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SERPENTINE
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SERPENTINE , a See also:mineral which, in a massive and impure See also:form, occurs on a large See also:scale as a See also:rock, and being commonly
of variegated See also:colour, is often cut and polished, like See also:marble, for use as a decorative See also: The See also:iron of the olivine passes more or less completely into the ferric See also:state, giving rise to grains of See also:magnetite, which form a See also:black dust, and may ultimately yield scales of See also:haematite or See also:limonite. Considerable increase of See also:volume generally accompanies serpentinization, and thus are produced fissures which afford passage for the agents of alteration, resulting in the formation of an irregular mesh-like structure, formed of strings of serpentine enclosing kernels of olivine in the meshes, and this olivine may itself ultimately become serpentinized. Serpentine may also be formed by the alteration of other nonaluminous ferro-magnesian silicates such as See also:enstatite, See also:augite or See also:hornblende, and in such cases it may show microscopically, a characteristic structure related to the cleavage of the, original mineral, notably See also:lozenge-shaped in the See also:case of hornblende. Many interesting pseudomorphs of serpentine were described by See also:Professor J. D. See also:Dana from the See also:Tilly See also:Foster iron-mine, near See also:Brewster, New See also:York, U.S.A., including some remarkable specimens with cubic cleavage. The purest kind of serpentine, known as " See also:noble serpentine," is generally of See also:pale greenish or yellow colour, slightly translucent, and breaking with a rather See also:bright conchoidal fracture. It occurs chiefly in granular limestone, and is often accompanied by forsterite, olivine or chondrodite. The hardness of serpentine is between 3 and 4, while the specific gravity varies from 2.5 to 2.65. A green serpentine of the exceptional hardness of 6, ,-a—B= T formerly regarded as See also:jade, is known as bowenite, having been named by J. D. Dana after G. T. See also:Bowen. The original bowenite came from Smithfield, Rhode See also:Island, U.S.A., and a similar mineral was described by See also:General C. A. McMahon as occurring in See also:Afghanistan, where it is carved for ornamental purposes in the belief that it is jade (q.v.). Many See also:common carvings regarded as jade are really serpentine, and therefore soft. Serpentine of columnar or coarsely fibrous form is termed picrolite, a name proposed by J. F. L. See also:Hausmann from the See also:Greek rtapos (See also:bitter) in allusion to the presence of See also:magnesia. The finely fibrous serpentine is called chrysotile from the lustrous yellowish colour which it usually presents (xpva6s, See also:gold; -riXos, fibre) and this variety is extensively worked, especially in See also:Canada, for use as See also:asbestos (q.v.). In See also:order to avoid confusion between the words chrysotile and See also:chrysolite, it has been proposed by Dr J. W. See also:Evans that the fibrous serpentine should be distinguished as karystiolite—a modification of the See also:ancient name, taken from its occurrence near Karystos in See also:Euboea. Foliated serpentine is usually termed marmolite—a name given by G. T. See also:Nuttall, from uspsaipw (to glisten) in reference to its lustre. A thin lamellar or flaky serpentine supposed to occur in the Antigorio valley See also:north of Domodossola in See also:Piedmont is called antigorite, having been named in 184o by M. E. Schweizer, after whom a somewhat similar mineral is termed schweizerite. Antigorite has been studied by Professor T. G. See also:Bonney and See also:Miss C. See also:Raisin (Quart. Journ. Geol. See also:Soc., lxi., 1905, p. 690; lxiv., 19o8, p. 152). An See also:apple-green translucent serpentine passes under the name of williamsite, having been so called by C. U. Shepard in See also:honour of its discoverer L. See also: Professor Bonney has shown that it has been largely derived from olivine. Green serpentine occurs near See also:Holyhead in See also:Anglesey. A beautiful serpentine, generally mottled red and green, with See also:veins of steatite, is found at Portsoy in See also:Banffshire, See also:Scotland, and was used for pillars in the See also:great See also: It was used in the See also:mausoleum of See also:Prince See also:Albert at See also:Frogmore, See also:Windsor, and in See also:Abraham See also:Lincoln's See also:monument at See also:Springfield, See also:Illinois, U.S.A. See also:Italy is rich in serpentine, the best-known being the verde di See also:Prato, which has been quarried for centuries at Monteferrato near Prato in See also:Tuscany, and has been largely used in ecclesiastical See also:architecture in See also:Florence, Prato and Pistoja. Much serpentine is found near See also:Genoa and Levanto. The verde di Pegli comes from Pegli not far from Genoa, while the verde di Genova is a brecciated serpentinouslimestone from Pietra Lavezzara. Serpentine occurs also at many localities in the See also:Apennines, in See also:Elba and in See also:Corsica. The See also:term ophiolite has been vaguely used to include not only serpentines but many other rocks associated with the Italian serpentines. Verde. antico is a brecciated serpentine with fragments of limestone, originally brought by the See also:Romans from Atrax in See also:Thessaly, and called lapis atracius. It is sometimes known as See also:veil See also:antique, or, following the old See also:French, verd antique. The term serpentine is often improperly applied to the ancient green See also:porphyry of See also:Laconia in the See also:Peloponnesus (porfido serpentino verde). True serpentine occurs at numerous localities in the See also:Alps and in See also:France, an elegant variety being quarried at Epinal in the See also:Vosges, whilst a fine ophicalcite is worked at St Veran and Maurins, dep. Hautes-Alpes. The See also:Ronda Mountains in See also:Spain also yield serpentine. In North See also:America serpentine is so widely distributed that only a few localities can be specified. It is found in St See also:Lawrence See also:county, See also:Essex county and See also:Warren county, New York, and also on Staten Island; at Montville and See also:Hoboken in New See also:Jersey; at See also:Newport, Rhode Island; at See also:Newbury and See also:Newburyport, See also:Massachusetts; See also:Texas, See also:Lancaster county, and West Chester, Chester county, Pennsylvania; at many localities in See also:Vermont, and in See also:California, See also:Connecticut, See also:Georgia, See also:Maine, See also:Maryland, See also:Michigan, New See also:Mexico, North Carolina and See also:Washington. For See also:American serpentine see Stones for See also:Building and Decoration, by See also:George P. See also:Merrill (New York, 1903) ; and for serpentine asbestos see the same author's Non-metallic Minerals (New York, 1904). (F. W. R.