The Good and Evil Serpent (142 page)

101
. M. Gimbutas,
The Language of the Goddess
(San Francisco, 1989) p. 121.

102
. See M. Girard,
Les symboles dans la Bible
(Paris, 1991) p. 827.

2. Physiology Undergirds Symbology

1
. The sins of the institution called “the church” are many, of course. See the work by H.-J. Wolf,
Sünde der Kirche
(Hamburg, 1998). I celebrate the exposing of the sins of those who failed to lead the church and recall the depiction of the leaders of Israel as the wicked shepherds (1
En
and Jn). Much of Wolf’s presentation is jaded: the Christian belief is not a constructed picture of deception (“ein konstruiertes Trugbild,” p. 443), and the Christian belief in the Devil is not a false interpretation of history and groundless (p. 484), but it is in need of demythologizing.

2
. M. Martinek,
Wie die Schlange zum Teufel Wurde: Die Symbolik in der Paradiesgeschichte von der hebräischen Bibel bis zum Koran
(Wiesbaden, 1996).

3
. J. J. Kambach,
Betrachtung des Geheimnisses Jesu Christi in dem Vorbilde der Ehernen Schlange
(Halle, 1728). Kambach explained “das alte Testament aus dem neuen zu erläutern” (p. 6). He was convinced that “es habe die erhöhete eherne Schlange nicht Christum, sondern den Satan abgebildet” (p. 6). The contrast is clear: “Es ist allzu klar, dass in der Auslgegung Jesu Christi die erhöhete Schlange und der erhöhete Menschen-Sohn einander entgegen gesetzet werden” (pp. 6–7).

4
. “Die alte Schlange, Sünd und Tod, / die Höll, all Jammer, Angst und Not / hat überwunden Jesus Christ, / der heut vom Tod erstanden ist.” Stuttgart, 1996, p. 242 (also see hymns 39, verse 5, 111, verse 9, 113, verse 2, 509, verse 1; all are negative images of the serpent).

5
. A. Baeumler, ed.,
Friedrich Nietzsche Werke
(Leipzig, 1930) vol. 4, p. 291.

6
. See E. Fahmüller et al.,
Das grosse Lexikon der Malerei
(Braunschweig, 1982) p. 601.

7
. In Anonymous,
Meisterwerke der Kunst: Malerei von A-Z
(Chur, Switzerland, 1994) p. 694.

8
. R. Briffault,
The Mothers: The Matriarchal Theory of Social Origins
(New York, 1931) p. 48. Briffault is intent on establishing his thesis that tender emotions and affection “have then their origins not in sexual attraction, but in maternal reactions” (p. 51). He does raise some valid points, and it is alarming to review the evidence that leads to the claim: “All carnivorous animals and rodents are cannibalistic” (p. 47), and that lions, tigers, leopards, and wolves have been observed eating their mates.

9
. H. R. E. Davison,
God and Myths of Northern Europe
(London, New York, 1990) pp. 26–27, 138–39, 188, 202.

10
. I have amassed so much data to illustrate ophidian iconography and symbology that it is difficult to be selective. One of my discoveries is the vast evidence of ophidian (anguine) artwork (esp. sculptures) and jewelry from antiquity. Much of it dates from or near the first century CE. For bibliographical data to publications on the items mentioned in the list, see the following pages and the Selected “Serpent” Bibliography.

11
. He stands on the backs of two lions. Perhaps the mix of images (water, bulls, snakes, vegetation) was intended to support some ancient rain rite. See the discussion and photograph in S. Piggott,
The Dawn of Civilization
(New York, London, 1967) p. 69.

12
. This ring was found at Vik in Sogn. It belonged to a woman and dates from about 300 CE. The woman was probably wealthy. The Vikings or Norsemen were gifted craftsmen, as we know not only from this ring but from the intricate woodwork on their ships. I am grateful to Professor P. Borgen for helping my study of Viking art. On Viking art and myth, see M. J. Roberts,
Mythologie der Wikinger
(Kettwig, [1997?]). The god Jormungand is a serpent (see the image of the god swallowing his tail, as Orouboros, on p. 57).

13
. See, notably, I. Clarus,
Keltische Mythen
(Augsburg, 1997) pp. 35–36; also see the snakes on pp. 302–3.

14
. See the photograph and discussion in C. Meier-Seethaler,
Von der göttlichen Löwin zum Wahrzeichen männlicher Macht: Ursprung und Wandel grosser Symbole
(Zurich, 1993) esp. p. 214.

15
. See E. J. Krige,
The Social System of the Zulus
(London, 1950 [2nd ed.]) p. 357.

