The Good and Evil Serpent (160 page)

361
. There is no number on the piece of sculpture.

362
. Doceticism denote the heresy that claims Jesus only seemed to be human. On the Ophites’ belief in a nonhistorical version of Christianity, see R. Liechtenhan, “Ophiten,” in
RE
14 (1904) 404–13; see esp. p. 410.

363
. I am influenced by a comment by Lloyd-Russell in “The Serpent as the Prime Symbol of Immortality Has Its Origin in the Semitic-Sumerian Culture” (PhD diss., Los Angeles, 1938) p. 54.

364
. Egli,
Das Schlangensymbol
, pp. 58–71.

365
. See Lane,
Arabic-English Lexicon
Book I, Part 1 (1863) ad loc. cit.

366
. F. Steingass,
A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary
(London, 1892, 1947) p. 434.

367
. Payne Smith,
Thesaurus Syriacus
, vol. 1, col. 1254 and col. 1210;
LexSyr
, pp. 173, 220.

368
. It is possible that
hawwdh
meant “snake” in Old Hebrew (not biblical Hebrew) as I argue in Appendix I; see, e.g.,
LexSyr
, p. 220a.

369
. See A. Sharma, “The Significance of Visnu Reclining on the Serpent,”
Religion
16 (1986) 101–14.

370
. R. Girard,
Le Popol-Vuh: Histoire culturelle des Maya-Quiché
(Paris, 1954) p. 269.

371
. See the similar comments by M.-L. Henry in “Schlange,”
BHH
(1966) vol. 3, cols. 1699–1701; the quotation is in col. 1700.

372
. See esp. Buchholz, “Schlangen und Wasser,”
UF
32 (2000) 43–46.

373
. A. Golan, “Snake-Water,” in
Myth and Symbol: Symbolism in Prehistoric Religions
(Jerusalem, 1991) p. 101.

374
. See esp. P. de Miroschedji, “Le dieu Élamite au serpent et aux eaux jaillissantes,”
Iranica Antiqua
16 (1981) 1–25, eleven plates.

375
. It may seem surprising that not one serpent has been found on Jewish ossuaries, but these categorically come with floral designs. The appearance of the fish-like graffiti on them is challenging. See P. Figueras,
Decorated Jewish Ossuaries
(Leiden, 1983) esp. pp. 105–6.

376
. See, e.g., G. Rondelet,
L’histoire entière des poisons
(Paris, 2002 [originally 1558]) vol. 1, pp. 316–17; vol. 2, pp. 168–69.

377
. See Golan,
Myth and Symbol
, p. 104.

378
. See F. A. M. Wiggerman, “Transtigridian Snake Gods,” in
Sumerian Gods and Their Representations
, edited by I. L. Finkel and M. J. Geller (Groningen, 1997) pp. 33–55.

379
. See MacCulloch’s data in
ERE
11.403.

380
.
ERE
11.399.

381
. G. Azarpay, “The Snake-Man in the Art of Bronze Age Bactria,”
Bulletin of the Asia Institute
NS 5 (1991) 1–10; the quotation is on p. 6.

382
. See W. H. Mare, “Serpent’s Stone,”
AYBD
5.116–17.

383
. See Appendix I.

384
. Text UT 62.50; see C. H. Gordon,
Ugaritic Literature
(Rome, 1949) p. 49.

385
. At Palmyra there is a stone carving of two mounted heroes on either side of a dignitary, above whom is a long serpent. See the picture in E. Will, “Les aspects de l’intégration des divinités orientales dans la civilization Gréco-Romaine,”
Mythologie Gréco-Romaine, Mythologies Périphériques: Études d’iconographie
, ed. L. Kahil and C. Augé (Paris, 1981) pp. 157–61; Plate I, bottom.

386
. See Küster, “Die Schlange als Wasserdämon,”
Die Schlange in der griechischen Kunst und Religion
, pp. 153–57.

387
. See, e.g., F. Herrmann,
Symbolik in den Religionen der Naturvölker
(Stuttgart, 1961) esp. pp. 106–41.

388
. I visited Cyprus after completing the previous chapters. In the Museum of Kyk-kos on Cyprus, I found a black-polished ceramic vessel with a serpent on it. It dates to approximately 2000–1850 BCE. The beak-shaped spout has the representation of a serpent. It has five curves. No physical features are indicated. The appliquéd serpent is inferior to the quality of the jug (A 113).

389
. Cf. 2.18 and 2.24.

390
. Cf. 2.17.

391
. Cf. 2.5.

392
. Emile Puech and Kevin McCaffrey killed a viper in the garden of the Ecole Biblique de Jérusalem; the garden is near and above the ancient and modern tombs.