*) SERPENT-See also:WORSHIP. From all parts of the See also:world there is a very considerable See also:body of See also:evidence for the prominence of the serpent in See also:religion, See also:mythology and folk-See also:lore. Snake- i. prove. worship still prevails largely in See also:India, and a writer ante in in 1896 remarks that the previous See also:census showed in varying the North-West Provinces over 25,000 Naga (serpent) f0"'B• worshippers, 123,000 votaries of the snake-See also:god Guga, and, in the See also:Punjab, some 35,000 See also:special votaries of the snake godlings.1 The evidence from See also:modern India can be supplemented by the See also:medieval and ancient See also:Indian See also:sources, and, in particular, by the representations of the See also:adoration of snake-deities on the Buddhist topes of See also:Sanchi and See also:Amravati? There we find, not indeed living serpents, but deities with serpent-symbolism, indicating a composition of various strata of religious belief, analogous to the evidence for serpent-symbolism from Babylonia, See also:Crete, See also:Greece or See also:Peru; for the higher religions have almost invariably retained in their See also:ritual and belief, sometimes with only slight modification, cruder conceptions which can still be studied in less elevated form among the See also:lower races of India, See also:Africa or America. The result is instructive when we turn to the numerous serpent myths and legends from the Old World and the New, to the stray notices in old writers, or to the fragmentary scraps of popular superstition everywhere. Modern scientific See also:research has vividly illustrated, the stereotyped nature of the human mind; there is a general similarity in the effect of similar phenomena upon See also:people at a similar See also:stage of See also:mental growth; there is an almost inherent or unconscious belief which has been transmitted through the countless ages of See also:man's See also:history. At the same See also:time, apart from the See also:gradual See also:evolution of religious and other conceptions there are the more incidental and artificial influences which have shaped them. Hence, our evidence for serpent-cults everywhere represents varying stages in the See also:historical development of a few related fundamental ideas which are psychologically explicable; and it is impossible to See also:deal with the subject geographically or historically. It is most useful, perhaps, to survey some of the general features of belief as an introduction to the more complex inquiries which involve a See also:consideration of other subjects over a larger See also: Haunting buildings and famous ruins, gliding around pools, walls and trees, mysteriously disappearing below ground, the serpent and all its kind invariably arrested See also:attention through its uncanny distinctiveness from See also:bird or beast. Its gliding See also:motion suggested the winding See also:river. Biting its tail it symbolized the See also:earth surrounded by the world-river. Its patient watchfulness, the See also:fascination it exerted over its victims, the easy domestication of some See also:species, and the deadliness of other's have always impressed See also:primitive minds. Its See also:swift and deadly dart was likened to the See also:lightning; equally marvellous seemed its fatal See also:power. It is little wonder that men who could tame and handle the See also:reptiles gained esteem and See also:influence. Sometimes the See also:long See also:life of the serpent and its See also:habit of changing the skin suggested ideas of See also:immortality and resurrection, and it is noteworthy that one Indian snake-festival occurs after or at the sloughing, when the sacred being is thus supposed to become purified.' A very common belief associates serpents or dragons and other monsters with the guardianship of treasure or See also:wealth; comp., e.g., 2. See- the See also:golden apples of the See also:Hesperides, and the See also:Egyptian penis' gods Kneph and See also:Osiris, and the Indian See also:Krishna and wealth and See also:Indra. Serpents adorned with necklaces of jewels See also:wisdom. or with crowns were See also:familiar in old superstition, and the serpent with a See also:ruby in its mouth was a favourite love-token. Many stories tell of the grateful reptile which brought valuable gifts to a benefactor. According to a common Indian belief a wealthy man who See also:dies without an See also:heir returns to guard his wealth in the form of a serpent, and Italian superstition supposed that to find a serpent's skin brought See also:good See also:luck (See also:Leland).' No singular preference for jewels on the part of serpents will explain the belief, and creatures like the See also:jackdaw which have this weakness do not enjoy this prominence in folk-lore. A rationalistic explanation might be found in the connexion between the chthonic serpent and subterranean sources of wealth' Moreover, the serpent is often associated with metallurgy, and to serpent deities have been ascribed the working of metals, See also:gem-cutting and indeed culture in general. The Aztec Quetzal-See also:coati taught metallurgy and See also:agriculture, gave abundance of See also:maize, also wisdom and freedom from disease. The Babylonian See also:Ea, who sometimes has serpent attributes, introduced—like the American serpent Votan—knowledge and culture. The See also:half-serpent See also:Cadmus brought knowledge of mines, agriculture, and the " Cadmean " letters, while See also:Cecrops inculcated See also:laws and ways of life and was the first to establish monogamy. Although the reptile is not particularly intelligent, it has become famed for shrewdness and wisdom, whether in the See also:Garden of See also:Eden (Gen. iii. 1; 2 See also:Cor. Xi. 3) or generally (cf. Matt. x. 16). The Ophites (q.v.) actually identified the serpent with See also:Sophia (" Wisdom "); the old See also:sage Garga, one of the fathers of Indian See also:astronomy, owed his learning to the serpent-god Sesha Naga; and the Phoenician -4pwv 'O4iwv wrote the seven tablets of See also:fate which were guarded by See also:Harmonia 4 Not only is the serpent connected with oracles, the beneficent See also:agathodaemon of See also:Phoenicia also symbolized immortality. In Babylonian myth a serpent, apparently in a well or See also:pool, deprived Gilgamesh of the plant which rejuvenated old See also:age, and if it was the rightful See also:guardian of the wonderful See also:gift, one is reminded of the See also:Hebrew See also:story, now reshaped in Gen. iii., where the supernatural serpent is clearly acquainted with the properties of the tree of life.' Fergusson, p. 259. Perhaps the sloughing more than any other feature stimulated primitive See also:speculation; cf. Winternitz, p. 28. 2 See Crooke, ii. I and 33 sqq. ; C. G. Leland, See also:Etruscan See also:Roman Remains, p. 283; Winternitz 37 se q.; A. W. See also:Buckland, Anthropological Studies (1891), pp. 104-139 (on serpents in connexion with metallurgy and See also:precious stones). 3 Excavators know how the popular mind associates their labours with See also:search for hidden treasure, and no doubt the wealth of dead civilizations often stimulated the See also:imagination of subsequent generations. A gruesome Indian story (Crooke, ii. 136) shows how old treasure-See also:chambers could actually See also:harbour enormous and deadly See also:snakes. See also:Nonnus (See also:Dion. xli. 340 sqq.), cited by W. W. G. Baudissin, See also:Stud. z. Relig.-Gesch. (See also:Leipzig, 1876), i. 274 seq. (pp. 255-292, Semitic serpent-cult). See, for Garga, C. F. See also:Oldham, The See also:Sun and the Serpent (London, 1905), p. 54; and, for the serpent's wisdom, F. L.. Schwartz, Ursprung der Mythologie (186o), pp. 55 seq.; J. Maehly, See also:Die Schlange See also:im Mythus u. Cultus d. class. Volker (1867), pp. 9 seq., II, 23 seq. See H. Gressmann, Archie f. Religionswissenschaft, x. 357 sqq. A Babylonian See also:cylinder represents two figures (divine?) on either See also:side of a See also:fruit-tree, and behind one of them a serpent coils upwards. Serpents were supposed to know of a See also:root which brought back their dead to life, and an old Greek story told how certain mortals took the hint.' In one form or another the healing See also:powers of the serpent are very familiar in 3. ``1e1 See also:legend and See also:custom. Siegfried bathed in the See also:blood of heats m healing. the See also:dragon he slew and thus became invulnerable ; the See also:blind See also:emperor See also:Theodosius recovered his sight when a grateful serpent laid a precious stone upon his eyes; Cadmus and his wife were turned into serpents to cure human ills. " In 1899 a See also:court in Larnaca, See also:Cyprus, awarded 080. (See also:Turkish) as See also:damages for the loss of a snake's See also:horn which had been See also:lent to cure a certain disease " (Murison, p. 117, n. 9). Not to multiply examples, it must suffice to refer to the old popular See also:idea that medical skill could be gained by eating some part of a serpent: the idea that its valuable qualities would thus be assimilated belongs to one of the fundamental dogmas of primitive mankind (cf. Porphyry, De abst. ii. 48). Now, serpents were tended in the sanctuaries of the Greek See also:Aesculapius (Asklepios), the famous god of healing. Among his symbols was a serpent coiled