щрихи / Религия и мистика / Езичество

"Енциклопедия на религиите", 2004, том 12, стр. 8456-8460:

SNAKES. Because of their shape and their relation to the
environment, snakes play an important role in the beliefs of
various peoples. Their swiftness and peculiar locomotion,
along with the periodical sloughing of their skin, their glistening
beauty, and the venom of some species have given
them a place apart in the animal world. Their supposedly sinister
character and dangerousness cause fear; their enigmatic
and ambivalent nature has led human beings to contradictory
assessments of them: On the one hand, they are thought
of as evil and as a cause of death; on the other, they are believed
to embody beneficial and even divine powers. As a result,
in some religions they may be both accursed and worshiped.
The serpent Apophis was regarded by the ancient
Egyptians as the worst enemy of Re, the sun god; yet Re is
also protected by the serpent Mehen on his journey through
the underworld. In the Bible the scaly reptile can be a symbol
both of death (the fall of humanity, Gn. 3) and of life (the
brazen serpent, Nm. 21:6–8). In Indian mythology Ka¯liya,
the prince of serpents, is the embodiment of evil and is overcome
by Kr:s:n:a; yet the serpent S´ es: a is companion and couch
for Vis:n:u.
THE SERPENT AND ORIGINS. In the mythology of many peoples
a serpent is linked to the origin of the world and to creation;
it is the primordial material or the primordial being.
According to an ancient tradition of the druids (priests
among the Celtic peoples) the world originated from an egg
that came from the mouth of a serpent. Various of the oldest
Egyptian gods were thought of as serpents: as, for example,
Atum before he ascended from the primeval ocean, and
Amun of Thebes, who was also called Kematef (“he who has
fulfilled his time”). In the philosophical speculations of the
ancient Near East on creation, serpents and dragons symbolized
that which had not yet been made manifest: the still undivided
unity that held sway before the creation of the world.
Only after the Babylonian god Marduk had overcome the
dragonlike monster Tiamat could he form heaven and earth
from the latter’s body. In the Old Testament one frequently
finds the motif of God’s struggle against the serpentlike or
dragonlike monster of chaos that lives in the water; it is with
the victory over Rahab that the mighty waters of the primeval
deep are dried up (Is. 51:9–10). Indra’s victory over the monster
Vr: tra, who has neither feet nor hands, is a cosmogonic
act by which water and light are liberated from the embrace
of the forces of chaos. Also among the Indian sagas of creation
is the story of Va¯suki, the world serpent, who is pulled
this way and that by the gods and demons (asuras) so that
Mandara, the world mountain that stands in the ocean of
milk, is set in motion like a creative whisk. According to a
myth of the Nahuatl (ancient Mexico), in primordial times
there existed a formless mass of water in which a great female
monster lived; the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca transformed
themselves into serpents, tore the monster into two
parts, and from these formed heaven and earth. Ceremonies
carried out by American Indian tribes of the Northwest
Coast (Kwakiutl, Haida) in the winter, when there is little
sunlight, commemorate the primordial time when the sun
was imprisoned by the powers of darkness and water, which
are symbolized by the serpent Sisiul. The inhabitants of Rossel
Island (Louisiade archipelago, Melanesia) used to believe
that Wonajö, who had the form of a serpent, created their
island and the stars. Among the Ungarinyin (Aborigines of
northwestern Australia), the primeval serpent Ungud is
linked to the origin of the earth; from its eggs emerged the
Wandjina, the ancestors of humans.
THE SERPENT, ANCESTORS, AND SOULS. It is likely that representations
of serpents on monoliths from the Neolithic age
in France were connected with the veneration of ancestors.
A belief in the Mediterranean world is that a snake that lives
in the house embodies the soul of the family’s first ancestor;
among the Romans, the serpent embodied the paterfamilias.
Thus the Roman poet Vergil (Aeneid 5.83ff.) tells how Aeneas
visits the tomb of his father, Anchises, and how the sacrificial
foods offered to Anchises are accepted by a speckled serpent.
