A snake pit is, in a literal sense, a hole filled with

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

s. In idiomatic speech, "snake pits" are places of horror, torture and death in European legends and fairy tales. The

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

Ragnar Lodbrok is said to have been thrown into a snake pit and died there, after his army had been defeated in battle by King

Aelle II of Northumbria Aelle, also seen as Ælle, Aella, or Ælla may refer to: *Ælle of Sussex, king of Sussex (r. 477–514) *Ælla of Deira (died 588), king of Deira *Ælla of Northumbria (died 867), king of Northumbria (r. 860s) *Aella (Amazon) In Greek myth ...

. An older legend recorded in '' Atlakviða'' and ''

Oddrúnargrátr ''Oddrúnargrátr'' (''Oddrún's lament'') or ''Oddrúnarkviða'' (''Oddrún's poem'') is an Eddic poem, found in the Codex Regius manuscript where it follows '' Guðrúnarkviða III'' and precedes ''Atlakviða''. The main content of the poem is t ...

'' tells that

Attila the Hun Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and E ...

murdered Gunnarr, the

King of Burgundy The following is a list of the kings of the two kingdoms of Burgundy, and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations. Kings of the Burgundians * Gebicca (late 4th century – c. 40 ...

, in a snake pit. In a medieval German poem,

Dietrich von Bern Dietrich von Bern is the name of a character in Germanic heroic legend who originated as a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. The name "Dietrich", meaning "Ruler of the People", is a form of the Germanic name "Theodo ...

is thrown into a snake pit by the

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

Sigenot – he is protected by a magical jewel that had been given to him earlier by a

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

."Coerrcion as Cure: A critical history of psychiatry". Author Thomas Szasz. 2007.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snake Pit Snakes Torture Execution equipment Criminal homicide

See also

References