See also:round a See also:staff, and physicians were for. long wont to See also:place this at the See also:head of their prescriptions. He is also represented leaning on a staff while a huge serpent rears itself up behind him, or (on a See also:coin from See also:Gythium) a serpent seems to come to him from a well. At See also:Athens, Asklepios Amynos had a See also:sanctuary with See also:altar and well, and among the votive offerings have been discovered See also:models of snakes? The god-See also:hero came from See also:Epidaurus to the See also:shrine at See also:Sicyon in the form of a serpent, and the serpent sent from Epidaurus to stay a See also:plague at See also:Rome remained there, and a See also:temple was erected to Aesculapius. The sanctuary of the deified healer at See also:Cos marked the site where another serpent brought from Epidaurus dived into the earth (See also:Pausanias, ii. 10, 3, iii. 23, 4). See also:Hygieia, goddess of See also:health, passed for his daughter, and is commonly identified with the woman in Greek art who feeds a serpent out of a saucer. Moreover, the temple of the earth-goddess See also:Bona Dea on the slopes of the Aventine was a kind of See also:herbarium, and snakes were kept there as a See also:symbol of the medical art. Even in Upper See also:Egypt a few decades ago, there was a See also:tomb of the See also:Mahommedan See also:sheikh Heridi, who—it is alleged—was transformed into a serpent; in cases of sickness a spotless virgin entered the See also:cave and the serpent-occupant might permit itself to be taken in procession to the patient. The place was the See also:scene of See also:animal sacrifices and a yearly visit of See also:women, and apparently preserved the traces of an old serpent-cult.' Several practices conform to the idea that " a See also:hair of the See also:dog that See also:bit you " is a sure remedy, and that the serpent was best fitted to overcome other serpents.' At Emesa 4. As in See also:Syria, watered by the See also:Orontes, an See also:image, the lower remedy part of which was a See also:scorpion, cured the sting of aselnst scorpions and freed the See also:city from snakes.t0 Constanti- ett kenople was similarly protected by the serpent-See also:trophy of See also:Delphi which See also:Constantine removed thither; an emperor was said to have performed an enchantment over the monument well known in Greek history.° In modern India a walking-stick from a species of See also:cane in the neighbourhood of a certain serpent-shrine protects against snake-bite.12 At Fernando Po, when there The See also:interpretation is uncertain, but the See also:motive has See also:parallels (see See also:Goblet d'Alviella, See also:Migration of Symbols, London, 1894, pp. 129, 133, 167 seq.). R. G. Murison, " The Serpent in the O.T. (Amer. Journ. of Sem. See also:Lang. xxi. 128), cites an American-Indian belief in a tree of healing, or rather of knowledge, inhabited by a serpent. J. G. Frazer, See also:Adonis, Allis and Osiris (2nd ed., London, 1907), p. 153; also his notes on Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 65 seq. 7 Similar votive offerings are known in India (Oldham, 87), and, though their true "significance is uncertain, in ancient See also:Arabia, See also:Palestine and See also:Elam (see H. See also:Vincent, See also:Canaan d'apres l'exploration recente, See also:Paris, 1907, pp. 174 sqq.). B A. H. See also:Sayce, " Serpent Worship in Ancient and Modern Egypt," Contemporary See also:Review (Oct. 1893), P.523; cf. also Fergusson, 34. ' See, for analogies, Frazer, Golden Bough (2nd ed.), u. 426 seq. io Even clothes washed in the See also:waters of Emesa similarly protected the wearers. See See also:Guy Le See also:Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, 353 sqq., and for other See also:miscellaneous evidence, 396, 405, 495. u Ruy Gonzalez de Clarijo, See also:Hakluyt Society (1859), p. 35. 14 See also:Journal of the Bombay See also:Branch of the Royal See also:Asiatic Society, ix. p. 180. was an epidemic among See also:children, they were brought to See also:touch a serpent's skin which hung on a See also:pole. The same ideas underlie the story of the Brazen Serpent which cured the Israelites of the bites of the serpents in the See also:Wilderness (Num. xxi. 6-9; 1 Cor. it. 9). The See also:object, however, was no temporary See also:device; centuries later, 250 years after the See also:founding of the temple of See also:Jerusalem, the Brazen Serpent was regarded as unorthodox by the reforming See also: 9) and also its Dragon Well (Neh. ii. 13) ; in modern times the curative Virgin's See also:Spring or St See also:Mary's Well has its dragon which, when awake, swallows the intermittent flow of the water." Serpents of the water are often healers. (cf. § 3). A serpent in a See also:lagoon near Gimbo-Amburi in Africa could cure madness; another, which haunted an Algerian well, embodied the soul of a Mahommedan saint and could cure sore eyes. This feature is especially intelligible when the waters have medicinal qualities. Among the See also:southern See also:Arabs the hot well of Msa'ide was virtually a sanctuary, and the serpent-demon was honoured by See also:annual festivals in the sacred See also:month Rajab. As recently as 1882,when the See also:grand See also:Llama of Tashilumpo was not relieved by the hot springs of Barchutsan, religious services were held to propitiate the serpent-deities (Oldham, 203). Finally, although in the sanctuary of Aesculapius healing came directly or indirectly as the patients dreamed, it appears from the See also:burlesque of See also:Aristophanes (See also:Plutus, 653 sqq.) that they first bathed in the sacred spring. The serpent of the water is also the serpent of the great See also:sea upon which the earth rested., Sometimes the reptile lives in submarine infernal regions (with his wife, Crooke i. 43), and as the demon of the underworld it is sometimes the earth-shaker., The Greek demon or snake See also:Poseidon, god of sea and springs, was an earth-quake god. To the great half-serpent See also:monster See also:Typhon were ascribed numerous springs; he was also the cause of earthquakes, and when he buried himself in the earth he formed the See also:bed of the Syrian ' See Frazer's notes on Pausanias (1898), vol. v. pp. 44 seq.
i Crooke i. 42 seq., 49; see also Oldham, 51, 114; Winternitz, 259. The ammonite, here an See also:instrument in a nature " See also:marriage," has else-where given rise to legends of the destruction of serpents, viz. by St See also:Hilda at See also:Whitby in See also:Yorkshire, and perhaps also by St See also:Patrick in Ireland (see E. B. See also:Tylor; Primitive Culture, 1903, i. 372).
3 W. R. See also: G. F. See also: 5 (1898) ; T. K. See also:Cheyne, Ency. Bib., art. " Serpent." ° See Fergusson, 57; J. G. Frazer, Adonis, 165; and R. Lasch, See also:Arch. f. Relig. v. 236 sqq., 369 sqq. Orontes. This river, which was otherwise called Drakop, Typhon or Ophites, is known at the present See also:day as the " river of the See also:rebel " (Nahr El-'A. i; Baudissin ii. 163). The See also:waterspout, some- 6. Serpent times taken for a long-tailed ,dragon, is a huge sea-serpent, end Cos-according to the Wanika of See also:East Africa (See also:Tyler i. 292 seq.). motoicat In ancient See also:Persia the See also:rainbow was the See also:celestial serpent, conve'''x-and among some See also:African tribes it is the subterranean loos wealth-conferring serpent, stretching its head to the
clouds, and spilling the See also:rain in its greedy thirst .7 An early Indian name of the Milky Way is " the path of the serpent " (Crooke i. 25), and a great dragon or serpent is often the cause of eclipses, so that in India, on the occasion of an See also:eclipse, its attention can be attracted by bathing in a sacred stream, or by a ritual which includes the worship of the image of the snake-god (i. 22 seq.).' Again the serpent is often associated with the lightning (Winternitz, 33).9 Hence; as the reptile's range seems to be boundless, one is prepared for the serpentine deity of the Samoan and See also:Tonga natives which connects See also:heaven and earth (Tylor ii. 309 seq.), and for the part the serpent plays in the traditions of a universal See also:deluge."
