Rainbow Serpent
deity earth Australian Aboriginal single tradition · 9
A snake deity from Australian Aboriginal traditions.
↻ synthesized from 9 sources
When
- First attested
- 2000 BCE
- Attested period
- -2000 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Rock art dates to around 3800–4000 years ago. Repainting continues to the present.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Raróg, Raven Mocker, Raven Spirit, Redcap, Revenant, Rokurokubi, Rougarou, Rusalka, Ryū, Min Min light, Erathipa, ipilja-ipilja, guruina, maratji, Kunapipi, Wallanganda, Ra, Ratatoskr, Raiju, Roc, Rakshasa, Rabisu, Radande, Ragana, Rain Bird, Rainbow crow
- manifests as
- Kunapipi
- has aspect
- Yurlunggur, Ungud, Witij, Kanmare, Cunmurra, Tulloun, Kooremah, Kunmanggur, Numereji, Andrénjinyi, Wollunqua, Wagyl, Lightning Snake
Mentioned by
- Ra
- Ratatoskr
- Raiju
- Roc
- Rakshasa
- Rabisu
- Radande
- Ragana
- Rain Bird
- Rainbow crow
- Wunngurr
- Akurra
- Bunyip
- Wagyl
- Kunapipi
- Wollunqua
and 13 more
Sources
Source passages
“Rainbow Serpent (Australian Aboriginal) – Snake”
#5209 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“The spirits are depicted alone or in groups, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimensions of the rock, and are sometimes depicted with figures and objects like the Rainbow Serpent or yams.”
#7441 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“She could transform herself either into a male or female version of the Rainbow Serpent.”
#31320 · extracted by deepseek/deepseek-chat
“Rainbow Serpent, a common feature of the art and mythology of Indigenous Australian cultures”
#31385 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“The stories of the ipilja-ipilja and maratji are similar with that of the Rainbow Serpent, a deity popular on the Australian mainland but are not found on Groote Eylandt or Melville Island.”
#31504 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5