Serpent Worship in Europe

Due to its unique characteristic represented by the cyclical shedding of its skin,
the serpent was the Druid symbol of rebirth

Also see, Return of the Serpents of Wisdom

http://books.google.com/books?id=46Hfa0Ss-kIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false



SONS OF THE SERPENT TRIBE
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sumer_anunnaki/reptiles/serpent_tribe/serpent_tribe.htm



SERPENT WORSHIP
http://books.google.com/books?id=R8qAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=serpent+worship&source=bl&ots=PvN6nnKCEy&sig=OOhf8Gq9I-TSO-oCNXlB9O5cpbE&hl=en&ei=jVS_TcjfMpDWtQPJs4nQAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=14&sqi=2&ved=0CGEQ6AEwDQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

FLYING SERPENTS & DRAGONS
http://books.google.com/books?id=2TtOjwtbXG8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=FLYING+SERPENTS+and+DRAGONS+by+R.A.+Boulay&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=TEYTTpbSC-HjiAKnmpDuDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=FLYING%20SERPENTS%20and%20DRAGONS%20by%20R.A.%20Boulay&f=false

---

The Serpent N’H’SH

In translating the word N’H’SH, firstly we will take the Hebrew consonants back, via Phoenician, to their Sumerian roots and remember also that, in Sumerian, syllable groups could be reversed and yet still render the same meaning in an overall phrase. So, the N is Nun, the H is Heth (as opposed to He) and the SH is Shin (as opposed to either Sade or Samekh).

We check these through the Phoenician to ensure a continuity of shape in the correct pictograms as we venture back into the Sumerian and discover the following: Nun = Nag, Heth = H.A. and Shin = Salmunuz. Therefore from the Hebrew Nahash, we derive the original Sumerian Naghasalmunuz, Nagha Salmunuz or NAG.HA.SAL.MUNUZ., which translates as Drink (NAG) - Fish (HA) - Vulva (SALMUNUZ).

If this sounds a bit odd, the author explains that a fish is "of water" and so in Sumerian the equivalent to our letter ’A’ means water whilst the ’H’ is the article which stands for of. So the Hebrew N’H’SH - the Serpent - translates into the Sumerian "One (a dragon) who - Drinks of (the) Water (of the) Vulva".

One notices that in this phrase - Nagha Salmunuz - two things stand out. Firstly we have the Aryan word Naga spelt Nagha which would be pronounced with the gh sounding like a nasally, softly gargled ch (as in the Scottish word loch) identical to the Spanish x or g. According to the OED, ’H’ which in Sumerian was H.A. evolved into the Greek h - (h)eta which was originally pronounced kh, which was pronounced as defined above, as an Iberian (Aryo-Scythian Celtic) x or ch.

In this way we can also justifiably spell Naga as Naxa and then we begin to understand the profound relationship between the Naga guardians of the Aryan pantheons and the Nixes or Nixas of western Europe who were, likewise, the female guardians of watery treasures, and like the Nagas or Naxas, these meremaids or Swan Maidens were Devas or Shining Ones (Anunnagi).

The second thing we notice is that the Sumerian word for a vulva is Salmunuz and immediately the poetic connection between the ’Sacred Vulva’ (the well of Nechtan [Nixtan] - the pure one, the Nix or Nothing) and the Salmon (Salmunuz) of Wisdom that swims in the well should immediately spring to mind - as should the Ichthys - as being the vulva of the Virgin Mary Magdalene. Praise the Lord for the Single Poetic Theme!

In remembering that Sumerian can be reversed, we can look at the Hebrew N’H’SH again and see that if it is reversed, as was the custom in Hebrew Qabalah when rabbis were tinkering around with language looking for hidden meanings, it becomes SH’H’N which is pronounced She’an, ’of the Powers’. Furthermore the numerical or gematric value of N’H’SH in Qabalah is 9 which is the number of Yesod, the sephirah of the Moon, whose Phoenician God was the Sumerian SIN or SHIN - She’en.

The symbols associated with SIN included the Axe, the Labrys which is a device which, as we know, depicts the Vulva. The Axe symbol, prevalent in Mittani and Minoan Cretan culture became the spinning Hammer of Thor (the swastika) who as Zeus, was the wielder of the lightning bolt which, in northern Europe, was symbolized by the Norse ’Sig’ Rune. Sig - the lightning bolt of inspiration (cf. Mead of Inspiration) - is the Greek Sigma which is the Hebrew Shin, last consonant of N’H’SH, and SIN - Sumerian god of the Moon.

Sig is the serpentine lightning bolt that courses down the Qabalistic Tree of Life. In one sense it represents Enki-Samael entwined around Lilith. The upturned crescent moon is also said to be associated with Samael (Sumaire-El) and, in an ancient Sumerian picture reproduced by Langdon, the moon as a dish is depicted next to the Star of Anu, below which is the serpent N’H’SH entwined around the tree, symbolizing Lilith.

Finally we must consider Tiamat. Her name - TI.A.MAT - means life-water-maiden. This translates as "maiden of the waters of life" and it is then clear that her name indicates she was both the first known matriarch and virgin priestess - the "feeding mother" - of the vampire dragon queens and kings. The mother of the Elven dynasty, she was the generatrix of a vampire lineage of goddess-queens and god-kings spanning seven thousand years.

She was a Nagha or Nixa and it is from her that Lilith, and all the ensuing Grail Maidens, including Sheba and Morgana of the Apple Trees, Tamaris, Mary Magdalene, the Princesses of Avallon, Melusine, Niniane and Ygraine owe their identifications as "Trees of Life". Consequently we can say that Tiamat, the first Tamaris - the Maiden who gives the Waters of Life - was also the Tir Mat or Tir Mata, the first "Tree Mother" of the Lords and Ladies of the Forest, the Druids and Druidesses - the People of the Trees (of Life).

Of the younger gods of the Aryans, the Adityas, two - Tara and Bhaga - stand out prominently. As we have seen Ulick Beck and several other scholars have traced the origin of the Scythian-Irish Tuadha d’Anu to the same region as the Aryans, and have gone as far as saying that they were one and the same.

Interestingly we find that the goddess Tara - wife of Rudra, Indra’s charioteer, appears in Eire as Tara, the Hill or Rath of ghosts in County Meath, Eire. Tara was the sacred centre of the united Irish kingdom and was the seat of the Danaan Kings of Tara during the Iron Age.

Some scholars attribute the name of Tara in Eire to some complicated sounding god name which I find implausible in the light of the fact that a Goddess Tara already existed in the Scythian-Aryan pantheon. Whether Asura or Aditya, Danaan or Milesian, all of the ancient Goddess Queens were the source of sovereignty associated with sacred mounds and it seems therefore entirely appropriate to name a Sidhe rath, a portal to the otherworld and thus the source of sovereignty, after a goddess who would herself have represented sovereignty.

In the case of Bhaga, or Vaga as his name would have been pronounced in Gaelic, scholars think that he became the Slavic god Bogh, a word which came to mean "god" in Thrace, where the Danaan Fir Bolg were once exiled, prior to their return to Ireland. In Fir Bolg we either have the title "men of God", meaning druids, or we have, as is commonly thought, "men of the bags" which means "men of God" anyway, because the "bag", specifically the "Crane Skin Bag", was an accessory of the Godthi’s and the Druid’s: the "men of the gods".

Serpent Worship in Europe

SERPENT-WORSHIP IN EUROPE.

I. GREECE.--Whether the learned and ingenious Bryant 1 be correct or not, in deriving the very name of EUROPE from אור־אב (AUR-AB), the solar serpent, it is certain that Ophiolatreia prevailed in this quarter of the globe at the earliest period of idolatry 2.

Of the countries of Europe, Greece was first colonized by Ophites, but at separate times, both from Egypt and Phœnicia; 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 Phœnician or an Egyptian. Bochart has shown that Cadmus

p. 184

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 superstition existed contemporaneously in the two countries, and since Thoth is declared by Sanchoniathon to have been the father of the Phœnician as well as Egyptian Ophiolatreia; we may endeavour, without presumption, to reconcile the opinions of these learned authors, by assuming each to be right in his own line of argument; and by generalizing the name CADMUS, instead of appropriating it to individuals. By the word CADMUS, therefore, we may understand the leader of the CADMONITES, whether of Egypt or Phœnicia. There would, consequently, be as many persons of this name, as colonies of this denomination.

The first appearance of these idolaters in Europe is mythologically described under the fable of "Cadmus and Europa;" according to which, the former came in search of the latter, who was his sister, and had been carried off to Europe by Jupiter in the form of a bull.

If EUROPA be but a personification of the

p. 185

[paragraph continues] SOLAR SERPENT-WORSHIP, and CADMUS a leader of serpent-worshippers, the whole fable is easily solved.

Europa was carried by Jupiter to Crete, where she afterwards married ASTERIUS: that is, the SOLAR SERPENT-WORSHIP was established in Crete, and afterwards united with the worship of the HEAVENLY HOST: Asterius being derived from ἀστὴρ, a star.

For the explanation of that portion of the fable which relates to the BULL, the reader is referred to Bryant, Anal. vol. ii. 455, who thinks that it bore an allusion to the god APIS of Egypt, by whose oracular advice the migration was undertaken. A similar worship, however, prevailed in Syria; for we find that the Phœnician Cadmus, (Cadmus the son of Phœnix), when he went in search of his sister, followed a cow. This latter colony is said to have settled in Eubœa; to which they gave the name of their tutelary deity, AUB; for Eubœa is, according to Bryant, AUB-AIA, "the land of AUB 1."

The history of Cadmus is full of fables about serpents. He slew a dragon, planted its teeth, and hence arose armed men, who destroyed each other until five only remained. These assisted him in building the city of THEBES. One of these five builders of Thebes was named after the serpent-god of the Phœnicians, OPHION.

Cadmus, and his wife Harmonia, finished their travels at Encheliæ in Illyricum, where, instead of dying a natural death, they were changed into serpents. This conclusion of the story throws a light upon the whole. The leader of these Opiates after death was deified, and adored under the symbol of a serpent. He became, in fact, the SERPENT-GOD of the country, as Thoth had become the serpent-god of Egypt. Having been the author, he became the object of the idolatry.

Besides the Cadmian colony, which settled chiefly in Bœotia, a second irruption of Ophites is noticed in history, as coming from Egypt under the guidance of CECROPS. These took possession of Attica, and founded Athens, whose first name was, in consequence, CECROPIA. In this word, also, we trace the involution of the name OB, or OPS, the serpent-god of antiquity; and accordingly, Cecrops 1 himself is said to have been of twofold form, human and serpentine 1. It was also said, that from a serpent he was changed into a man 2. We read too of DRACO (Δράκων, a dragon) being the first king of Athens. All these relate to the introduction of serpent-worship from Egypt into Attica, the leader of which colony, by a fabulous metonyme, was called a "dragon," or serpent. The first altar erected by Cecrops at Athens, was to OPS, the serpent-deity 3; a circumstance which confirms the inference deduced by Bryant; namely, that he introduced Ophiolatreia into Attica. Cecrops and Draco were probably the same person.

2. The symbolical worship of the serpent was so common in Greece, that Justin Martyr accuses the Greeks of introducing it into the mysteries of all their gods. Παρὰ παντὶ τῶν νομιζομένων παῤ ὕμῖν θεῶν Ὄφις
σύμβολον μέγα καὶ μυστήριον ἀναγράφεται  1 [paragraph continues] This was especially true in regard to the mysteries of Bacchus. The people who assisted at them were crowned with serpents, and carried them in their hands, brandishing them over their heads, and shouting with great vehemence, ευια, ευια 2; "which being roughly aspirated," remarks Clemens Alexandrinus, "will denote the female serpent 3." A consecrated serpent was a sign of the Bacchic orgies 4; a very important part of which consisted in a procession of noble virgins, carrying in their hands golden baskets, which contained sesamum, small pyramids, wool, honey-cakes, (having raised lumps upon them like navels), grains of salt, and A SERPENT 5.

