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OPHIOLATREIA, OR SERPENT WORSHIP.
OPHIOLATREIA:
AN ACCOUNT OF
THE RITES AND MYSTERIES CONNECTED WITH
THE ORIGIN, RISE, AND DEVELOPMENT
OF
Serpent Worship
IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD,
ENRICHED WITH INTERESTING TRADITIONS,
AND A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE CELEBRATED
Serpent Mounds & Temples,
THE WHOLE FORMING AN EXPOSITION OF ONE
OF THE PHASES OF
PHALLIC, OR SEX WORSHIP.
PRIVATELY PRINTED.
1889.
_PREFACE._
_Our words by way of preface and introduction need be but few. The
following volume forms a companion to one already issued bearing the title
"Phallism." That work, though complete in itself, meets in this a further
elucidation of its subject, since, in the opinion of many, Ophiolatreia,
the worship of the Serpent, is of Phallic origin. Such a view, and others
of a contrary nature, have been honestly set forth, and the best and most
trustworthy authorities have been consulted for history, arguments, and
illustrations by which they may be understood. No attempt has been made to
insist upon any one method of interpretation as undoubtedly correct, but
simple facts have been stated, and the reader has been left to form his
own independent judgment._
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I. 1
Ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--Of mysterious origin--
Of universal prevalence--The Serpent, a common symbol in
mythology--Serpent Worship, natural but irrational--Bacchic
orgies--Olympias, mother of Alexander, and the Serpent Emblem--
Thermuthis, the sacred Serpent--Asps--Saturn and his children--
Sacrifices at altar of Saturn--Abaddon--Ritual of Zoroaster--
Vulcan--Theology of Ophion--The Cuthites--The Ophiogeneis--The
Ophionians--Greek Traditions--Cecrops--Various Serpent
worshippers.
CHAPTER II. 10
Supposed Phallic Origin of Serpent Worship--The idea of life--
Adoration of the principle of generation--The Serpent as a
symbol of the Phallus--Phallic Worship at Benares--The Serpent
and Mahadeo--Festival of the "Nag panchami"--Snakes and Women--
Traces of Phallic Worship in the Kumaon Rock Markings--The
Northern Bulb-stones--Professor Stephens on the Snake as a
Symbol of the Phallus--The "Dionysiak Myth"--Brown on the
Serpent as a Phallic Emblem--Mythology of the Aryan Nations--
Sir G. W. Cox and the Phallic theory--Athenian Mythology.
CHAPTER III. 17
Mythology of the Ancients--Characteristics of the Pagan Deities--
Doctrine of the Reciprocal Principles of Nature--Creation and the
Egg--Creation and the Phallus--The Lotus--Osiris as the active,
dispensing, and originating energy--Hesiod and the generative
powers--Growth of Phallic Worship.
CHAPTER IV. 21
Ancient Monuments of the West--The valley of the Mississippi--
Numerous earth-works of the Western States--Theories as to the
origin of the mounds--"The Defence" Theory--The Religious
Theory--Earth-work of the "Great Serpent" on Bush Creek--The
"Alligator," Ohio--The "Cross," Pickaway County--Structures of
Wisconsin--Mr. Pigeon's drawings--Significance of earth-mounds--
The Egg and Man's primitive ideas--The Egg as a symbol--Birth of
Brahma--Aristophanes and his "Comedy of the Birds"--The hymn to
Protogones--The Chinese and Creation--The Mundane or Orphic
Egg--Kneph--Mr. Gliddon's replies to certain inquiries--The
Orphic Theogony and the Egg--The Great Unity.
CHAPTER V. 38
The Sun and Fire as emblems--The Serpent and the Sun--Taut and the
Serpent--Horapollo and the Serpent Symbol--Sanchoniathon and the
Serpent--Ancient Mysteries of Osiris, &c.--Rationale of the
connection of Solar, Phallic, and Serpent Worship--The Aztec
Pantheon--Mexican Gods--The Snake in Mexican Theology--The Great
Father and Mother--Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent--Researches
of Stephens and Catherwood--Discoveries of Mr. Stephens.
