THE ORIGIN OF SERPENT-WORSHIP.
The subject to be discussed in the present chapter is one of the
most fascinating that can engage the attention of anthropologists.
It is remarkable, however, that although so much has been written in
relation to it, we are still almost in the dark as to the origin of the
superstition in question. The student of mythology knows that certain
ideas were associated by the peoples of antiquity with the serpent,
and that it was the favourite symbol of particular deities; but why
that animal rather than any other was chosen for the purpose is yet
uncertain. The facts being well known, however, I shall dwell on them
only so far as may be necessary to support the conclusions based upon
them.
We are indebted to Mr. Fergusson for bringing together a large array
of facts, showing the extraordinary range which serpent-worship had
among ancient nations. It is true that he supposes it not to have been
adopted by any nation belonging to the Semitic or Aryan stock; the
serpent-worship of India and Greece originating, as he believes, with
older peoples. However this may be, the superstition was certainly not
unknown to either Aryans or Semites. The brazen serpent of the Hebrew
exodus was destroyed in the reign of Hezekiah, owing to the idolatry to
which it gave rise. In the mythology of the Chaldeans, from whom the
Assyrians seem to have sprung, the serpent occupied a most important
position. Among the allied Phœnicians and Egyptians it was one of the
most divine symbols. In Greece, Hercules was said “to have been the
progenitor of the whole race of serpent-worshipping Scythians, through
his intercourse with the serpent Echidna;” and when Minerva planted
the sacred olive on the Acropolis of Athens, she placed it under the
care of the serpent-deity Erechthonios. As to the Latins, Mr. Fergusson
remarks that “Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ are full of passages referring to
the important part which the serpent performed in all the traditions
of classic mythology.” The superstitions connected with that animal
are supposed not to have existed among the ancient Gauls and Germans;
but this is extremely improbable, considering that it appears to
have been known to the British Celts and to the Gothic inhabitants
of Scandinavia. In Eastern Europe there is no doubt that the serpent
superstition was anciently prevalent, and Mr. Fergusson refers to
evidence proving that “both trees and serpents were worshipped by the
peasantry in Esthonia and Finland within the limits of the present
century, and even with all the characteristics possessed by the old
faith when we first became acquainted with it.”
The serpent entered largely into the mythology of the ancient Persians,
as it does into that of the Hindus. In India it is associated with
both Siva-ism and Vishnuism, although its actual worship perhaps
belonged rather to the aboriginal tribes among whom Buddhism is
thought by recent writers to have originated. The modern home of the
superstition, however, is Western Africa, where the serpent is not
merely considered sacred, but is actually worshipped as divine. On the
other side of the Indian Ocean traces of the same superstition are met
with among the peoples of the Indian islands and of Polynesia, and also
in China. The evidences of serpent-worship on the American Continent
have long engaged the attention of archæologists, who have found it to
be almost universal, under one form or another, among the aboriginal
tribes. That animal was sculptured on the temples of Mexico and Peru,
and its form is said by Mr. Squier to be of frequent occurrence among
the mounds of Wisconsin. The most remarkable of the symbolic earthworks
of North America is the great serpent mound of Adam’s county, Ohio,
the convolutions of which extend to a length of 1,000 feet. At the
Edinburgh meeting of the British Association, in 1871, Mr. Phené
gave an account of his discovery in Argyllshire of a similar mound
several hundred feet long, and about fifteen feet high by thirty feet
broad, tapering gradually to the tail, the head being surmounted by a
circular cairn, which he supposes to answer to the solar disc above the
head of the Egyptian uræus, the position of which, with head erect,
answers to the form of the Oban serpent-mound. This discovery is of
great interest, and its author is probably justified in assuming that
the mound was connected with serpent-worship. It may be remarked, in
evidence of the existence of such structures in other parts of the old
world, that the hero of one of the Yaçnas of the Zend Avesta is made
to rest on what he thinks is a bank, but which he finds to be a great
green snake, doubtless a serpent-mound. Another ancient reference
to these structures is made by Iphicrates, who, according to Bryant,
“related that in Mauritania there were dragons of such extent, that
grass grew upon their backs.”
Let us now see what ideas have been associated with the serpent by
various peoples. Mr. Fergusson mentions the curious fact that “the
chief characteristic of the serpent throughout the East in all ages
seems to have been their power over the wind and rain.” According to
Colonel Meadows Taylor, in the Indian Deccan, at the present day,
offerings are made to the village divinities (of whom the nâg, or
snake, is always one) at spring time and harvest for rain or fine
weather, and also in time of cholera or other diseases or pestilence.