Three ingredients in these baskets are remarkable, as connected with THE WORSHIP OF THE SOLAR SERPENT.

1. The pyramids, which were intended as representations of the sun's rays, and are sometimes seen in the hands of priests kneeling before the sacred serpent of Egypt 1. The supplicating minister of the god offers a pyramid in his left hand, while the right is field up in adoration. On his head is the deadly asp.

2. The honey-cakes marked with the sacred omphalos. These were also offerings made at the shrine of the sacred serpent; for we read in Herodotus, that in the Acropolis at Athens was kept a serpent who was considered the guardian of the city. He was fed on cakes of honey once a month 2. The serpent of Metele was presented with the same food or offering 3. Medicated cakes, in which honey was a chief ingredient, were at once the food and the offering to the dragon of the Hesperides--

                   ------------- Sacerdos
Hesperidum templi custos, epulasque draconi
Quæ dabat, et sacros servabat in arbore ramos,
Spargens humida mella, soporiferumque papaver.
                                      Virgil, i n. iv. 483. A similar offering was made to Cerberus, by the prophetess who conducted Æneas

Cui vates horrere videns jam colla colubris
Melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam
Objicit ----------
                                         Æn. vi. 419. [paragraph continues] Honey cakes were also carried by the initiated into the cave of Trophonius to appease the guardian serpents 1. So that this offering was universally peculiar to Ophiolatreia.

The honey-cake, however, when properly pre-pared, was marked with the sacred Omphalos--a remarkable peculiarity on which it may be proper to make a few observations.

The superstition of the OMPHALOS was extensively prevalent. It entered into the religions of India and Greece, and is one of the most figurative and obscure parts of mythology. The omphalos is a boss, upon which is described a spiral line; but whether or not this spiral line may have been originally designed to represent a coiled serpent, I will not pretend to determine; though such a meaning has been affixed to it by an ingenious writer 1 upon the antiquities of New Grange in Ireland. In describing similar lines upon some rude stones discovered at this place, he tells us, "they appear to be the representations of serpents coiled up, and probably were symbols of the Divine being." "Quintus Curtius confirms this hypothesis, when he says, that the temple of Jupiter Ammon in Africa had a rude stone, whereon was drawn a spiral line, the symbol of the deity."

Whatever may have been the meaning of this spiral line, which Quintus Curtius calls a navel, one thing is evident, that the omphalos, umbilicus, or navel, was sacred to the serpent-god: for it not only occurs in the mystic baskets of the Bacchic orgies, but was also kept at DELPHI 2, "because," says Pausanias, "this was the middle of the earth." The absurdity of this notion at once refers us to some better reason; but absurd as it is, the same idea seems to have prevailed generally; for we read of an omphalos of the Peloponnesus at Phlius, in Achaia: "if it be as they say," adds the incredulous topographer 1.

Near the latter omphalos was a temple of BACCHUS, another of APOLLO, and another of ISIS, to each of which deities the serpent was sacred. The sacred omphalos, therefore, would seem to bear very much upon the adoration of the serpent; and it is a question whether or not it was originally intended to represent a coiled serpent as symbolical of divinity.

The esoteric tradition of the omphalos, according to Diodorus 2, is, that when the infant Jupiter was nursed by the Curetes, his navel fell at the river Triton in Crete; whence that territory was called Omphalos. But this legend is evidently invented from the ambiguity of the word. Bryant derives omphalos from OMPHIEL, "the oracle of the sun 3." Such an oracle would not be unaptly represented by a coiled serpent, a serpent being the most popular emblem of the sun, and also of an oracle.

3. The third feature, and the most remarkable of all, in the Bacchic orgies, was the mystic SERPENT. This was, undoubtedly, the σύμβολον μέγα καὶ μυστήριον of the festival. 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 illustrative of this remark. He was the fourth king of Athens, and his body terminated in the tails of serpents, instead of human legs. He was placed by Minerva in a basket, which she gave to the daughters 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 worshippers of Bacchus carried in their consecrated baskets or chests, the MYSTERY of their God, together with the offerings.

Catullus, (Nuptiæ Pel. et Thetidis, 256,) in describing these Bacchanals, says:

Pars sese tortis serpentibus incingebant,
Pars obscura cavis celebrabant orgia cistis. p. 194

The contents of the basket were, therefore, the MYSTERY; and especially the serpent. Archbishop Potter says as much: "In these consisted the most mysterious part of the solemnity;" but he adds, inconsiderately, "and therefore to amuse the common people (!) serpents were put into them, which sometimes crawling out of their places, astonished the beholders 1." Whatever might have been the astonishment of the beholders, that of the priests would not have been little, to have been told that their sacred serpent, the of σύμβολον μέγα καὶ μυστήριον, was nothing more than a device to amuse the common people.

It is observable that the Christian Ophites, who were of the school of the Egyptian gnostics, kept their sacred serpent in a chest; and the orgies of Bacchus were derived from the same source of Egyptian gnosticism--the mysteries of Isis.

So great was the veneration of the Cretans for their Bacchic baskets, that they frequently stamped the figures of them upon their coins. Nor were these baskets confined to the orgies of Bacchus. They were employed also in the mysteries of Ceres, Isis, and Osiris 2.

Another custom of the Bacchantes is remarkable for its connexion with Ophiolatreia. After the banquet, they were accustomed to carry round a cup, which they called "the cup of the good dæmon." "Ingenti clamore BONUM DEUM invocant venerantes Bacchum, cujus quoque in memoriam POCULUM, sublatis mensis, circumferunt, quod poculum BONI DÆMONIS appellant 1."

The symbol of the "good dæmon" was a serpent, as may be proved from a medal of the town of Dionysopolis, in Thrace. On one side of the coin were the heads of Gordian and Serapis, on the other a coiled serpent 2. Dionysopolis was named from Dionusus, a name which was borne by the Indian Bacchus, who in his own country was called Deonaush.

In the collection of the Earl of Besborough, was a beautiful antique drinking cup cut out of a solid piece of rock crystal, on the lid of which are two serpents, and upon the cup near the rim, the Ophite hierogram in the form of a Medusa's head. Mr. Pownall, in the seventh volume of the Archæologia, proves that this cup was consecrated to religious uses; and supposes that it might have been employed in drinking to the Tria Numina, after a feast. One of the "Tria Numina" was called AGATHODÆMON. I conjecture therefore, that this was the "poculum Boni Dæmonis," used in the Bacchanalian mysteries.

The following lines from Martial, prove that the impress of a serpent upon a cup, was a sign of consecration:

Cælatus tibi cum sit Ammiane
Serpens in paterâ Myronis arte,
Vaticana bibis!
                           Lib. vi. Epig. 92. The serpent entered into the symbolical worship of many others of the Grecian deities.

Minerva was sometimes represented with a dragon; her statues by Phidias were decorated with this emblem 1. In plate, p. 85, vol. i. of Montfaucon, are several medals of Minerva; in one of them she holds a caduceus in the right hand; in another, a staff, round which a serpent is twisted; in a third, a large serpent appears marching before her. Other medals represent her crest as composed of a serpent. So that this was a notorious emblem of the goddess of WISDOM: so applied, perhaps, from a legendary memorial of "the subtilty" which the serpent displayed in Paradise; whereas, his attribution to the god of DRUNKENNESS may be accounted for from a traditionary recollection of the prostration of mind sustained by our first parents, through communion with the serpent tempter.

The city of Athens was peculiarly consecrated to the goddess Minerva; and in the Acropolis was kept a live serpent, who was generally considered as the guardian of the place. The emperor Hadrian built a temple at Athens to Jupiter Olympius, and "placed in it a dragon which he caused to be brought from India 1." Upon the walls of Athens was sculptured a Medusa's head, whose hair was intertwined with snakes. In the temple of Minerva, at Tegea, there was a similar sculpture, which was said to have been given by the goddess herself, to preserve that city from being taken in war 2. The virtue supposed to reside in this head was of a talismanic power, to preserve or destroy.

The same author 1 who records the preceding fact, tells us of a priestess, who, going into a sanctuary of Minerva in the dead of the night, saw a vision of that goddess, who held up her mantle, upon which was impressed a Medusa's head. The sight of this fearful talisman instantaneously converted the intruder into stone. The same Gorgon or Medusa's head, was on the aegis and breastplate of the goddess 2, to induce a terrific aspect in the field of battle. The terror resided in the snakes; for the face of Medusa was "mild and beautiful 3." From some such notion of a talismanic power, perhaps, the Argives, Athenians, and Ionians, after the taking of Tanagra from the Lacedæmonians, erected a statue of victory in the grove of Jupiter Olympius, on whose shield was engraved a Medusa's head 4. The same symbolical figure may be frequently seen on sepulchral urns. This general impression of a powerful charm inherent in the Gorgon, must be attributed to some forgotten tradition respecting the serpents in the hair; for all agree that the face of Medusa was far from being terrific. Some engravings of this head, preserved in Montfaucon, explain the mystery. From these we may infer, that this celebrated talisman was no other than the still more celebrated emblem of consecration, the CIRCLE, WINGS, and SERPENT; whose history, use, and probable origin we considered in the first chapter of this treatise. In the plate in Montfaucon, above referred to 1, are representations of Medusa's head, from either side of whose forehead proceeds a WING; and TWO SERPENTS, intersecting one another below the chin in a nodes Herculis, appear over the forehead, looking at each other.

Take away the human face in the centre, with its remaining snaky locks, and you have the Egyptian emblem of consecration, THE SERPENTS AND WINGED CIRCLE; the circle being formed by the bodies of the snakes. The Gorgon is, therefore, nothing more than THE CADUCEUS without its staff.

The intimate connexion of this emblem with the serpent-worship, we have already observed: and it is worthy of remark, that the Argives, Athenians, and Ionians, who erected the statue of victory at Tanagra with a Gorgon-shield, were descendants of serpent worshippers.

This celebrated hierogram of the Ophites was painted on the shield of Perseus, an Argive, who was distinguished by the device of "Medusa's head." And Hippomedon, an Argive also, one of the seven chiefs before Thebes 1, bore the same hierogram, if 1 rightly understand these lines of Æschylus:--

Ὄφεων δὲ πλεκτάναισὶ περίδρομον κύτος
Προσηδάφισται κοιλογάστορος κύκλου.
                 Ἑπρὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας. 501, 502. [paragraph continues] The poet is describing the devices upon the shields of the besiegers, and the above are the "armorial bearings" of Hippomedon. "The hollow circumference of the concave shield was carried towards the ground (προσηδάφισται) in the folds of serpents." By which I understand the poet to mean, that the centre of the shield was a little raised, and a circular cavity ran round between it and the rim of the shield. In this cavity  (towards the lower part of it) were folded serpents--which would accurately describe the ophite hierogram 1; the raised part of the shield representing the mystic circle or globe--for we must observe, that the shield was "hollow-bellied;" i.e. concave to the bearer; and, consequently, convex to the enemy.

The people of Argos had a tradition which indicates their ophite origin also. The city was said to have "been infested with serpents, until Apis came from Egypt and settled in it. To him they attribute the blessing of having their country freed from this evil; but the brood came from the very quarter from whence Apis was supposed to have come. They were certainly Hivites from Egypt 2."

The breastplate and baldrick of Agamemnon, king of Argos, exhibited the device of a triple-headed serpent 3. His brother Menelaus, king of Sparta, was similarly distinguished by a serpent upon his shield. The Spartans, as well as the Athenians, believed in their serpentine origin, and called themselves ophiogenæ.

In Argolis, moreover, was the town of Epidaurus, famous for the temple of Æsculapius, where that god was worshipped under the symbol of a serpent. We read in Pausanias 1 that live serpents were kept here, and fed regularly by servants, who laid their food upon the floor, but dared not approach the sacred reptiles. This must have been only through religious awe; for the serpents of Epidaurus were said to be harmless 2. The statue of Æsculapius at this temple, represented him leaning upon a staff, and resting one hand upon the head of a serpent 3. His sister, the goddess Hygeia, was represented with a large serpent twisted about her, and drinking out of a chalice in her hand. Sometimes it was coiled up in her lap; at others, held in the hand 4.

