Regarding Marcus Atilius Regulus

[PMBardunias]

Sadly, I did not have space to examen Regulus in any detail in my forthcoming AW article on Xanthippus and the battle of Bagradas. One thing that is always pointed out as mythical in his story, thus weakening various of the accounts, is the Roman encounter with a huge python along a river. I have seen this described as a creation of whole cloth and its symbolism conjectured, but it probably was based on a true encounter. Pythons do get very big, and it is easy to exaggerate the length of a snake that is as thick as a man's waist- moreso if you only see the stretched skin. There are ancient parallels that should be considered. Aelian records huge snakes for Ethiopia and we have this description from Diodorus (III 36) whch has some fanciful elements, but there is no reason to disbelieve the snake existed:

Some of the hunters, therefore, when they saw how liberal the king was in his rewards, got together a considerable party and decided to hazard their lives and catch one of the big snakes to take to Alexandria and give to Ptolemy. Though this was a great and marvelous undertaking, fortune favored their plan and gave them success. They spied a serpent forty-five feet long near a pool of water. It would remain coiled and motionless until some animals came to the spot to quench their thirst, when it would suddenly rear and seize an animal with its fangs and twine its coils about the body so that the victim could not escape. As the snake was large and of a sluggish nature they hoped that they could take it with ropes and nooses; so first they went at it boldly, having every- thing ready for use. But when they were near they were struck with terror, seeing its fiery eye and its tongue darting in every direction; and besides as it glided through the woods and rubbed its rough scales it made a horrible noise, and its fangs were huge and there was a fierce look about the mouth and it had wondrous large coils. Pale with fright and with fainting hearts they threw the nooses over its tail. As soon as the rope touched its body, the snake turned with a frightful hiss, rose above the first hunter, seized him in its mouth and devoured him alive; the second was encoiled while attempting to flee and drawn in, then enveloped and crushed in its embrace. The rest of the hunters were panic-stricken and sought safety in flight...By starvation they reduced the ferocity of the monster and gradually tamed it so that it became very gentle. Ptolemy gave the hunters a suitable reward and kept the tame serpent as the most marvelous exhibit for visitors to his kingdom.