393
. Pliny,
Nat
. 7.172; also see Küster,
Die Schlange in der griechischen Kunst und Religion
, pp. 62–72.

394
. See R. de Vaux,
Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
, trans. J. McHugh (London, 1961) p. 44.

395
. See the general reflections by W. A. Jayne in
The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations
(New Haven, 1925) pp. 222–85.

396
. J. Maringer, “Die Schlange in Kunst und Kult der vorgeschichtlichen Menschen,”
Anthropos
72 (1977) 881–920.

397
. R. Jackson,
Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire
(London, 1988).

398
. Also see H. Sobel,
Hygieia: Die Göttin der Gesundheit
(Darmstadt, 1990); see esp. the forty illustrations (numbered per page); most important, see 3b (Hygieia, Asclepius, and a large serpent), 7a, 8b, 9a, 11b (Hygieia with a serpent), 18a (Hygieia, Asclepius, and the serpent).

399
. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
, ed. F. J. Miller (LCL; London, New York, 1916) vol. 2, pp. 410–11.

400
. Eusebius,
PG
III.14 (124a); Gifford, trans., Eusebius,
Preparation for the Gospel
, p. 135.

401
. For a photograph, see E. Dvorjetski, “Properties of Therapeutic Baths in Eretz-Israel in Antiquity,” in
Illness and Healing in Ancient Times
, p. 42.

402
. For another (color) photograph, see Y. Meshorer,
TestiMoney
(Jerusalem, 2000) p. 50.

403
. See H. Vincent and F.-M. Abel,
Jérusalem
(Paris, 1926) vol. 2, Plate LXVII, image V.

404
. See the photographs in R. Gersht, “Gods of Medicine in the Greek and Roman World,” in
Illness and Healing in Ancient Times
, pp. 8, 9, and 12.

405
. See S. V. McCasland, “The Asklepios Cult in Palestine,”
JBL
58 (1939) 22127; esp. p. 224.

406
. B. O. Foster,
Livy
(LCL; London, New York, 1926) vol. 4, pp. 540–43.

407
. See Livy, Book 11, summary.

408
. S. R. F. Price in
The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C.-A.D. 69
, ed. A. K. Bowman et al. (Cambridge, [2nd ed.]) p. 812.

409
. See M. Hamilton,
Incubation
(St. Andrews, London, 1906).

410
. R. Parker in
The Oxford History of the Classical World
, ed. J. Boardman, J. Griffin, and O. Murray (Oxford, New York, 1986) 267.

411
. Pliny,
Nat
. 29.71.

412
. Far too often studies of sickness and health in the New Testament focus on how Jesus cast out demons and represented God’s will in his actions and fail to see the importance of ophidian symbolism and the pervasive influence of the Asclepian cult and Asclepius in the first century. Such a blindness characterizes such works as F. Fenner’s
Die Krankheit im Neuen Testament
(Leipzig, 1930).

413
. I am grateful to Jacob Milgrom for this information.

414
. Far more common in Rabbinics is the fear of the snake who poisons fruit and water. See the discussions in J. Preuss,
Biblical and Talmudic Medicine
, trans. F. Rosner (Northvale, N.J., London, 1978, 1993); see “Snake” in the Index. This classic is quite dated; Preuss lived from 1861 to 1913.

415
. See P. D. Miller, “Fire in the Mythology of Canaan and Israel,”
CBQ
27 (1965) 256–61. The burning of Jerusalem was perceived to be purification of the city (viz. Jer 21:10, 32:29). See Exod 29:14; Lev 4:12, 4:21, 16:27; Ezek 43:21, and esp. Num 19:5 and Deut 21:1–9 (the burning of the red heifer). Note also the rules for burning and thus purifying the clothes that were contaminated or infected (Lev 13:52, 13:55). The burning of the Canaanite altars and gods and goddesses was a purifying of the land (Deut 7:5, 25; 12:3, Jer 43:12–13) that also demanded a burning of their cities (viz. Deut 13:16; Josh 11:6, 13 [bis]). I note that Le Grande Davies also suggests that “burning-serpents” in Num 21 had a cleansing connotation: “The serpents of the wilderness acted as ‘servants’ of YHWH to help cleanse Israel of its ‘refuse.’ “ “Serpent Imagery in Ancient Israel,” p. 104.

416
. I am grateful to E. E. Urbach for conversations on the meaning of stoning among the Jews.

417
. Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Library
1.96.

418
. Halliday,
Greek Divination
, pp. 82–83.

419
. Ambrose,
Of the Christian Faith
16.131e; trans. H. De Romestin, “Of the Christian Faith,”
NPNF2
10, p. 261.