The serpent was sacred to Æsculapius and Hygeia, as a symbol of health; but how he came to be a symbol of health is not very satisfactorily explained. It is said by Pliny, that the flesh of this creature is sometimes used in medicine, and that this was the reason of his consecration to "health." Others again inform us, that the serpent changes his skin periodically, and thus becomes an emblem of renewed vigour in a sick man. These, however, can only be considered as the surmises of a warm imagination 1. The use of animals of the reptile kind in medicine was not confined to the serpent; or, if it were, from whence could the idea itself originate, that the serpent's flesh was sanatory? The changing of his skin being periodical, can scarcely denote recovered health, which is seldom renewed at given intervals. In the absence of every other probable reason, we may refer this notion to the effect produced upon Adam and Eve, when, at the instigation of THE SERPENT, they "took and ate," and "their eyes were opened." Another derivation has indeed been assigned, which has much plausibility attached to it; but chronology confutes the opinion. Many authors have believed that the erection of the brazen serpent in the wilderness by Moses, might have given cause for the attribution of the serpent to the god of health; especially as he is represented very often, under this character, encircling a stick or pole in the hand of Æsculapius. I acknowledge the affinity of the ideas; but being persuaded that the Æsculapian worship was of Egyptian origin, and having already shown from Wisdom, ch. xi. ver. 15, that the worship of the serpent prevailed in Egypt before the Exodus of the Israelites, I cannot believe that an Egyptian superstition owes its beginning to any incident in Israelitish history.

A tradition is recorded by Pausanias 1 of one Nicagora, the wife of Echetimus, who conveyed the god Æsculapius to Sicyon under the form of a serpent. The Sicyonians erected statues to him; one of which represented a woman sitting upon a serpent. An anecdote of the deportation of Æsculapius to Rome, similar to the preceding, is related by Livy, Ovid, Floras, Valerius Maximus, and Aurelius Victor. From whom it appears, that a pestilence having arisen in Rome, the oracle of Delphi advised an embassy to Epidaurus, to fetch the god Æsculapius; Quintus Ogulnius and ten others were accordingly sent with the humble supplications of the senate and people of Rome. While they were gazing in admiration at the superb statue of the god, a serpent, "venerable, not horrible," which rarely appeared but when he intended to confer some extraordinary benefit, glided from his lurking place; and having passed through the city, went directly to the Roman vessel, and coiled himself up in the berth of Ogulnius. The ambassadors, "carrying the god," set sail; and being off Antium, 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 ship; and the plague was stayed "with wonderful celerity."

Ovid, (Met. 15, 665,) gives an animated description of this embassy, which is well worthy of attention, as illustrative of the deification of the serpent.

Postera sidereos aurora fugaverat ignes;
Incerti quid agant proceres, ad templa petiti
Conveniunt operosa Dei: quaque ipse morari
Sede velit, signis cœlestibus indicet, orant. p. 206
Vix bene desierant cùm cristis aureus altis
In SERPENTE DEUS prænuntia sibila misit:
Adventuque suo signumque arasque foresque
Marmoreumque solum, fastigiaque aurea movit:
Pectoribusque tenus mediâ sublimis in æde
Constitit; atque oculos circumtulit igne micantes.
Territa turba pavet, cognovit NUMINA custos,
Evinctus vittâ trines albente sacerdos.
Et "DEUS en! DEUS en! linguisque animisque favete
Quisquis ades," dixit. "Sis, O pulcherrime, visus
Utiliter: populosque juves TUA SACRA colentes." The god having passed through the temple and city, arrives at the port:

Restitit hic; agmenque suum, turbæque sequentis
Officium placido visus dimittere vultu,
Corpus in Ausoniâ posuit rate. When the vessel entered the Tiber, the whole city of Rome was poured out to meet the god:

Obvia turba ruit -------------
------------ lætoque clamore salutant.
Quaque per adversas navis cita ducitur undas,
Thura super ripas, arisque ex ordine factis,
Parte ab utraque sonant: et adorant aëra fumis,
Ictaque conjectos incalfacit hostia cultros. These spirited lines alone, without any other
support from history, would prove the extent to which the worship of the serpent was carried by the ancients.

The incarnation of deity in a serpent was not an uncommon event in Grecian mythology. We read of Olympias, Nicotelea, and Aristodamia, mothers, of Alexander, Aristomenes, and Aratus, respectively, by some god who had changed himself into the form of a serpent 1. The conversion of Jupiter and Rhea into snakes, gave occasion to a fable respecting the origin of the Caduceus; which is so far pertinent to our theory, that it implies the divine character of those sacred serpents, which formed in that talisman the circle and crescent.

Jupiter again metamorphosed himself into a dragon, to deceive Proserpine. These, and all other similar fables in mythology, are founded upon the deception of Eve by a SPIRITUAL BEING, who assumed the form of a serpent.

Dragons were sacred to the goddess Ceres; her car was drawn by them.

They were symbolical also of the Ephesian Diana, and of Cybele, the mother of the gods,

as we may see in the engravings of Montfaucon 1.

Of all the places in Greece, Bœotia seems to have been the most favourite residence of the Ophites. The Thebans boasted themselves to be the descendants of the warriors who sprung from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus. "The history of this country," says Bryant, "had continual reference to serpents and dragons; they seem to have been the national insigne at least of Thebes. Hence we find upon the tomb of Epaminondas, the figure of a serpent, to signify that he was an Ophite or Theban 2." In like manner the Theban Hercules bore upon his shield the sacred hierogram by which the warriors of the Cadmian family were distinguished--"As he went, his adamantine shield sounded . . . . . . . . in a CIRCLE TWO DRAGONS were suspended, lifting up their heads 3."

At Thespiæ, in Bœotia, they worshipped Jupiter Saotas; the origin of whose worship is thus related: When A DRAGON had once laid waste the town, Jupiter directed that every year a young man, chosen by lot, should be offered to THE SERPENT. The lot fell at length on Cleostrus, when his friend, Menestratus, having made a brazen breastplate and studded it with hooks, put it on, and presented himself to the dragon. Thus they both perished together. From that time the Thespians erected an altar to Jupiter Saotas 1."

But the most celebrated seat of Ophiolatreia in Greece was at DELPHI. The original name of this place, according to Strabo, was PYTHO; supposed to be so called from the serpent PYTHON, slain there by Apollo. The connexion of such a legend with the place, and the derivation of its original name from the serpent Python, which is thought to be the PETHEN of the Hebrews, might well induce the learned Heinsius to conclude that "the god Apollo was first worshipped at Delphi, under the symbol of a serpent." Hyginus 2 says, that the dragon Python formerly gave oracles in Mount Parnassus--"PYTHON, Terræ filius, draco ingens. Hic ante Apollinem ex oraculoresponsa dare solitus erat." The same says
Ælian 1; and Plutarch 2 affirms, that the contest between Apollo and Python was respecting the oracle. Python was, therefore, in reality, the deity of the place 3."

The public assemblies at Delphi were called Pythia. These were doubtless, originally intended for the adoration of Python 4. Seven days after the victory of Apollo over Python, the Pythian games were instituted, on the seventh day of which, an hymn called Paean was sung to Apollo in honour of his victory 5. Hence the expression of Hesiod--ἕβδομον ἱερὸν ἦμαρ--which so singularly corresponds with our Sabbath.

When the priestess of Apollo delivered her oracles, she stood, or sat, upon a tripod. This was a name commonly given to any sort of vessel, seat, or table, supported upon three feet. The tripod of the Pythian priestess was distinguished by a base emblematical of her god. It was a triple-headed serpent of brass, whose body, folded in circles growing wider and wider towards the ground, formed a conical column. The cone, it should be remembered was sacred to the solar deity. The three heads were disposed triangularly, in order to sustain the three feet of the tripod, which was of gold. Herodotus 1 tells us, that it was consecrated to Apollo by the Greeks, out of the spoils of the Persians after the battle of Plata a. He describes it accurately. Pausanias 2, who mentions it also, omits the fact of the three heads. He records a tradition of a more ancient tripod, which was carried off by the Tyrinthian Hercules, but restored by the son of Amphitryon. An engraving of the serpentine column of the Delphic tripod may be seen in Montfaucon, vol. ii. p. 86. The golden portion of this tripod was carried away by the Phocians when they pillaged the temple of Delphi; an outrage which involved them in the sacred war which terminated in their ruin. The Thebans, who were the foremost among the avengers of Delphi, were the most notorious Ophites of antiquity.

Athena us calls this tripod, "the tripod of truth 1,"--a most singular perversion of the fact upon which the oracle was founded--the conversation of the serpent in Paradise.

According to Gibbon, the serpentine column was transported from Delphi to Constantinople, by the founder of the latter city, and set up on a pillar in the Hippodrome 2. He cites Zosimus, who is also cited by Montfaucon on the same subject: but the latter thinks that Constantine only caused a similar column to be made, and did not remove the original from Delphi. It is most probable, however, that Gibbon is right 3.

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 serpents' heads is mutilated. This was done by Mahomet the second, the Turkish conqueror of Constantinople, when he entered the city. The story is thus related by Leunclavius:--"When Mahomet came to the Atmeidan, he saw there a stone column, on which was placed a three-headed brazen serpent. Looking on 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 three serpents' 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 of', some serpents do come into the city, YET they do no harm to any one 1."

This traditionary legend, preserved by Leunclavius, marks the strong hold 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 æra as the seventeenth century. Among the Greeks who resorted to Constantinople were many idolaters of the old religion, who would wilfully transmit any legend favourable to their own superstition. 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 forget or forego an ancient superstition. 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.

There is another kind of serpentine tripod, which is supposed to have belonged to Delphi, usually represented on medals. This is a vase supported on three brazen legs, round one of which is twined a serpent 1.

Lucian 2 says, that "the dragon under the tripod spoke 3." This was, very probably, the popular belief, founded originally upon the historical fact to which I have so often alluded--the speaking of the serpent in Paradise with a human voice; and the delusion was probably kept up by the ventriloquism of the Pythian priestess, as she sat upon the tripod, over the serpent.

That THE SERPENT was the original god of Delphi, may be further argued from the circumstance that live serpents were kept in the adytum of the temple 1. A story is related by Diogenes Laertius, lib. v. c. 91, of a Pythian priestess, who was accidentally killed by treading upon one of these reptiles, which immediately stung her.

At DELOS, the next place in rank after Del-phi for an oracle of Apollo, there was an image erected to him "in the shape of a dragon 2." Here there was likewise an oracular fountain, called Inopus. "This word," remarks Bryant 3, is compounded of Ain-opus.; i.e. Fons Pythonis:" dedicated to the serpent-god Oph. Fountains sacred to this deity were not uncommon.

Maundrel mentions a place in Palestine, called "the serpent's fountain;" and there was a celebrated stream at Colophon, in Ionia, which communicated prophetic inspiration to the priest of Apollo, who presided over it. Colophon, is col-oph-on; that is, "collis serpentis solis 1."

In Pausanias (lib. ix. 557) we read of a fountain near the river Ismenus at Thebes, which was placed under the guardianship of a dragon. Near this place was the spot where Cadmus slew the dragon, from whose teeth arose the Ophiogenes, the builders of Thebes. It is probable, therefore, that instead of being sacred to Mars, as Pausanias affirms, this fountain was sacred to the serpent-god, called Mars in this place, because of the conflict between the Ophiogenes. A conclusion the more probable from the fact, that the Ismenian hill was dedicated to Apollo. The whole territory was (we may say) the patrimony of Oph--all the local legends confirm it 2.

There were many other oracles of Apollo besides those of Delphi and Delos, but of inferior celebrity and various rites. It is remarkable, however, that the names of several of these places involve the title AUB or AB, the designation of the serpent-god. But not desiring to lay too much stress upon etymology, I pass them by, as I have many other places involving a similar evidence. I cannot, however, neglect a famous oracle which was in connexion with Delphi, and bears many internal marks of Ophiolatreia. This was the celebrated CAVE OF TROPHONIUS, in Phocis.