The fok-lore of the Old and New World contains many examples of supernatural conception, an idea which is to be supplemented by the actual living belief (e.g. in Palestine) that supernatural beings can be fathers." 7' serpent
In See also:Annam where water spirits may take the form of parentage. serpents or of human beings, two deified heroes were
said to have been serpents See also:born of a childless woman, who drank from a bowl of water into which a See also:star had fallen.12 Leland (132) cites the medieval belief that the See also:household snake (see § 9), if not propitiated, can prevent conception, and in Bombay barrenness is sometimes attributed to a serpent which has been killed by' the man or his wife in a former state of their existence. Hence the demon is laid to See also:rest by burning the serpent-image with due funereal See also:rites'3 In the sanctuary of Aesculapius at Epidaurus women were visited in their dreams by a serpent—the reputed See also:father of the See also:child that was born, and elsewhere Sicyon who had such a progenitor was regarded as the son of the divine healer." Similar also was the origin of See also:Augustus in a temple of See also:Apollo, the god who had his tame serpents in the See also: See also:Aegeus, and Drakon or Cecrops the first king of Athens), the Arabian See also:dynasty of See also:Edessa, the dynasty of See also:Abyssinia, &c.; it is proper, therefore, to See also:notice the serpent-symbol of See also:royalty on the signets of the Rajahs of See also:Chota See also:Nagpur, the See also:fire-spitting serpent which adorned the head of Egyptian Pharaohs, and the dragons which entwine King See also:Arthur as he stands at the tomb of 7 Crooke ii. 144; Tylor i. 294; A. B. See also:Ellis, The See also:Ewe-Speaking Peoples of the Slave See also:Coast of West Africa (1890), pp. 47 seq. ° See also R. Lasch, op. cit. iii. 97 sqq. 9 D. G. See also:Brinton, Myths of the New World (1896), 135; A. S. See also:Palmer, Nineteenth Century (Oct. 1909), pp. 694 sqq. 19 For the latter, see J. T. See also:Medina, See also:Les Aborigenes de See also:Chile (1882), 28 sqq. ; D. G. Brinton, op. cit., 176 sqq. ; Frazer, Pausanias, v. 44 seq. ; J. F. Maclennan, Studies in Anc. Hist., 2nd See also:series, 203 seq. The Babylonian story of Ea (see § z) and the deluge finds an Indian parallel in the See also:fish (or, otherwise a manifestation of Vishnu the many-headed serpent) which warned Menu. Among the See also:Austrian See also:gipsies the serpent is supposed to be able to See also:swallow up prolonged rams, and it may be conjectured that the stories associating the commencement or conclusion of great floods with chasms (e.g. See also:Lucian, De dea Syria, § 12 seq.) are connected with the beliefs associating wells or springs with serpents and other occupants. " See E. S. Hartland, Primitive Paternity (1909); Frazer, Adonis (See also:Index, s.v.Conception), and See also:Totemism and See also:Exogamy (1910.; Index, s.vv. " Conception,Snake "). 12 E. S. Hartland, The Legend of See also:Perseus (1894-1896), i. 121. In many places streams or springs are credited with the power of re-moving barrenness which, in primitive thought, is often ascribed to supernatural malevolence. See Hartland, op. cit., i. 71 sqq., 133, S. in wells and lakes. 167 sqq. 13 Journal of the Bombay Royal As. Soc. ix. 188; for sacrifices and snake-deities to obtain offspring, see Crooke i. 226; Winternitz, 258. In the Arabian Nights See also:Solomon prescribes the flesh of two serpents for the childless wives of the king of Egypt and his See also:vizier. 14 Frazer, Adonis, 72 (with other; examples). The Inca hero Yupanqui had as father a divine being with serpent and See also:lion attributes who revealed himself in a well (Hartland ii. i4 seq.). the emperor See also:Maximilian at See also:Innsbruck.' Sometimes the serpent stands at the head of the human See also:race as the See also:mother of all? This, following an old and still well supported interpretation of the name See also:Eve (hawwah), was apparently also the belief of one branch of the See also:Hebrews.' There are many instances of tribes or clans named after the serpent. These are not necessarily examples of nicknames, since a relationship between the two often shows itself in custom or belief. This feature sometimes applies, also, to cases where the See also:clan does not See also:bear the serpent name. In accordance with universal ideas of the reality of the " name," there are tribes who will refrain from mentioning the serpent' Also there are clans like the American Apaches and Navahos who will neither kill nor eat rattlesnakes for purely " superstitious " reasons. Where the reptile is venerated or feared it is usually inviolable, and among the See also:Brass- men of the See also:Niger the dangerous and destructive See also:cobra was especi- ally protected by an See also:article in the See also:diplomatic treaty of 1856 for the See also:Bight of Biafra (Maclennan, 524). The North American See also:Indians fear lest their venerated See also:rattlesnake should incite its kinsfolk to avenge any injury done to it, and when the See also:Seminole Indians begged an See also:English traveller to rid them of one of these troublesome intruders, they scratched him—as a See also:matter of form— in order to appease the spirit of the dead snake.' The snake-tribes of the Punjab clothe and See also:bury a dead serpent, and elsewhere in India when one is killed in the See also:village a See also:copper coin is placed in its mouth and the body ceremonially burned to avert evil.6 These snake-tribes claim to be See also:free from snake-bite, as also the ancient Psylli of Africa and the Ophiogenes (" serpent born ") of Cyprus who were supposed to be able to cure others. This power (cf. above § 3 seq.) was claimed likewise by the Marsians of ancient Italy, and is still possessed by the snake-clan of See also:Senegambia.' In Kashmir the serpent-tribes became famous for medical skill in general, and they attributed this to the health-giving serpent (Fergusson, 26o). Moreover, the Psylli would test the See also:legitimacy of their new-born by exposing them to serpents which would not harm those of pure See also:birth, and a similar See also:ordeal among the Ophiogenes of See also:Asia See also:Minor showed whether a man was really of their See also:kin.' This See also:peculiar " kinship " between serpent-clans and serpents may be further illustrated from Senegambia, where a See also:python is supposed to visit every child of the python-clan within eight days of birth, apparently as a sign of recognition. Also at Fernando Po there was an annual cere- mony where children born within the See also:year were made to touch the skin. of a serpent suspended from a tree in the public square.' We have next to notice the very general belief that the See also:house-hold snake was an agreeable See also:guest, if not a guardian spirit. In See also:Sweden, even in the 16th century, such snakes were virtually household gods and to hurt them was a deadly See also:sin. Among the old Prussians they were invited to See also:share an annual sacrificial ' Fergusson, 65; Crooke ii. 124; Oldham, 37, 85 sqq., 200 sqq.; Maclennan, p. 526 seq. 2 illurison, p. 130 n. 43; Maclennan, 527. Possibly the Kenite and allied families; cf. the conjecture associating See also:Moses and the See also:Levites with a serpent-clan (E. See also:Meyer and B. See also:Luther, Die Israeliten, 116, 426 sqq.). It is curious that Thermuthis, the traditional name of the princess who adopted Moses (See also:Josephus, See also:Ant. ii. 9. 5), is also the name of a serpent-deity (See also:Aelian, De anim. x. 31 ; see See also:Wiedemann on See also:Herod. ii. 74 seq.).
