crocodile".”
#5832 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Upon hearing these details, Ubaoner fashions a crocodile in wax. Ubaoner casts a spell for the figurine to come to life upon contact with water. The spell reads as such. "As for the man who will come to wash in my pool, you shall seize that commoner in your mouth!" Ubaoner sets his caretaker to throw the wax crocodile”
#41905 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001