16
. The drum was found at Rio Grande de Nasca in southern Peru; see the color photograph and discussion in E. J. Milleker, ed.,
The Year One: Art of the Ancient World—East and West
(New Haven and New York, 2000) pp. 202–3. Also see the serpent images displayed and discussed in K. Sälzle,
Tier und Mensch: Gottheit und Dämon: Das Tier in der Geistesgeschichte der Menschheit
(Munich, 1965) pp. 50–51.

17
. See G. W. Locher,
The Serpent in Kwakiutl Religion
(Leiden, 1932); B. Mundkur, “The Cult of the Serpent in the Americas: Its Asian Background,”
Current Anthropology
17 (1976) 429–55. Mundkur points out that the serpent in American culture was venerated because of “the awe it generated,” and because “man’s reverential fear of this animal is extraordinarily primordial” (p. 429). A. M. Warburg, who founded the Warburg Institute in London, was fascinated by the Native Americans; note his publications on the serpent:
Schlangenritual: Ein Reisebericht
(Berlin, 1988),
Images from the Religion of the Pueblo Indians of North America
(Ithaca, London, 1955), and “A Lecture on Serpent Ritual,”
Journal of the Warburg Institute
2.277–92. Warburg pointed out parallels between the Native American snake ceremonies and the Dionysiac rituals in which “Maenads danced with live snakes entwining their hair like diadems,” while holding a snake in one hand (p. 288). This thought should be kept and rekindled when we examine the Minoan snake goddesses (or priestesses). For the Hopi Indians, see G. A. Dorsey,
The Mishongnovi Ceremonies of the Snake and Antelope Fraternities
(Field Columbian Museum Publications 66; Chicago, 1902). For the Native American snake dance, see J. W. Fewkes,
Tusayan Snake Ceremonies
(Washington, 1897) and W. Hough,
The Moki Snake Dance
(Sante Fe Route, 1898). Hough published sixty-four photographs from the late nineteenth century; see esp. p. 13 for the entrance of the snake priests.

18
. See H. Zimmer,
Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization
(New York, 1946, 1947). Also see A. Avalon,
The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirüpana and Püdukü-Panchaka
(Madras, 1924).

19
. See E. A. W. Budge,
Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection
, 2 vols. (London, New York, n.d. [1911]) vol. 2, pp. 237–38.

20
. L. N. Hayes reported that 70 percent of the Chinese in the 1920s believed in the existence of “real dragons.” He pointed out that these dragons are not “horrible monsters” but “friendly creatures.” See his
The Chinese Dragon
(Shanghai, China, 1922 [3rd ed.]). Also see J.-P. Dieny,
Le symbolisme du dragon dans la Chine Antique
(Paris, 1994) and M. W. de Visser,
The Dragon in China and Japan
(Amsterdam, 1913). For a discussion of Chinese dragons and images from the fifth century BCE to the eighteenth century CE, see Sälzle,
Tier und Mensch
, pp. 233–76.

21
. See H. Ritter,
Die Schlange in der Religions der Melanesier
(Basel, 1945).

22
. See J. Verschueren,
Le culte du Vaudoux en Haiti: Ophiolätre et Animisme
(Belgium, 1948).

23
. See H. Cory,
Wall-Paintings by Snake Charmers in Tanganyika
(London, n.d.). H. Cory was the government anthropologist in Tanganyika.

24
. F. C. Oldham,
The Sun and the Serpent
(London, 1905) p. 5.

25
. Scholars are often asked to explain how they work and proceed with investigations. The published report cannot reflect the process. It is always a mixture of what had been asked previously and what has been discovered in the years of research. The previous statement, although it comes at the beginning of this work, could only have been written near the end of it.

26
. R. C. Zaehner,
Hinduism
(London, New York, 1962) p. 191.

27
. N. Smart,
The Religious Experience of Mankind
(New York, 1969) p. 120.

28
. See I. Clarus’ discussion in
Keltische Mythen
, p. 309. For the illustration of the three-headed god, see p. 39.

29
. J. Boulnois,
Le caducée et la symbolique dravidienne indo-méditerranéenne, de l’arbre, de la pierre, du serpent et de la déesse-mère
(Paris, 1939).

30
. J. B. Russell,
The Devil
(Ithaca, London, 1977) p. 69.

31
. See B. D. Haage, “Das Ouroboros—Symbol in ‘Parzival,’ “
Würzburger Medizinhistorische Mitteilungen
1 (1983) 5–22; S. Mahdihassan, “The Significance of Ouroboros in Alchemy and in Primitive Symbolism,”
Iqbal
(1963) 18–47; and W. Deonna, “Ouroboros,”
Artibus Asiae
15 (1952) 163–70. Deonna rightly points out that in the Middle East, Iran, and Rome, there is abundant evidence “of the circular serpent, a symbol of the cosmos, and the notion of eternity which obtains diverse nuances” (p. 170).

32
. For a good illustration, see B. Johnson,
Lady of the Beasts: Ancient Images of the Goddess and Her Sacred Animals
(San Francisco, 1990) illus. no. 174.