420
. Jung,
Man and His Symbols
, p. 153.

421
. J. L. Henderson and M. Oakes.
The Wisdom of the Serpent: The Myths of Death, Rebirth, and Resurrection
(New York, 1963; repr. Princeton, 1990) p. 154.

422
. Ibid., p. 156.

423
. For the Greek text, translation, and commentary, see M. D. Reeve, “A Rejuvenated Snake,”
Acta Antiqua: Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
37 (1996/1997) 245–58.

424
. For the following examples, I am indebted to Reeve,
Acta Antiqua: Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
37 (1996/1997) 245.

425
. See Lloyd-Russell, “The Serpent as the Prime Symbol of Immortality,” esp. pp. iii, 9, 64, 66, 67, 77, 85, 90.

426
. See C. Virolleaud, “Die Idee der Wiedergeburt bei den Phöniziern,”
Uranos-Jahrbuch 1939
, ed. O. Fröbe-Kapteyn (Rhein, 1940) pp. 21–60.

427
. See Eliade,
Patterns in Comparative Religion
, p. 165.

428
. See Lloyd-Russell, “The Serpent as the Prime Symbol of Immortality,” p. 79.

429
. P. A. Piccione, “Mehen, Mysteries, and Resurrection from the Coiled Serpent,”
Journal of the American Center in Egypt
27 (1990) 43–52. Also see T. Kendall,
Passing Through the Netherworld: The Meaning and Play of Senet, an Ancient Egyptian Funerary Game
(Belmont, Mass., 1978). Kendall, “Schlangenspiel,”
Lexicon der Ägyptologie
5.1 (1983) 654–55.

430
. Lloyd-Russell, “The Serpent as the Prime Symbol of Immortality,” p. 90.

431
. Foster in
Context
1.458.

432
. Albright, “The Goddess of Life and Wisdom,” p. 258.

433
. For the two quotations, respectively, see S. A. B. Mercer,
The Pyramid Texts in Translation and Commentary
(New York, London, 1952) vol. 3, pp. 237 and 302.

434
. See S. Reinach, “Zagreus, le serpent cornu,”
RAr
3rd ser. 35 (1899) 210–17.

435
.
DACL
6 (1950) col. 1357.

436
. An unrecognized serpent pin may be shown in M. Spaer,
Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum
(Jerusalem, 2001) p. 263. See the Adam, woman, and serpent pendant on p. 180 (no. 366) and Medusa disk on p. 254.

437
. See L. Keimer,
Remarques sur le tatouage dans l’Egypte ancienne
(Cairo, 1948) esp. p. 32 and p. 86 (Fig. 67).

438
. See esp. Figueras, “A Comprehensive Approach to the Question of Symbolism,” in
Decorated Jewish Ossuaries
, pp. 83–86.

439
. Also see the depiction of Triptolemus in a chariot pulled by winged serpents in the Vatican. For a photograph, see W. Zschietzschmann,
Hellas und Rom: Eine Kulturgeschichte des Altertums in Bildern
(Tübingen, 1959) p. 13.

440
. A. D. Nock,
Essay on Religion and the Ancient World
, ed. Z. Stewart (Oxford, 1972) p. 906.

441
. Consult P. Montet, “Le jeu du serpent,”
ChrEg
30 (1955) 189–97.

442
. I am indebted to MacCulloch for this information. See
ERE
11.400.

443
. Among the animals most represented in mosaics is the snake; consult H. Lavagne et al., eds.,
Mosai’que
(Paris, 2000) p. 45.

444
. See the mosaics juxtaposed in J. Leipoldt,
Bilder zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter
in J. Leipoldt and W. Grundmann, eds.,
Umwelt des Urchristentums
, 3 vols. (Berlin, 1971) vol. 3, Plates 74 and 75. The book is replete with images of serpents.

445
. See the photograph in
Depictions of Animals from the Leo Mildenberg Collection
(Haifa, 1999) p. 54 (Fig. 94).

446
. Surely, no one should imagine that I am implying that snakes do not die. The facts are that we often see the skins of snakes in the forest, but we almost never find a dead snake.

447
. The snake has no urinary bladder, but an anus. Snakes need to conserve the water they ingest, passing on waste as virtually a solid mass that had been stored in the cloaca. I am pointing to the contrasts between snakes and humans and other animals, like horses, cows, and dogs (who often seem to urinate almost constantly). Snakes usually are odorless, but some species, like the water snakes
(Natrix)
and garter snakes
(Thamnophis)
, emit foul smells from anal glands as a defense mechanism. See
The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia
, vol. 26, pp. 693 and 696.