That this was a dracontic oracle will, I think, appear from the following considerations. In the grove of Trophonius, near Lebadea in Phocis, was a cave, in which were two figures, male and female, holding in their hands secptres encircled by serpents. They were said to be the images of Æsculapius and Hygeia; but Pausanias 1the serpent was not more sacred to Æsculapius than to Trophonius." Trophonius was an oracular god, and his attributes and name indicate the solar serpent OPH. TROPHON is,
most probably, TOR-OPH-ON, the temple of the solar serpent 1. The later Greeks, with their usual mythological confusion of places and persons, conjectured the name of the temple to be that of the god; and so converted "Tor-oph-on" into "Trophonius."

In corroboration of these remarks, we find that one of the builders of the temple of Apollo, at Delpi, was Trophonius.

Pausanias informs us, that whoever would inquire an oracle of Trophonius, must previously (in a small temple near his cave, dedicated to THE GOOD GENIUS) sacrifice to APOLLO, SATURN, JUPITER, JUNO, and CERES. Now it is remarkable that each of these deities had some connexion with the mythological serpent. APOLLO was pre-eminently the solar serpent-god; and is, therefore, first to be appeased. Apollo I take to be no other than OPEL, (Oph-el) PYTHO-SOL, whose name occurs so frequently in composition with the names of places as Torophel, Opheltin, &c. SATURN was married to OPS; under which disguise is concealed the deity OPH. JUPITER changed himself into a serpent twice, to deceive Rhea
and Proserpine. The serpent Python was an emissary of JUNO, to persecute Latona, the mother of Apollo; and the car of CERES was drawn by serpents. Serpents also entered into the Eleusinian mysteries as symbolical of that goddess. Thus the history of each of these deities was, more or less, connected with the mythological serpent--the very deity whom the frequenters of this oracle would be called upon to propitiate before they entered the cave, on the supposition that TROPHONIUS was the OPHITE GOD.

But this is not all. In the cave of Trophonius LIVE SERPENTS were kept; and those who entered it were obliged to appease them by CAKES--which we know were offered to the sacred serpent at Athens, and were carried in the mysterious baskets at the Bacchanalian orgies. They were, in fact, sacrifices or offerings to these serpents, as objects of WORSHIP.--Another proof that the serpents were the real gods of the place, is found in the saying, that "no one ever came out of the cave of Trophonius smiling"--and why? διὰ τὴν τῶν ὄφεων ἔκπληξιν--because of the STUPOR occasioned by the serpents 1! The same expression is employed by Plutarch, in describing the effect produced by the Bacchanalian serpents upon the spectators of the mysteries--ἐξέπληττον τοὺς ἄνδρας 2:--which must mean that they inspired the beholders with religious awe; for it can scarcely mean "frightened," because he is speaking of the processions of Olympias, at Pella, where serpents were so familiar that they lived in the dwellings of the inhabitants, among their children 3, and therefore could, under no ordinary circumstances, become an object of terror. Hence it was, probably, a religious dread which seized the spectators, both at the orgies of Bacchus, and in the cave of Trophonius.

But we may approach even nearer to the deduction which I would draw; namely, that the serpents in the cave were the real gods of the place, by recollecting two fables which we have before considered: the stupefaction and ultimate death of the priest who intruded upon the privacy of the dragon of Metele; and the conversion of the priestess of Minerva into stone, for her presumption in entering into the presence of that goddess uncalled. These fables would prove that an affection of the senses was believed to be the result always attending upon a sight of the local deity.

The serpents were therefore, probably, the original objects of divine worship in the cave of Trophonius.

The origin of the notion of an oracular God symbolized by a serpent, we have frequently referred to the ambiguously prophetic conversation of THE SERPENT with Eve in paradise. The consequent affection and depravation of her mind, and that of her husband, are not obscurely remembered in the ἔκπληξις is of the votaries of Trophonius.

4. The worship of the serpent prevailed equally in the Peloponnesus. Peloponnesus is said to have been so called from being the "island of the Pelopidæ," descendants of PELOPS. The emigration of this mythological hero from Phrygia, forms an interesting epoch in Grecian story, and relates to the passage of the SACRED SERPENT from Canaan, the land of his first resting-place after the flood. PELOPS is P’-EL-OPS, the serpent-god 1.

We have already seen that the Argives and Spartans were Ophites, and that from the celebrated temple of Æsculapius, at Epidaurus, the sacred serpent was conveyed to Sicyon. In addition to these facts, we learn from Pausanias that Antinoe, the foundress of Mantinea, was guided to that place by a serpent, from whom the river, which was near the town, was called Ophis 2.

The first prophet of Messene was said to have been Ophioneus; from which we may infer, that the first colony which introduced religious rites into Messenia was Ophite. A similar colony was established at Epidaurus Limera, in Laconia, under the auspices of a sacred serpent brought from Epidaurus, in Argolis 3.

Statius 4 describes a serpent, the object of religious reverence at Nemæa:--

Interea campis nemoris sacer horror Achæi,
Terrigenæ erigitur serpens------ This is the serpent which slew the child Opheltes. Statius goes on to describe him:

           Inachio sanctum dixere tonanti
Agricolæ, cui cura loci et sylvestribus aris
Pauper honos. The "pauper honos" was occasioned by the drought then raging, when the scene described by the poet took place. It was in search of food that the serpent sallied from the sacred grove when he saw and slew the sleeping child.

Bryant 1 assures us that Opheltes, or rather Opheltin, is the name of a place, and not of any person: and that this place was nothing more nor less than an inclosure sacred to the god OPHEL, the serpent-solar deity. Hence the legend respecting the serpent.

It will be shown in a subsequent chapter, that such inclosures were frequently formed in the shape of a serpent. If such was the form of "Opheltin," the fable explains itself. It means nothing more than that human victims were immolated at this shrine of OPHEL.

5. The islands of the Ægean sea were entirely overrun by Ophites. They colonized Delos, Tenos, Cos, and Seriphus, in such numbers as to mark their abode by traditions. The oracle of Delos we have ascertained to have been Dracontian. Tenos was called Ophiusa 1, as also Cythnus. A coin of Cos presents the figure of a serpent, with the word ΣΩΤΗΡ inscribed. The same figure and inscription appear on the coins of Epidaurus 2: and we find that there was a temple of Æsculapius at Cos 3. Seriphus is, according to Bryant, Sar-Iph (petra Pythons,) "the serpent's rock." Here was a legend of Perseus bringing Medusa's head, and turning the inhabitants into stone 4. The island was called Saxum Seriphium by the Romans; and by Virgil, "serpentifera." Natural ruggedness is not peculiar to Seriphus; it seems to be characteristic of the greater number of the Grecian islands; and therefore, connecting the epithet "serpentifera" with the legend respecting Perseus, we may reasonably infer that a colony of Ophites were once settled in Seriphus, and had
a temple there of the dracontic kind, whose upright columns of stone may have given rise to the tradition that the inhabitants of the island were petrified by the talismanic serpents 1 of Perseus. Such a tradition was not unfrequently attached to these Ophite temples. Stonehenge was thus called "Chorea Gigantum;" and a Druids' circle in Cumberland, "Long Meg and her Daughters," from a belief that the giants and the fairies were respectively metamorphosed into stone, in the mazes of a dance.

Of all the islands in the neighbourhood of the' Peloponnesus, Crete was most celebrated for its primitive Ophiolatreia. Here the Egyptians first established those religious rites which were called by the Greeks the mysteries of Dionusus or Bacchus. The Cretan medals were usually impressed with the Bacchic basket, and the sacred serpent creeping in and out. Beger has written a treatise on these coins: the following is a description of three which he has engraved.

1. A Bacchic basket, with the sacred serpent. On the reverse, two serpents with their tails intertwined, on each side of a quiver--for the Cretans were famous archers.

2. The Bacchic basket and serpent. On the reverse a temple between two serpents. In the middle of the temple, a lighted altar.

3. The Cretan Jupiter between two serpents.

The inhabitants of Crete are also said to have worshipped the Pythian Apollo. They had a Pythium; and the inhabitants were called Pythians 1.

6. We see, then, that serpent-worship very generally prevailed through Greece and its dependencies. Memorials of it have been preserved in many coins and medals, and pieces of ancient sculpture; and the only reason why we have not more records of this superstition is, that it was superseded by the fascination of the Polytheistic idolatry, which overwhelmed with a multitude of sculptured gods and goddesses the traditionary remains of the original religion.

There are, however, some few reliques of sculpture which bear interesting testimony to the worship of the serpent. Engravings of three are preserved by Fabretti 1, which are worthy of attention.

No. 1 represents a TREE encircled by a SERPENT; an altar appears in front, and a boy on horseback is seen approaching it. The inscription states this to be a monument dedicated by Glycon to his infant son Euhemerus.

No. 2, an equestrian approaching an altar at the foot of a TREE, about the branches of which a SERPENT is entwined. A priestess stands by the altar.

No. 3. In the centre is a TREE with a SERPENT enfolding it. To the right of the tree is a naked female, holding in her hand a chalice under the serpent's mouth, and near her a man in the attitude of supplication to the serpent. On the left is Charon leading Cerberus towards the tree.

These are perhaps funeral monuments, and the serpent emblematic of the MANES of the departed, as Montfaucon would lead us to believe. But the third sculpture (in spite of Charon) seems rather to allude to the annual custom at Epirus of soliciting the sacred serpent for a good harvest. The narrative is in Ælian, Hist. Anim. lib. xi. 2, by which we learn that the husbandmen of the country proceeded annually to the temple where live serpents were kept, and approached by naked priestesses. If the serpent received the proffered food, the omen was a good one, and vice versâ.

7. Under the head of Ophiolatreia in Greece," we may class Ophiomancy--divination by serpents. This superstition was sometimes resorted to by the Greeks, but was more common among the Romans: both of them borrowed it from earlier nations. For, the same word in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, which denotes "divination," denotes "a serpent." "Nachash"--"alahat 1"--οἰωνίζεσθαι--have the same double significations. The Greek word, according to Hesychius, is derived from οἰωνὸς, a snake; "because they divined by means of a snake, which they called οἰωνός."

This is a coincidence which implies that Ophiomancy was the first species of divination: as it ought to have been, since Ophiolatreia was the first species of idolatry.

A remarkable instance of Grecian Ophiomancy occurs in the divination of Calchas at Aulis in
[paragraph continues] Bœotia, before the confederate chiefs sailed for the siege of Troy.

While the chieftains were assembled under a tree, having sacrificed a hecatomb to the gods for the success of their enterprise, on a sudden a great sign--μέγα σῆμα--appeared. A serpent gliding from the base of an altar ascended the tree, and devouring a sparrow and her eight young ones, came down again, and was converted into stone 1. The omen was interpreted to mean a nine years' continuance of the war, and victory in the tenth.

In mentioning this anecdote we may remark, that the scene of the transaction was in Bœotia, one of the most celebrated loci of Ophiolatreia; and that Calchas, the soothsayer, acquired the gift of divination from APOLLO, or in other words, was a priest of the Ophite god.

II. EPIRUS.--l. Following the Ophites from Greece into Epirus, we find that their traces, though few, are decisive. In this country, we are informed by Ælian 2, there was a circular grove of Apollo enclosed within a wall, where sacred serpents were kept. At the great annual
festival, the virgin priestess approached them naked, holding in her hand the consecrated food. If they took it readily, it was deemed an augury of a fruitful harvest, and healthy year; if not, the contrary omen dismissed the anxious expectants in despondence. These serpents were said to be descended from the Python of Delphi,--a tradition which amounts to positive proof that the original religion of Delphi was Ophiolatreia.

2. From Epirus the superstition passed into Illyria. It was at Encheliæ that Cadmus and his wife were changed into serpents. A temple was erected to them in commemoration of this event; the probable form and dedication of which will be considered in the chapter on Ophite Temples.

