S10E7 - Ethiopian and Out with the Snake King

The stories featured in Greaking Out are usually original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features common poisonous flowers, distractible birds, trade routes, early hominid skeletons, and an ancient empire.

Welcome back to Greeking Out.

Today we're going on a field trip to a brand new place, Ethiopia.

Yeah, we're Ethiopian out.

In Ethiopian and out.

Okay,

I can't think of a good pun.

Anyway, we're actually headed to the ancient kingdom of Aksum, which comprises both Ethiopia and Eritrea and is not exactly new to the ancient Greek world.

We've talked about folks from this region before.

Andromeda was debatably from this area, and so was Memnon, a great king we talked about during the Trojan War.

The ancient Greeks were connected with the people of ancient Aksum through trade routes that went all the way to the Indian Ocean.

There is evidence that Roman merchants traveled to India carried by Ethiopian ships.

Some people in ancient Aksum may have worshipped Greek gods.

Right, so this civilization was known and respected by the ancient Greeks.

In fact, in the beginning of the Iliad, you might remember that Thetis has to wait to ask Zeus to intervene on behalf of her son Achilles because Zeus and the other Olympians are actually visiting with Ethiopians and Eritreans.

Ethiopia is Africa's oldest country and was originally founded in 980 BCE.

It is also where scientists have found some of the the oldest hominid remains.

Hom hominida hominid hominun huminoid what?

Hominid, meaning like humans.

Ah.

These were beings that lived before humans, but were not humans.

Oh, right, like the skeleton named Lucy after that Beatles song, one of our earliest human relatives?

Yes, Lucy, the skeleton, was found in Ethiopia, and she was named after the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Lucy's skeleton is about 3.2 million years old.

So it's safe to say that people have been living in this area for a very long time.

And because it's been around for so long, it has a very rich history.

Like most cultures, this area has its own unique collection of mythology, legends, and folklore.

The region also has a significant importance in multiple religions, including Christianity and Islam.

Well, today we're going to tell a couple of stories from ancient Aksum and the region it encompassed.

And Oracle, you in particular, are going to love this one.

That seems ominous.

Well, it's not.

It involves one of your favorite things in the world: snakes.

Snakes.

Yeah, that's the spirit.

This is the story of Arwa, the serpent king who ruled Ethiopia for more than 400 years.

This is another evil snake story.

Well, kinda, but like we learned in our episode about wolves, animals like snakes and wolves have bad stories about them because they used to be a real problem for the humans who made up the stories.

So we can listen to these tales and enjoy them for what they are and also still love snakes and wolves and well, maybe not scorpions, but you know what I mean.

Continue.

Okay, right.

So, Arwa wasn't exactly the nicest snake king in town.

He came to power by attacking the kingdom of Aksum.

Some myths claim that Aksum was actually founded by the great-grandson of Noah from the Christian religion.

And this man was named Aksumawe, and he did a great job of making his kingdom into a thriving place for all of its people.

But unfortunately, it was invaded by Arwa the snake, who went on to rule the city for more than 400 years.

Ardawa also goes by the name Wainaba.

And that is all I have to say about that.

Oh, come on, Oracle.

I can't tell this story without you.

I'm taking a vow of silence to protest the misrepresentation.

of snakes.

Yeah, but you're talking right now.

I haven't started yet.

Okay, so when are you starting this vow of silence?

Starting

now.

Okay, well, this should be an interesting episode.

Anyway,

after Arwa took over, the kingdom seriously went downhill.

And we're not talking about the economy or gas prices.

This king was so bad that he started requiring sacrifices.

Not just any sacrifices, human sacrifices.

Sure, he'd take the occasional animal as well, but it was the humans that really made him feel full.

Something about more fiber or something.

I don't know.

Anyway, he started requiring people to sacrifice their daughters in order to just live in this kingdom.

Any thoughts on this, Oracle?

No, no fun facts about human sacrifices or anything.

Okay, well, moving on.

Now, naturally, everyone was really upset about this traumatic turn of events, and what they were hoping for was...

I would just like to point out that there are only two groups of snakes that are able to eat humans boas and pythons and neither one of them seemed to have any interest in political advancement in a human government you're back okay what happened to the vow of silence

i decided the right thing to do would be to provide a counterpoint to this narrative and continue to advocate for snakes.

Yeah, I mean, that's a great idea in general, but also specifically a great idea for this particular podcast.

Anyway, we've heard enough of these stories by now to know that when there is an evil monster, there is inevitably a good hero who comes along to save the day.

And in this story, our hero's name is Angabo.

Hello.

Now, not too much is known about Angabo.

It's unclear as to where he was from or how he got mixed up in all this snake business in the first place.

Like everybody, he was horrified by what was happening, but unlike everybody else, Angabo actually took action and tried to make things better.