Many murals at Pompeii show vipers protectively
surrounding an altar as symbols of the genius loci, or tutelary
deity of the place. In Greece, ancestors such as Kekrops and
Erechtheus, who had been transformed into heroes, were
venerated in the form of serpents. A serpent and a vessel on
ancient Greek tombstones depicts a libation to the dead. The
ancient Scythians who lived north of the Black Sea regarded
themselves as descendants of Targitaus, a son of the god of
heaven and of the half-human, half-snakelike daughter of
Dnieper, the river god. In some gnostic writings of the Hellenistic
period there is the notion that the first human beings
crawled on the ground like snakes. In New Guinea and the
Admiralty Islands there is a legend that the first human beings
were born of a serpent. Among the Australian Aborigines
the moon is regarded as ancestor of the tribe; his totem
is a serpent. Many chieftains among the Paiwan (east coast
of Taiwan) claim descent from the “hundred-step serpent.”
The Zulu (South Africa) look upon certain snakes as divinized
ancestors who have the power to return to earth in this
form. In Southwest Asia a serpent-princess is supposed to
have been the founder of particular dynasties.
In Africa, Asia, and Oceania the snake is often associated
with the soul. According to the beliefs of the Maasai (East
Africa) the souls of chieftains and medicine men turn into
snakes after death and live on in this form. The Melanesians
identify their ancestors with this reptile, and it is frequently
found as a totem, in New Britain and New Ireland, for example.
In Chinese fairy tales the dead may reappear as serpents.
In Europe, too, one finds the idea that the soul can leave the
body in the form of a serpent, not only after death but even
in dreams (cf. the saga of Guntram, the Frankish king). Various
Slavic peoples believe that the souls of deceased ancestors
dwell in snakes, which guard the homes of their human descendants.
PROTECTOR OF THE HOUSE AND BESTOWER OF HAPPINESS.
According to widespread popular belief, snakes should not
be killed, because they protect the house and bring good fortune;
if they are supplied with milk, they bring health and
prosperity. In fairy tales the toad may replace the serpent in
this role; both animals are accounted to be of chthonic origin
and are numbered among the life-giving powers that contribute
to the welfare of those who maintain contact with the
earth and its forces. In the Alpine regions, for example, there
is a familiar tale of a serpent with a golden crown; as long
as the serpent is treated well, it brings happiness to the house
and its inhabitants. Finns regard the ring snake as a sacred
domestic animal and give it food; they believe that if it
should be killed, the death of the family’s best cow or even
of the stockbreeder himself will follow. In Sweden a white
snake is treated as a beneficent protector of the home and
cared for with reverent awe. Among the ancient Prussians (a
Baltic people), at a certain season of the year, food was set
out for serpents living in the house; it was a bad omen if they
did not take the food. In India even poisonous snakes were
fed as protective spirits; there are areas even in modern times
where every house has had a protective serpent (va¯stusarpa).
Among the Suk and Bari of East Africa, who live as nomadic
shepherds, the serpent is called “child of God,” fed with
milk, and looked upon as a bringer of good fortune. Serpents,
dragons, and toads are widely considered to be protectors
and bearers of treasures and riches. In central Europe
there are still place-names (e.g., Drachenfels, “dragon-rock”)
that allude to local sagas built around the idea of a Lindwurm
(from the Old Norse linn-ormr, “serpent-dragon”) who protects
a treasure; Fáfnir, who guarded the treasure of the Nibelungs,
was such a dragon. In the cultural orbit of India the
na¯gas are the guardians and givers of the vital forces stored
up in springs and wells and of the coral and pearls deposited
in the sea. The Buddhist Ja¯taka tales tell of a Na¯ga prince
who possesses a pearl that grants his every wish. The charitable
Chinese dragon that brings good fortune is said to have
the head of a horse or a camel and the body of a serpent,
while his beard often contains a pearl. In the cults and customs
of the Ivory Coast (West Africa) the snake is regarded
as a bringer of wealth and fame; in Benin the python in particular
is a symbol of happiness and prosperity. In Melanesia
the snake plays the part of culture hero; in many sagas he
gives human beings the edible plants, fire, and frequently
simple tools like the shell knife and stone ax as well.
