The Ofiotauro in a mosaic preserved in the Yorkshire Museum.
The Ofiotauro (from the Greek Οφιοταυρος, of ophis, snake and taurus, "bull"), in Greek mythology, was a monstrous being with the body of a black bull and a snake's tail. Mythology
The Ofiotauro emerged from the Chaos born of Mother Earth, Gea with Uranus. His only (hapax) is found in Ovid's Fastos (3.793 et seq.), Where it is said that whoever burned the entrails of this creature would have the power to defeat the eternal gods. The Styx, warned by the Fates, imprisoned the Ofiotauro (to prevent him from dying) in a forest surrounded by a triple wall. The monstrous hybrid was killed with an ax by the giant Aegean (Aigaion or Briareo), allied with the titans during the Titanomachy, in their fight against the Olympian gods, but the entrails were recovered by an eagle sent by Zeus before they could be burned and the prophecy could come to pass.
To reward her for the service, Zeus raised her to the sky to turn her into the constellation of the Eagle. The Ofiotauro was probably placed in the sky as the combined constellations of Taurus and Cetus (bull above the waist with the tail of a sea monster), in addition to Lyra and the constellation Ara. Novelistic
The Ofiotauro reappears in the third book of the series "Percy Jackson and the gods of Olympus", The Curse of the Titan. Percy Jackson saves him during the night, when he is warned by his favorite pegasus, Blackjack. He saved Blackjack from Luke and his monsters in the second book. First he thinks he's a woman and calls him "Bessie." The Ofiotauro thinks that Percy is his protector. Later, the creature is carried to Olympus through a magical bubble of water and placed under the care of Percy's father, Poseidon. The Ofiotauro was the creature that Artemis tried to kill before the Titans got it. A legend said that if someone killed the creature burned its entrails, then it would have the power to overthrow the gods. It also reappears in The Battle of the Labyrinth and in The Last Hero of Olympus.
wiki
