The Good and Evil Serpent (176 page)

250
. R. G. Murison, “The Serpent in the Old Testament,”
AJSL
21 (1905) 115–30; the quotation is on p. 130.

251
. Eusebius,
Preparation for the Gospel
II.3; the translation is by E. H. Gifford; see his edition of Eusebius,
Preparation for the Gospel
(Grand Rapids, 1981 [the original was published by the Clarendon Press in 1903]) p. 68.

252
. Professor Haim Cohen of Ben-Gurion University suggested to me generic terms, specific terms, and terms of insufficient contextual evidence. In
Fauna und Mineralien der Juden
(pp. 25–35), Löw chose the following categories: “Die Schlange als Gefahr,” “Die Schlange als Heilmittel,” “Die Schlange im Sprichwort,” and “Schlange allgemein.”

253
. H.-J. Fabry states that the “zoological information concerning the serpent in the OT is based entirely on observation: there are no flights of fancy.”
TDOT
9.359. If we include the mythological creatures noted in the Hebrew Bible, as I have and he tends to do, then this conclusion is misleading. Yet Fabry presents a helpful synthesis of the knowledge of snakes in the Hebrew Bible. The list of physiological features of a snake, given earlier, is indebted to him.

254
. Fabry,
TDOT
9.359.

255
. See the caution in this regard that was published by A. L. Peck in his edition of Aristotle’s
Historia Animalium
(Cambridge, Mass., London, 1965) vol. i.

256
. F. S. Bodenheimer,
Animal and Man in Bible Lands
(Leiden, 1960) p. 197. Also see S. Bodenheimer, NTpOH X33TN2 ‘nn (Jerusalem, 1949).

Appendix II

1
. Coptic
HOQ
translates and corresponds to numerous Greek words for “snake;” see W. E. Crum,
A Coptic Dictionary
(Oxford, 1939) pp. 740–41.

2
. See also Appendix I.

3
. In
Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike
, only nine Greek nouns for snake are presented (and one appears twice), although two more appear in the opening paragraph
(chersudros
and
ophis);
see J. Bayet, “Schlange,”
DNP
2.178–84. Bayet errs in judging the symbol of the serpent to be ambivalent in Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian cultures. He also seems too impressed by the negative meaning of the serpent.

4
. C. Leitz,
Die Schlangennamen in den ägyptischen und griechischen Giftbüchern
(Stuttgart, 1997) pp. 16–18.

5
. Cf. Aristotle,
Ethica Eudemia
3.6 and M. A. Bailly,
Dictionnaire Grec-Français
(Paris, 1919) p. 4.

6
. See Lampe,
PGL
(Oxford, 1961) p. 50.

7
. See LSJM, p. 39.

8
. I am indebted to the compilers of LSJM, p. 52, for this information.

9
. See Lampe,
PGL
, p. 63.

10
. See LSJM, p. 84.

11
. See Aeschylus,
Agamemnon
11233; LSJM, p. 94.

12
. See LSJM, p. 235.

13
. See Lampe,
PGL
, p. 223. Also see
Lives of the Prophets
, trans. D. R. A. Hare in
OTP
2.386–87.

14
. Experts tend to concur that the Greek noun denote the
Coluber haje
. See Leitz,
Die Schlangennamen
and LSJM, p. 259.

15
. In his
Wörterbuch der griechischen Papyrusurkunden
(Berlin, 1925) vol. 1, col. 226, F. Preisigke reports that the Greek noun means “Uräusschlange” (“Uraeus Serpent”).

16
. See LSJM, p. 310.

17
. See Nicander,
Theriaca
334 and LSJM, pp. 439–40.

18
. This noun is not listed in the
Greek-English Lexicon: Revised Supplement
(Oxford, 1996).

19
. The noun is not found in the various supplements, not even
Supplement 2 (1967–1976)
, which was published in 1991.

20
. See Leitz,
Die Schlangennamen
.

21
. See LSJM, p. 386.

22
. I am indebted to the compilers of the LSJM for this citation.

23
. See the corrections in LSJM,
Supplement
, p. 98.

24
. See the references listed in Lampe,
PGL
, p. 386.

25
. Not “bearer of the dragon standard;” see the correction in LSJM
Supplement
, p. 98.

26
. LSJM, p. 537.

27
. I am indebted to LSJM, p. 691, for this information.

28
. The noun denote a “Giftschlange” (“poisonous snake”). See W. Bauer,
Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur
, ed. K. Aland and B. Aland (Berlin, New York, 1988 [6thed.]) col. 670.

29
. For other references, see Lampe,
PGL
, p. 589.

30
. See W. Bauer,
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
, revised by W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich (Chicago, London, 1958 [2nd ed.]) p. 331. Also see Bauer,
Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch
, p. 670.

31
. For the Greek text, see J. Geffcken,
Die Oracula Sibyllina
(Leipzig, 1902) p. 112
[Sibylline Oracles
5.169].