So, among the Chinese, the dragon is regarded as the giver of rain, and
in time of drought offerings are made to it. In the spring and fall
of the year it is one of the objects worshipped, by command of the
Emperor, by certain mandarins. The Chinese notion of the serpent or
dragon dwelling above the clouds in spring to give rain reminds us of
the Aryan myth of Vritra, or Ahi, the throttling snake, or dragon with
three heads, who hides away the rain-clouds, but who is slain by Indra,
the beneficent giver of rain. “Whenever,” says Mr. Cox, “the rain is
shut up in the clouds, the dark power is in revolt against Dyaus and
Indra. In the rumblings of the thunder, while the drought still sucks
out the life of the earth, are heard the mutterings of their hateful
enemy. In the lightning flashes which precede the outburst of the
pent-up waters are seen the irresistible spears of the god, who is
attacking the throttling serpent in his den; and in the serene heaven
which shone out when the deluging clouds are passed away, men beheld
the face of the mighty deity who was their friend.” Mr. Cox elsewhere
remarks that Vritra, “the enemy of Indra, reappears in all the dragons,
snakes, or worms slain by all the heroes of Aryan mythology.”
Whether the great serpent be the giver or the storer of rain, the
Aryans, like all Eastern peoples, suppose it to have power over the
clouds. This, however, is only one of its attributes. It is thought
to have power over the wind as well as the rain, and this also is
confirmed by reference to Aryan mythology. Mr. Cox has well shown that
Hermes is “the air in motion, or wind, varying in degree from the
soft breath of a summer breeze to the rage of the growing hurricane.”
In these more violent moods he is represented by the Maruts, the
“crushers” or “grinders,” who are also the children of Rudra, the
“Father of the Winds,” and himself the “wielder of the thunderbolt” and
the “mightiest of the mighty.” Rudra is also “the robber, the cheat,
the deceiver, the master thief,” and in this character both he and
Hermes agree with the cloud-thief Vritra.
Notwithstanding the fact that in the Mahabharata, Rudra, like Hercules,
is described as the “destroyer of serpents,” he is in the same poem
identified with Mahadeva, and hence he is evidently the same as Siva,
who has the title of King of Serpents. The primitive character of
Siva, as the Vedic Rudra, is now almost lost, but the identity of the
two deities may be supported by reference to an incident related in
the myth of Hermes and Apollo. It is said that, in return for the
sweet-sounding lyre, Apollo gave to Hermes the magical “three-leafed
rod of wealth and happiness.” Sometimes this rod was entwined with
serpents instead of fillets, and there is no difficulty in recognising
in it the well-known emblem of Siva, which also is sometimes encircled
by serpents. It can be shown that the Hindu deity is a form of
Saturn, one of the Semitic names for whom was Set or Seth. It was the
serpent-symbol of this God[216] which was said to have been elevated
in the wilderness for the healing of the people bitten by serpents,
and curiously enough Rudra (Siva) was called not only the _bountiful_,
the _strong_, but the _healer_. The later Egyptian title of the god
Set was Typhon, of whom Mr. Breal says that “Typhon is the monster who
obscures the heaven, a sort of Greek Văritra.” The myth of Indra and
Vritra is reproduced in Latin mythology as that of Hercules and Căcus.
Căcus also is analogous to Typhon, and as the former is supposed to
have taken his name from, or given it to, a certain wind which had the
power of clothing itself with clouds, so the latter bore the same name
as a very destructive wind which was much dreaded by the Phœnicians
and Egyptians. Moreover, the name Typhon was given by the Egyptians to
anything tempestuous, and hence to the ocean; and in Hebrew the allied
word “Suph” denotes a “whirlwind.” There is another point of contact,
however, between Siva and the god Set or Typhon, who was known to
the Egyptians also as the serpent Aphôphis, or the giant. An ancient
writer states that one of the names of El, or Chronos, was Typhon,
and the serpent and pillar symbols of the Phœnician deity confirm
the identification between Set or Saturn, and the Siva of the Hindu
Pantheon.
One of the leading ideas connected with the serpent was, as we have
seen, its power over the rain, but another equally influential was
its connection with health. Mr. Fergusson remarks that “when we first
meet with serpent-worship, either in the wilderness of Sinai, the
groves of Epidaurus, or in the Sarmatian huts, the serpent is always
the Agatho-dæmon, the bringer of health and good fortune.”[217] The
Agatho-dæmon, which in ancient Egypt presided over the affairs of men
as the guardian spirit of their houses,[218] was the Asp of Rânno, the
snake-headed goddess who is represented as nursing the young princes.
