The Mythical Bacteria(A.Zaak) The Mythical Bacteria

Inspired by my intimate relation with unseen bugs, I composed a letter that was never read by the seeker of eternal life, Gilgamesh, proposing to transform into Bacteria since these are said to be immortal. The King didn't know that Bacteria could survive forever on a proper medium. He was busy fighting the Bull of Heaven. I addressed him when I read The Epic of Gilgamesh, the great Sumerian poetic work written in 2150 - 1400 BC about the semi-mythic King of Uruk in Mesopotamia.
In my letter, I further explained that imagination is no less valuable than knowledge. I thought mythology is unlike the rainbow, spotted after the rain; mythos shine is seen without rain; it makes entire life colours, not just part of the sky. Such legendary rainbows are easily marked by a dreamy person or a molecular biologist, and I was both.

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Siduri was the wise Mesopotamian woman of beer and wine in the Epic of Gilgamesh, so she must have been the Queen of Yeast Fermentation. She counselled the King to give up his quest for the meaning of life and enjoy what it has to offer, including beer. The Sumerians Mesopotamian beer was probably first created around 4000 BC. It pre-dated the art of agriculture baking methods passed from Babylon to ancient Greece to Rome. It was a thick, cereal-like drink made from barley bread, consumed through a devised straw to filter out pieces of bread or herbs.
The wine wasn't so popular because grapes were not as abundant cultured as wheat and barley due to the warm environment, so wine was only a luxury drink.

Ninkasi, the custodial deity of beer in ancient Sumerian religious mythology, was the daughter of Uruk King, and her mother was the high priestess of the temple of Inanna, the deity of procreation. She was the Mesopotamian beer icon, born of sparkling fresh water, and she made beer to "satisfy the desire" and "sate the heart."

Brewers mainly were female. The priestesses of Ninkasi and Mesopotamian women brewed beer regularly at home as part of their preparation of meals. They could have known the fermenting Yeast Microbe named Saccharomyces cerevisiae under a primitive name. According to a clay tablet, from the Late Uruk Period, 3100-3000 BC, the temples issued workers with daily rations of barley beer. The tablet was impressed with five different types of numerical symbols for the distribution.

Under the Babylonian rule, beer production increased dramatically, became more commercialized, and laws were instituted concerning it as indicated in Code 108 of Hammurabi: "If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept grain according to gross weight in payment of drink but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the grain, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water".

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Mythology blended nicely in my learning, where some of the Microbiology courses I took entered me deeper into the fabulous world. When I studied Fermentation as a microbial process, I wondered how Dionysus, the Greek icon of wine, agriculture, fertility of nature, and the arts patron, invented wine and spread the art of tending grapes.
I was amazed at his concept for the dual nature of wine, bringing joy or rage. The effect of his wine is like paranormal temporal possession by a Protean or Mercurius, the Graeco-Roman versatile, mutable, flexible, and adaptable elusive deities. Dionysus Roman name is Bacchus. Whereas his half-brother Apollo personifies the mind, he represents the illusion, drunkenness and gratification.

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I particularly loved the legend of two mythical-named Bacteria. The one called Proteus was like a hero's sagas in the world of imagination. It swarms like Proteus, the old Man of the Sea, the prophetic shepherd of the seals. He was a primordial deity in Greek mythology, protector of the seas and rivers as described by Homer, the reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two epic foundational works of ancient Greek literature.
The zonal growth of the Proteus Bacteria is like sea waves; concentric zones cover the whole surface of a semi-solid culture medium. During the colony evolution, the zones develop due to cyclic repetition of alternating phases: swarming or active migration, followed by consolidation or growth without movement of the colony perimeter, i.e., periodic rest. However, this Bacteria is an opportunistic pathogen, commonly responsible for urinary and septic infections even though it is widely distributed in nature as saprophytes (live and feed on dead organic materials).

Unlike the current swarmer bacteria, the deity Proteus was the waves former who could prophesize and assume different forms. He was the eldest son of Poseidon, older than his other son, Triton. He knew all things; past, present, and future, but disliked revealing what he knew. Those who wished to consult Proteus had first to surprise and bind him during his noonday slumber. He would try to escape by assuming all sorts of shapes. But, if his captor holds him fast, he returns to his proper form, gives the wished-for answer, and rushes into the sea.

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The psychologist Carl Jung defined the mythological figure of Proteus as a personification of the unconscious, who, because of his gift of prophecy and shape-changing, has much in common with the central but elusive figure of Alchemy; Mercurius. The latter is metallic yet liquid, matter yet spirit, cold yet fiery, poison yet healing, a symbol uniting all opposites.

The German mystical Alchemist Heinrich Khunrath associated Proteus with the Alchemy. This pseudoscience pursued methods and theories on transmuting materials into gold even though its primary goal was ultimate wisdom and immortality.

The Philosopher's stone was said to be created through Alchemy by joining Sol and Luna or Sun and Moon.
Ancient philosophers thought that the three parts of wisdom are Alchemy, Astrology and Theurgy.

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Proteus swarmed in literature too.
In his "Paradise Lost", John Milton, the English poet, has addressed Alchemists who sought the Philosopher's stone and Proteus.
William Shakespeare, the playwright, imaged Proteus in one of his plays:
"I can add colours to the chameleon, Change shapes with Proteus for rewards".
William Wordsworth, the English poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads, expressed Proteus figure in his sonnet as:
"…So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less lonely;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea".

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In my advanced Bacteriology course, the "Medusa head" lecture followed the Proteus lecture. I was familiar with the character that implies in Greek mythology to a Gorgon who turned men to stones, a breakable one, unlike the Philosopher's stone. However, in the world of microbes, the Medusa head is the colony shape of Bacillus anthracis, which means that this Bacterium has the appearance of being domes with a fringe of filaments. It is similar to the face of the ugly creature once was a beautiful woman. Medusa was the only mortal out of three gorgeous Gorgon sisters who lived far in the north where there was no sun.
When the divine Athena refused her request to visit the south, she dared to say that the Greek deity had not given her permission because she was jealous of her beauty. Athena was angered and cursed Medusa by turning her hair into snakes, making her so ugly that whoever looked at her face would turn into stone.

Then came Perseus, the son of Zeus and the mortal princess Danae, the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles. He defeated the Gorgon women nation, killed Medusa and cut off her head. Perseus used a shiny shield like a mirror that reflected the picture of her face, turning her into stone. It is said that Medusa's head retained its power even after her death; that is why her image appeared on Greek old body armours.
The modern interpretation of Medusa Artefacts and tattoos suggests she is a symbol used to protect from and ward off the negative, much like the contemporary evil eye. She represents a treacherous peril meant to deter other threats.

Such reputation may be behind recruiting the Medusa Bacteria (Bacillus anthracis) as a bio-weapon agent, besides being, of course, one of the most pathogenic sporulated microorganisms.

At the end, when no poet wrote about it like Proteus, I thought of this quatrain:

If direr Proteus swarms to populate
And Medusa face dries to sporulate
If things go viral to heal an abuse
Panic alchemy has mercury in use


*Image from p1cdn4static.sharpschool.com

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