CHAPTER VI. 60
Mexican Temple of Montezuma--The Serpent emblem in Mexico--Pyramid
of Cholula--Tradition of the giants of Auahuac--The temple of
Quetzalcoatl--North American Indians and the Rattlesnake--Indian
Tradition of a Great Serpent--Serpents in the Mounds of the West--
Bigotry and folly of the Spanish Conquerors of the West--Wide
prevalence of Mexican Ophiolatreia.
CHAPTER VII. 77
Egypt as the home of Serpent Worship--Thoth said to be the
founder of Ophiolatreia--Cneph the architect of the universe--
Mysteries of Isis--The Isiac table--Frequency of the Serpent
symbol--Serapis--In the temples at Luxore, etc.--Discovery at
Malta--The Egyptian Basilisk--Mummies--Bracelets--The Caduceus--
Temple of Cneph at Elephantina--Thebes--Story of a priest--
Painting in a tomb at Biban at Malook--Pococke at Raigny.
CHAPTER VIII. 84
Derivation of the name "Europe"--Greece colonized by Ophites--
Numerous traces of the Serpent in Greece--Worship of Bacchus--
Story of Ericthonias--Banquet of the Bacchantes--Minerva--Armour
of Agamemnon--Serpents at Epidaurus--Story of the pestilence in
Rome--Delphi--Mahomet at Atmeidan.
CHAPTER IX. 89
Ophiolatreia in Britain--The Druids--Adders--Poem of Taliessin--
The goddess Ceridwen--A Bardic poem--Snake stones--The anguinum--
Execution of a Roman Knight--Remains of the serpent temple at
Abury--Serpent vestiges in Ireland of great rarity--St. Patrick.
CHAPTER X. 94
India conspicuous in the history of Serpent Worship--Nagpur--
Confessions of a snake worshipper--The gardeners of Guzerat--
Cottages for snakes at Calicut--The Feast of the Serpents--The
deity Hari--Garuda--The snake as an emblem of immortality.
CHAPTER XI. 99
Mr. Bullock's exhibition of objects illustrating Serpent Worship.
OPHIOLATREIA.
CHAPTER I.
_Ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--Of mysterious origin--Of
universal prevalence--The Serpent a common symbol in
mythology--Serpent-worship natural but irrational--Bacchic
orgies--Olympias, mother of Alexander, and the Serpent
emblem--Thermuthis, the Sacred Serpent--Asps--Saturn and his
children--Sacrifices at altar of Saturn--Abaddon--Ritual of
Zoroaster--Theologo of Ophion--The Cuthites--The Ophiogeneis--The
Ophionians--Greek Traditions--Cecrops--Various Serpent worshippers._
Ophiolatreia, the worship of the serpent, next to the adoration of the
phallus, is one of the most remarkable, and, at first sight, unaccountable
forms of religion the world has ever known. Until the true source from
whence it sprang can be reached and understood, its nature will remain as
mysterious as its universality, for what man could see in an object so
repulsive and forbidding in its habits as this reptile, to render worship
to, is one of the most difficult of problems to find a solution to. There
is hardly a country of the ancient world, however, where it cannot be
traced, pervading every known system of mythology, and leaving proofs of
its existence and extent in the shape of monuments, temples, and
earthworks of the most elaborate and curious character. Babylon, Persia,
Hindostan, Ceylon, China, Japan, Burmah, Java, Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, Northern and Western Europe, Mexico, Peru,
America--all yield abundant testimony to the same effect, and point to the
common origin of Pagan systems wherever found. Whether the worship was the
result of fear or respect is a question that naturally enough presents
itself, and in seeking to answer it we shall be confronted with the fact
that in some places, as Egypt, the symbol was that of a good demon, while
in India, Scandinavia, and Mexico, it was that of an evil one. It has been
remarked that in the warmer regions of the globe, where this creature is
the most formidable enemy which man can encounter, the serpent should be
considered the mythological attendant of an evil being is not surprising,
but that in the frozen or temperate regions of the earth, where he
dwindles into the insignificance of a reptile without power to create
alarm, he should be regarded in the same appalling character, is a fact
which cannot be accounted for by natural causes. Uniformity of tradition
can alone satisfactorily explain uniformity of superstition, where local
circumstances are so discordant.
