Ophiolatreia Part 6

An engraving in Montfaucon, vol. 2, p. 237, calls for notice here, as ill.u.s.trating the great extent to which the veneration of the serpent once prevailed in Egypt. In the year 1694, in an old wall of Malta, was discovered a plate of gold, supposed to have been concealed there by its possessors at a time when everything idolatrous was destroyed as abominable. Montfaucon says: "This plate was rolled up in a golden casket; it consists of two long rows which contain a very great number of Egyptian deities, most of which have the head of some beast or bird. Many serpents are also seen intermixed, the arms and legs of the G.o.ds terminating in serpents' tails. The first figure has upon its back a long sh.e.l.l with a serpent upon it; in each row there is a serpent extended upon an altar.

Among the figures of the sacred row there is seen an Isis of tolerably good form. This same plate, no doubt, contains the most profound mysteries of the Egyptian superst.i.tion."

It hardly matters where we look in Egypt, this same serpent symbol is found entering into the composition of everything, whether ornamental, useful or ecclesiastical. The basilisk, the most venomous of all snakes, and so regarded as the king of the species and named after the oracular G.o.d of Canaan OB or OUB, was represented on coins with rays upon his head like a crown; around the coin was inscribed "Agathodaemon." The emperor Nero in the "madness of his vanity," it is said, caused a number of such coins to be struck with the inscription "The New Agathodaemon," meaning himself.

The Egyptians held basilisks in such veneration that they made images of them in gold and consecrated and placed them in the temples of their G.o.ds.

Bryant thinks that they were the same as the Thermuthis, or deadly asp.

These creatures the Egyptian priests are said to have preserved by digging holes for them in the corners of their temples, and was a part of their superst.i.tion to believe that whosoever was accidentally bitten by them was divinely favoured.[15]

Deane further mentions that the serpent is sometimes found sculptured, and attached to the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of mummies; but whether with a view to talismanic security, or as indicative of the priesthood of Isis, is doubtful. A female mummy, opened by M. Pa.s.salacqua at Paris some years ago, was adorned with a necklace of serpents carved in stone.

Bracelets, in the form of serpents, were worn by the Grecian women in the time of Clemens Alexdrinus, who thus reproves the fas.h.i.+on: "The women are not ashamed to place about them the most manifold symbols of the evil one; for as the serpent deceived Eve, so the golden trinket in the fas.h.i.+on of a serpent misleads the women." The children also wore chaplets of the same kind.

We must not omit to notice the Caduceus, which forms, it is said, one of the most striking examples of the talismanic serpent. According to Montfaucon, Kirchen and others, the notion that this belonged exclusively to Hermes or Mercury is erroneous, as it can be seen in the hand of Cybele, Minerva Amebis, Hercules Ogmius and the personified constellation Virgo, said by Lucian to have had her symbol in the Pythian priestess.

Variously represented in the main, the Caduceus always preserved the original design of a winged wand entwined by two serpents. It is found sometimes without the wings, but never without the serpents; the varieties consisting chiefly in the number of folds made by the serpents' bodies round the wand, and the relative positions of the wings and serpents'

heads. It was regarded as powerful in paralyzing the mind and raising the dead.

Kirchen says that the Caduceus was originally expressed by the simple figure of a cross, by which its inventor, Thoth, is said to have symbolized the four elements proceeding from a common centre.

"Ophiolatreia," says Deane, "had taken such deep root in Egypt that the serpent was not merely regarded as an emblem of divinity, but even held in estimation as the instrument of an oracle. The priests of the temple of Isis had a silver image of a serpent so constructed as to enable a person in attendance to move its head without being observed by the supplicating votary.

"But Egyptian superst.i.tion was not contented with wors.h.i.+pping divinity through its emblem the serpent. The senseless idolater soon bowed before the symbol itself, and wors.h.i.+pped this reptile, the representative of man's energy, as a G.o.d."

In addition to the temple of the great serpent-G.o.d Cneph at Elephantina, there was a renowned one of Jupiter at Thebes, where the practice of Ophiolatreia was carried to a great length. Herodotus writes: "At Thebes there are two serpents, by no means injurious to men; small in size, having two horns springing up from the top of the head. They bury these when dead in the temple of Jupiter: for they say that they are sacred to that G.o.d." aelian says: "In the time of Ptolemy Euergetes, a very large serpent was kept in the temple of aesculapius at Alexandria, and in another place a live one of great magnitude was kept and adored with divine honours; the name of this place he called Melite." He gives the following story:--"This serpent had priests and ministers, a table and a bowl. The priests every day carried into the sacred chamber a cake made of flour and honey and then retired. Returning the next day they always found the bowl empty. On one occasion, one of the priests, being extremely anxious to see the sacred serpent, went in alone, and having deposited the cake retired.

