#glycon

ITEM FILE #2213

ITEM: "Glycon's Grove"

ITEM HISTORY: Broadcast from 1987-1996, Glycon's Grove was a children's puppet show that debuted on public television stations accessible in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. After three episodes, the anomalous properties of the show were confirmed, and access to public television wavelengths was restricted. An agreement with Glycon's Grove production team (Oddy See) and the Office was reached wherein Oddy See would receive funding and distribution through OPN-approved channels, while all scripts, dialogue, and visuals were sent to the Parafiction Department for approval and study. After a brief interruption, Glycon's Grove was then broadcast nationwide (and in Canada and Mexico through agreement with RCOE and SER) on thaumic wavelengths decryptable by "analog augury"-compatible television sets, cable TV packages catering to the extranormal community, and distributed via VHS consumer hardware.

Glycon's Grove centered around the adventures of the titular Glycon, referred to as a "snake" despite his crude sock-puppet appearance. Glycon, often the energetic but patient voice of reason, would counsel his friends during common children's show storylines of the time, teaching lessons such as manners, the importance of reading and creativity, and honesty. The idea of snakes as "important, friendly creatures" was a common recurring topic. The show took place in the Grove of Olympus, with the rest of the cast being more typically-constructed puppets of a minotaur, hydra, cyclops, aquatic creatures, and in later seasons, a large "Cerebus" requiring multiple puppeteers to operate. Every few episodes, one of "the gods" (played by one of the human puppeteers in costume) would enter the Grove and provide the cast with that episode's challenge or conundrum. "Dio" was portrayed by actor Kenneth Young as a "surfer dude" always holding a family-friendly can of grape soda. "Heff" (Baker) often cajoled the cast into trying his new inventions, while "Arty" (Brown) asked for help in locating her lost pets.

Numerous interviews and investigations conducted by the Office concluded that while each other puppet in the cast (a list in the image above) was credited to and clearly played and voiced by a human puppeteer, Glycon's puppeteer, if they existed, was never credited or seen at any point. When interviewed, other members of Oddy See insisted that Glycon was "just Glycon" and did not acknowledge any puppeteer. During studio tours, Glycon was observed to move around the studio in ways that would be challenging for a human-puppeted character, EG, in one room and suddenly another, manifesting on multiple parts of a sound stage in rapid succession, always behind a barrier that could have reasonably obscured a human puppeteer from any Office observer. Attempts to isolate all visual angles in a given room often failed, resulting in Glycon appearing from a loose ceiling panel or other improbable locations.

Glycon "himself" always agreed to interviews, providing they could be done on Oddy See studio property, citing his "bum leg" as an inability to leave the property. He was at once forthcoming and evasive, simply repeating that he was "a puppet" when asked about his state, and that he "needed a new gig" as one of the reasons he started Glycon's Grove. Interviewers commonly reported Glycon as "charming" or "funny".

Both the coin of Antoninus Pius from Abonuteichus and that of Caracalla from Nicomedia feature the serpent deity Glycon, a long-haired snake said by Lucian of Samosata to have been the invention of a fraud named #Alexander, who planted a serpent in a temple and equipped it with a puppet head and wig to convince locals that the prophecy of Asclepius returning in serpent form had been fulfilled. Though Lucian ridiculed the cult as a money-making scheme, the very presence of Glycon on civic coinage shows that the deity was embraced as part of local pride and religious identity: in Abonuteichus, Glycon’s image proclaimed the city as the birthplace of the god and its cult, while by Caracalla’s time, the wider spread of Glycon’s worship across the empire made its appearance on coins a statement of prestige and legitimacy. In both cases, the choice to depict Glycon reflects how provincial communities used coinage to promote their own distinct religious traditions within the Roman worlds

#Antoninus_Pius

#Caracalla #Nicomedia #Glycon

#numismatics #numismatist #numismatica #rarecoins #oldcoins #worldcoins #coincollecting #coincollection #gold #metaldetecting #silvercoins #coin #romancoin #ancientcoins #ancientgreekcoins #money #history

Touhou style myth of Glycon, the subject of a snake cult around 2 CE in Rome. Thought to have started in Macedonia centuries prior, the snake cult of Glycon picked up the belief that Glycon was the snake reincarnation of the God of medicine (represented with a snake), Asclepius. They were said to worship a man sized snake with blonde hair, who came out of a bird egg and grew in only a few days. Retellings say Glycon was a false prophet, and was in fact a Handpuppet (or a trained snake IN a hand puppet). The main focus of the cult was on fertility and giving offering in order to become pregnant, but some say that the dude who started the cult just started doing it himself. Glycon was a popular enough character to be featured on Roman money (and Romanian Modernly? Not sure why?) but is relatively obscure otherwise. I was introduced to Glycon by the song “Archangel Glycon” by Lauren bousfield, one of my absolute idols! The song is bellow please listen

Would you believe me if I told you this guy is the main villain for my Feltling story.

Say hi to Glyde Connors! A self help philanthropist that is definitely not a cult leader who only wants to help heal you, you just gotta believe!

The Glykon Snake

The Glykon was an ancient snake god which had an influential cult within the Roman Empire in the 2nd century.

It was created by the prophet Alexander of Abonoteichos, who claimed it was a new incarnation of Asclepius.

Glykon was a snake with the features of a man on his face, including long, blond hair.

It seems that the snake was actually a puppet which appeared in the temple.

Much like earlier Macedonian snake centered cults, the focus of the worship at the temple was on fertility.

By 160, the worship of Glykon had spread beyond the Aegean and even the Emperor Marcus Aurelius sought prophesies from Alexander and his snake god.

Glykon worship was found throughout the vast area between the Danube and Euphrates.

Pentassarion issued under Roman emperor Philip II. in Marcianopolis.

Beginning late in the reign of Antoninus Pius and continuing into the 3rd century, official Roman coins were struck in honor of Glykon, attesting his popularity.

The cult continued for at least a hundred years after Alexander's death.

A marble statue of Glykon was found during an excavation under the former Pallas railway station in Constanța, Romania.