"The serpent is the symbol which most generally enters into the mythology
of the world. It may in different countries admit among its
fellow-satellites of Satan the most venomous or the most terrible of the
animals in each country, but it preserves its own constancy, as the only
invariable object of superstitious terror throughout the habitable world.
'Wherever the Devil reigned,' remarks Stillingfleet, 'the serpent was held
in some peculiar veneration.' The universality of this singular and
irrational, yet natural, superstition it is now proposed to show.
_Irrational_, for there is nothing in common between deity and a reptile,
to suggest the notion of Serpent-worship; and _natural_, because, allowing
the truth of the events in Paradise, every probability is in favour of
such a superstition springing up."[1]
It may seem extraordinary that the worship of the serpent should ever have
been introduced into the world, and it must appear still more remarkable
that it should almost universally have prevailed. As mankind are said to
have been ruined through the influence of this being, we could little
expect that it would, of all other objects, have been adopted as the most
sacred and salutary symbol, and rendered the chief object of adoration.
Yet so we find it to have been, for in most of the ancient rites there is
some allusion to it. In the orgies of Bacchus, the persons who took part
in the ceremonies used to carry serpents in their hands, and with horrid
screams call upon "Eva, Eva." They were often crowned with serpents while
still making the same frantic exclamation. One part of the mysterious
rites of Jupiter Sabazius was to let a snake slip down the bosom of the
person to be initiated, which was taken out below. These ceremonies, and
this symbolic worship, are said to have begun among the Magi, who were the
sons of Chus, and by them they were propagated in various parts.
Epiphanius thinks that the invocation "Eva, Eva," related to the great
mother of mankind, who was deceived by the serpent, and Clemens of
Alexandria is of the same opinion. Others, however, think that Eva was
the same as Eph, Epha, Opha, which the Greeks rendered Ophis, and by it
denoted a serpent. Clemens acknowledges that the term Eva, properly
aspirated, had such a signification.
Olympias, the mother of Alexander, was very fond of these orgies, in which
the serpent was introduced. Plutarch mentions that rites of this sort were
practised by the Edonian women near Mount Haemus in Thrace, and carried on
to a degree of madness. Olympias copied them closely in all their frantic
manoeuvres. She used to be followed with many attendants, who had each a
thyrsus with serpents twined round it. They had also snakes in their hair,
and in the chaplets which they wore, so that they made a most fearful
appearance. Their cries also were very shocking, and the whole was
attended with a continual repetition of the words, Evoe, Saboe, Hues
Attes, Attes Hues, which were titles of the god Dionusus. He was
peculiarly named Hues, and his priests were the Hyades and Hyautes. He was
likewise styled Evas.
In Egypt was a serpent named Thermuthis, which was looked upon as very
sacred; and the natives are said to have made use of it as a royal tiara,
with which they ornamented the statues of Isis. We learn from Diodorus
Siculus that the kings of Egypt wore high bonnets, which terminated in a
round ball, and the whole was surrounded with figures of asps. The
priests, likewise, upon their bonnets had the representation of serpents.
The ancients had a notion that when Saturn devoured his own children, his
wife Ops deceived him by substituting a large stone in lieu of one of his
sons, which stone was called Abadir. But Ops and Opis, represented here as
a feminine, was the serpent deity, and Abadir is the same personage under
a different denomination. Abadir seems to be a variation of Ob-Adur, and
signifies the serpent god Orus. One of these stones, which Saturn was
supposed to have swallowed instead of a child, stood, according to
Pausanias, at Delphi. It was esteemed very sacred, and used to have
libations of wine poured upon it daily; and upon festivals was otherwise
honoured. The purport of the above was probably this: it was for a long
time a custom to offer children at the altar of Saturn; but in process of
time they removed it, and in its room erected a stone pillar, before which
they made their vows, and offered sacrifices of another nature. This stone
which they thus substituted was called Ab-Adar, from the deity represented
by it. The term Ab generally signifies a father, but in this instance it
certainly relates to a serpent, which was indifferently styled Ab, Aub,
and Ob. Some regard Abadon, or, as it is mentioned in the Book of the
Revelation, Abaddon, to have been the name of the same Ophite god, with
whose worship the world had been so long infected. He is termed Abaddon,
the angel of the bottomless pit--the prince of darkness. In another place
he is described as the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and
Satan. Hence the learned Heinsius is supposed to be right in the opinion
which he has given upon this passage, when he makes Abaddon the same as
the serpent Pytho.