When the serpent had ascended the table to his feast, the priest came in, throwing open the door with great violence: upon which the serpent departed with great indignation. But the priest was shortly after seized with a mental malady, and, having confessed his crime, became dumb and wasted away until he died."

In Hewart's tables of Egyptian hieroglyphics we see a priest offering adoration to a serpent. The same occurs on the Isiac table.

"In a tomb at Biban, at Malook, is a beautiful painting descriptive of the rites of Ophiolatreia. The officiating priest is represented with a sword in his hand, and three headless victims are kneeling before an immense serpent. Isis is seen sitting under the arch made by the serpent's body, and the sacred asp, with a human face, is behind her seated on the serpent's tail. This picture proves that the serpent was propitiated by human victims."[16]

It is noteworthy that in Egypt as in Phoenicia and other places serpent wors.h.i.+p was not immediately destroyed by the advance of Christianity. The Gnostics united it with the religion of the cross, and a quotation from Bishop Poc.o.c.ke will, just here, be most appropriate and interesting.

"We came to Raigny, where the religious sheikh of the famous Heredy was at the side of the river to meet us. He went with us to the grotto of the serpent that has been so much talked of under the name of the Sheikh Heredy, of which I shall give you a particular account, in order to show the folly, credulity, and superst.i.tion of these people; for the Christians have faith in it as well as the Turks. We went ascending between the rocky mountain for half a mile, and came to a part where the valley opens wider.

On the right is a mosque, built with a dome over it, against the side of the rock, like a sheikh's burial-place. In it there is a large cleft in the rock out of which they say the serpent comes. There is a tomb in the mosque, in the Turkish manner, that they say is the tomb of Heredy, which would make one imagine that one of their saints is buried there, and that they suppose his soul may be in the serpent, for I observed that they went and kissed the tomb with much devotion and said their prayers at it.

Opposite to this cleft there is another, which they say is the tomb of Ogli Ha.s.san, that is of Ha.s.san, the son of Heredy; there are two other clefts which they say are inhabited by saints or angels. The sheikh told me there were two of these serpents, but the common notion is that there is only one. He said it had been there ever since the time of Mahomet. The shape of it is like that of other serpents of the harmless breed. He comes out only during the four summer months, and it is said that they sacrifice to it. This the sheikh denied, and affirmed they only brought lambs, sheep, and money to buy oil for the lamps--but I saw much blood and entrails of beasts lately killed before the door.

"The stories are so ridiculous that they ought not to be repeated, if it were not to give an instance of their idolatry in those parts in this respect, though the Mahometan religion seems to be very far from it in other things. They say the virtue of this serpent is to cure all diseases of those who go to it.

"They are also full of a story, that when a number of women go there once a year, he pa.s.ses by and looks on them, and goes and twines about the neck of the most beautiful.

"I was surprised to hear a grave and sensible Christian say that he always cured any distempers, but that worse followed. And some really believe that he works miracles, and say it is the devil mentioned in Tobit, whom the angel Gabriel drove into the utmost parts of Egypt."

The bishop is of opinion (in which he is joined by others) that the above superst.i.tion is a remnant of the ancient Ophiolatreia.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Derivation of the name "Europe"--Greece colonized by Ophites--Numerous Traces of the Serpent in Greece--Wors.h.i.+p of Bacchus--Story of Ericthonias--Banquets of the Bacchants--Minerva--Armour of Agamemnon-- Serpents at Epidaurus--Story of the pestilence in Rome--Delphi--Mahomet at Atmeidan._

Bryant and Faber both derive the name of "Europe" from "Aur-ab, the solar serpent." "Whether this be correct or not," says Deane, "it is certain that Ophiolatreia prevailed in this quarter of the globe at the earliest period of idolatry. The first inhabitants of Europe are said to have been the offspring of a woman, partly of the human and partly of the dracontic figure, a tradition which alludes to their Ophite origin.

"Of the countries of Europe, Greece was first colonized by Ophites, but at separate times, both from Egypt and Phoenicia; and it is a question of some doubt, though perhaps of little importance, whether the leader of the first colony, the celebrated Cadmus, was a Phoenician or an Egyptian.

