The Good and Evil Serpent (57 page)

Preserved on Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt are the words of the creator; he has performed four good deeds, and he is with a serpent: “I repeat to you the good deeds which my own heart did for me in the midst of the serpent coil.”
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In “Conversation of Osiris with Atum,” part of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the creator god, Atum, discloses that he sometimes takes the form of the serpent: “I alone am a survivor—together with Osiris—when I have changed my form again into a serpent, which no man knows and which no god has seen.”
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In the preceding chapter, we reviewed how serpent symbolism helped the Greeks, Romans, and their contemporaries imagine the creation of the world. The symbol looms large especially in the myth of the Giants with anguipedes etched in the Pergamum temple. Other myths of creation that shaped the Greeks and Romans come to mind. The serpent is associated with an egg and often is imagined impregnating a woman. Eurinome, one of the first Titans, the daughter of Ocean and Teti, was the celestial queen until she was banished to the sea. Her male counterpart is Ofione. He is the cosmic serpent who is imagined, and portrayed, as encircling her.
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Figure 69
. Arch of Titus. Roman Forum. Note the menorah from the Temple. JHC

We have seen that the serpent can symbolize chaos and darkness. In antiquity it also could denote creation, just discussed, and light. I have selected only four examples of the serpent as a symbol of light. First, the image of the serpent representing light appears in the Melanesian, Finnic, and Aztec mythologies; in these myths the serpent symbolized lightning. Second, inside the Second Shrine of Tut-ank-amon,
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who is the “bodily Son of the Sun,” and on the ceiling, is a depiction of Nut, under the solar disk. On her right and left are five flying vultures; two of them have snake heads. On the left panel is a “large mummiform figure of the king, his head and feet encircled by two serpents biting their tails.”
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This figure may show one of the earliest representations of the Ourobo-ros. Third, perhaps our best insight into the serpent symbolizing light is a comment by the Egyptian scribe called Epeis, whose work was translated into Greek by Areius of Heracleopolis. The scribe reported that the “first and most divine being is a serpent with the form of a hawk.” When this serpent opened his eyes, he “filled all with light,” but “if he shut his eyes, darkness came on.”
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Fourth, perhaps this early Egyptian serpent symbolism influenced the author of the
Pistis Sophia
, who thought of the sun’s disk as a large serpent-dragon with its tail in its mouth (Ouro-boros).

The Psalms constituted the hymnbook of the Second Temple. According to Psalm 27:1, God is “my light
.” According to Psalm 18:28, Yahweh is “my lamp
.” The concept of God as light appears in personal names: Neriah means “Yah[weh] is my lamp.” The original form of “Abner” was “Abiner,” as confirmed by the Greek translation in the Septuagint (LXX), and it means “My [divine] Father is a lamp (or light) [for me].”
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Perhaps more memorable are Psalm 119:105, “A lamp to my feet [is] your Word and a light to my path,” and Psalm 36:10 [9]: “In your light we see light.” Light was a prominent feature of the Jerusalem Temple. Most important, the flames from the Menorah filled the temple with light.
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According to the depiction on the Arch of Titus, on the eastern end of the
via sacra
of the Roman Forum, two serpents, as Leviathan,
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appear on shields of the octagonal base of the menorah (candelabrum), which was taken as a celebrated spoil of the Jewish War (66–70 ce).
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God was perceived as light and lamp to Israelites and Jews, and in some way serpent symbolism was included.
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One may wonder to what extent the brilliant light reflected from the head of a cobra, especially a golden king cobra, may have aided in the development of the symbol of the serpent as light. While the king cobra is indigenous to India, one can imagine that some were brought to ancient Palestine. Such reflections about the relation of light and serpent symbolism are not restricted to the light seen stunningly reflected from one type of snake. Many types of snakes, with their glistening spotless skin, flash in the sun, especially cobras when upraised.

Cosmos

The limbless snake can form a circle. By holding its tail in its mouth (cf. 2.5), it becomes a symbol of the cosmos. In many cultures, the snake, or serpent, not only symbolizes but also shapes the concept of the cosmos. The Ouroboros often depicts the unity of the universe (cf.
AcThom
31–33).