WISDOM AND POWER. The serpent knows all mysteries; if
a person eats its flesh (or the heart of a dragon, as the Germanic
hero Siegfried did), many things are revealed to him;
in particular, he can understand the speech of the birds. In
Greek myths if a serpent licks the ears of a human being, the
human will understand the languages of animals (cf., e.g., the
story of Melampus and the sons of Laocoön). The children
of Hecuba, queen of Troy, were licked by a serpent and received
the gift of prophecy. Snakes were associated with
Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and in the Middle
Ages with Prudentia, the personification of prudence or practical
wisdom. Then there is the well-known saying of Jesus:
“Be wise as serpents” (Mt. 10:16). The serpent represented
on the croziers of Coptic and Byzantine bishops symbolizes
the prudence with which the faithful are to be guided. The
Aztec god Quetzalcoatl (“feathered serpent”) was the founder
of the body of priestly wisdom; high priests bore the title
“Prince of Serpents.” Animals that were superior to human
beings in certain abilities became symbols of power: Thus the
prophet Isaiah (Is. 27:1) describes the great powers threatening
the people of God as a leviathan (Babylon?) and a dragon
(Egypt?). The representation of an asp known as the uraeus
that the pharaohs wore on their foreheads was a symbol of
their sovereignty; the uraeus was also worn by Horus, the
royal god; the serpent on the brow of Re, the sun god, was
said to annihilate all enemies. The horned serpent on the
seals of scrolls from ancient Mesopotamia is probably a sign
of divine power; it is sacred to the god Ningishzida, the
guardian at the door of heaven. Among more primitive peoples,
too, the serpent can be a symbol of power and sovereignty;
thus it is part of the decoration on the festive garb
of the Paiwan chieftains of Taiwan. Iconographically related
to the serpent is the dragon—it was the emperor’s sign in
China, and the Anglo-Saxons painted it on royal banners.
The power inherent in the serpent was also thought to be
apotropaic; thus the serpent protected temples (Egypt),
tombs (classical antiquity), and the thresholds of homes
(Sweden).
REPRESENTATIVES OF COSMIC POWERS. In classical antiquity
the serpent Uroboros, which swallows its own tail, is able
to embrace the entire universe. Various Indian paintings and
sculptures show the dancing god Siva inside a cosmic ring
that is clearly recognizable as the body of a serpent with a
head at each end. In Germanic mythology the Miðgarðsormr
(“world serpent”), with which Þórr (Thor) does battle, is
wound like a belt around the world. In some mythologies,
the struggle between the storm god and a serpent symbolizes
the antagonism between the uranian powers above and the
chthonic powers below; this is true, for instance, of the battle
between the Hittite storm god and Illuyanka. In the conflict
between the two principles of being (between good and evil
at the ethical level) the place of the divinity may be taken by
an eagle. The enmity between the divine bird and the snake
is a theme in the mythology and art of many peoples: It is
found on seals from ancient Mesopotamia; in Homer’s Iliad;
in India, where the bird Garuda is known as “the serpentslayer”
(na¯ga¯ntaka); and in Christian contexts, where the
eagle is a symbol of Christ and the serpent, dragon, and basilisk
are demonic animals.
The serpent belongs not only to the water and the earth;
it can also be associated with the heavens. 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. Above all,
however, the serpent has a lunar significance; Mircea Eliade
speaks of it as “an epiphany of the moon” (Patterns in Comparative
Religion, New York, 1958, p. 165). Like the moon
that is gradually diminished and then gradually renews itself,
so the serpent sheds and renews its skin and becomes a symbol
of death and resurrection. The Ngala tribe (central
Kongo) believes that the moon at one time lived on earth as
a python. Also to be interpreted in lunar terms is the horned
serpent of the pre-Columbian Nazca culture (Peru); the horn
is a widespread symbol of power. The double serpent—one
with a head at each end—can simultaneously symbolize both
moon and sun, as among the Kwakiutl tribe of Indians. In
addition to Quetzalcoatl, the serpent of the nocturnal sky,
the Aztec believed in a turquoise serpent of the diurnal sky,
which was associated with the solar god Huitzilopochtli. The
Egyptian uraeus, like the serpent that is equated with Helios
in Greek magical papyri, was certainly solar in character.
