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From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Sensuality (1891) - Franz von Stuck; sensuality is the state of being sensual, sensuous or sexy or refers to a preoccupation with sensual pleasure The image of the serpent as phallus is left in little doubt in this painting that shows an enormous python-like creature passing between the legs of a nude woman. The serpent's head rests on the woman's right shoulder; both the serpent and the woman gaze at the viewer.

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Wikipedia Wiktionary Tumblr Wikisource YouTube Shop Featured visual Cenotaph for Newton (1784) by French architect Étienne-Louis Boullée.

In Greek mythology Python, serpent, was the earth-dragon of Delphi, always represented in sculpture and vase-paintings as a serpent. She resided at the Delphic oracle, which existed in the cult center for her mother, Gaia, Earth, Pytho being the place name. The site was considered the center of the earth, represented by a stone, the omphalos or navel, which Python guarded.

Pytho became the chthonic enemy of the later Olympian deity Apollo, who slew her and remade her former home and the oracle, the most famous in Classical Greece, as his own. (But also see, Dodona, for the earlier traditions.) Changes such as these in ancient myths may reflect a profound change in the religious concepts of the culture. Some were gradual over time and others occurred abruptly following invasion.

See also

• Monty Python