In some versions of this story, the hero is anonymous, meaning he doesn't have a name.

It is a way to indicate he is just like you or me,

but not like me, because I am not human.

Oh, that's interesting.

Kind of like the mysterious stranger who's the hero in those westerns, you know, the man with no name.

But in this case, this man, and we will be using the name Angabo for the purposes of clarity, he was really well versed in the intricacies of one very important kind of weapon, poison.

Humans have been using poison since the Paleolithic era.

Homer wrote of poisoned arrows in the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Angobo decided this might be the best way to deal with the terrible snake king.

I can't fight the king and win, but I just might be able to brew a potion that would kill him.

So Angobo got to work.

Some sources believe that Angabo used the sap from a poisonous euphorbia tree.

The common Christmas flower, Poinsetia, shares a similar poison that should be kept away from pets at all times.

Okay, that's an important point.

Thank you.

Important safety tip.

Thank you, Oracle.

Angabo spent weeks distilling the perfect poison.

It wasn't easy.

He knew he only had one shot at killing the king, so this poison had to be perfect.

If it wasn't, Angabo would be essentially writing his own death sentence when the king found out that Angabo was trying to kill him.

You know what I'm thinking?

I'm thinking it's time for a break.

We'll be back with more greaking out right after this.

Hey there!

Do you ever wonder what would happen if Cinderella started her own rock band or if Medusa realized just how cool her hair was?

Well, there's a Webby award-winning show called Girl Tales that takes classic stories and puts a unique twist on them, giving girls the chance to save the day, use their intelligence and bravery, and show that they can be the heroes of their own stories.

If you are ready for an adventure, find girl tales wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey parents, do you ever wonder who built Stonehenge?

Was the Hope Diamond really cursed?

Or why planes and ships suddenly disappear in the Bermuda Triangle?

The History's Mysteries book series from Nat Geo Kids covers these head-scratching mysteries and more, including the lost colony of Roanoke, the Sphinx, the Kraken, and so many more.

Chock full of cool photos, fun facts, and spine-tingling mysteries.

Look for the Nat GeoKids Histories Mysteries series wherever books are sold.

And that takes care of that.

We are back to Greaking Out.

When the potion was finally ready, Angabo went to visit Arawa's palace on a huge lake.

He had a bowl of the poisonous juice with him and an adorable white lamb to help serve as like a decoy.

Arwa smiled upon seeing Angobo's gifts.

It isn't human, but I'll take it.

I've always had a thing for lamb chops.

Well, before you try that, why don't you have a sip of this juice?

It's made locally from some of the beautiful trees in the area.

The king obliged and took a long sip of juice.

It wasn't long before the snake glared at Angabo with a look of pure rage and anger.

Are you trying to poison me?

How dare you!

This will be the last thing you ever do.

But this turned out to be a rather empty threat because at that very moment, Arwa took his last breath.

The poison had worked.

The snake king was dead.

There are multiple versions of the story of how Angabo managed to kill the king, And not all of them involve poison.

Right, but they all involve the snake king's death at Angabo's hands.

And for that, the people of Aksum rejoiced.

They were free at last from the evil snake

that we all know is fictional because real snakes neither want nor are working towards domination of the human population.

Thank you.

Don't worry, Oracle.

If it wasn't clear already, this is a pro-snake podcast.

The people were thrilled to have gotten rid of this one specific snake who is not representative of all snakes, and they were so happy that they actually made Angabo their king.

No one else deserves the throne, the people cried, Angabo is our king.

And Angabo continued to rule for years.

Many people say this king was an ancestor of the famous queen of Sheba.

The queen of Sheba.

is an important figure in several religions and she was reportedly from this area of the world.

Now, snakes aren't the only animals we're going to talk about today.

There are also lots of interesting stories about hyenas.

Hyenas are Africa's most successful predators and are matriarchal, meaning their society is led by female hyenas.

They are also devoted mothers.

Yep, that's them.

But like with any animal that lives in close proximity to humans and hasn't ruled out eating one, hyenas are a particularly distrusted animal in many places.

There are legends involving the were hyena, similar to that of a werewolf.

A werewolf is a human that transforms into a wolf.

And a were hyena is a hyena that becomes a human.

by day.

Oh, so it's a hyena that gets turned into a human.

Kind of like the snake in the white snake story.

Correct.

Which means that you have to be careful because some of the humans you encounter could actually just be hyenas in disguise.

Hyenas probably get a bad reputation due to their tendency to steal and eat decaying animal carcasses.

Really?

I thought hyenas were supposed to be kind of fun.

And don't they like laugh all the time or something?

Hyenas do have an interesting vocalization that sounds almost like a human laugh.

I have a recording here.