' Examples in Frazer, Golden Bough, i. 456 sqq.; N. W. See also: s See Fergusson, 259; Winternitz, 257; Crooke ii. 151 seq. 7 The 'See also:Omar See also:ibn `Isa of the Hadhramaut had the same gift (so Makrizi) ; cf. also See also:Lane's See also:account of the " Saadeeyeh " See also:sect who See also:charm away serpents from houses (Modern Egyptians). 3 See also:Strabo xiii. 1. 14. Serpents which would only attack those who were not natives were to be found on the See also:banks of•the See also:Euphrates and also at See also:Tiryns (Mir. Ausc. 149 seq. ; Pliny viii. 59. 84). In See also:Sicily also, where Pliny (See also:xxxvii. 10. 54) records some See also:mystery about harmless scorpions, old John Maundeville in his travels (See also:chap. v.) found a belief in snakes which were harmful only to illegitimate children. 9 Frazer, Golden Bough, ii. 370 seq. ; Totemism and Exog. i. 20. See also Crooke ii. 124, 142, 151 seq. (descent from a serpent involves See also:immunity from its bite, and a serpent is supposed to identify the rightful heirs of a See also:kingdom).See also:meal, and their refusal was a See also:bad sign.10 See also:Mahomet, it is said, declared that the house-dwelling snakes were a kind of jinn, and the See also:heathen Arabs invariably regarded them as alike malevolent or benevolent demoniacal beings." See also:slate Among the Romans every place had its See also:genius famiges. equally in the form of a serpent—cf. the doubt of See also:Aeneas (Verg. Aen. v. 84 sqq.)—and household snakes were lodged and fed in vast See also:numbers. They were the guardian-spirits of men and families, and stories are told of the way in which human life depended upon the safety of the reptile.'2 As a chthonic animal the serpent has often been regarded as an embodiment of the soul of the dead. See also:Grimm's story of king Gunthram tells how, while he slept, his soul in serpent-form visited a See also:mountain full of gold (See also:Paulus Diac. iii. 34), and Porphyry relates that a snake crawled from beneath the bed of See also:Plotinus at the moment of the philosopher's See also:death (cf. the Indian story, Oldham, 79). In See also:Bali near See also:Java, where the Naga-cult flourishes, a serpent is carried at the funeral ceremonies of the Kshatriya See also:caste and burned with the See also:corpse. Among many African tribes the house-haunting serpents are the dead, who are therefore treated with respect and often fed with See also:milk.13 But it does not appear that every venerated serpent was an incarnation or that every incarnation was reverenced or even tolerated. Among the Nayars of See also:Malabar, the See also:family-serpent is capable of almost unlimited powers for good or evil; it is part of the household See also:property, but does not seem to be connected with ancestral cults.'4 In Greece, however, " the dead man became a chthonic daemon, potent for good or evil; his natural symbol as such, often figured on tombs, was the snake."15 " The men to. As of old time," as See also:Plutarch observed, " associated the heroes and snake most of all beasts with heroes," and in See also:Photius I"al the term " speckled hero " thus finds an explanation. guardians. At the See also:battle of See also:Salamis the serpent which appeared among the See also:ships was taken to be the hero Cychreus.'s These heroes might become See also:objects of cult and local divinities of healing; people would pass their tombs in See also:awe, or resort thither for See also:divination or for taking oaths." In Egypt not only are there serpents of the houses, but each See also:quarter in See also:Cairo had a serpent-guardian (Lane). This is said also of the villages and districts of See also:Armenia, and Buddhist legends affirm it for India.'$ The Sati (See also:Suttee) wife immolated to accompany her deceased See also:husband often became the guardian of the village, and on the Sall shrine a snake may be represented in the See also:act of rising out of the See also:masonry 19 Athene (" the Athenian one ") was primarily the guardian spirit of Athens, and at the See also:Erechtheum her sacred serpent.(apparently known to the 3rd century A.D.), was fed monthly with See also:honey-cakes; when, during the See also:Persian See also:War, it See also:left the See also:food untouched it was taken as a sign that the protectors had forsaken the city.2° At Lebadeia in the shrine of Trophonios (to whom serpents were sacred) offerings of honey cakes were made to an oracular serpent. At Delphi a virgin superintended a similar See also:oracle; and in the sacred grove of Apollo at Epirus a nude virgin-attendant brought 19 See also B. See also:Deane, Serpent Worship, 245 seq., Fergusson, 23; J. Grimm, See also:Teutonic Mythology (1888), iv. 1490 sqq.; Tylor 1i.240. " T. See also:Noldeke (on serpent-beliefs in Arabia), Zeit. f. Volkerpsychol. 1. 412 sqq. (186o). 12 So, in the stories of Tiberius and D. See also:Laelius; Frazer, Adonis, 74 n. 2 (with references) ; cf. Fergusson, 19. 13 Frazer, Adonis, 73 seq. ; for India, see Winternitz, 258. " F. See also:Fawcett, See also:Madras Bulletin, iii. 279 (1901). " See also:Companion to Greek Studies, ed. L. Whibley (1905), p. 502 and fig. 97. The libations of milk which the Greeks poured upon See also:graves were possibly for these embodiments of the dead. 1s Pausanias, i. 36, 1 ; see Rohde, See also:Psyche, 2nd ed., i. 196. 17 See especially, on the Greek hero as a snake, Miss Jane E. See also:Harrison, Journ. of See also:Hell. Studies, xix. (1889), 2o4. sqq.; Proleg. to Study of Greek Religion (1903), 326 sqq. 16 Abeghian, Armen. Volksglaube, 74 sqq. ; Crooke ii. 127. 19 Crooke i. 187 seq. To these local examples may be added the See also:lord (or See also:lady) of life, a serpent-deity of the See also:Assyrian city Der (Winckler and Zimmern, Keilinschrift. u. d. alte Test. 505: for other evidence, see Index, s.v. " Schlange "). 20 Herod. viii. 41. The serpent was probably regarded as the See also:ems bodiment of the king See also:Erechtheus; see Frazer, Adonis, 75; A. Frickenhaus, Athen. Mitt. xxxiii. (1908), 171-176. 8. Relations with clans. offerings, and it was a sign of a plentiful year if they were accepted. So also at See also:Lanuvium, See also:south of Rome, in a grove near the temple of the Argive See also:Hera, sacred maidens descended blindfolded once a year with a See also:barley-cake, and if the serpent took it, it indicated that they were pure and that the husbandmen would be fortunate. On a Greek See also:vase-See also:painting the snake is the vehicle of the wrath of Athene, even as Chryse, another local " See also:maiden," had a snake-guardian of a shrine which she sent against See also:Philoctetes.' Similarly See also:Orestes in serpent-form would slay Clytaemnestra (See also:Aeschylus, Choephori): the serpent is thus the avenging spirit of the deceased, the embodiment of Vengeance (cf. Acts See also:xxviii. 