It is said that in the ritual of Zoroaster the great expanse of the
heavens, and even nature itself, was described under the symbol of a
serpent.[2] The like was mentioned in the Octateuch of Ostanes; and
moreover, in Persia and in other parts of the East they erected temples to
the serpent tribe, and held festivals to their honour, esteeming them _the
supreme of all Gods, and the superintendents of the whole world_. The
worship began among the people of Chaldea. They built the city Opis upon
the Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination and to the worship of
the serpent. From Chaldea the worship passed into Egypt, where the serpent
deity was called Canoph, Caneph, and C'neph. It had also the name of Ob,
or Oub, and was the same as the Basilicus, or Royal Serpent; the same also
as the Thermuthis, and in like manner was made use of by way of ornament
to the statues of their Gods. The chief Deity of Egypt is said to have
been Vulcan, who was also styled Opas, as we learn from Cicero. He was the
same as Osiris, the Sun; and hence was often called Ob-El, or Pytho Sol;
and there were pillars sacred to him, with curious hieroglyphical
inscriptions, which had the same name. They were very lofty, and narrow in
comparison of their length; hence among the Greeks, who copied from the
Egyptians, everything gradually tapering to a point was styled Obelos, and
Obeliscus. Ophel (Oph-El) was a name of the same purport, and many sacred
mounds, or Tapha, were thus denominated from the serpent Deity, to whom
they were sacred.
Sanchoniathon makes mention of a history which he once wrote upon the
worship of the serpent. The title of this work, according to Eusebius, was
Ethothion, or Ethothia. Another treatise upon the same subject was written
by Pherecydes Tyrus, which was probably a copy of the former; for he is
said to have composed it from some previous accounts of the Phoenicians.
The title of his book was the Theology of Ophion, styled Ophioneus, and
his worshippers were called Ophionidae. Thoth and Athoth were certainly
titles of the Deity in the Gentile world; and the book of Sanchoniathon
might very possibly have been from hence named Ethothion, or more truly,
Athothion. But, from the subject upon which it was written, as well as
from the treatise of Pherecydes, we have reason to think that Athothion,
or Ethothion, was a mistake for Ath-Ophion, a title which more immediately
related to that worship of which the writer treated. Ath was a sacred
title, as we have shewn, and we imagine that this dissertation did not
barely relate to the serpentine Deity, but contained accounts of his
votaries, the Ophitae, the principal of which were the sons of Chus. The
worship of the serpent began among them, and they were from thence
denominated Ethiopians, and Aithopians, which the Greeks rendered
Aithiopes. They did not receive this name from their complexion, as has
sometimes been surmised, for the branch of Phut and the Luhim, were
probably of a deeper dye; but they were most likely so called from
Ath-Ope, and Ath-Opis, the God which they worshipped. This may be shewn
from Pliny. He says that the country Ethiopia (and consequently the
people), had the name of AEthiop, from a personage who was a Deity--_ab
AEthiope Vulcani filio_. The AEthiopes brought these rites into Greece, and
called the island where they first established them Ellopia, _Solis
Serpentis insula_. It was the same as Euboea, a name of the like
purport, in which island was a region named Ethiopium. Euboea is
properly Oub-Aia, and signifies, the Serpent Island. The same worship
prevailed among the Hyperboreans, as we may judge from the names of the
sacred women who used to come annually to Delos; they were priestesses of
the Tauric Goddess. Hercules was esteemed the chief God, the same as
Chronus, and was said to have produced the Mundane egg. He was represented
in the Orphic theology under the mixed symbol of a lion and a serpent, and
sometimes of a serpent only.