Cadmus, who was the author of Ophiolatreia in Bœotia, Epirus, and Illyria, from having been the promoter, became the object of this idolatry. Like Thoth in Egypt, he was deified after death as the serpent-god, whose worship he had been so zealous to establish.

3. The superstition so generally received in Greece, passed rapidly into Macedonia, where the inhabitants of Pella became its chief votaries.
  Of them 1, it is said that they kept domestic serpents, which were brought up among their children, and frequently nursed together with them, by the Macedonian mothers. The coins of Pella bore the impress of a serpent 2.

The idea of divine incarnation in a serpent must have appeared reasonable in that country to enable Olympias to invent the story of her son Alexander's dracontic origin. The queen was extravagantly fond of the Bacchanalian mysteries, at which she officiated in the character of a Bacchans. It is said by Plutarch 3, that she and her husband were initiated into them at Samothrace, when very young; and that she imitated the frantic gestures of the Edonian women in traversing the wilds of Mount Hæmus. When Olympias celebrated the orgies of Dionusus, attendants followed her, carrying Thyrsi encircled with serpents, having serpents also in their hair and chaplets.

4. The island of Samothrace was the Holy Isle of the ancients, and celebrated for the worship of the CABIRI, the most mysterious and awful of all the gods, whose name, even, it was unlawful to pronounce lightly. The word "cabiri" is said to mean "the mighty ones." If it mean no more we may as vainly seek to penetrate into their hallowed abode for the illustration of our subject as the awe-struck Greeks themselves; but while probability opens a road to conjecture, we may be allowed to hazard one for its elucidation.

"CABIRI" is, evidently a noun in the plural number, of which the singular is to be found in "CABIR."

Now CABIR is probably a compound word, whose component parts may be CA-AB-IR. If so, the interpretation is easy, CA-AB-IR resolving itself at once into CA or CHA, domus 1; AB or AUB, Pythonis; IR or UR, Lucis vel Solis. "CABIR" will therefore mean "the temple of the serpent of the sun 2;" and "CABIRI" will bear the same signification, either as denoting more than one such temple, or a temple dedicated to two deities, AUB and the SUN.

Of the same kind I take to have been the CAABA of Mecca, which should be written CAABIR. Here we find the chief object of idolatry to have been a conical stone, which we know was an emblem of the solar god, being the image of a sun's ray. Another temple of this dedication was at Abury in Wiltshire, whose name, "Abury," is evidently "Abiri," or "Ab-ir," expressed in the plural number; the only difference 1 being, that in the name of this place the adjunct "ca" signifying "the temple," was dropped, and the names of the deity alone retained--ABIR, quasi, "SERPENS SOLIS." This temple we shall see hereafter was formed IN THE SHAPE OF A SERPENT. The substitution of gods for temples was of common occurrence in mythology, as we have seen in the case of Trophonius, where the TOR (or temple) of OPHON was changed into TROPHONIUS (the god.) It is not surprising, therefore, that "caabir," the temple of Abir, should be changed into "Cabir," the god: and by natural consequence, "Cabiri" would imply a plurality of gods of the same name.
The above conjecture, founded primarily upon etymology, is corroborated by FACTS.

Olympias, we have been informed by Plutarch, was initiated into the mysteries of Dionusus at Samothrace. Now Dionusus, the Orphic Bacchus, was symbolized by a serpent. This alone would be sufficient to support our conjecture on the etymology of "Cabiri." But we learn further, that the Orphic CURES, the chief of the CABIRI, assumed a dracontic form; and that the Orphic CRONUS and HERCULES are also described either as compounded of a man, a lion, and a serpent; or, simply, as a winding snake 1. It was a common opinion among the Greeks that Ceres, Proserpine, and Bacchus were the Cabiri. To each of these deities, it is to be observed, the serpent was sacred, and formed a prominent feature in their mysteries.

I leave, therefore, to the candid consideration of the reader, the probability of the derivation which has been assigned to the word "Cabiri."

Between the religion of Samothrace and that of the Thracian continent, there was a strong similarity, or rather union. The great prophet of this common religion was Orpheus, who resided
chiefly at Thrace, and was to that country what Thoth was to Egypt, and Cadmus to Greece,--the promoter of Ophiolatreia: but it was Ophiolatreia in conjunction with the solar idolatry. It seems that the original worship of the serpent had been already corrupted by the adoption of the mysteries of Dionusus. Thus Dionysopolis was "the city of Dionusus;" and consequently we find a coiled serpent impressed upon its coins. The same appeared on the medals of Pantalia, another city in Thrace; upon which Spanheim remarks, "Istud vero ex iis nummis colligas, in Macedoniâ, Thraciâ, Paphlagoniâ, Ponto, Bithyniâ, Ciliciâ, et vicinis regionibus, haud alios locorum genios et custodes gratiores, id genus draconibus extitisse 1."

The priestesses of the superstition of Dionusus were no longer Pythonesses or Oubs, but Bacchantes: and many other innovations mark the decline of Ophiolatreia before Orpheus succeeded (but in succeeding lost his life) in uniting it to the sun-worship.

III. ITALY.--We come now to the traces of Ophiolatreia in Italy.
In this country the principal colony of Ophites settled in Campania, and were called Opici or Ophici, from the object of their idolatry, Ὀφικοὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὄφεων, say Stephanus Byzantinus 1. The same people were called Pitanatæ, as testified by Strabo 2. "Pitanatæ," remarks Bryant, "is a term of the same import as Opici, and relates to the votaries of Pitan, the serpent-deity, which was adored by the people. Menelaus was, of old, styled Pitanates, as we learn from Hesychius; and the reason of it may be known from his being a Spartan, by which was intimated one of the Serpentigentæ, or Ophites. Hence he was represented with a serpent on his shield 3." This word Pitan is derived from the same root as Python: namely, the Hebrew פתן serpens, vel, aspis.

Many representations of warriors with the serpent on their shields, may be seen on the Etruscan vases, discovered on the estate of Canino in Etruria, which is supposed to have been the ancient Vitulonia 4.

Jerome Colonna attributes the name of Opici to the people of Campania, from a former king
bearing upon his standard the figure of a serpent 1. But this would be the necessary con-sequence of his being an Ophite; for the military ensigns of most ancient nations were usually the images of the gods whom they worshipped. Thus a brigade of infantry among the Greeks was called πιτανάτης 2; and the Romans, in the age of Marcus Aurelius, had a dragon standard at the head of each cohort, ten in every legion. The legion marched under the eagle 3. These dragons were not woven upon any fabric of cloth, but were real images carried on poles 4. Some say (as Casaubon not. in Vopis. Hist. Aug. 231.) that the Romans borrowed the dragon standard from the Parthians: but their vicinity to the Opici of Campania may perhaps suggest a more probable origin. The use of them by the Parthians may have induced the emperor Aurelius to extend them in his own army; but this extension was perhaps rather a revival than an introduction of the dragon ensign. They are mentioned by Claudian in his Epithalamium of Honorius and Maria, v. 193.

Stent bellatrices aquilæ, sævique dracones. He mentions them again in his panegyric on Ruffinus and Honorius. Some of his lines are highly pictorial; such as:

Surgere purpureis undantes anguibus hastas,
Serpentumque vago cœlum sævire volatu.
                                        Ruff. lib. ii. -------------------------hi picta draconum
Colla levant, multusque tumet per nubila serpens,
Iratus, stimulante noto, vivitque receptis
Flatibus, et vario mentitur sibula tractu.
                                                 Ibid. Prudentius and Sidonius Apollinaris also mention them.

The bearers of these standards were called draconarii; and it is not improbable that hence might have been derived our own expression of "dragoons," to designate a certain description of cavalry, though the original meaning of the word is altogether lost. This word we have borrowed from the French, who received it probably from the Romans.

From Campania the Ophites passed into Latium,

and established the chief seat of their religion at Lanuvium. The medals of this city bore the figure of a dragon or a large serpent; which, according to Spanheim, would denote that this animal represented the tutelary god of the place: an opinion which is proved correct by the following extracts from Ælian 1 and Propertius. From the former we learn, that at Lanuvium is a large and dark grove, and near it a temple of the Argive Juno. In the same place is a large deep cave, the den of a great serpent. To this grove the virgins of Latium are taken annually to ascertain their chastity, which is indicated by the dragon." Propertius, describing this annual custom speaks thus:

Disce quid Esquilias hac nocte fugavit aquosas,
   Cum vicina novis turba cucurrit agris.
Lanuvium annosi vetus est tutela draconis;
   Hic ubi tam rarer non perit hora moræ,
Qua sacer abripitur cæco descensus hiatu,
   Qua penetral, (virgo, tale iter omne cave!)
Jejuni serpentis honos, cum pabula poscit
   Annua, et ex ima sibila torquet humo.
Talia demissæ pallent ad sacra puellæ:
   Cum tenera anguino traditur ore manus. p. 240
Ille sibi admotas a virgine corripit escas;
   Virginis in palmis ipsa canistra tremunt.
Si fuerint castæ, redeunt in colla parentum,
   Clamantque agricolæ "fertilis annus erit 1!"

There is great similarity between the above scene, and that mentioned in a former part of this chapter, as taking place annually in Epirus; and there can be no doubt that they belonged to the same superstition.

The Ophites who settled in Campania and Lanuvium, left a colony also in Crotona, and at Lilybæum in Sicily: for both these places were remarkable for the dracontic medal, which generally denoted the consecration of a city to the serpent-god 2.

The Marsi who settled at the lake Fucinus are said by Virgil, Æn. vii. 750. to have been "charmers of serpents," which is tantamount to calling them Ophites.

Montfaucon 3 has an engraving from a silver medal of Lepidus, on which is a tripod:--"A serpent of vast length raises itself over the vase, twisting his body into a great many folds and
knots . . . . . . . The serpent's head darts rays; which seems to show that this part of the Egyptian Theology (relating to the solar serpent) had spread itself among the Romans; and that they represented the sun by a serpent."

Ophiomancy prevailed among the Romans, when Ophiolatreia had decreased through the influence of time and civilization. The accidental sight of a serpent was sometimes esteemed a good 1, and sometimes a bad omen. The death of Tiberius Gracchus was denoted by a serpent found in his house 2. Sylla was more fortunate in his divination from a serpent which glided from beneath an altar, while he was sacrificing at Nola: as also was Roscius, whose future successful career was foretold, from his being found, when an infant, sleeping in his cradle, enfolded by a snake. In each of these cases Haruspices were sent for, who interpreted the omen.

A serpent was accounted among the pedestria auspicia, and is alluded to by Horace, lib. iii.

ode 27; who seems to consider it a sinister omen:--

Rumpat et serpens iter institutum,
Si per obliquum, similis sagittæ,
       Terruit Mannos. Terence 1 also considers it in the same light--

Monstra evenerunt mihi:
Introit in ædes ater alienus canis,
Anguis per impluvium decidit de tegulis. The Sardinians also, as we are informed by De Lacepede, domesticated the serpent, as an animal of auspicious omen. This notion may have reached them either from Italy or Africa.

IV. NORTHERN EUROPE.--The Romans being, comparatively, a modern people, had not among them those strong traces of Ophiolatreia which we have observed in Phœnicia, Egypt, and Greece. But if we now follow the northward march of the sacred serpent from the plains of Shinar, we shall find that he entered deeply into the mythology of the tribes who penetrated into Europe through the Oural mountains. Of these, the Sarmatian horde, as being nearest to the seat of their original habitation, first claims attention.