32
. See Lampe,
PGL
, p. 589 (but he incorrectly reports that the noun appears in
Sibylline Oracles
2.169). In
Dictionnaire Grec-Français
, Bailly lists the noun, but also cites the text incorrectly as 5.168. For a good translation of the
Sibylline Oracles
, see J. J. Collins in
OTP
1; for an updated introduction see “Les Oracles Sibyllins,” in
Introduction à la Littérature Religieuse Judéo-Hellénistique
, ed. A.-M. Denis et al. (Turnhout, Belgium, 2000) vol. 2, pp. 947–992.

33
. I am again indebted to LSJM, p. 748.

34
. See P. Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque: Histoire des Mots
(Paris, 1968) pp. 468–69. Also see LSJM, p. 836.

35
. See LSJM, p. 836.

36
. This meaning needs to be added to the lexicons. For example, the meaning is not found in the seemingly exhaustive LSJM.

37
. See, e.g., LSJM, p. 932.

38
. Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 508.

39
. See the comments of Philumenus, the third-century CE physician, in
De Venenatis Animalibus
22.1 and the comments in LSJM, p. 933.

40
. Consult Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 508.

41
. The noun is not listed in LSJM or the LSJM
Supplement
of 1996. It is not in Preisigke’s
Wörterbuch der griechischen Papyrusurkunden
or the numerous supplements to 1991.

42
. That was the decision of the compilers of LSJM; see p. 941.

43
. In early Christian literature, the noun usually means “dumb” or “deaf” (cf. the fifth-century Isidorus Pelusiota,
Epistularum Libri Quinque
1.54 (in J.-P. Migne, ed.,
Patrologia Latina
, 217 vols. [Paris, 1844–64] 78.217A).

44
. I remember observing a water snake climb out of the Potomac River; it moved though the grass without moving a blade and without making a sound. At times I had doubts the snake had been moving, but it proceeded gradually into the woods.

45
. No correction or additional data is supplied in the
Supplement
of 1996.

46
. See Aristotle,
Hist. an
. 591
^a
15.

47
. The compilers of LSJM suggest the name of the snake could be “mouser.” Cf. Nicander,
Theriaca
490.

48
. See W. Foerster, “ôcpiç,”
TDNT
5 (1968) 566–82.

49
. See Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 842.

50
. See Aelian,
Nat. an
. 8.12, ô Jtapsîaç f| reapoiiaç.

51
. See Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 857. The compilers of LSJM cite the fifth-century
BCE
Cratinus 225, the fifth-and fourth-century Aristophanes,
Plutus
690, and the fourth-century Demosthenes 18.260.

52
. See LSJM, p. 1357.

53
. See Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 874, and LSJM, p. 1357.

54
. The compilers of LSJM cite the first-century
CE
physician Dioscorides 4.37, the third-century
CE
physician Philumenus,
De Venenatis Animalibus
19, and the second-and third-century Aelian,
Nat. an
. 6.51.

55
. Long ago the compilers of LSJM, p. 1549, suggested the Greek noun denoted a type of spitting asp. In
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 951, Chantraine reported that the noun denoted a serpent, without being specific.

56
. Observe the second-century
BCE
Nicander’s
Theriaca
327 and the second-and third-century Aelian’s
De natura Animalium
15.18. I am indebted for these references to LSJM, p. 1594.

57
. My analysis is supported by Chantraine in his
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, pp. 998–99.

58
. The compilers of LSJM, p. 1595, prefer the latter option: “a serpent, the bite of which causes intense thirst.”

59
. Consult especially Nicander,
Theriaca
384. In
PGL
, Lampe does not list the noun, so it may not appear in Patristic Greek.

60
. See Chantraine,
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, p. 1024. The compilers of LSJM, p. 1617, offer the meaning “a
serpent
, of uniform roundness and thickness.”

61
. See LSJM, p. 1837 and Aristotle in his
Hist. an
. 567
^b
25.

62
. So also LSJM, p. 1845.

63
. We could update Lampe,
PGL
, p. 1423, and add to (or replace) “an amphibious reptile” with “water snake.”

64
. The Greek noun essentially signifies any animal that puffs itself up and is poisonous. It can also denote a wind instrument like a pipe or flute. See LSJM, p. 1963.

65
. LSJM, p. 1963.

66
. In his
Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque
, Chantraine could only report in 1968 that rJjiiaPiioç denoted diverse animals (he did not reduce the options to a reptile).

67
. See Philumenus,
De Venenatis Animalibus
16.1.

68
. See LSJM, p. 1987.

69
. It is not cited by Lampe,
PGL
.

70
. Consult LSJM, p. 1988.

71
. For this and other locations of this noun, see LSJM, p. 1989.

72
. S. Sauneron,
Un traité égyptien d’ophiologie
(Cairo, 1989).

73
. Also see L. Bodson, “Observations sur la vocabulaire de la zoologie antique: Les noms de serpents en grec et en latin,”
Documents pour l’histoire du vocabulaire scientifique
8 (1986) 65–119.

74
. See K. Aland,
Vollständige Konkordanz zum Griechischen Neuen Testament
, 3 vols. (Berlin, New York, 1978–1983).

75
. See P. Joüon, “Le Grand Dragon,”
RSR
17 (1927) 444–46; B. Renz,
Der orientalische Schlangendrache
(Augsburg, 1930); W. Foerster, “δράκων,”
TDNT
3 (1964) 281–83. The nouns
, and
do not receive a separate entry in
TDNT
.