That the idea of health was intimately associated with the serpent is
shown by the crown formed of the asp, or sacred _Thermuthis_, having
been given particularly to Isis, a goddess of life and healing. It was
also the symbol of other deities with the like attributes. Thus on
a papyri it encircles the figure of Harpocrates, who was identified
with the serpent god Æsculapius; while not only was a great serpent
kept alive in the temple of Serapis, but on later monuments this
deity is represented by a great serpent, with or without a human
head. Sanchoniathon says of that animal—“It is long-lived, and has
the quality not only of putting off its old age and assuming a second
youth, but of receiving at the same time an augmentation of its size
and strength.” The serpent, therefore, was a fit emblem of Rudra,
“the healer;” and the gift which Apollo presented to Mercury could
be entwined by no more appropriate object than the animal which was
supposed to be able to give the health without which even Mercury’s
magic-staff could not confer wealth and happiness. It is remarkable
that a Moslem saint of Upper Egypt is still thought to appear under the
form of a serpent, and to cure the diseases which afflict the pilgrims
to his shrine.
Ramahavaly, one of the four national idols of the Malagasy, bears a
curious analogy to the serpent gods of wisdom and healing. One of his
titles is _Rabiby_, signifying “animal,” and denoting “the god of
beasts;” and his emissaries are the serpents which abide in Madagascar,
and are looked upon with superstitious fear by the inhabitants.
Ramahavaly is, moreover, regarded as the Physician of Imerina, and
is thought to preserve from, or expel, epidemic diseases. Mr. Ellis
says that he is sometimes described “as god, sacred, powerful, and
almighty; who kills and makes alive; who heals the sick, and prevents
diseases and pestilence; who can cause thunder and lightning to strike
their victims or prevent their fatality; can cause rain in abundance
when wanted, or can withhold it so as to ruin the crops of rice. He is
also celebrated for his knowledge of the past and future, and for his
capacity of discovering whatever is hidden or concealed.”
It is probable that the association with the serpent of the idea of
healing arose from the still earlier recognition of that animal as a
symbol of life. We have already referred to the representations in
the Egyptian temples of the young princes being nursed by a woman
having the head of an asp. It is interesting to find that in India at
the present day serpent-worship is expressly resorted to on behalf
of children, and “the first hair of a child which is shaved off when
it has passed teething and other infantine ailments is frequently
dedicated to a serpent.” This animal in both cases is treated as the
guardian of life, and therefore the crown given to Egyptian sovereigns
and divinities was very properly formed of the asp of Rânno. Another
snake-headed Egyptian goddess has the name _Hih_ or _Hoh_, and Sir
Gardner Wilkinson mentions that the Coptic word _Hof_ signifies the
viper, analogous to the _hye_ of the Arabs. The Arabic word _hiya_,
indeed, means both life and a serpent. This connection is supported by
the association, already pointed out, between the serpent and the gods
of the life-giving wind, and by the fact that these also possess the
pillar symbol of life. This belongs as well to Siva the destroyer, the
preserver, and the creator, as to Set or Saturn, to Thoth-Hermes, and
El or Chronos. Both the serpent and the pillar were assigned also to
many of the personifications of the sun, the deified source of earthly
life. Probably the well-known figure representing the serpent with
its tail in its mouth was intended to symbolise endless life rather
than eternity, an idea which does not appear to have been associated
with that animal by the Egyptians. Agreeably with this view, Horapollo
affirms that Kneph-Agatho-dæmon denoted immortality.
One of the best-known attributes of the serpent is wisdom. The Hebrew
tradition of the fall speaks of that animal as the most subtle of
the beasts of the field; and the founder of Christianity tells his
disciples to be as wise as serpents, though as harmless as doves. Among
the ancients the serpent was consulted as an oracle, and Maury points
out that it played an important part in the life of several celebrated
Greek diviners in connection with the knowledge of the language of
birds, which many of the ancients believed to be the souls of the dead.
The serpent was associated with Apollo and Athené, the Grecian deities
of wisdom, as well as with the Egyptian Kneph,[219] the ram-headed god
from whom the Gnostics are sometimes said to have derived their idea
of the _Sophia_. This personification of divine wisdom is undoubtedly
represented on Gnostic gems under the form of the serpent. In Hindu
mythology there is the same association between the animal and the
idea of wisdom. Siva, as Sambhu, is the patron of the Brahmanic order,
and, as shown by his being three-eyed, is essentially a god possessing
high intellectual attributes. Vishnu also is a god of wisdom, but of
the somewhat lower type which is distinctive of the worshippers of
truth under its feminine aspect. The connection between wisdom and the
serpent is best seen, however, in the Hindu legends as to the Nagas.
