Mystery Illustration 31

This portrait is intended to depict what mythical deity? Hint: not an Asian religion.

The answer is here.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 19, 2016
Category: Art | Gods | 1950s

Comments

Satan appears in Judaism (firstly, in the Book of Job), Christianity, and Islam. All three are Asian religions, albeit West Asian in origin.

Posted by Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. on 09/19/16 at 07:44 AM

Cthulhu? He's one of my favorites.

Posted by KDP on 09/19/16 at 08:48 AM

"I don't know who the devil Mephistopheles is, or where the hell he lives!"

Posted by Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. on 09/19/16 at 09:40 AM

Joshua, you are of course correct! Lazily, I always think of "Asia" as everything east of , oh, Iran!

Posted by Paul on 09/19/16 at 10:25 AM

I do not think of Satan (on those rare occasions I think of it at all) as a deity, so the clue was a bit misleading. To be fair though, I'd never have guessed it because the picture is so far removed from most common depictions.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/19/16 at 10:37 AM

It looked like a herbivorous dinosaur to me.

Posted by Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. on 09/19/16 at 11:04 AM

Bears an uncanny resemblance to Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. (The original puppet version.)

https://www.hakes.com/Image/HighRes/206934/1/image.jpg

https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/205540/CECIL-THE-SEASICK-SEA-SERPENT-SCREEN-USED-TIME-FOR-BEANY-PUPPET

Posted by Frank P on 09/19/16 at 11:35 AM

I guessed Poseidon, since Nessie of Scotland isn't a mythical deity, as yet. Hell of a guess by Joshua.

Posted by Virtual on 09/19/16 at 01:53 PM

Odin gave an eye for wisdom.

Posted by BMN on 09/19/16 at 04:22 PM

I was about to accuse someone of sneaking into my bedroom at night and snapping an ugly picture of me just coming out of the shower. Then I realized it couldn't have been me. I wasn't there that night.

Posted by Greg on 09/19/16 at 09:58 PM

...intended to depict what mythical deity...

And which, pray, are the non-mythical deities?

Posted by Kevin on 09/20/16 at 03:40 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.