Bochart has shown that Cadmus was the leader of the Canaanites who fled before the arms of the victorious Joshua; and Bryant has proved that he was an Egyptian, identical with Thoth. But as mere names of individuals are of no importance, when all agree that the same superst.i.tion existed contemporaneously in the two countries, and since Thoth is declared by Sanchoniathan to have been the father of the Phoenician as well as Egyptian Ophiolatreia; we may endeavour without presumption to reconcile the opinions of these learned authors by a.s.suming each to be right in his own line of argument."

In Greece there are numerous traces of the wors.h.i.+p of the serpent--it was so common indeed at one time that Justin Martyr declared the people introduced it into the mysteries of all their G.o.ds. In the mysteries and excesses of Bacchus it is well-known, of course, to have played a conspicuous part. The people bore them entwined upon their heads, and carrying them in their hands, swung them about crying aloud, "enia, enia."

The sign of the Bacchic ceremonies was a consecrated serpent, and in the processions a troop of virgins of n.o.ble family carried the reptile with golden baskets containing sesamum, honey cakes and grains of salt, articles all specially connected with serpent wors.h.i.+p. The first may be seen in the British Museum, in the hands of priests kneeling before the sacred serpent of Egypt. Honey cakes, according to Herodotus, were presented once a month as food to the sacred serpent in the Acropolis at Athens.

The most remarkable feature of all in the Bacchic orgies is said to have been the mystic serpent. "The mystery of religion was throughout the world concealed in a chest or box. As the Israelites had their sacred ark, every nation upon earth had some holy receptacle for sacred things and symbols.

The story of Ericthonius is ill.u.s.trative of this remark. He was the fourth King of Athens, and his body terminated in the tails of serpents, instead of legs. He was placed by Minerva in a basket, which she gave to the daughter of Cecrops, with strict injunctions not to open it. Here we have a fable made out of the simple fact of the mysterious basket, in which the sacred serpent was carried at the orgies of Bacchus. The whole legend relates to Ophiolatreia. In accordance with the general practice, the wors.h.i.+ppers of Bacchus carried in their consecrated baskets or chests the Mystery of their G.o.d, together with the offerings."[17]

At the banquets of the Bacchantes, or rather, after them, it was usual to carry round a cup, which was called the "cup of the good daemon." The symbol of this daemon was a serpent, as seen on the medals of the town of Dionysopolis in Thrace. On one side were the heads of Gordian and Serapis on the other a coiled serpent.

The serpent was mixed up to a considerable extent with the wors.h.i.+p of many other of the Grecian deities. The statues, by Phidias, of Minerva, represent her as decorated with this emblem. In ancient medals, as shown by Montfaucon, she sometimes holds a caduceus in her right hand; at other times she has a staff around which a serpent is twisted, and at others, a large serpent appears going in front of her; while she is sometimes seen with her crest composed of a serpent. It is remarkable too, that in the Acropolis at Athens was kept a live serpent who was generally considered the guardian of the place, and Athens was a city specially consecrated to Minerva.

Examples of Grecian Ophiolatreia might easily be multiplied to a considerable extent, but we have s.p.a.ce for little more than a brief glance. It is known that upon the walls of Athens was a sculptured head of Medusa, whose hair was intertwined with snakes, and in the temple at Tega was a similar figure which was supposed to possess talismanic power to preserve or destroy. The print in Montfaucon represents the face of Medusa as mild and beautiful, but the serpents as threatening and terrible. There is a story current, that a priestess going into a sanctuary of Minerva in the dead of the night, saw a vision of that G.o.ddess, who held up her mantle upon which was impressed a Medusa's head, and that the sight of this fearful object instantaneously converted the intruder into stone.

The armour of Agamemnon, king of Argos, was ornamented with a three headed serpent; Menelaus, king of Sparta, had one on his s.h.i.+eld, and the Spartan people, with the Athenians, affirmed they were of serpentine origin and called themselves _ophiogenae_.

At Epidaurus, according to Pausanias, live serpents were kept and fed regularly by servants, who, on account of religious awe, were fearful of approaching the sacred reptiles which in themselves were of the most harmless character. The statue of aesculapius, at this temple, represented him resting one hand upon the head of a serpent, while his sister, Hygeia, had one twisted about her. It is reported that the G.o.d aesculapius was conveyed by a woman named Nicagora, the wife of Echetimus, to Sicyon under the form of a serpent.