Mr. Fergusson remarks that “the Naga appears everywhere in Vaishnava
tradition. There is no more common representation of Vishnu[220]
than as reposing on the Sesha, the celestial seven-headed snake,
contemplating the creation of the world. It was by his assistance that
the ocean was churned and Amrita produced, He everywhere spreads his
protecting hood over the god or his avatars; and in all instances it
is the seven-headed heavenly Naga, not the earthly cobra of Siva.”
The former animal, no doubt, is especially symbolical of wisdom, and
it is probably owing to his intellectual attributes, rather than to
his destructive or creative power, that Siva is sometimes styled the
King of Serpents. The Upanishads refer to the science of serpents, by
which is meant the wisdom of the mysterious Nagas, who, according to
Buddhistic legend, reside under Mount Méru, and in the waters of the
terrestrial world. One of the sacred books of the Tibetan Buddhists is
fabled to have been received from the Nagas, who, says Schlagentweit,
are “fabulous creatures of the nature of serpents, who occupy a place
among the beings superior to man, and are regarded as protectors of the
law of the Buddha. To these spiritual beings Sâkyamuni is said to have
taught a more philosophical religious system than to men, who were not
sufficiently advanced to understand it at the time of his appearance.”
So far as this has any historical basis, it can mean only that
Gautama taught his most secret doctrines to the Nagas, or aboriginal
serpent-worshippers, who were the first to accept his teaching, and
whose religious ideas had probably much in common with those of Gautama
himself. Mr. Fergusson refers to the fact that a king of the Naga race
was reigning in Magadha when Buddha was born in 623 B.C.; and he adds
that the dissemination of his religion “is wholly due to the accident
of its having been adopted by the low caste kings of Magadha, and to
its having been elevated by one of them to the rank of the religion of
the state.” It would appear, indeed, that according to a Hindu legend,
Gautama himself had a serpent lineage.
The “serpent-science” of Hindu legend has a curious parallel in
Phœnician mythology. The invention of the Phœnician written character
is referred to the god Taaut or Thoth, whose snake-symbol bears his
name Têt, and is used to represent the ninth letter of the alphabet
(_teta_), which in the oldest Phœnician character has the form of the
snake curling itself up. Philo thus explains the form of the letter
_theta_, and that the god from whom it took its name was designated
by the Egyptians as a snake curled up, with its head turned inwards.
Philo adds that the letters of the Phœnician alphabet “are those
formed by means of serpents; afterwards, when they built temples, they
assigned them a place in the adytums, instituted various ceremonies and
solemnities in honour of them, and adored them as the supreme gods,
the rulers of the universe.” Bunsen thinks the sense of this passage
is “that the forms and movements of serpents were employed in the
invention of the oldest letters, which represent the gods.” He says,
however, that “the alphabet does not tally at all with the Phœnician
names,” and the explanation given by Philo, although curious as showing
the ideas anciently associated with the serpent, is reliable only so
far as it confirms the connection between that animal and the inventor
of the written characters. According to another tradition, the ancient
theology of Egypt was said to have been given by the Agatho-dæmon, who
was the benefactor of all mankind.
The account given of the serpent by Sanchoniathon, as cited by
Eusebius, is worth repetition as showing the peculiar notions anciently
current in connection with that animal. The Phœnician writer says:
“Taautus first attributed something of the divine nature to the serpent
and the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and
Egyptians; for this animal was esteemed by him to be the most inspired
of all the reptiles, and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits
an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or
feet, or any of those external members by which other animals effect
their motion, and in its progress it assumes a variety of forms,
moving in a spiral course, and darting forwards with whatever degree
of swiftness it pleases. It is, moreover, long-lived, and has the
quality not only of putting off its old age, and assuming a second
youth, but of receiving at the same time an augmentation of its size
and strength, and when it has fulfilled the appointed measure of its
existence it consumes itself, as Taautus has laid down in the sacred
books; upon which account this animal is introduced in the sacred rites
and mysteries.” In India at the present day some Brahmans always keep
the skin of a nâg, or snake, in one of their sacred books, probably
from some idea connected with the casting by the serpent of its skin
referred to in the preceding passage.
We have now seen that the serpent was anciently the symbol of wisdom,
life, and healing, and also that it was thought to have power over
the wind and rain. This last attribute is easily understood when the
importance of rain in the east is considered, and the ideas associated
by the ancients with the air and moisture are remembered. The Hebrew
tradition which speaks of the creative spirit moving over the face of
the waters embodies those ideas, according to which the water contains
the elements of life and the wind is the vivifying principle. The
attribute of wisdom cannot so easily be connected with that of life.