An unlettered race of wandering barbarians cannot be expected to have preserved many records of their ancient religion; but to the enterprising missionaries of the Christian faith we are indebted for sufficient notices to assure us that THE WORSHIP OF THE SERPENT was their primitive idolatry. To this conclusion we are, indeed, led by the few fragments of tradition in the classical writers who have noticed the religion of the remote Hyperboreans. These people were devoted to the solar superstition 1, of which the most ancient and most general symbol was the serpent. We may therefore expect to find traces of the pure serpent-worship, also, in their religion. They had a priestess called Opis, who came with another priestess (Argis) to Delos, bringing offerings to Lucina, in gratitude for the safe delivery of some distinguished females of their own country 2. These, according to Faber 3, were priestesses of OPH and ARG (the deified personification of the ARK.) Bryant 4 also cites a line from Callimachus,

which gives the name of three priestesses of the Hyperboreans, two of whom are Oupis and Evaion. The latter word he decomposes into eva-on, serpens sol. So that they were representatives of the two superstitions--the simple and primitive serpent-worship, and the worship of the solar serpent. Other obscure, though not altogether uncertain, notices are to be found in Diodorus Siculus, Hecateus, &c. which lead to the conclusion that the Ophite religion was once prevalent in the north of Europe 2. These inferences are corroborated by indisputable facts of modern discovery, which I now proceed to detail.

1. SARMATIA. From Ouzel 1 we learn that the serpent was one of the earliest objects of worship in Sarmatia. He cites Erasmus Stella de Antiq. Borussiæ. "For some time," says this author, "they had no sacred rites; at length they arrived at such a pitch of wickedness, that they worshipped serpents and trees." The connexion between serpents and trees we have had occasion to notice more than once. They
are united on the sepulchral monuments of the Greeks and Romans, on the coins of Tyre, and among the Fetiches of Whidah. We shall find them, in the same union, pervading the religion of the Hyperboreans of every description, the superstition of the Scandinavians, and the worship of the Druids. They are closely connected in the mythology of the Heathens of almost every nation: and the question is not unnatural--"whence arose this union?" The coincidences are too remarkable to be unmeaning; and I have no hesitation in affirming my belief that THE PARADISIACAL SERPENT, and THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, are the prototypes of the idolatry.

The Samogitæ (Muscovites) partook of the same superstition 1. They worshipped the serpent as A GOD; and if any adversity befell them, concluded that their domestic serpents (which, like the people of Pella, they kept in their houses,) had been negligently served.

From Muscovy we may follow the same superstition into Lithuania, the modern Poland. These people, we are informed by Guaguin 2,[  "believed vipers and serpents to be gods, and worshipped them with great veneration. Every householder, whether citizen, husbandman, or noble, kept a serpent in his house, as a house-hold god: and it was deemed so deadly an offence to injure or dishonour these serpents, that they either deprived of property or of life every one who was guilty of such a crime."

In Koch (De cultu Serpentum, p. 39: a valuable, though short and superficial treatise,) we read the following passage: That these wretched idolaters offered sacrifices to serpents, Jerome of Prague (teste Sylvio de Europâ, c. 26.) saw with his own eyes . . . . . . Every householder had a snake in a corner of his house, to which he gave food and offered sacrifice, as he lay upon the hay. Jerome commanded all these to be killed, and publicly burnt. Among such as were brought out for this purpose, one was found larger than the rest, which, though often thrown into the fire, could not be consumed."

The serpent-worship of the Lithuanians is also noticed by Cromer 1 who charges the Prussians likewise with the same idolatry. Guaguin relates an anecdote of a serpent worshipper of Lithuania, who was persuaded to destroy his domestic god; and subsequently losing all his bees, (by whose labour he subsisted,) attributed the calamity to his apostacy, and relapsed into his former superstition. The scene of this anecdote was a village near Troki, six miles from Vilna; upon which Masius 1 remarks, "Est quatuor a Vilna miliaribus, Lavariski, villa regia; in quâ a multis ADHUC serpentes coluntur."

The Lithuanians were the last of the Europeans who were converted to Christianity; an event which did not take place until the fourteenth century. Jagello, the last heathen duke, was baptized anno 1386 2.

The inhabitants of Livonia were also addicted to this  idolatry, and carried it to a barbarous length. It is said that they were accustomed to sacrifice the most beautiful of their captives to their dragon-gods 3. The same custom we have observed to exist at Whidah.

---

SERPENT FAITH. No country in Europe is so associated with the Serpent as Ireland, and none has so many myths and legends connected with the same. As that creature has furnished so, many religious stories in the East, and as the ancient faiths of Asia and Egypt abound in references to it, we may reasonably look for some remote similarity in the ideas of worship between Orientals and the sons of Erin. http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/idr/idr21.htm

That one of the ancient military symbols of Ireland should be a serpent, need not occasion surprise in us. The Druidical serpent of Ireland is perceived in the Tara brooch, popularized to the present day. Irish crosses, so to speak, were alive with serpents.

Although tradition declares that all the serpent tribe have ceased to exist in Ireland, "yet," as Mrs. Anna Wilkes writes, "it is curious to observe how the remains of the serpent form lingered in the minds of the cloistered monks, who have given us such unparalleled specimens of ornamental initial letters as are preserved in the Books of Kells, Ballymote, &c." A singular charm did the reptile possess over the imagination of the older inhabitants. Keating assures his readers that "the Milesians, from the time they first conquered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, made use of no other arms of distinction in their banners than a serpent twisted round a rod, after the example of their Gadelian ancestors."

And, still, we recognize the impression that Ireland never had any snakes. Solinus was informed that the island had neither snakes nor bees, and that dust from that country would drive them off from any other land. But the same authority avers that no snakes could be found in the Kentish Isle of Thanet, nor in Crete. Moryson, in 1617, went further, in declaring, "Ireland had neither singing nightingall, nor chattering pye, nor undermining moule."

Bishop Donat of Tuscany, an Irishman by birth, said--

"No poison there infects, nor scaly snake
Creeps thro' the grass, nor frog annoys the lake."

As to frogs, they were known there after the Irish visit of William III., being called Dutch Nightingales. Even Bede sanctioned the legend about the virtues of wood from the forests of Ireland resisting poison; and some affirm that, for that reason, the roof of Westminster Hall was made of Irish oak. Sir James Ware said, two centuries ago, that no snake would live in Ireland, even when brought there. Camden wrote, "Nullus hic anguis, nec venematum quicquarn." Though adders might creep about, no one dreamed they were venomous.

While it was popularly believed that the serpent tribe once abounded there, some naturalists contend that Ireland was cut off from the continent of Europe before the troublers could travel so far to the north-west An old tradition is held that Niul, the fortunate husband of Pharaoh's daughter Scota, had a son, Gaoidhial, who was bitten by a serpent in the wilderness. Brought before Moses, he was not only healed, but was graciously informed that no serpent should have power wherever he or his descendants should dwell. As this hero, of noble descent, subsequently removed to Erin, that would be sufficient reason for the absence of the venomous plague from the Isle of Saints.

______________

But, granting that the reptiles once roamed at large there, how came they extirpated thence?

Universal tradition in Ireland declares that St. Patrick drove them all into the sea; and various, as well as often humorous, are the tales concerning that event. The Welsh monk, Jocelin, in 1185, told how this occurred at Cruachan Aickle, the mountain of West Connaught; for the Saint "gathered together the several tribes of serpents and venomous creatures, and drove them headlong into the Western Ocean." Others indicate the spot as the sacred isle near Sligo--Innis Mura. St. Patrick's mountain, Croagh Phadrig, shares this honour.

Giraldus Cambrensis, who went over the Irish Sea with Henry II. in the twelfth century, having some doubt of the story, mildly records that "St. Patrick, according to common report, expelled the venomous reptiles from it by the Baculum Jesu"--the historical staff or rod. The Saint is said to have fasted forty days on a mount previous to the miracle, and so gained miraculous power. Elsewhere, Giraldus says, "Some indeed conjecture, with what seems a flattering fiction, that St. Patrick and the other Saints of that country cleared the island of all pestiferous animals."

As, however, there was the notion that there never were any but symbolical snakes, it was held sufficient to assert, that the Apostle absolutely prohibited any such vermin coming near his converts. An Irish historian of 1743 gives the following differences of belief about the affair:--"But the earlier writers of St. Patrick's Life have not mentioned it Solinus, who wrote some hundreds of years before St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, takes notice of this exemption; and St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, in the seventh century, copies after him. The Venerable Bede, in the eighth century, mentions this quality, but is silent as to the cause."

The non-residence of snakes in the Isle of Thanet was accounted for by the special blessing of St Augustine, who landed there on his mission to the Saxons. So also tradition ascribed the Irish deliverance to the blessing of St Patrick. Yet, while Giraldus evidently treats the story as a fable, St. Colgan felt compelled to "give it up." Ancient naturalists relate that Crete was preserved from snakes by the herb Dittany driving them away.

In a work by Den is, Paris, 1843--Le Monde Enchante Cosmographie et Histoire Naturelle Fantastiques du Moyan Age--the following remarks occur--"Erin the green, the emerald of the sea, the country of the Tuatha Dedan, counts for little at that time, nor arrests the attention of the rapid historian. Yet there happened a wonder which ought not to be ignored by the rest of Europe, and Messire Brunetto relates it with a simple faith, which forbids any brevity in the narration. Now, you must know, that the land of magical traditions, this Ireland, is a region fatal to serpents; should some evil spirit carry them thither, all the reptiles of the world would perish on its shores. Even the stones of Ireland become a happy talisman which one can employ against these animal nuisances, and the soil upon which they are thrown will not be able to nourish the serpents."

But there are competitors for the glory of reptile expulsion. St. Kevin, the hero of the Seven Churches of Wicklow, is stated to have caused the death of the last Irish serpent, by setting his dog Lupus to kill it. This event was commemorated by a carved stone placed under the east window of Glendalough Cathedral, delineating the struggle between Lupus and the snake. This stone was stolen by a visitor on the 28th of August, 1839.

Again, the gallant conqueror of, or conquered by, the Irish Danes, King Brian Boroimhe, we are assured by an ancient MS., had a famous son, Murchadh, who destroyed all serpents to be found in Ireland. This is mentioned in the Erse story of the Battle of Clontarf.

St. Cado, of Brittany, was an expeller of serpents from Gaul; and Doué de Gozon expelled them from Malta. Even Colomba did the same good service for Iona, as others of his disciples did for Donegal. On the tombstone of the Grand Master of Malta, 1342, are the words, Draconis Extinctor. Among the heroes of serpent-destroyers were also St. Clement, the vanquisher of the Dragon of Metz; St. Marcel, the deliverer of Paris from the monster; and St. Romain, whose exploits were immortalized over the gargouille of Paris, not to speak of German, Spanish, Russian, and other Saints--Michael. The serpent is the Divine Wisdom of several lands.

One meaning, however, for these revelations of a miracle, has been found. Keating, the Irish historian, fancies the whole must be taken in a figurative sense, referring to the expelling from the converts of the old Serpent, the Devil. O'Neill, also, observes--"The conquest which the Irish Apostle of Christianity is said to have gained over the serpents of Ireland has been doubted, but if it means that he gained a victory over the serpent-worship, the story seems entitled to credit."

________________

Ancient Ireland was certainly given to serpent-worship.

Allowing for the pre-Christian origin of some Irish crosses, we may understand why these were accompanied by twining serpents. "Is it not a singular circumstance," asks Keane, "that in Ireland where no living serpent exists, such numerous legends of serpents should abound, and that figures of serpents should be so profusely used to ornament Irish sculptures? There is scarcely a cross, or a handsome piece of ancient Irish ornamental work, which has not got its serpent or dragon."

The singular cross of Killamery, Kilkenny Co., exhibits thereon two Irish serpents. The font of Cashel illustrates the same mystery. The writer saw several stones at Cashel cathedral with sculptured snakes, one large specimen ornamenting a sarcophagus. The Crozier, or Pastoral Staff of Cashel, which was found last century, bears a serpent springing out of a sheath or vagina. The end of the sheath is adorned with wreathing serpents. in the handle a man stands on a serpent's head with a staff, at which the reptile bites. This staff was like that of a Roman augur, or of an Etruscan and Babylonian priest.

Brash's Sculptured Crosses of Ireland refers to one cross, at Clonmel, having four serpents at the centre, coiled round a spherical boss. Several instances were known in which the serpents have been more or less chipped away from off such crosses.

A serpent occupies a large space on the beautiful Irish sculptured stone, Clwyn Macnos, or Clon Macnois. Not long ago, a stone serpent was discovered, with twelve divisions, marked as for the twelve astronomical signs, reminding one of the Babylonian serpent encircling the zodiac. Several ancient Irish fonts have upon them sculptured serpents. Glass snakes of various colours have also been frequently turned up.

