Traditionally they symbolised the seven deadly sins, and the ten commandments, according to the amount of horns present. They are often mistakingly attributed to European culture but in fact they were introduced by an explorer on his travels through the Orient. What are they and how are they associated to a God of War?

crisw

OK, got a start on this one...the Beast of the Apocalypse had ten horns and seven heads- "Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadem crowns, and on its heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth." Book of Revelation (13:1) from http://members.aol.com/DarqDean/leftfield/ofangel3.htm Marco Polo reported seeing "lindworms" on his travels to the Far East (though he may have been describing crocodiles.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindworm Several war gods are associated with dragons, including Ares, Merodach of the Babylonians, and Dewi of Wales. The hole here is that attributing dragons to European culture isn't a mistake..."lindworm" is Scandinavian in origin, and any Celt can tell dragon tales! Another possible association here could be "sea monster," as "lindworm" can mean "sea monster as well. In which case, Poseidon could be the association, with his use of the Kraken. Guess this is more likely Dec 28 05, 3:48 PM

peasypod

Ok, pat on the back for outstanding effort here, crisw, but I'm afraid as convoluted as I like my questions to be, they haven't quite hit the Twilight Zone, yet. ;) So, that being the case, perhaps a simple clue might get you on the right track. The answer is rather festive, and fits very well into the time of year we are in, especially if I were painting the town red in Rio... Dec 28 05, 8:36 PM

peasypod

Gee, and I was under the impression someone would be bang on target by now. Must be all bindfolded and spinning in circles over this one, I guess... Jan 29 06, 7:31 PM

gmackematix

Bang and blindfolded, spinning in circles? It's either death by firing squad playing blind man's buff, or pinatas (can't do the tilde on this keyboard). I'm siding towards the latter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinata Jan 29 06, 8:33 PM

peasypod

Sheeeeesh, these clues have to be such giveaways, don't they? ;) A roll, anyhow, cause I'm feeling kinda generous. Jan 29 06, 8:51 PM