The power of healing is certainly an evidence of the possession of
wisdom,[221] but as it is only one phase of it, probably the latter
attribute was antecedent to the former, or at least it may have had
an independent origin. What this origin was may perhaps be explained
by reference to certain other ideas very generally entertained in
relation to the serpent. Among various African tribes this animal
is viewed with great veneration, under the belief that it is often
the re-embodiment of a deceased ancestor. This notion appears to be
prevalent also among the Hindus, who, like the Kafirs, will never
kill a serpent, although it is usually regarded with more dislike
than veneration. Mr. Squier remarks that “many of the North American
tribes entertain a superstitious regard for serpents, and particularly
for the rattlesnake.[222] Though always avoiding they never destroy
it, ‘lest,’ says Barham, ‘the spirit of the reptile should excite its
kindred to revenge.’” Mr. Squier adds that, “according to Adair, this
fear was not unmingled with veneration. Charlevoix states that the
Natchez had the figure of a rattlesnake, carved from wood, placed among
other objects upon the altar of their temple, to which they paid great
honour. Heckwelder relates that the Linni Linape called the rattlesnake
‘grandfather,’ and would on no account allow it to be destroyed. Hemy
states that the Indians around Lake Huron had a similar superstition,
and also designated the rattlesnake as their ‘grandfather.’ He also
mentions instances in which offerings of tobacco were made to it, and
its parental care solicited for the party performing the sacrifice.
Carver also mentions an instance of similar regard on the part of
a Menominee Indian, who carried a rattlesnake constantly with him,
‘treating it as a deity, and calling it his great father.’”
The most curious notion, however, is that of the Mexicans, who always
represented the first woman, whose name was translated by the old
Spanish writers “the woman of our flesh,” as accompanied by a great
male serpent. The serpent is the sun-god _Tonacatle-coatl_, the
principal deity of the Mexican Pantheon, and his female companion,
the goddess mother of mankind, has the title _cihua-cohuatl_, which
signifies “woman of the serpent.” With the Peruvians, also, the
principal deity was the serpent-sun, whose wife, the female serpent,
gave birth to a boy and a girl from whom all mankind were said to be
descended. It is remarkable that the serpent origin thus ascribed to
the human race is not confined to the aborigines of America. According
to Herodotus, the primeval mother of the Scyths was a monster, half
woman and half serpent. This reminds us of the serpent parentage
ascribed to various personages of classical antiquity.[223] Among the
Semites, Zohák, the traditional Arabian conqueror of Central Asia,
is represented as having two snakes growing at his back; and Mr.
Bruce mentions that the line of the Abyssinian kings begins with “The
Serpent,” _Arwe_, who is said to have reigned at Axum for 400 years,
showing that the royal descent was traced from this animal. From the
position assigned to the dragon in China, it probably was formerly
thought to stand in a similar relation to the Emperor, of whom it is
the special symbol.
The facts cited prove that the serpent superstition is intimately
connected with ancestor-worship, probably originating among uncultured
tribes, who, struck by the noiseless movement and the activity of the
serpent, combined with its peculiar gaze and power of casting its skin,
viewed it as a spirit embodiment. As such, it would be supposed to have
the superior wisdom and power ascribed to the denizens of the invisible
world, and from this would originate also the ascription to it of
the power over life and health, and over the moisture on which those
benefits are dependent. The serpent-spirit may, however, have made
its appearance for a good or a bad purpose, to confer a benefit or to
inflict punishment for the misdeeds of the living. The notion of there
being good and evil serpent-spirits would thus naturally arise. Among
ancestor-worshipping peoples, however, the serpent would be viewed as a
good being who busied himself about the interests of the tribe to which
he had once belonged. When the simple idea of a spirit-ancestor was
transformed into that of the Great Spirit, the father of the race, the
attributes of the serpent would be enlarged. The common ancestor would
be relegated to the heavens, and that which was necessary to the life
and well-being of his people would be supposed to be under his care.
Hence the great serpent was thought to have power over the rain and the
hurricane, with the latter of which he was probably often identified.
When the serpent was thus transferred to the atmosphere, and the
superstition lost its simple character as a phase of ancestor-worship,
its most natural association would be with the solar cult. It is
not surprising, therefore, to find that _Quetzalcoatl_, the divine
benefactor of the Mexicans, was an incarnation of the serpent-sun
_Tonacatlcoatl_, who thus became the great father, as the female
serpent _Cihua-coatl_ was the great mother, of the human race. It is
an interesting inquiry how far the sun-gods of other peoples partook
of this double character. Bunsen has a remarkable passage bearing on
the serpent nature of those deities. He says that “Esmun-Esculapius
is strictly a Phœnician god. He was especially worshipped at Berytus.