In India, Shiva is frequently depicted dancing within a circle,
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which may represent a serpent that has formed its body into a circle. Shiva is also imagined as dancing with one pair of arms holding a large cobra overhead.
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Kundalini, the divine cosmic energy of our body, is called Bhujangi, the serpent.
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This serpent imagery reflects the anatomy of a serpent, which is sometimes longer than a human and essentially one united tube of muscle. The serpent as a symbol of power and energy, from prehistory to the present, has helped humans not only articulate or imagine but also perceive the energy that shapes and defines the primordial essence of the universe, or cosmos, as revealed in such natural phenomena as “bradisismo,”
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volcanic activity, and the seemingly infinite gravitational pull of black holes.
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If our human bodies are primarily empty space, then it is the cosmic energy that unites the atoms of our bodies, which may be similar to the power that enables planets to revolve around a sun. After spiritual experiences, the human seeks to imagine or conceptualize the somatic indwelling of the supernatural and mystical (the feeling of the
soprannaturale e misterioso)
. For the ancients and some today, the symbol of this cosmic energy is the serpent. We perceived it earlier when we focused on Zeus (Asclepius) Meilichios.

In western Europe, Thor is sometimes represented within a cosmos shaped by the serpent Miogarosormr. In the New Testament, “a great red dragon” defines the cosmos (Rev 12:1–6). M. Lurker summarizes the cosmic nature of the serpent in diverse world cultures:

In Melanesian, Finnic, and Aztec mythologies, snakes represent the lightning; among the Babylonians, in India, and in ancient Mexico the Milky Way was associated with a serpent. The motif of the rainbow as a snake is found in Oceania and tropical Africa; the Dogon of West Africa, for example, think of the rainbow as the serpent of the water god Nommo. Australian tribes regard the rainbow snake, under the name of Yulunggul, as a creative divinity and bestower of culture.
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In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the cosmos was defined by the serpent; the creator god, Atum, transforms himself into a serpent, and the primeval monster is the snake Apophis. The solar boat must transverse areas inhabited by snakes, change itself into a serpent, and, inter alia, pass through a long snake before it reappears each morning. According to Coffin Text 160, Re (the sun) tells the serpent god who tries to obstruct him: “O you who goes on his belly, your strength belongs to your mountain. But watch me as I go off with your strength in my hand!”
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Also in Egypt the uraeus had solar significance, and in some Greek magical papyri Helios (the sun) was often portrayed as a serpent. In Egypt, the astral significance of the serpent was clearly recognized and celebrated.
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In his “Conceptions of the Cosmos,” Keel points out that in an Egyptian drawing of the heavens (
Fig. 19
) the “space between the two pillars and the sky is filled … with the king’s name (‘Serpent’) inscribed on it.”
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Thus, it is evident that R. S. Hendel was on target about the cosmic dimension of serpent symbolism when he wrote: “The semantic range of the snake in Egypt is well-illustrated by the contrast between two cosmic snakes: Apophis and Ouroboros.” He argues, correctly, that in the contrast between the two cosmic snakes the serpent “appears as both exponent of and limit on the powers of chaos and nonexistence.”
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Again, we confront the striking double entendre of serpent symbology.
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In some legends and myths, rainbows are serpents touching the earth or drinking water.
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The Aborigines developed a myth of the rainbow serpent, as mentioned earlier.
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In Persian lore and elsewhere, the rainbow is explained as a great snake, and eclipses are understood as the attempts of dragon-serpents to swallow the sun or moon.
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Apparently, the author of Job perceived the serpent in cosmic terms:

By his spirit he adorned the heavens,

His hand pierced the fleeing serpent
Job 26:13]

In Greek, Arabic, Syriac, and Latin the word for “snake,” respectively
drakon, hayya, hawwdya
, and
serpens
, also denotes the constellation Draco, which is between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, as well as the constellation “Serpens,” which is in the hand of Ophiuchos.
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Servius reports that there are three serpents in the heavens.
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The monument (c. 161
CE)
celebrating the apotheosis of Antoninus Pius and Faustina features Mars holding a globe, the cosmos, around which is curled a large snake.
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As we have seen, Zeus is often depicted as a serpent or partly serpentine, and it is no surprise that volume 1 of the magisterial work on Zeus by C. Cook is entitled
Zeus, God of the Bright Sky
.