DEATH AND THE UNDERWORLD. Serpents frequently play
an important role in religious conceptions about the origins
of sin. A striking parallel to the story in the Book of Genesis
of the fall of Adam and Eve is to be found in a myth of the
Basari (northern Togo); here the serpent misleads the first
human beings into eating certain fruits that until then only
God (Unumbotte) had eaten. According to a story of the
Dusun (northern Borneo), Kenharingen, the creator, said
that those who shed their skins would not die; human beings
paid no heed and are therefore snatched away by death, but
snakes remain alive forever because they listened to God and
shed their skins. After the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh at last
found the plant of immortality, he was robbed of it by a serpent
while he was bathing, thus forfeiting eternal life to the
snake. Persian tradition tells of a plant called haoma that bestowed
immortality; but Ahura Mazda¯’s adversary, Ahriman,
created a serpent to harm the miraculous plant.
The figure of the serpent also stands for the threatening
forces that bring death. In the Finnic concept of the next
world, the traveler into the realm of the dead is threatened
by an ever-vigilant serpent. The Norse Edda tells of a hall
in the kingdom of the dead that has walls made of the bodies
of serpents; poison drips from its roof. Etruscan iconography
displays various demons of the underworld accompanied by
serpents. Bronze Age statuettes found in Crete show a female
figure with a serpent in each elevated hand and two serpents
rearing up at her breasts; these statuettes are probably connected
with the chthonic cult of the goddess of the earth and
of the dead. The Erinyes (Furies) of Greek mythology are
subterranean goddesses of vengeance; heads covered with
writhing snakes, they pursue all evildoers. The Hindu goddess
Ka¯l¯ı, the great “devourer” who destroys life, has as her
attributes skulls and serpents. In Aztec lore the earth goddess
Coatlicue, the “Lady with the Skirt of Serpents,” is also the
goddess of death; in Mictlen (the realm of the dead) poisonous
snakes serve as food. The Egyptians believed the underworld
to be inhabited by, among other things, fire-breathing
serpents armed with knives; some sayings in the Book of
Going Forth by Day are meant as protection against them
(7.33–35). In Christianity the serpent is often associated
with sin, death, and the Prince of Darkness who rules over
the damned.
LIFE AND IMMORTALITY. The serpent has possession of the
plant of immortal life (Epic of Gilgamesh); in various fairy
ales and in some Greek sagas (Glaucus, Tylon) snakes restore
the dead to life by means of a plant known only to
them. In Melanesian and South American traditions the
snake gives human beings the knowledge of edible plants; in
ancient Egypt, Renenutet, “mistress of the fertile land” (the
goddess of agriculture), was worshiped in the form of a serpent.
The serpent is closely associated with the fruit of life
and the water of life; in Southwest Asia and in China it is
considered to be the giver of rain. Among the Hopi Indians
(Arizona) a feast of serpents is celebrated in August in order
to obtain rain; during the dancing at this celebration the participants
carry live rattlesnakes between their teeth. The
(East) Indian na¯gas are givers of fertility; sacrifices associated
with the na¯gakal (a cobra idol of stone) erected in Indian villages
are supplications for the birth of children. Snakes have
phallic significance in the most varied of cultures: classical
antiquity, the ancient Near East, India, and Melanesia; some
American Indian cultures employ the double symbol of the
serpent (phallus) and the rhombus (vulva); according to an
association made in ancient Mexico (Codex Borgia) the penis
is controlled by a serpent-demon. The snake thrown into a
cave in the worship of the Greek goddess Demeter also had
a phallic significance: The snake was expected to promote the
powers of growth present in the earth. Many peoples have
believed that the snake obtained long life and even immortality
by shedding its skin; as a result the serpent became an attribute
of Shadrapa (ancient Syria) and Asklepios (Greece),
who were gods of healing; the latter was taken over by the
Romans as Aesculapius, and the staff of Aesculapius with
snakes wound around it is still the symbol of the medical profession
(the caduceus). In the Egyptian Book of Going Forth
by Day transformation into a serpent will give new life to the
dead person (chap. 87). The snake that in the mysteries of
the Thracian-Phrygian god Sabazios was drawn across the
bosom of the initiate, gave hope for the attainment of immortality.
The bronze serpent that Moses displayed on a
standard became a prefiguration of the Savior’s death on the
cross and of redemption (Jn. 3:14f.).