At Carthage he was called the highest god, together with Astarté and
Hercules. At Babylon, according to the above genealogy of Bel, Apollo
corresponded to him. As the snake-god he must actually be Hermes,
in Phœnician Têt, Taautes.... In an earlier stage of cosmogonical
consciousness he is Agatho-dæmon-Sôs, whom Lepsius has shown to be the
third god in the first order of the Egyptian Pantheon.” The serpent
deity who was thus known under so many forms was none other than the
sun-god Set or Saturn, who has already been identified with Siva and
other deities having the attributes usually ascribed to the serpent.
Bunsen asserts that Set is common to all the Semites and Chaldeans,
as he was to the Egyptians, but that “his supposed identity with
Saturn is not so old as his identity with the sun-god, as Sirius
(Sôthis), because the sun has the greatest power when it is in Sirius.”
Elsewhere the same writer says that “the Oriento-Egyptian conception of
Typhon-Set was that of a drying-up parching heat. Set is considered as
the sun-god when he has reached his zenith, the god of the summer sun.”
The solar[224] character of the serpent-god appears therefore to
be placed beyond doubt. But what was the relation in which he was
supposed to stand to the human race? Bunsen, to whose labours I am so
much indebted, remarks that Seth “appears gradually among the Semites
as the background of their religious consciousness,” and not merely
was he “the primitive god of northern Egypt and Palestine,” but his
genealogy as “the Seth of Genesis, the father of Enoch (the man),
must be considered as originally running parallel with that derived
from the Elohim, Adam’s father.” Seth is thus the divine ancestor of
the Semites, a character in which, but in relation to other races,
the solar deities generally agree with him. The kings and priests of
ancient peoples claimed this divine origin, and “children of the sun”
was the title of the members of the sacred caste. When the actual
ancestral character of the deity is hidden he is regarded as “the
father of his people” and their divine benefactor. He is the introducer
of agriculture, the inventor of arts and sciences, and the civiliser of
mankind; “characteristics,” says Faber, “which every nation ascribed to
the first of their gods or the oldest of their kings.” This was true
of Thoth, Saturn, and other analogous deities, and the Adam of Hebrew
tradition was the father of agriculture, as his representative Noah was
the introducer of the vine.
Elsewhere I have endeavoured to show that the name of the great
ancestor of Hebrew tradition has been preserved by certain peoples who
may thus be classed together as Adamites. He appears, indeed, to be
the recognised legendary ancestor of the members of that division of
mankind whose primeval home we can scarcely doubt was in Central Asia,
answering in this respect to the Seth of the Semites. According to the
tradition, however, as handed down to us by the Hebrews, Seth himself
was the son of Adam. From this, it would seem to follow that, as Seth
was the serpent sun-god (the Agatho-dæmon), the legendary ancestor
of the Adamites must himself have partaken of the same character.
Strange as this idea may appear it is not without warrant. We have
already seen that the Mexicans ascribed that nature to _Tonacatlcoatl_
and his wife, the mother of mankind, and that a similar notion was
entertained by various peoples of the old world. The Chaldean god _Héa_
who, as the “teacher of mankind,” and the “lord of understanding,”
answers exactly to the divine benefactor of the race before referred
to, was “figured by the great serpent which occupies so conspicuous
a place among the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording
Babylonian benefactions.” The name of the god is connected with the
Arabic _Hiya_, which signifies a serpent as well as life, and Sir
Henry Rawlinson says that “there are very strong grounds indeed for
connecting him with the serpent of Scripture, and with the Paradisaical
traditions of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.” The god Héa
was, therefore, the serpent revealer of knowledge, answering in some
respects to the serpent of the fall. He was, however, the Agatho-dæmon,
and in the earlier form of the legend doubtless answered to the great
human ancestor himself. It is curious that, according to Rabbinical
tradition, Cain was the son, not of Adam, but of the serpent-spirit
Asmodeus, who is the same as the Persian Ahriman, “the great serpent
with two feet.”[225] In the name of Eve, the mother of mankind, we
have, indeed, direct reference to the supposed serpent-nature of our
first parents. Clemens Alexandrinus long since remarked that the
name _Hevia_, aspirated, signifies a female serpent. The name Eve is
evidently connected with the same Arabic root as that which we have
seen to mean both “life” and “a serpent,” and the Persians appear to
have called the constellation _Serpens_ “the little Ava,” that is
_Eve_, a title which is still given to it by the Arabs. But if Eve was
the serpent mother, Adam must have been the serpent father. In the old
Akkad tongue _Ad_ signifies “a father,” and the mythical personages
with whom Adam is most nearly allied, such as Seth or Saturn, Taaut
or Thoth, and others, were serpent deities. Such would seem to have
been the case also with the deities whose names show a close formal
resemblance to that of Adam. Thus the original name of Hercules was
_Sandan_ or _Adanos_, and Hercules, like the allied god Mars, was
undoubtedly often closely associated with the serpent. This notion
is confirmed by the identification of Adonis and Osiris as _Azar_ or
_Adar_, according to Bunsen the later Egyptian _Sar-Apis_, who is
known to have been represented as a serpent. The _Abaddon_ of St. John,
the old dragon Satan, was probably intended for the same serpent-god.