4)? To these characteristics of serpents and serpent-godlings we must add the See also:control of the See also:weather. This was ascribed to the naga demi-gods and rajahs of India and to the " king aeaa of snakes " among North American Indians.' It is significant that in India the widely-distributed Nagapancami-festival occurs in the See also:rainy See also:season. We have seen how closely the serpent is associated with water generally (§ 5 seq.), and since we meet with the belief that sources will dry up when the serpent-occupant is killed (Bechuanas, Zulus), or that they will resent impurities thrown into their springs by causing storms (tribes of the See also:Hindu-Kush), it is not surprising to find elaborate precautions for the propitiation of such powerful beings. Now, there are popular stories of springs and waters which could only be used in return for See also:regular human sacrifices.' In a story from the isle of See also:Lesbos the dragon must receive a human victim twice a day. Curiously enough, an old authority tells us that the people of Lesbos were directed to throw a virgin into the sea to Poseidon, and the hero who vainly tried to See also:save her reappeared years later with a wonderful See also:cup of gold (Hartland, iii. 43 seq., 79, see See also:Athenaeus xi. 15). In the See also:Chinese See also:annals of See also:Khotan in Cashgar, when a certain stream dried up, a female dragon declared that her husband had died; one of the royal grandees sacrificed himself to meet the want, the water flowed once more, and the " husband " of the being became the guardian of the kingdom's prosperity., A careful study of all the related traditions suggests that they preserve an unmistakable recollection of human See also:sacrifice to serpents and other spirits of the water, and that the familiar story of the hero who vanquishes the demon and rescues the victim (usually a female, and especially a virgin) testifies to the suppression of the rite. An extremely rich dynasty in the Upper Niger was supposed to owe its wealth to a serpent in a well which received yearly a maiden attired as a See also:bride; the cessation of the practice brought drought and sickness (Hartland iii. 57 seq.). In Mexico the half-serpent Ahuizotl dragged into its pool hapless passers-by; however, their souls were supposed to go to the terrestrial See also:paradise—see on this idea, Rohde, I. 374, n. 2 —and the relatives became rich through the unhappy See also:accident (Hartland, 86 seq.). But in India human sacrifice was actually made in the expectation of gaining hidden treasure, and doubtless we have a survival of this when snake-charmers, for a drop of blood from the See also:finger of a first-born, will track the snakes which are guardians of treasure (Crooke ii. 135, 170 seq.). Indian traditions tell how reformers have persuaded the people in the past to stop their human sacrifices to serpent-spirits (Fergusson, 64, Oldham, tot), and a survival may be recognized in parts of the N.W. Provinces when, at the Gurui serpent-festival, women make vicarious offerings by throwing to Nag Deota, the river demon, dolls which the village lads See also:beat with long switches (Crooke ii. 139). It is unnecessary to refer more fully to the evidence for former human sacrifice or to the popular stories and grim superstitions which indicate its persistence; the grisly custom of our ancestors has been attested by comparatively See also:recent observation in Mexico. Peru, See also:Fiji and W. Africa., sqq., 233 sqq. 48 seq., 82, 257 seq.; Crooke, ii. 129; Oldham, Fergusson, Winternitz, 121, 49-51, 123, 129, 200; cf. 44 seq., 259 seq. ' Hartland iii. 2, 4, 10 seq., 14, 28, 30, 74, 87-94; Frazer, Paus. v. 45; Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship (1905), 183 seq., 192. Hartland iii. 73 seq., cf. also J. G. R. Forlong, Faiths of Man (1906), iii. 268. " See Deane, Serpent Worship, 245 seq. (See also:Livonia) ; and for more modern evidence, Maclennan, 216, 219; Oldham, 40, 50, 100 seq.; and A. B. Ellis (§ 12 below). Folk-lore adds to the survivals some of the customs for producing rain, e.g. bathing and drenching willing or unwilling victims, dipping See also:holy images in water, and otherwise disturbing springs and fountains (Frazer, Golden Bough, i.95 sqq., A conspicuous feature in serpent-cults is the prominence of See also:females. In India, in See also:Behar, during See also:August there is a colourless festival in which women, " wives of the snake," go l2. The round begging on behalf of the Brahmans and the villages (Crooke ii. 138). Among the Nayars of Malabar at the ceremonies of the Pambantullel, the household serpent-deities show their benevolence by inspiring with oracles certain women who must be of perfect purity? In See also:Travancore a serpent-god is the property of a family, the priests of a temple; the eldest female carries the image at the festal processions and must See also:lead a celibate life (Oldham, 153 seq.). Far more noteworthy is the cult of the Python Dafih-gbi of Whydah, which after taking root in See also:Dahomey, became the most remarkable example of a thoroughly organic serpent-cult.' The python-deity is god of wisdom and earthly See also:bliss and the benefactor of man (cf. § 2): he opened the eyes of the first human pair who were born blind. He is specially invoked on behalf of the king (the nominal head of the priesthood) and the crops, and a very See also:close connexion was supposed to exist between the god's agency and all agricultural life. Initiated priests, after remaining silent in his temple for seven days, receive a new name and thus become ordained. They possess a knowledge of poisons and antidotes and thereby acquire considerable income (cf. §§ 3, 8). Children who touch or are touched by one of the many temple-snakes are sequestered for a year and learn the songs and dances of the cult. Women who are touched become " possessed " by the god. In addition to his ministrant priestesses, the god has numerous " wives," who form a See also:complete organization. Neither of these classes may marry, and the latter are specially sought at the season when the crops begin to sprout.9 These "wives" take part in licentious rites with the priests and male worshippers, and the python is the reputed father of the offspring (cf. § 7). Every snake of its kind receives the profound veneration of the native of Whydah, who salutes it as See also:master, father, mother and benefactor. Such snakes must be treated with every respect, and if they are even accidentally killed, the offending native might be burned alive (cf. § 8). In 1890 a semblance of the See also:penalty was still maintained: the offender being allowed to See also:escape from a burning hut through a See also:crowd of snake-worshippers armed with clubs; if discreet in his bribes, and lucky, he might reach See also:running water and could purify himself there. On the day of public procession—the last took place in 1857 or 1858—naked priests and " wives" escorted the See also:company with songs and dances; death was the penalty of those caught peering from their houses, and, apart from this, the natives feared loathsome diseases should they gaze upon the sacred scene. It is said that Europeans who violated the See also:prohibition have been poisoned. Occasional human sacrifice in honour of the god is attested (cf. § II). While Dahomey furnishes this elaborate example of the modern worship of a god in the embodiment of a serpent, else-where we find either less organic types, or the persist- 13. various ence and survival of cults whose original form can only develop- be reconstructed by inference. In the gloomy rites meats of of the Diasia, the Olympian See also:Zeus, as Zeus Meilichios cults' god of wealth, has been imposed upon a chthonic snake-deity who is propitiated by holocausts of pigs and by a ritual of purgation (Harrison, Prol. 12-28). In the Thesmophoria, a See also:sowing festival of immemorial antiquity performed by women, cakes and pigs were thrown to serpents kept in caves and sacred to the See also:corn-goddess See also:Demeter, who, like the Bona Dea, was representative ,o8, III seq.; 209 sqq.). Here also are the superstitions which See also:associate rivers or pools with the safety of human life (e.g Frazer iii. 318 seq. ; Hartland ii. 20, 22 sqq. ; G. L. Gomme, See also:Ethnology in See also:Folklore [18921, 71 sqq., 77 se q.). F. Fawcett, Madras Gov. Museum, See also:Bull. iii. 277. (For the stress laid upon the See also:personal purity of the females, cf. p. 282). For other evidence for the prominence of females, see Fergusson, 82, 257 seq. 9 A. B. Ellis (above, § 6, n. 7), 47 sqq., 140 sqq., cf. Frazer, Adonis, 57 sqq. The cult taken by slaves to America is the Vodu (Vaudoo or Vaudoux) worship of See also:Haiti (Ellis, 29 seq.). 