The Good and Evil Serpent (34 page)

Note that the Giants and Titans are nearly synonymous by the early second century
CE
. Thus, it is apparent that although some fifth-century
BCE
texts indicate that the Giants are simply strong men,
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at least by the first and second centuries
CE
the Giants are more than beings intermediate between humans and gods; they seem more like the gods. They are born in full armor and size, and they nearly defeat the gods.
¹⁷³
Indeed, not only the earth but also the entire universe was nearly destroyed. Thus, the Giants are like the gods; at least they seem more like gods than humans.

Unlike the gods, however, they die. They are mortal (and not only according to the opinion of Hesiod [frag. 43a]).
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In a Greek illustrated manuscript they seem to be depicted with anguiepedes and are being destroyed by serpents.
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What concerns us now is the depiction of the Giants. They often have serpents as legs or feet.
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This iconographic depiction, usually centered on the battle among the Giants and the gods, is found throughout the ancient world. It is even depicted on coins.
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The Giants have serpent feet that encircle the gods, rise up and bite them, and fight against them in numerous ways.
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These depictions on the Pergamum altar are monumental and majestic; they are on public display in the Pergamum Museum in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. The anguipede Giants were also depicted in many other temples and shrines, and on amulets, plates, and especially vase-paintings that date from as early as 600
BCE
.
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Thinking about “Giants” with serpents as legs may make sense in a world unconquered and unexplored. What is beyond the boundaries? Hence, it is understandable why the ancients imagined the astronomical size of snakes or serpents. The boa does grow to extreme lengths, and Aelian claimed that a certain Alexander, in his
Voyage Round the Red Sea
, reported to have seen snakes “forty cubits long.”
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That would be about 18 meters long.

Strabo (64/3
BCE-C
. 21
CE)
is far less reserved than Herodotus (484?-c. 420
BCE)
, and he is no critic like Cicero (106–43
BCE)
. In his famous
Geography
, Strabo reports on the size of serpents, and his account borders on incredibility. Although Strabo is dubious of the source, he still does not dismiss the possibility that there are serpents that are even 140 cubits in length (15.1.28). An astounding report, to which Strabo seems to subscribe, is found in
Geography
16.4.16: “Artemidorus also speaks of serpents [SpaKovtcov] thirty cubits in length which overpower elephants and bulls; and his measurement is moderate, at least for serpents in this part of the world, for the Indian serpents are rather fabulous, as also those of Libya, which are said to grow grass on their backs.”
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Strabo is serious. He has no doubt that one can find in India, as some have reported to him, serpents that swallow oxen and stags (2.1.9).
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Why did the ancient Greeks depict the Giants with anguipedes? We can only speculate. They wanted to show how difficult it was for the gods to overcome evil. The serpents were most likely chosen to enhance the perception of the awesome and deadly power of the Giants. They can thus overcome most obstacles, moving over land and sea. They can engage the gods from all directions and administer not only deadly bites, but also entangle the extremities of the gods. Thus, to depict Giants with serpent feet was an apt way to present such ideas.

We need to be careful not to assume that because the Giants usually were perceived as evil and destructive, the serpents consequently were always negative symbols. The symbol of the serpent added positively to the ability of the Giants to engage and almost defeat the gods. Thus, the serpent feet denoted agility, freedom to traverse land and sea, swiftness, power, incredible and deadly ability to wrestle with gods, and elusiveness in combat. Who would want to enter a wrestling ring with an opponent who had cobras for feet?

Perhaps the bizarre and trans-experiential dimension of anguipedes added to the need to contemplate the transcendent otherworldliness of the Giants. It would be rash to suggest the serpents cannot denote evil in any way or that they depicted something symbolically positive in the image of the Giants. Serpents, after all, also denoted evil, sin, and the lie. Thus, the serpents in the depiction of the Giants also signify something evil. Note the informative words on this thought by Ovid. He imagined that the king of the gods who was enthroned majestically, and perhaps above, castigates the gods’ savage enemy, “the serpent-footed Giants
[anguipedum].”
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Hercules

We have already seen that one of the great men who conquered the Giants was Hercules; he was the archetype of the sociological category “the Great Man.”

Among the prominent symbolic uses of the serpent in Greek and Roman culture, the legends of Hercules are prominent. Hercules (Herakles), which means in Greek “Glory of Hera,” had to strangle two powerful serpents at birth. These were sent to harm Hercules, the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Alcmene, the human wife of Amphitryon, by the jealous and vindictive wife of Zeus, Hera.

His second labor at the command of Eurystheus (king of Argos or Mycenae) was to kill the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed water snake. His tenth labor was to obtain the red cattle guarded by Geryon who was aided by the herdsman Eurytion. The latter’s dog, Orthos (the brother of Cerberus), was two-headed and had a snake as a tail. Hercules’ eleventh labor was to descend into Hades and, with the help of Hermes, to defeat Cerberus, the hound of Hell who had many hissing and poisonous serpents accompanying him and protruding from his body. His twelfth and final labor was to obtain the apples of immortality from the Hesperides. As will become more apparent later, he is successful and obtains immortality (momentarily) despite the serpent that was guarding the tree (cf. Gen 3 and the Gilgamesh legend). Finally, in the Hercules legends and myths, the serpentine wandering river-god Achelous in struggling against the hero transforms himself into a serpent.

While Hercules is never shown with anguipedes, he is often depicted fighting Giants with feet that are serpents. Here is the account in Pseudo-Apollodorus:

Hercules first shot Alcyoneus (one of the most majestic Giants) with an arrow, but when the Giant fell on the ground he somewhat revived. However, at Athena’s advice Hercules dragged him outside Pallene, and so the Giant died…. As for the other Giants, Ephialtes was shot by Apollo with an arrow in his left eye and by Hercules in his right…. The other Giants Zeus smote and destroyed with thunderbolts and all of them Hercules shot with arrows as they were dying. When the gods
had overcome the Giants
Earth
still more enraged, had intercourse with Tartarus and brought forth Typhon in Cilicia, a hybrid between man and beast…. One of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragon-serpents’
heads. From the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers
, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud hissing. His body was all winged.
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Observe the connection again between the Earth (Ge or Gaia) and the Giants. Serpent symbolism plays a major role in depicting Typhon. Note that from his hands projected one hundred dragon-serpent heads.

Continuing with the story, we learn that the gods flee to Egypt to escape Typhon. To hide from him they change themselves into animals. Zeus, however, pursues him, albeit pelting him with thunderbolts from a safe distance, and subsequently felling him with a sickle. The battle ensues again on Mount Casius in Syria:

There, seeing the monster sore wounded, he [Zeus] grappled with him. But Typhon twined about him and gripped him in his (serpent) coils, and wresting the sickle from him severed the sinews of his hands and feet, and lifting him on his shoulders carried him through the sea to Cilicia and deposited him on arrival in the Corycian cave.
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It is quite amazing what Typhon has done to Zeus, and how the description of Zeus is so anthropocentric. Zeus triumphed in the end, but only with the aid of Hermes, Aegipan, and the Fates.

The Greeks and Romans were fond of tales celebrating the heroic exploits of Hercules. According to one of the stories, Hercules falls asleep in the country called Scythia and his mares escape. He later meets a woman who has two forms. Above her buttocks she was a woman; below it a serpent
. She retains Hercules until he enables her to have three sons. Then Hercules departs, taking with him the mares that the woman had sequestered.
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