It is interesting to compare the ideas entertained as to the great
dragon in the Book of Revelation and those held by the Chinese in
relation to probably the same being. Mr. Doolittle says: “The dragon
holds a remarkable position in the history and government of China.
It also enjoys an ominous eminence in the affections of the Chinese
people. It is frequently represented as the greatest benefactor of
mankind. It is the dragon which causes the clouds to form and the rain
to fall. The Chinese delight in praising its wonderful properties and
powers. It is the venerated symbol of good.”
This was probably the view originally taken by the Egyptians, who were
all followers of the serpent cult. In Egypt two kinds of serpents were
the objects of peculiar veneration, and of an almost universal worship.
All the gods were more or less symbolised or crowned by serpents,
while all the goddesses were hieroglyphically represented by serpents.
The animal used for these purposes was the cobra de copello, or
uræus, which, according to Mr. W. R. Cooper,[226] “from its dangerous
beauty, and in consequence of ancient tradition asserting it to have
been spontaneously produced by the rays of the sun,” was universally
assumed as the “emblem of divine and sacro-regal sovereignty.” The
uræus appears to be always represented on the Egyptian monuments, in
the feminine form, and it was used as a symbol of fecundity, agreeably
to which idea the generative power of the solar beams is typified by
pendent uræi. The uræus, moreover, symbolised life and the power of
healing, and it was the emblem of immortality. Mr. Cooper remarks that
in the Egyptian religious system the principle of good was typically
represented by a serpent, while under the form of an entirely different
serpent was figured a monstrous _personal_ evil being who maintained
a constant spiritual warfare with the spirit of good. The serpent
embodiment of the principle of evil was called Hof, Rehof, or Aphôphis,
and it was a species of coluber of large size. It is described as “the
destroyer, the enemy of the gods, and the devourer of the souls of
men;” and it was thought to dwell in the depths of “that mysterious
ocean upon which the Baris, or boat of the sun, was navigated by the
gods through the hours of day and night, in the celestial regions.”
The idea of an antagonism between the giant serpent Aphôphis and the
good serpent, as the “soul of the world,” constantly occurs in the
Ritual of the Dead, and the aid of every divinity in turn is sought
by the deceased in his conflict with the evil being. It is remarkable
that the “soul of the world,” Chnuphis, or Bait, is represented as a
coluber, and that it appears to be identified with Aphôphis in one
chapter of the Ritual. Mr. Cooper states that, although a large coluber
which is figured as being worshipped resembles Aphôphis, it cannot
be him, as there is no example of direct worship paid to Aphôphis,
“unless, indeed, we identify it with Sutekh, as the Shepherd Kings,
the last but one of whom was named Aphôphis, appear to have done.”
The serpent Aphôphis is sometimes represented with the crown of Lower
Egypt upon his head, and at one period he was identified with Set or
Seth, the national deity of the Hyksos or Shepherd tribes. All traces
of the worship of Set was obliterated from the Egyptian monuments, but
one representation has been preserved in which Set is figured with
Horus, united as one divinity, between the triple serpent of good.
This shows that Set, and probably, therefore, his serpent emblem, was
originally not considered evil. Lower Egypt was largely populated by
Semitic peoples, whose national deity was their legendary ancestor
Seth, and the detestation with which the Egyptians regarded Set and
the serpent Aphôphis identified with him was probably the result of
national enmity. Mr. Cooper points out that the serpent of good is
always represented by the Egyptians as upright and the serpent of evil
as crawling, this being generally the only distinction made. The god
Chnuphis, the “soul of the world,” is usually figured as a Serpent
(Coluber) walking upon two human legs, and curiously enough this is
the form taken by the evil principle of Persian mythology, the great
serpent walking on two feet. A similar inversion of ideas occurs in the
religious mythology of the Naga peoples of the East. Near the ruined
temples of Cambodia, as on the Buddhist Topes of India, are sculptured
gigantic serpents with voluminous folds supported by human figures, as
the gigantic Aphôphis is represented on the Egyptian monuments. There
must have been some special reason why the great serpent was regarded
so differently by various peoples, and this was probably the result of
race antagonism.