The Cuthites, under the title of Heliadae, having settled at Rhodes, as
they were Hivites, or Ophites, the island was in consequence named
Ophiusa. There was likewise a tradition that it had once swarmed with
serpents. (Bochart says the island is said to have been named Rhodus from
_Rhad_, a Syriac word for a serpent.) The like notion prevailed almost in
every place where they settled. They came under the more general titles
of Leleges and Pelasgi; but more particularly of Elopians, Europians,
Oropians, Asopians, Inopians, Ophionians, and AEthiopes, as appears from
the names which they bequeathed; and in most places where they resided
there were handed down traditions which alluded to their original title of
Ophites. In Phrygia, and upon the Hellespont, whither they sent out
colonies very early, was a people styled the Ophiogeneis, or the serpent
breed, who were said to retain an affinity and correspondence with
serpents; and a notion prevailed that some hero, who had conducted them,
was changed from a serpent to a man. In Colchis was a river Ophis, and
there was another of the same name in Arcadia. It was so named from a body
of people who settled upon its banks, and were said to have been conducted
by a serpent.
It is said these reptiles are seldom found in islands, but that Tenos, one
of the Cyclades, was supposed to have once swarmed with them.[3]
Thucydides mentions a people of AEtotia, called Ophionians; and the temple
of Apollo at Petara, in Lycia, seems to have had its first institution
from a priestess of the same name. The island of Cyprus was called
Ophiusa, and Ophiodes, from the serpents with which it was supposed to
have abounded. Of what species they were is nowhere mentioned, excepting
only that about Paphos there was said to have been a kind of serpent with
two legs. By this is meant the Ophite race, who came from Egypt, and from
Syria, and got footing in this island. They settled also in Crete, where
they increased greatly in numbers; so that Minos was said by an unseemly
allegory, _opheis ouresai, serpentes, minxisse_. The island Seriphus was
one vast rock, by the Romans called _saxum seriphium_, and made use of as
a large kind of prison for banished persons. It is represented as having
once abounded with serpents, and it is styled by Virgil, _serpentifera_,
as the passage is corrected by Scaliger.
It is said by the Greeks that Medusa's head was brought by Perseus; by
this is meant the serpent Deity, whose worship was here introduced by
people called Peresians. Medusa's head denoted divine wisdom, and the
island was sacred to the serpent, as is apparent from its name. The
Athenians were esteemed _Serpentiginae_, and they had a tradition that the
chief guardian of their Acropolis was a serpent.
It is reported of the goddess Ceres that she placed a dragon for a
guardian to her temple at Eleusis, and appointed another to attend upon
Erectheus. AEgeus of Athens, according to Androtion, was of the serpent
breed, and the first king of the country is said to have been a dragon.
Others make Cecrops the first who reigned. He is said to have been of a
two-fold nature, being formed with the body of a man blended with that of
a serpent. Diodorus says that this was a circumstance deemed by the
Athenians inexplicable; yet he labours to explain it by representing
Cecrops as half a man and half a brute, because he had been of two
different communities. Eustathius likewise tries to solve it nearly upon
the same principles, and with the like success. Some have said of Cecrops
that he underwent a metamorphosis, being changed from a serpent to a man.
By this was meant, according to Eustathius, that Cecrops by coming into
Hellas divested himself of all the rudeness and barbarity of his country,
and became more civilised and human. This is declared by some to be too
high a compliment to be paid to Greece in its infant state, and detracts
greatly from the character of the Egyptians. The learned Marsham therefore
animadverts with great justice, "it is more probable that he introduced
into Greece the urbanity of his own country, than that he was beholden to
Greece for anything from thence." In respect to the mixed character of
this personage, we may easily account for it. Cecrops was certainly a
title of the Deity, who was worshipped under this emblem. Something of the
like nature was mentioned of Triptolemus and Ericthonius, and the like has
been said of Hercules. The natives of Thebes in Boeotia, like the
Athenians, esteemed themselves of the serpent race. The Lacedaemonians
likewise referred themselves to the same original. Their city is said of
old to have swarmed with serpents. The same is said of the city Amyelae in
Italy, which was of Spartan origin. They came hither in such abundance
that it was abandoned by the inhabitants. Argos was infested in the same
manner till Apis came from Egypt and settled in that city. He was a
prophet, the reputed son of Apollo, and a person of great skill and
sagacity, and to him they attributed the blessing of having their country
freed from this evil. Thus the Argives gave the credit to this imaginary
personage of clearing their land of this grievance, but the brood came
from the very quarter from whence Apis was supposed to have arrived. They
were certainly Hivites from Egypt, and the same story is told of that
country. It is represented as having been of old over-run with serpents,
and almost depopulated through their numbers. Diodorus Siculus seems to
understand this literally, but a region that was annually overflowed, and
that too for so long a season, could not well be liable to such a
calamity. They were serpents of another nature with which it was thus
infested, and the history relates to the Cuthites, the original Ophitae,
who for a long time possessed that country. They passed from Egypt to
Syria, and to the Euphrates, and mention is made of a particular breed of
serpents upon that river, which were harmless to the natives but fatal to
anybody else. This can hardly be taken literally; for whatever may be the
wisdom of the serpent it cannot be sufficient to make these distinctions.