Oh, wow, that does not sound like a laugh.

I'm not sure where that came from.

But anyway, well, the where hyena was sort of like the boogeyman in some places.

Parents would warn children not to misbehave, or the were hyenas would get them.

But in other places, people actually think of hyenas as eating the evil spirits that roam at night, and they live peacefully alongside alongside these animals.

In fact, if you go to the walled city of Harar, it's kind of like a tourist attraction for people who want to feed wild hyenas that come in and out of that city.

According to local folklore, the bond between the people of Harar and hyenas began during a famine in the 1800s.

The people of Harar fed the hyenas porridge to keep them from eating any of the starving humans or cows.

And to this day, hyenas walk that city at night, eating food left out for them by residents and who knows maybe eating some evil spirits too anyway let's move on to our last myth of the day this comes from the oromo people of ethiopia and helps explain why humans are mortal creatures who die at the end of their lives Now, as you can imagine, this was a hot-button topic back in the day.

I mean, why was it that humans died when gods and other creatures in mythology got to live forever?

It's something that we still think about today, actually.

Well, this story begins with the Holowaka, a magnificent bird, a black and white hornbill, to be exact, and it worked as a messenger to the god Wok.

Black and white hornbills have a large beak and a cask on their heads.

Casque is a French word for helmet.

and refers to an extra enlargement on the beaks of some birds.

The god Wok had told Holowaka Holowaka to visit the humans and tell them that they could be immortal after all.

Tell the humans that immortality is easily achieved.

When they are feeling old and weak, all they need to do is slip off their skins and they will become young again.

I feel obligated to point out that this is not true.

and that it is physically impossible to slip off your skin without death.

Correct.

Thank you.

Please don't try this at home, kids.

But who knows?

Maybe the gods were onto something and maybe things would have turned out differently.

Maybe we all would be over here slipping off our skins left and right if the halawaka hadn't gotten distracted.

You see, on its way to deliver the news to the humans, the messenger saw a snake on the ground enjoying a wonderful lunch of a dead animal carcass.

Even mighty predators like these snakes and lions

will sometimes scavenge a meal.

Yeah, now fun fact about hornbills, they are omnivores, meaning that they will eat most anything including a dead animal carcass.

So when the Holowaka saw the snake eating a dead animal carcass, they naturally decided to stop and ask if they could have some.

The snake just hissed.

I don't think so, scram bird.

Oh, come on, Holawaka Holowaka replied.

I've been flying all this way to give the humans a message from the gods, and I'm hungry.

Can I just have one little bite, please?

Now the snake was intrigued.

A message from the gods?

For humans?

This sounded interesting.

I'd be happy to share.

Just tell me what the message is, the snake said.

Now, Holowaka knew that the snake wouldn't be very interested in hearing about human mortality, but maybe the snake would be more interested in knowing how to extend his own life.

Actually, it's a message for you.

If you want to live forever, all you need to do is slip off your skin and you'll become brand new.

Slip off my skin?

You mean like shed it?

Yep, exactly.

Now, can I please have some of that carcass?

I am starving and it looks delicious.

Of course, this wasn't what the gods had declared at all, but once Holowaka said it, it became the truth.

This message from the gods was forever altered, and this is said to be the reason why snakes shed their skin to this very day.

Snakes usually shed their skin in one big piece.

They do this frequently, about four to twelve times a year.

But snakes are not immortal.

Sadly, most snakes only live 20 to 30 years.

Yeah, so I guess it didn't really work out for the snake after all.

But unfortunately, it didn't work out for the humans either.

Because the Holowaka changed the message, humans were doomed to live a mortal life.

If you remember our episode about Gilgamesh, a similar thing happened with snakes.

and immortality there.

Because of you, humans cannot live forever.

Walk cried.

He decided to punish the Holowaka by inflicting that bird with a terrible illness that made the hornbill squawk for the rest of eternity.

I don't really blame the snake for this one.

It is all the bird's fault.

You know, I don't want to point fingers, but I would tend to agree.

It's important to not get distracted when you have a message from the gods.

Especially getting distracted by a dead animal carcass.

That's just gross, you know what what I'm saying?

Anyway, that's all the stories that we have for today.

Thanks for joining us on this fun field trip to ancient Aksum.

We'll be back next time with more stories from around the world and more Greaking Out.

Greaking Out.

That's it for this episode.

Join us next week when we talk about ancient graffiti and what ancients named their dogs.

Greaking Out, Gods and Heroes, amazing feats.

Listen, and you'll see it Greaking

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Jillian Hughes and Kenny Curtis and hosted by Kenny Curtis with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Dr.

Dil Singh Basanti is our subject matter expert.

Emily Burquette and Lori Broda are our producers and Emily Everhart is our senior producer.