It is remarkable that one of the most ancient people of whom we have
any written record—the primitive inhabitants of Chaldea—not only bore
the name of the traditional father of mankind, but were especially
identified with the serpent. The predecessors of the _Akkad_, in
Chaldea, were the Medes, or _Mad_, of Berosus, and the distinctive
title of at least the later Medes was _Már_, which in Persian means “a
snake.” This Sir Henry Rawlinson supposes to have given rise “not only
to the Persian traditions of Zohák and his snakes, but to the Armenian
traditions, also, of the dragon dynasty of Media.” The Medes of Berosus
belonged almost certainly to the old Scythic stock of Central Asia,
to whom the Chaldeans, the Hebrews, and the Aryans have alike been
affiliated by different writers. When, therefore, Mr. Fergusson says
that serpent-worship characterised the old Turanian Chaldean Empire, he
would seem to trace it to the old Asiatic centre. Probably to the same
source must be traced the serpent tradition of the Abyssinian kings.
Bryant long since asserted that that superstition originated with the
Amonians or Hamites, who also would seem to have been derived from the
Scythic stock. The facts brought together in the preceding pages far
from exhaust the subject, but they appear to justify the following
conclusions:—
First, The serpent has been viewed with awe or veneration from primeval
times, and almost universally as a re-embodiment of a deceased human
being, and as such there were ascribed to it the attributes of life
and wisdom, and the power of healing.
Secondly, The idea of a simple spirit re-incarnation of a deceased
ancestor gave rise to the notion that mankind originally sprang from a
serpent, and ultimately to a legend embodying that idea.
Thirdly, This legend was connected with nature—or rather
sun-worship—and the sun was, therefore, looked upon as the divine
serpent-father of man and nature.
Fourthly, Serpent-worship, as a developed religious system, originated
in Central Asia, the home of the great Scythic stock, from whom all the
civilised races of the historical period sprang.
Fifthly, These peoples are the Adamites, and their mythical ancestor
was at one time regarded as the Great Serpent, his descendants being in
a special sense serpent-worshippers.
* * * * *
_Note._—At page 88, the Malagasy idol Ramahavaly is spoken of as still
existing. As a fact, however, in 1869 all the Malagasy national idols
were, by order of the Government, publicly burned. Many other idols and
charms were at the same time destroyed by their owners.—_Madagascar and
its People_, by the Rev. James Sibree, Jun., p. 481.
FOOTNOTES:
[216] Theodoret did not distinguish between an Egyptian sect called
_Sethians_ and the Gnostic _Ophites_ or serpent-worshippers.
[217] The heavenly serpent, _Danh_, of the Dahomans, is said by Captain
Burton to be the god of wealth. “His earthly representative is esteemed
the supreme bliss and general good.” The Slavonian Morlacchi still
consider that the sight of a snake crossing the road is an omen of good
fortune.—Wilkinson’s “Dalmatia and Montenegro,” vol. ii., p. 160.
[218] Mr. Lane states that each quarter of Cairo is supposed to have
its guardian genius, or Agatho-dæmon, in the form of a serpent.—Vol.
i., p. 289.
[219] Warburton supposes that the worship of the One God Kneph was
changed into that of the dragon or winged-serpent Knuphis.
[220] Vishnu is often identified with Kneph.
[221] According to Gaelic and German folklore, the white snake when
boiled has the faculty of conferring medicinal wisdom. The white snake
is venerated as the king of serpents by the Scottish Highlanders as
by certain Arab tribes, and it would appear also by the Singhalese of
Ceylon.
[222] The snake is one of the Indian tribal _totems_.
[223] Pausanias, iv., 14, mentions Aristodama, the mother of Aratus,
as having had intercourse with a serpent, and the mother of the great
Scipio was said to have conceived by a serpent. Such was the case also
with Olympias, the mother of Alexander, who was taught by her that he
was a god, and who in return deified her.—_Le Mythe de la Femme et du
Serpent_, par Ch. Schoebel, 1876, p. 84.
[224] Mr. Robert Brown, jun., says that the serpent has six principal
points of connection with Dionysos:—1, As a symbol of, and connected
with, wisdom; 2, As a solar emblem; 3, As a symbol of time and
eternity; 4, As an emblem of the earth-life; 5, As connected with
fertilising moisture; 6, As a Phallic emblem.—_The Great Dionysiak
Myth_, 1878, ii., 66.
[225] Mr. Cooper states (_loc. cit._, p. 390) that prominent in the
Egyptian religious system was the belief in a monstrous _personal_ evil
being typically represented as a serpent, and that the principle of
good was there likewise represented by an entirely different serpent, a
constant spiritual warfare being maintained between the two.
[226] “The Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt,” published in the
“Transactions of the Victoria Institute,” vol. vi., 1872.