These serpents were of the same nature as the birds of Diomedes, and the
dogs in the temple of Vulcan; and the histories relate to Ophite priests,
who used to spare their own people and sacrifice strangers, a custom which
prevailed at one time in most parts of the world. The Cuthite priests are
said to have been very learned; and, as they were Ophites, whoever had the
advantage of their information was said to have been instructed by
serpents.
As the worship of the serpent was of old so prevalent, many places, as
well as people, from thence received their names. Those who settled in
Campania were called Opici, which some would have changed to Ophici,
because they were denominated from serpents. They are in reality both
names of the same purport, and denote the origin of the people.
We meet with places called Opis, Ophis, Ophitaea, Ophionia, Ophioessa,
Ophiodes, and Ophiusa. This last was an ancient name by which, according
to Stephanus, the islands Rhodes, Cynthus, Besbicus, Tenos, and the whole
continent of Africa, were distinguished. There were also cities so called.
Add to these places denominated Oboth, Obona, and reversed, Onoba, from
Ob, which was of the same purport.
Clemens Alexandrinus says that the term Eva signified a serpent if
pronounced with a proper aspirate, and Epiphanius says the same thing. We
find that there were places of this name. There was a city Eva in Arcadia,
and another in Macedonia. There was also a mountain Eva, or Evan, taken
notice of by Pausanias, between which and Ithome lay the city Messene. He
mentions also an Eva in Argolis, and speaks of it as a large town. Another
name for a serpent, which we have not yet noticed, was Patan, or Pitan.
Many places in different parts were denominated from this term. Among
others was a city in Laconia, and another in Mysia, which Stephanus styles
a city of AEolia. They were undoubtedly so named from the worship of the
serpent, Pitan, and had probably Dracontia, which were figures and devices
relative to the religion which prevailed. Ovid mentions the latter city,
and has some allusions to its ancient history when he describes Medea as
flying through the air from Athea to Colchis. The city was situate upon
the ruin Eva, or Evan, which the Greeks rendered Evenus. According to
Strabo it is compounded of Eva-Ain, the fountain or river of Eva the
serpent.
It is remarkable that the Opici, who are said to have been named from
serpents, had also the name of Pitanatae; at least, one part of that family
was so called. Pitanatae is a term of the same purport as Opici, and
relates to the votaries of Pitan, the serpent Deity, which was adored by
that people. Menelaus was of old called Pitanates, as we learn from
Hesychius, and the reason of it may be known from his being a Spartan, by
which he was intimated one of the Serpentigenae, or Ophites. Hence he was
represented with a serpent for a device upon his shield. It is said that a
brigade, or portion of infantry, was among some of the Greeks named
Pitanates, and the soldiers in consequence of it must have been termed
Pitanatae, undoubtedly, because they had the Pitan, or serpent, for their
standard. Analogous to this, among other nations there were soldiers
called Draconarii. In most countries the military standard was an emblem
of the Deity there worshipped.
What has already been said has thrown some light upon the history of this
primitive idolatry, and we have shewn that wherever any of these Ophite
colonies settled, they left behind from their rites and institutions, as
well as from the names which they bequeathed to places, ample memorials,
by which they may be clearly traced out.