9 On their marriage to the god these devotees are marked with his image (said to be imprinted by the god himself); cf. the story that Atia, the mother of Augustus, when touched by the serpent in the temple of Apollo, was marked with a stain like a painted serpent. = Compare the snake attributes of the See also:Erinyes; see Harrison, 217 ' Sophoc, Phil. 1327: Harrison, Prol. 301 seq., 306 seq. famous Dahomey cult. of the fertility of nature. Myth explained it as a celebration of the See also:capture of Kore by Plouton.' The See also:Maenads (" mad ones ") or Bacchae, the women attendants of See also:Dionysus, with their snake-accompaniments, are only one of the various snake-features associated with the cult of a deity who was also a god of healing. The symbol of the Bacchic orgies was a consecrated serpent, and the snakes kept in the sacred cistae of the cult of Dionysus find a parallel among the sect of the Ophites where, at the sacramental rites, See also:bread was offered to the living serpent and afterwards distributed among the worshippers? Other developments may be illustrated from the cult of Aesculapius, who seems to have been merely a deified ancestor, like the Egyptian Imhotep (below) or the interesting Indian healer Sokha Baba (Crooke i. 147, ii. 122). Introduced into Athens about 421 B.C., Aesculapius inherited the older local cult of the serpent " See also:protector " Amynos (Harrison, 346 seq.). In See also:Laodicea he apparently replaced an older deity with serpent attributes.' In Egypt, he superseded the sage Imhotep at See also:Memphis, and at the temple sacred to Aesculapius and Hygieia at Ptolemais the See also:money-See also:box has been found with the upper part in the form of a great snake." Finally among the Phoenicians he was identified with Eshmun, an earlier god of healing, who in turn was already closely associated with Dionysus and with Caelestis-See also:Astarte.' - For the retention of older cults under a new name, Mahommedanism supplies several examples, as when a See also:forest-serpent of India receives a Mahommedan name (Oldham 128). 14. cOO' But sometimes there is a contest between the new tests serpenls6 cult and the old. Thus Apollo has to fight the oracle serpent of Gaia, and it has been observed that where Apollo prevailed in Greek religion the serpent became a monster to be slain.' At See also:Thebes—the Thebans were Serpentigenae—Apollo took the place of Cadmus, who, after killing the dragon which guarded a well and freeing the district, had ended by being turned into a serpent. This looks like the See also:assumption of indigenous traits by a foreigner—cf. Aesculapius (§ 13)—much in the same way as See also:Hercules has contests with serpents and dragons, becomes the patron of medicinal springs, and by marrying the serpent See also:Echidna was the ancestor of the snake-worshipping Scythian? But an ethnological tradition appears when Phorbas killed the serpent Ophiusa, freed See also:Rhodes of snakes and obtained supremacy, or when Cychreus slew the dragon of Salamis and took the kingdom.' A story told by See also:Herodotus (i. 78) admirably shows how the serpent as a child of earth was ' Harrison, 109 seq., 120 sqq., and art. THESMOPHORIA. The rites included the ' pursuit," possibly derived from the intentional opportunity of escape allowed the victim. Plouton, also associated with See also:Proserpine, the great mother-goddess, was patron of the chasms with mephitic vapours in the valley of the Maeander (see Frazer, Adonis, 170 sqq.). 2 A Greek vase shows snake-bodied See also:nymphs at the See also:grape-See also:harvest (Harrison 259 seq.), and in Egypt the harvest goddess Rannut had snake-form (F. See also:Petrie, Relig. of Ancient Egypt, 1906, p. 26). The serpent-god revered by Taxilus (king of Taxila), which was seen by Alexander the Great on his way to India, was identified by Greek writers with Dionysus or Bacchus. For the serpent in the cult of See also:Sabazius, see Harrison, Prol. 418, 535. A kind of sacramental communion with a snake is found among a Punjab snake-tribe (Frazer, Golden Bough, ii. 441 seq. ; Punjab Notes and Queries, ii. 91). ' For this and other Phrygian evidence, see W. M. See also:Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of See also:Phrygia, i. 52, 94, 104. 4 Ag. Zeit. xl. 140 seq. Aehan (De anim. xvi. 36) mentions a huge serpent at the temple dedicated to Aesculapius. See also:Serapis (Osiris-See also:Apis) who came to acquire the attributes of Aesculapius and of See also:Pluto, god of the dead, sometimes had serpent-form, and even in the reign of Constantine popular belief connected the rise of the See also:Nile with his agency (Frazer, Adonis, 398). ' See on this branch of the subject, W. W. G. Baudissin, Zeit. d. morgenl. Gesell. lix. (1905), 459-522, and Orient. Stud. Theodor Noldeke (ed. Bezold, -I906), ii. 729 sqq. ' Harrison, Alen. Hell. Stud. xix. 223, Cf. Proleg. 392; and E. Rohde, Psyche, i. 133 seq. Herod. iv. 9; for Hercules and healing waters, see Frazer, Adonis, 174 seq. ; cf. above, § 5. Here arises the question of the tendency to attribute to outside aid the introduction of culture (cf. § 2), and even of See also:law (F. See also:Pollock, ed. of Maine's Ancient Law, 1907, p. 19)-
9 Cf. the similar view of serpent-conflicts in Persian tradition (Fergusson, 44 seq.), and the story of the colonization of See also:Cambodia, where the new-corner marries the dragon-king's daughter (lb. 53).a type of indigenous peoples, and there was a tendency to represent the earlier conquered races as monsters and demons, though not necessarily unskilled (e.g. the Cretan Kouretes), or to depict the See also:conquest of barbarians as the overthrow of serpents or serpent-like beings.' This obviously complicates the investigation of serpent-cults. Moreover, the serpent or dragon may have an opponent like the See also:eagle (see Goblet d'Alviella, 7), Or a cosmical antagonist—the lightning, See also:thunder or rain-god. Indra, the rain-god, slew with a thunderbolt Ahi or Vitra, who kept back the waters (Oldham, 32 sqq.); the thunder-god of the See also:Iroquois killed the subterranean serpent which fed on human flesh (Hartland iii. 151).'° Or the See also:victor is the sun: the Egyptian sun-god Re had his fire-spitting serpent to oppose his enemies, of which one was the See also:cloud and See also:storm serpent Apophis, while
in Greek myth the sanctuary of Helios (the sun) sheltered the See also:young See also:Orpheus from the snake.