Livy, Ovid, Florus, Valerius Maximus, and Aurelius Victor, relate that a pestilence of a violent and fatal character once broke out in Rome, and that the oracle of Delphi advised an emba.s.sy to Epidaurus to fetch the G.o.d aesculapius. This advice was taken, and a company of eleven were sent with the humble supplications of the senate and people of Rome. While they were gazing at the statue of the G.o.d, a serpent, "venerable, not horrible," say these authors, which rarely appeared but when he intended to confer some extraordinary benefit, glided from his lurking place, and having pa.s.sed through the city went directly to the Roman vessel and coiled himself up in the berth of Ogulnius the princ.i.p.al amba.s.sador. Setting sail with the G.o.d, they duly arrived off Antium, when the serpent leaped into the sea, and swam to the nearest temple of Apollo, and after a few days returned.

But when they entered the Tiber, he leaped upon an island, and disappeared. Here the Romans erected a temple to him in the shape of a s.h.i.+p, and the plague was stayed with wonderful celerity.

Delphi appears to have been the princ.i.p.al stronghold of serpent wors.h.i.+p in Greece. Strabo says its original name was Pytho--derived from the serpent Python, slain there by Apollo. From this story Heinsius concludes that the G.o.d Apollo was first wors.h.i.+pped at Delphi, under the symbol of a serpent. It is known that the public a.s.semblies at Delphi were called Pythia, these were originally intended for the adoration of the Python.

In Gibbon and the _Annales Turcici_ we have interesting matter about the serpentine column. The former says it was taken from Delphi to Constantinople by the founder of the latter city and set up on a pillar in the Hippodrome. Montfaucon, however, thinks that Constantine only caused a similar column to be made, and that the original remained in its place.

Deane says, "this celebrated relic of Ophiolatreia is still to be seen in the same place, where it was set up by Constantine, but one of the serpent's heads is mutilated."

From the _Annales_ we get the following explanation of this inquiry. "When Mahomet came to Atmeidan he saw there a stone column, on which was placed a three-headed brazen serpent. Looking at it, he asked, 'What idol is that?' and, at the same time, hurling his iron mace with great force knocked off the lower jaw of one of the serpent's heads. Upon which, immediately, a great number of serpents began to be seen in the city.

Whereupon some advised him to leave that serpent alone from henceforth, since through that image it happened that there were no serpents in the city. Wherefore that column remains to this day. And although in consequence of the lower jaw of the brazen serpent being struck off, some serpents do come into the city, yet they do harm to no one."

Commenting upon this story Deane remarks--"This traditionary legend, preserved by Leunclavius, marks the stronghold which Ophiolatreia must have taken upon the minds of the people of Constantinople, so as to cause this story to be handed down to so late an era as the seventeenth century.

Among the Greeks who resorted to Constantinople were many idolators of the old religion, who would wilfully transmit any legend favourable to their own superst.i.tion." Hence, probably, the charm mentioned above, was attached by them to the Delphic serpent on the column in the Hippodrome, and revived (after the partial mutilation of the figure) by their descendants, the common people, who are always the last in every country to forego an ancient superst.i.tion. Among the common people of Constantinople, there were always many more Pagans than Christians at heart. With the Christian religion, therefore, which they professed, would be mingled many of the pagan traditions which were attached to the monuments of antiquity that adorned Byzantium, or were imported into Constantinople.

CHAPTER IX.

_Ophiolatreia in Britain--The Druids--Adders--Poem of Taliessin--The G.o.ddess 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._

It will probably be a matter of surprise to many, but it is a fact that even in Britain in ancient times Ophiolatreia largely prevailed. Deane says: "Our British ancestors, under the tuition of the venerable Druids, were not only wors.h.i.+ppers of the solar deity, symbolized by the serpent, but held the serpent, independent of his relation to the sun, in peculiar veneration. Cut off from all intercourse with the civilized world, partly by their remoteness and partly by their national character, the Britons retained their primitive idolatry long after it had yielded in the neighbouring countries to the polytheistic corruptions of Greece and Egypt. In process of time, however, the G.o.ds of the Gaulish Druids penetrated into the sacred mythology of the British and furnished personifications for the different attributes of the dracontic G.o.d Hu.

This deity was called "The Dragon Ruler of the World" and his car was drawn by serpents. His priests in accommodation with the general custom of the Ophite G.o.d, were called after him "Adders."[18]