THE DEMONIC AND THE DIVINE. Because of the ambivalence
with which they are regarded, serpents may be associated
either with devils or with gods. On cylinder seals from ancient
Mesopotamia multiheaded serpents embody the forces
hostile to the gods. Even as a small child, Apollo, the Greek
god of light, killed the python of Delphi, which was persecuting
his mother, Leto. In a similar manner the apocalyptic
serpent threatens the celestial virgin (Rv. 12:1–5). Among
the more generally known demonic serpents are Apophis
(Egypt), the Mi=sormr (Germany), Kulshedra (Albania),
and the numerous kaia (Melanesia).
In the belief of the ancient Greeks the Agathos Daimon,
frequently thought of as a winged serpent, played the role of
a good spirit. As bringer of salvation and giver of life the serpent
became a divine animal; it was associated with Anat, the
goddess of war venerated at Ugarit (modern-day Shamra,
Syria), and, in the form of a dragon, with Marduk, the principal
Babylonian god. The figure depicted by worshipers of
Mithra as having the head of a wolf and a body entwined
by serpents is usually interpreted as representing Aion, the
god of time. The cobra was sacred to Uto, the regional goddess
of Lower Egypt. The Hindu snake goddess Manasa is
invoked even today against snakebite. One of the terrifying
divinities of Buddhism is Bhutadamara, who combats demons:
His adornment consists of eight serpents. In the Kalderash
gypsy tribe (France) there are still traces of a cult of serpents
that reaches back to ancient India; thus in the spring
the tribe celebrates the day of the snake or divine serpent.
An explicit worship of snakes was practiced by the Lombards
(sixth to eighth centuries in Italy) and by the Lithuanians;
but in this context mention must be made of various sects
of gnostics in late antiquity generally grouped together under
the name of Ophites: They adored the godhead in the form
of a serpent. The cult of snakes indigenous to West Africa
(especially Dahomey) came to America with the slaves and
acquired a new form in the magical and religious Voodoo
of Haiti.
SEE ALSO Dragons.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Important older presentations of the religious significance of serpents
were for the most part devoted to particular cultures.
See, for example, Erich Kester’s Die Schlange in der griechischen
Kunst und Religion (Giessen, 1933), Jean Philippe
Vogel’s Indian Serpent Lore or the Nagas in Hindu Legend and
Art (London, 1926), Gottfried Wilhelm Locher’s The Serpent
in Kwakiutl Religion: A Study in Primitive Culture (Leiden,
1932), and Hans Ritter’s Die Schlange in der Religion
der Melanesier (Basel, 1945). Two more recent publications
treating the African world may be mentioned: John Snook’s
African Snake Stories (New York, 1973) and Alfred Hauenstein’s
“Le serpent dans les rites, cultes et coutumes de certaines
ethnies de Cotte d’Ivoire,” Anthropos 73 (1978): 525–
560. The Rainbow Serpent: A Chromatic Piece, edited by Ira
R. Buchler and Kenneth Maddock (The Hague, 1978),
treats Australian material before bringing in other mythologies.
In Serpent Symbolism in the Old Testament: A Linguistic,
Archaeological, and Literary Study (Haddonfield, N.J., 1974),
Karen Randolph Joines discusses biblical treatments of the
theme and their influence on Christianity. C. F. Oldham
supplies good basic material on the astral significance of the
serpent in The Sun and the Serpent: A Contribution to the History
of Serpent-Worship (London, 1905), but some interpretations
need correcting. The importance of the serpent in the
Greek mystery cults and their influence on the Christian
world is the subject of Hans Leisegang’s “Das Mysterium der
Schlange,” Eranos-Jahrbuch 7 (1939): 151–250. Two comprehensive
treatments are Balaji Mundkur’s The Cult of the
Serpent: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Its Manifestations and
Origins (Albany, N. Y., 1983) and my Adler und Schlange:
Tiersymbolik im Glauben und Weltbild der Völker (Tübingen,
1983).
New Sources
Loibl, Elisabeth. Deuses animais. Sao Paulo, 1984.
Martinek, Manuela. Wie die Schlange zum Teufel wurde: die Symbolik
in der Paradiesgeschichte von der hebraischen Bibel bis
zum Koran. Wiesbaden, 1996.
Wilson, Leslie S. The Serpent Symbol in the Ancient Near East:
Nahash and Asherah: Death, Life, and Healing. Lanham, Md.,
2001.

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