It is impossible to trace a safe path through the complicated aetiological myths, the fragments of reshaped legend and
tradition, or the See also:adjustment of See also:rival theologies. It remains to observe the overthrow or supersession of the 1s. In
serpent in Christian lands. At Axum in Abyssinia, wino. where worship was divided between the serpent and
the See also:Mosaic Law, it is said that the great dragon was burst asunder by the prayers of Christian See also:saints (c. A.D. 340; Fergusson, 35). At the Phrygian See also:Hierapolis the serpent Echidna was expelled by the Apostles See also: This purely secondary aspect of the serpent as the See also:devil cannot be noticed here." At See also:Rouen the celebration of St Remain seems to preserve a recollection of human sacrifice to a serpent-demon which was primarily sup-pressed by a See also:pagan hero, and at See also:Metz, where St See also:Clement is celebrated as the conqueror of a dragon, its image (formerly kept in the See also:cathedral) was taken round the streets at the annual festival and received offerings of food.i4 Most remarkable of all, at Cocullo in the Abruzzi mountains on the border of the old territory of the See also:Marsi snake-men (see § 8), the serpent-deity has a lineal descendant in the shape of St Domenico of See also:Foligno (A.D. 950-1031). The shrine is famous for its See also:cures, and when the saint has his serpent-festival on the first See also:Thursday in May, Serpari or serpent-men carry coils of live reptiles in procession before his image, which in turn is hung with serpents of all sizes. The rites, we may suppose, have become modified and more orthodox, but none the less they are a valuable testimony to the persistence of the cult among people who still claim power over serpents and immunity from their bite, and who live hard by the See also:home of the ancient tribe which ascribed its origin to the son of See also:Circe." One may recall the old cult of Sabazios where 9 Cf. the serpent-pillars found in the old Roman provinces of See also:Europe (Frazer, Pausanias, ii. 49, V. 478 seq.). For the Kouretes, the fish and serpent-like peoples struck down by Zeus or Apollo, see Harrison, Annual of Brit. School at Athens, xv. 308 sqq. 10 In popular Macedonian lore the lightning or thunder is the enemy of the serpent-dragon (G. F. See also:Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, 261; cf. also Schwartz, 15o sqq., W. R. Smith, 175, n. I ; Winternitz, 45). " W. M. Ramsay, op. cit. i. 86 seq. ; cf. See also:Gutschmid, Rhein. See also:Mus. (1864), pp. 398 sqq. 12 Fergusson, p. 29, n. 2 (see, however, Frazer, Golden Bough, iii. 323 seq.). For analogous traditions, see Fergusson, 32. 'a See See also:ANTICHRIST; DEVIL; DRAGON. 14 See further Frazer, Kingship, 184-192; Schwartz, 73 seq.; See also:Hecker, Deutscher Volksglaube (See also:Gottingen, 1853), p. 231. Similarly, food is offered to the snake of dough in the Punjab festival already mentioned (See also:note 2 above). " The festival is described (as seen in 1906) by Marian C. Harrison, Folklore, xviii. (1907), 187 sqq. A See also:combination of a cult of the house-snake with that of the (Christian) saint of the master of the house is said to prevail in modern Greece (J. C. See also:Lawson, Modern Greek Religion, 1910, p. 260). deities or demons of serpent-type with consorts.° There is every-where a danger of misunderstanding isolated evidence, of wrongly classifying different motives, and of overlooking necessary links in the See also:chain of See also:argument. There is an obvious development from the serpent qua reptile to the deity or the devil, and that the original theriomorphic form is not at once forgotten can be seen in Zeus Meilichios, Aesculapius Amynos, in the Cretan snake-goddesses, or in the Buddhist topes illustrated by Fergusson. But naturally there are other developments to be noticed when originally distinct attributes are combined, when, for example, Greek goddesses take the forms of birds as well as of snakes (Harrison, 322), or when the Aztec snake-deity Huitzilcpochtli, like the Votan of the Mayas, has feathers (Maclennan, 384).7 Thus it will be perceived that the subject of this article involves at every turn problems of the history of thought (cf. the similar difficulties in the discussion of TRUE-WORSHIP). There is ample material for purely See also:comparative purposes and for an estimate both of the general fundamental ideas and of the artificially-developed secondary speculations; but for any scientific 'research it is necessary to observe the social, religious and historical conditions of the' provenance and See also:period of the evidence, and for this the material is often insufficient. The references in this article furnish See also:fuller information and are usually made to See also:works suitable for pursuing the subject more thoroughly. One may also consult the English and See also:foreign See also:journals devoted to folklore, comparative religion or See also:anthropology (especially the volumes of Folklore, Index, s.v. " Snakes "), and the articles in this See also:Encyclopaedia on the various departments of primitive religion; In general, works which endeavour to reduce the evidence for this fascinating subject to clear-cut systems are more useful for the data they provide than for their conclusions, and it is not unnecessary to warn readers against the unscientific studies of " ophiolatry and especially against " that portentous nonsense called the ` arkite symbolism ' (see E. B. Tylor's remarks, Primitive Culture, 4th ed., ii. 239).
men waved great red snakes over their heads as they marched in procession. One may even recall the' cult of Dahomey. More-over, we find at See also:Madagascar the procession of the god of fertility and healing, the patron of serpents who are the ministers of his vengeance (Frazer, Paus. v. 66 seq.). In a See also:Bengal festival the men See also: It is another stage when only the more conspicuous mortals assume serpent See also:guise, and the deification of heroes involves yet another course of ideas. Here it is evident that some of the attributes of prominent serpent-gods will be purely secondary. Moreover, it is a human weakness to manipulate one's ancestry, and the common claim to be descended from the local godling is not to be confused with the Arunta type of reincarnation.' Again, in the part taken by women in serpent-lore other problems of primitive society and religion intermingle. For example, when one considers how often milk is used in the tending and propitiation of venerated snakes, it is noteworthy that in Roman cult the truly rustic deities are offered milk (See also:Fowler), and it is no less singular that many of the old goddesses of Greece have serpent attributes (Harrison).' Now anthropological research has vividly shown that woman, naturally fitted (as it seemed) to understand the mysteries of increase, was assigned a prominent part in rites for the furtherance of growth and fertility. And the same See also:thread of ideas seems to recur ir. the " wives " of the python Danh-gbi (§ 12), the Shakti ceremonies in India for the increase of the divine See also:energy of nature (Fergusson, 258 seq.), and, to a certain extent, in the providing of ' J. G. See also:Bourke, Snake-See also:Dance of the Moquis (1884), p. 18o seq.; see Frazer, Totem. and Exog. iii. 229 sqq. 2 Here one will note the prevalence of the ideas of " mother earth," and also the association in higher religions of chthonic powers with the serpent, so, e.g. the winds (viz. See also:Boreas in Greece, cf. Harrison, Prol. 68, 181), subterranean gods (for See also:Assyria, cf. Zeit. f. Assyr. [1894] p. 116, and for the Finns, Fergusson, p. 250 seq.). For the serpent (sometimes with anthropomorphic hints) in the Tabellae devotions, see R. Wunsch, Sethianische Verfluchungstafeln (Leipzig, 1898), too sqq., and for a Carthaginian triad of the under world (cf. the threefold See also:Hecate) including h-w-t (cf. fxawwah, Eve, " serpent "), see G. A. See also:Cooke, N. Semit. Inscr. (1903), p. 135. 3 See also:Spencer and Gillen, N. Tribes of Central Australia, 162, 330 seq. (Frazer, Adonis, p. 8o); A. Lang, Origins of Religion (189o), p. 124. 4 There appears to be a fundamental inclination towards ideas of rebirth and reincarnation (see F. B. See also:Jevons, Introd. to Study of Comp. Religion, 1908, pp. 50 sqq., 59 sqq.); it would seem to be wrapped up in the feeling of the essential " one-ness " of the See also:group (including its deity), and involves the belief that such corporate bodies never die (cf. even the Roman conception of the family, Maine, op. cit. 197 sqq.). 3 W. W. Fowler, Roman Festivals, 103-105; Harrison, Journ. Hell. Stud. xix. 221. For the use of milk, cf. Frazer, Adonis, 74 (with the See also:suggestion that it is because milk is the food of babes), Crooke ii. 130, and F. Fawcett, Madras Gov. Bull. (1900), iii. 1, 58 (a South-Indian festival on the fifth of Sravana, when the serpent-deity is bathed in milk).(S. A. Additional information and Commentshi........... iam antoine farrugia a maltese sculptor. i use to sculp my first serpentine last month in zoblitz.a 1.80cm sculpture that now is fixed in fraustien. there i found kind people in a local factory that really helped me a lot. the serpentine stone its amazing to sculp........ regards antoine farrugia malta
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