When the author was at Cashel some years since, he saw, among a lot of fragments of the ancient church, a remarkable stone, bearing a nearly defaced sculpture of a female--head and bust--but whose legs were snakes. This object of former worship was not very unlike the image of the Gauls, that was to be. seen in Paris, though that goddess had two serpents twisted round her legs, with their heads reposing on her breasts. The Caribs of Guadaloupe were noticed by the Spaniards worshipping a wooden statue, the legs of which were enwreathed by serpents. Auriga is sometimes represented with legs like serpents. The Abraxis of the Christian Gnostics of the early centuries had serpents for legs.

_________________

Rude carvings of snakes adorn the pyramidal stones overlooking the plains of Dundalk in Louth County. This is on Killing Hill. The marvellous megalithic temple of New Grange, one of the finest antiquities of Ireland, has its curled serpentine monument.

The legends still floating about among the peasantry of the country parts of Ireland have frequent reference to the Piastra, Piastha, Worm, or Serpent This creature is always in some lake, or deep pond. The Fenian heroes are recorded in ancient songs to have killed many of them. Fionn, in particular, was the traditional dragon-killer of, Ireland. Of one monster in a lake, it said:--

"It resembled a great mound--
Its jaws were yawning wide;
There might lie concealed, though great its fury,
A hundred champions in its eye-pits.

Taller in height than eight men,
Was its tail, which was erect above its back;
Thicker was the most slender part of its tail,
Than the forest oak which was sunk by the flood."

Fionn was inquisitive as to the country from which the reptile had come, and what was the occasion of the visit to Erin. He was answered--

"From Greece, to demand battle from the Fenians."

It seems that it had already swallowed up a number of Fenian warriors, and finished by gulping down Fionn; but the Hero cleverly opened the side of the Piast, and released himself and the imprisoned men, and then killed it. After this the poet added--

"Of all the Piasts that fell by Fionn,
The number never can be told."

Fionn elsewhere figures in The Chase of Sliabh Guilleann, being after one in Lough Cuan.

"We found a serpent in that lake.
His being there was no gain to us;
On looking at it as we approached,
Its head was larger than a hill.

Larger than any tree in the forest,
Were its tusks of the ugliest shape;
Wider than the portals of a city
Were the ears of the serpent as we approached."

He destroyed serpents in Lough Cuilinn, Lough Neagh, Lough Rea, as well as the blue serpent of Eirne, and one at Howth. He killed two at Glen Inny, one in the murmuring Bann, another at Lough Carra, and beheaded a fearful creature which cast fire at him from Lough Leary.

"Fionn banished from the Raths
Each serpent he went to meet."

Another poet left this version--

"A serpent there was in the Lough of the mountain,
Which caused the slaughter of the Fianna;
Twenty hundred or more
It put to death in one day."

It demanded a ration of fifty horses a day for meals.

Croker, in his Legend of the Lakes, gives a modern allusion to the myth, which relates to Lough Kittane of Killarney. A boy is asked--

"Did you ever hear of a big worm in the lake?

"The worm is it, fakes then, sure enough, there is a big worm in the lake.

"How large is it?

"Why, then, it's as big as a horse, and has a great mane upon it, so it has.

"Did you ever see it?

"No, myself never seed the sarpint, but it's all one, for sure Padrig a Fineen did."

There is in Wexford County a Lough-na-Piastha. O'Flaherty calls one known in Lough Mask, the Irish crocodile. No one would dream of bathing in the lake of Glendalough (of the Seven Churches), as a fearful monster lived there. There was a Lig-na-piaste in Derry. The present Knocknabaast was formerly Cnoc-na-bpiast in Roscommon. Near Donegal is Leenapaste. A well of Kilkenny is Tobernapeasta. A piast was seen in Kilconly of Kerry. Some names have been changed more recently; as, Lough-na-diabhail, or Lake of the Devil.

The Dragon of Wantley (in Yorkshire) was winged, and had forty-four iron teeth, "with a sting in his tail as long as a flail," says an old ballad.

Scotland, as the author of its Sculptured Stones shows, furnished a number of illustrations of the like Dracolatria. Among the score of megalithic-serpent Scotch monuments, some have crosses as well. There is, also, the well-known earthen serpent of Glen Feochan, Loch Nell, near Oban, in view of the triple cone of Ben Cruachan, being 300 feet long and 20 high. Professor Blackie noted it thus

"Why lies the mighty serpent here,
  Let him who knoweth tell;
With its head to the land, and its huge tail near
  The shore of the fair Loch Nell?

Why lies it here? Not here alone--
  But far to the East and West;
The wonder-working snake is known,
  A mighty god, confessed.

And here the mighty god was known
  In Europe's early morn;
In view of Cruachan's triple cone,
  Before John Bull was born.

And worship knew, on Celtic ground,
  With trumpets, drums, and bugles;
Before a trace in Lorn was found
  Of Campbells and Macdougalls.

And here the serpent lies in pride,
  His hoary tale to tell;
And rears his mighty head beside
  The shore of fair Loch Nell."

Visitors to Argyllshire and to Ireland cannot fail to recognize this old-time symbol. The mound on the Clyde in Argyllshire, is the head remains of a serpent earthwork. A lithic temple in serpentine form is seen west of Bute. Some connect the cup and disc superstition with this worship. Forlong, however, thinks of a relationship in the spectacle-ornament with the phallic, though one form of inscription is decidedly draconic. Serpent stones put into water, were, until lately, used in the Hebrides to cure diseased cattle.

The Great Serpent mound of the North, at Ach-na-Goul, near Inverary, was opened by Mr. Skene. Serpent worship was common in Argyll, as that part of Scotland was Irish by contiguity and racial descent. Keating tells us that the Gaedhal, derived from Gadelius, got the name of Glas,or green, from the green spot on his neck caused by the bite of the serpent in the days of Moses.

South Britain can still exhibit vestiges of serpent worship. Among English fonts bearing reminiscences are those of Stokes-Golding, Alplington, Fitzwarren, Tintagel, East Haddon, Locking in Somerset, and Avebury. The three first represent George and the Dragon, or, rather, Horus of Egypt piercing the monster, In the last case, the serpent's tail is round the font. The Vicar of Avebury remarks:--

"On the ancient Norman font in Abury Church there is a mutilated figure, dressed apparently in the Druidical priestly garb, holding a crozier in one hand, and clasping an open book to his breast with the other. Two winged dragons or serpents are attacking this figure on either side. May not this be designed to represent the triumph of Christianity over Druidism, in which there was much veneration entertained for this serpent and serpent worship?"

In interviews with the late Archdruid of Wales, a man full of curious learning and traditional lore, the writer heard much of serpent adoration in Ancient Britain. Whatever the race or races might have been, the mystic creature had friends in the British Isles, though chiefly in Ireland. Long ago Bryant's Mythology taught that, "The chief deity of the Gentile world was almost universally worshipped under the form of the serpent."

______________________

A rapid glance may be taken over fields, ancient and modern, illustrating human respect for the serpent. This devotion is not confined to the Old World, being found in the New. It is not limited by time, ranging over all periods. It is not peculiar to any race or colour.

Aboriginal races, so called, have from remote antiquity honoured the serpent. All over Africa, the vast regions of Tartary and China, the hills and plains of India, the whole extent of America, the Isles of the Pacific, alike in sweltering tropics and ice-bound coasts, is the same tale told.

Civilized man,--whether beside the Nile, the Euphrates, or the Indus,--on the deserts of Arabia, the highlands of Persia, the plains of Syria, or the Islands of Greece,--among the tribes of Canaan, the many named peoples of Asia Minor, the philosophers of Athens and Alexandria, the mariners of Phœnicia, or the warriors of Rome,--bowed to the serpent god. All religions, past and present, recognize the creature.

The Rev. Dr. D'Eremao, in the Serpent of Eden, sees direct serpent worship in "the worship of the serpent as a god, in himself, and for his own sake"; but indirect worship in "the use and veneration of the serpent, not for himself, but merely as the symbol or emblem of some one or more of the gods." He esteems the Egyptians indirect worshippers. The Greeks had it as a symbol of Apollo, Minerva, and Juno. The Ophites, of early Christendom, saw in it a symbol of Christ, or the mundane soul.

The creature spoke from under the tripod of Delphi; it moved about the holy bread on the altar of the Gnostics; it was a living and moving symbol in Egypt; it had a place of honour in the temples of Tyre, Cyprus, Babylon, and India; it crawled in the sacred cave of Triphonius, and its eyes glistened within the shadows of Elephanta.

As the Apophis, pierced by the god Horus, and as the emblem of Typhon, it was the evil spirit of Egypt; but in the uræus of Osiris, it was the good one. The Egyptian faith several thousand years before Christ also included serpent worship. The serpent symbol distinguished Sabaism. It was in Egypt the illustration of a new birth, as it cast its skin, and thence gave to man a hope of the Resurrection. In the Book of the Dead, and other Egyptian
Scriptures, it is frequently mentioned. The great serpent on human legs was a solemn mystery. The Agathadæmon was the Guardian of the Dead.

Flinders Petrie, in Ten Years Digging in Egypt, when referring to the fact that the oldest pyramid, Medum, was erected on the principle of the Mastaba or tomb; declared that in the architecture of that very ancient structure "there was the cornice of uræus serpents, which is familiar in later times." This points to an era of, perhaps, seven thousand years ago.

The neighbouring Assyrians paid no less devotion to. It is known that in the land of Canaan there was the same Ophiolatreia, as the Hebrew Scriptures testify. Cypus and Rhodes, not less than all Phœnicia, abounded in Christianity was early affected by it in Gnosticism. Epiphanius, relates that the Gnostics kept "a tame serpent in a cista, or sacred ark, and when celebrating their mysteries (the Eucharist), piled loaves on a table before it and then invoked the serpent to come forth." The Ophites (serpent worshippers) were derived from the Gnostics.

The Chinese for the lunar period represents a serpent. The word for an hour, Sse, is the symbol of the serpent. The dragon still presides in China. Persia, which supplanted, Assyria, copied thence much of its serpent ideas; so the Semitic conquerors of Babylonia, at an earlier period receive their theology and letters from the Akkadians The Zendavesta three-headed serpent had to yield to the Sun god. Ahi, the great serpent, was in opposition to Zoroastrian deities. Bel and the Dragon have a place in Oriental literature. Bel and the serpent may be discerned in excavated Pompeii. Clemens Alexandrinus remarked, "If we pay attention to the strict sense of the Hebrew, the name Evia (Eve) aspirated signifies a female, serpent."

India, however, is down to our time the high seat of Ophiolatreia.

The Maruts, Rudras, and Pitris are esteemed "Fiery dragons of wisdom," as magicians and Druids were of old. Abulfazl states that there are seven hundred localities where carved figures of snakes are objects of adoration. There are tribes in the Punjaub that will not kill a snake. Vishnu is associated with the reptile in various ways. Sesha, the serpent king, with one hundred heads, holds up the earth. The Nagas are given up to this peculiar worship. The Buddhist poem Nagananda relates the contest between Garuda, king of the birds, and the prince of the Naga or snake deities.

India beyond the Ganges has, as in Cambodia, magnificent temples in its honour. The soul of a tree in Siam may appear as a serpent. "In every ancient language," writes Madame Blavatski, "the word Dragon signified what it now does in Chinese, i.e. the being who excels in intelligence." The brazen serpent is in the East the Divine Healer. Æsculapius cannot do without his serpent. In the Hell of the Persians, says Hyde, "The snake ascends in vast rolls from this dark gulf, and the inside is full of scorpions and serpents." In the poem Voluspa of the Edda we read--"I know there is in Nastzande (Hell) an abode remote from the sun, the gates of which look towards the north.--It is built of the carcases of serpents."