33
. Johnson, ibid., pp. 158–59.

34
. See P. Foucart in
Bull. Corr. Hell
. 7 (1883) 511ff.

35
. See K. H. Hunger,
Der Äskulapstab
(Berlin, 1978) p. 112. See the other icono-graphical examples he presents, esp. on p. 113.

36
. See the color photograph in Fahmüller et al.,
Das grosse Lexikon der Malerei
, p. 614.

37
. Copies of
Aurora consurgens
are housed in Glasgow (University Library; MS Ferguson 6), Zurich (Zentralbibliothek; MS Rhenoviensis 172), Leiden (MS Vossiani Chemici F. 29), Paris (the Bibliothèque Nationale; MS Parisinus Latinus 14006), Prague (Universitni Knihovna; MS VI. Fd. 26 and in Chapitre Métropolitain; MS 1663. O. LXXIX) and Berlin (Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz; MS Germ. qu. 848).

38
. D. Fontana,
The Secret Language of Symbols
(San Francisco, 1994) p. 8.

39
. In western Europe, at the beginning of the twentieth century, women would go to a cave in Lanuvium in which there was a snake. If the snake ate what had been baked, their prayers would be answered. See E. Rein, “Die Schlangenhöhle von Lanu-vium,”
Annales Acad. Sc. Fennicae
B, XI, 3 (1919) 3–22.

40
. See esp. E. Giancristofaro and I. Bellotta,
Il culto di San Domenico a Cocullo
(Corfinio, 1998); N. Chiocchio,
Iserparia Cocullo
(Tivoli, 2000). Also see P. D’Alberto et al., eds.,
Popoli e riti: Aspetti di religiosità popolare nell’entroterra abruzzse
(Corfinio, 2000) esp. pp. 11–21. I am grateful to Maria Adelaide Ghinozzi, mother of G. Boccaccini, for helping me study this serpent cult now active in Italy. Also see L. C. Smith, “A Survival of an Ancient Cult in the Bruzzi,”
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni
4 (1928) 106–19; N. Lewis, “Snakes of San Domenico,”
The Independent Magazine
(21 October 1989) 74–76.

41
. H. Bayley,
The Lost Language of Symbolism
, 2 vols. (London, 1912; reprinted by The Book Tree of Escondido, Calif. in 2000) vol. 1, p. 11. It is frustrating to work with Bayley’s books; he illustrates his two volumes with 1,418 images but never clarifies their source.

42
. See esp. E. Schmidt,
Le Grand Autel de Pergame
(Leipzig, 1962); see esp. Plate 710, and notably 16 and 28; also see A. Schober,
Die Kunst von Pergamon
(Vienna, 1951).

43
. See esp. H. Busch and G. Edelmann, eds.,
Etruskische Kunst
(Frankfurt am Main, 1969) p. 95. The Etruscans also depicted Persephone with snakes on her head, jewelry in the form of serpents, dancing girls with serpents in the background or at their feet, and lions with serpents as tails. See L. Banti,
Die Etrusker
(Essen, n.d. perhaps 1998).

44
. J. A. Peters, “Serpents,”
The New Encyclopeaedia Britannica; Micropaedia
(1968) vol. 16, p. 560.

45
. J. Coborn,
The Atlas of Snakes of the World
(Neptune City, N.J., 1991) p. 11.

46
. See esp. the reflections in G. R. Zug, L. J. Vitt, and J. P. Caldwell,
Herpetology
(San Diego, New York, London, 2001 [2nd ed.]) p. xi.

47
. The snake appeared on the earth about 100 to 150 million years ago. See “Die Stammesgeschichte der Reptilien,” in R. Bauchot, ed.,
Schlangen
, trans. C. Ronsiek (Augsburg, 1994) p. 33. Also see C. Mattison, “Evolution,” in
Snake
(New York, 1999) p. 8, and Mattison,
The Encyclopedia of Snakes
(New York, 1995) p. 11.

48
. I am grateful to my numerous colleagues in South Africa with whom I discussed the snake. For eighteen years I lived in southern Florida and periodically near the Everglades. I frequented the Serpentarium in Miami. Yet I have learned the most, it seems, from reading ophiologists’ publications. I have been especially influenced by the articles in R. Bauchot, ed.,
Schlangen;
J. Coborn,
The Atlas of Snakes of the World;
G. Z. Zug, L. J. Vitt, and J. P. Caldwell,
Herpetology;
C. Mattison,
Snakes of the World
(London, 1992, 1998); H. W. Greene,
Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature
(Berkeley, London, 1997); C. Mattison,
The Encyclopedia of Snakes
, 1995); and C. Mattison,
Snake
. I have also studied snakes in many zoos, notably, the ones on Crete and in Berlin, Washington, London, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, and New York.