The ancient Greeks borrowed their serpent notions from older lands through the medium of Phœnician traders. Hesiod's monster, the Echidna, was half "a speckled serpent, terrible and vast." The Atmedan of Constantinople, showing three brazen serpents intertwined, was said to have been taken by the Greeks from the Persians at Platæa. Apollo, the Greek Horus, fights the Python of darkness, as a sun-god should do, but owns a serpent symbol. Euripides
notes that in processions "The fire-born serpent leads the way."

Etruria, of which Rome was a colony, probably borrowed its serpent worship from Egypt. It was there, as elsewhere, a form of sun-worship, as the reptile hybernates to renew its strength, and casts off its slough to renew its youth, as the sun is renewed at spring. And yet Ruskin says, "The true worship must have taken a dark form, when associated with the Draconian one."

Africa is well known to be still under the cruel bondage, of serpent worship, and that of the evil Apophis kind. The negro's forefathers appear to him as serpents. Over the Pacific Ocean, the serpent, carved in stone, was adored Tales, in Fiji Isles, spoke of a monster dragon dwelling in a cave Samoa had a serpent form for the god Dengie. Even in Australia, though in ruder style, the serpent was associated, as in Oceana, with some idea of a creator.

America astonished Spaniards of the sixteenth century with its parody of their own faith. The civilized Aztecs and Peruvians adored serpents Vitzliputuli of Mexico held, like Osiris, a serpent staff Cihuacohuatziti, wife of the Great Father, was an immense serpent The name of the goddess Cihuacohuatl means the female serpent.

But the wilder North American Indians bowed to the serpent, as may be known from Squier's Serpent Symbol. A serpentine earthwork in Adam's County, Ohio, upon a hill, is 1000 ft in length Mounds in Iowa, arranged in serpentine form, extend over two miles A coiled serpent mound by St Peter's River, Iowa, is 2310 ft. long. In the desert of Colorado have been reported lately the remains of a temple. It is said that the capitals for the two remaining pillars are stone serpents' heads, the feet of the columns look like rattlesnakes The pillars seem to be rattlesnakes standing on their tails.

Europe was, doubtless, indebted to travelling "dragons of wisdom" for this mystic lore; how, or under what circumstances, we know not. Whether the older, and long passed away, races were thus learned is a question; but that peoples, far removed from our era, or but survivals of remoter tribes, were acquainted with it may be believed, if only from serpentine mounds, or piles of stones in serpent form.

Rome carried forth the serpent in war, since one of its standards was the serpent on a pole. Long after, in the church processions on Palm Sunday, the serpent figured, mounted on a pole. Scandinavia had its Midgard, encircling the globe with its body. The Norse serpent Jormungandr had a giantess for mother, and the evil Loki for father. Muscovites and Lithuanians had serpent gods, while Livonia bowed to the dragon. Olaus Magnus records serpents being kept in sacred buildings of the North, and fed on milk. Thor was able to kill a serpentine embodiment of evil, by striking it with his tau, or hammer. In pagan Russia the serpent was the protector of brides. St. Hilarion, of Ragusa, got rid of the dangerous snake Boas by lighting a great fire, and commanding the reptile to go on the top to be burnt. One of the symbols of both Hercules and the Celtic Hu was a serpent. The German white serpent gave wisdom to the eater of it.

In Gaul it was reverenced. Nathair was a serpent god. Priests, Druidical or otherwise, had a caduceus of two serpents embracing one another. A Gaulish goddess had, in like manner, two snakes about its legs and body. Druids kept live serpents for pious purposes. A French writer notices one twisted round a lingam, as can be seen now, also, in Pompeii. Gaulish coins represent a serpent under or over a horse, the sun emblem.

As the Koran informs us, Eblis was brought to Eden in the mouth of the serpent. The Pythia, or Serpent of Delphi, was the priestess. Snake offerings were made to Bacchus. The phallic character exhibited in the serpent at Mayence, with the apple of love in its mouth, upon which creature the Virgin is represented as treading.

France was not without its snake destroyers. In Brittany St. Suliac, watching the emergence of a great serpent from its cave, put his stole round its neck and cast it into the sea. Up to 1793, a procession of the clergy of St. Suliac annually took place, when a Silver cross was lowered into the serpent cavern of La Guivre.

M. About tells of a serpentine dance he witnessed in Greece. A number of women and children formed th tail of a serpent, Which incessantly revolved round itself without the extremities ever Joining In ancient ornaments an egg is seen with a serpent coiled round it, as if to fertilize it.

All readers of Welsh Druidism are aware of the pail played therein by this creeping creature It was the Celtic dragon Draig. It was the gliding god. Ceridwen is associated with a car and serpent. Abury, gives us the serpent of the sun. The Glain neidr, or serpent's egg, was a great mystery of the Druids.

Serpent worship has been taken up to the heavens where constellations have been named after the creeping silent creature. There is the Hydra killed by Hercules but not till it had poisoned him by its venom. There an the voluminous folds of Draco. There is that one held by Ophiuchus, which sought to devour the child of Virgo There is the seven-headed Draco, each head forming a star in the Little Bear. Thus we may exclaim with Herschel "The heavens are scribbled over with innumerable snakes.'

Classical mythology tells of a Python, which sought to devour the offspring of Latona, whose child, Apollo, became
the eternal foe of the would-be destroyer. Jupiter himself became a dragon to deceive Proserpine. Minerva carried a serpent on her breast. Medusa bore snakes for curls on her head.

What is the meaning of it all?

Betham mentions the fact that the Celtic word for a serpent is expressive of its wisdom. The same meaning is in other languages, and the legends are of various nations. A knowing man, one versed in the mysteries, was called a serpent. Was it the silence which distinguished it in the animal creation that brought this reputation, and made it a fitting emblem of the esoteric system?

It was the symbol of productive energy, and was ever associated with the egg, symbol of the progressive elements of nature. The male was the Great Father; the female, the Great Mother.

O'Brien, and others, see a close connection between Solar, Phallic, and Serpent worship, the author of The Round Towers of Ireland, saying, "If all these be identical, where is the occasion of a surprise at our meeting the sun, phallus, and serpent, the constituent symbols of each, occurring in combination, embossed upon the same table, and grouped under the same architrave?"

The connection of the serpent with the starry host has been observed. Its scales resemble revolving stars. Like them, it moves swiftly, but noiselessly. The zodiacal girdle appeared like a serpent devouring its own tail, and it was always deemed of a fiery nature.

Some have supposed the stories of monstrous reptiles--the object of dread and conflict--to have originated from traditional records of gigantic and fearful-looking Saurians or serpents that once lived on earth, and some lingering specimens,, of which might have been seen by early tribes of mankind. The Atlanto-Saurus immanis was a hundred feet long, with a femur two yards in diameter.

The serpent was certainly the token or symbol of an ancient race celebrated for wisdom, giving rise to the naming of the learned after dragons or serpents. The Druid of the Welsh Triads exclaims, "I am a serpent."

According to J. H. Baecker--"The three, five, seven, or nine-headed snake is the totem of a race of rulers, who presided over the Aryan Hindus.--The Snake race was that of the first primæval seafarers.--The faring-wise serpent race became at the earliest stage of tradition rulers and civilizers." And Ovid sang--

"As an old serpent casts his scaly vest,
Wreaths in the sun, in youthful glory dress'd,
So when Alcides' mortal mould resigned,
His better part enlarged, and grew refined."

________________

It must be remembered that even traditions bear testimony to a variety of races in the Island. The Celts were among the later visitors, coming, certainly, after the Iberian, whose type remains in south-west Ireland. One of these early tribes brought the knowledge from afar; or, what may rather be conjectured, some shipmen from the East found a temporary sojourn there.

Dr. Phené justly remarks--"The absence of such reptiles in Ireland is remarkable, but their absence could certainly not have originated a serpent worship through terror; while everything artistic or religious in old Irish designs from the wonderful illuminations in the Book of Kells to the old Celtic gold ornaments, represent the serpent, and' indicate, therefore, some very strong religious idea being always uppermost in connection with it."

A Cyprus amulet gives a goddess, nude and winged, having serpents for legs. A Typhon has been seen, with its extremities two twisted snakes. A Buddha has been indicated with two twisted snakes for appendages. The Greek poet also describes the "divine stubborn-hearted Echidna (mother of Cerberus) half nymph, with dark eyes and fair cheeks, and half a serpent." The mother of an ancient Scythian hero was a serpent maiden. A story was told, in 1520, of a Swiss man being in an enchanted cave, and meeting with a beautiful woman, whose lower part was a serpent, and who tempted him to kiss her.

As recently reported from France, a lady has there a familiar in the form of a serpent, able to answer her questions, and cleverly writing down replies with the point of its tail. There is no saying how this marvellous creature may enter into future theological controversies.

A book published in the reign of Charles I. had this story--"Ireland, since its first inhabitation, was pestered with a triple plague, to wit, with great abundance of venemous beastes, copious store of Diuells visiblely appearing, and infinit multitudes of magitians."

The Saint's share in the trouble is thus described--Patrick, taking the staffe or wand of Jesus with his sacred hand, and eleuating it after a threatning manner, as also by the favourable assistance of Angels, he gathered together in one place all the venemous beastes that were in Ireland, after he draue them up before him to a most high mountaine hung ouer the sea, called then Cruachanailge, and now Cruach Padraig, that is St. Patricks mountaine, and from thence he cast them downe in that steepe precipice to be swallowed up by the sea."

The Druids, or Tuaths, or other troublers, fared nearly as badly as the snakes; as the author affirmed--"Of the magitians, he conuerted and reclaimed very many, and such as persisted incorrigible, he routed them out from the face of the earth."

From the Book of Leinster we gather the intelligence that three serpents were found in the heart of Mechi, son of the great queen. After they had been killed by Diancecht, their bodies were burnt, and the ashes were thrown into the river Barrow, "which so boiled that it dissolved every animal in it."

As tradition avows, St. Kevin, when he killed one a the remaining serpents, threw the creature into the lake at Glendalough, which got the name of Lochnapiast, or serpent loch. Among the sculptures on impost moulding at Glendalough is one of a dog devouring a serpent. Snake-stones have been found, consisting of small ring of glass. The ammonite fossil is known as the snake stone.

Windele, of Kilkenny, shows the persistence of ancient ideas in the wilder parts of Ireland. "Even as late as the eleventh century," says he, "we have evidence of the prevalence of the old religion in the remoter districts, and in many of the islands on our western coasts.--Many of the secondary doctrines of Druidism hold their ground at this very day as articles of faith.--Connected with these practice (belteine, &c.), is the vivid memory still retained of one universal Ophiolatreia, or serpent worship; and the attributing of supernatural powers and virtues to particular animal such as the bull, the white and red cow, the boar, the horse, the dog, &c., the memory of which has been perpetuated in our topographical denominations."

The Irish early Christians long continued the custom entwining their old serpent god around the cross. One has said, "The ancient Irish crosses are alive with serpents Their green god-snake was Gad-el-glas. The word Tirda-glas meant the tower of the green god. The old Milesian standard, of a snake twisted round a rod, may seem to indicate a Phallic connection with the Sabh.

The Book of Lismore asserts the same distinguished

p. 189

power of serpent expulsion on behalf of St. Columba, as others have done for St. Patrick, or any other Saint; saying, "Then he turned his face westward, and said, 'May the Lord bless the Island, with its indwellers.' And he banished toads and snakes out of it."

Thus have we seen that Ireland, above most countries of the earth, retained a vivid conception of ancient serpent worship, though some of the myths were naturally and gratefully associated with the reputed founders of a purer faith.

"Search where we will," says Kennersley Lewis, "the nuptial tree, round which coils the serpent, is connected with time and with life as a necessary condition; and with knowledge--the knowledge of a scientific priesthood, inheriting records and traditions hoary, perhaps, with the snows of a glacial epoch."

cont.

2. SCANDINAVIA. The second great northern
family of Europe, was the Scandinavian, inhabiting the country now occupied by the Laplanders, Fins, Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes. To these were allied the Vandals and Lombards, not only by ties of consanguinity but religion. These were well addicted to the worship of the serpent; and some of them retained in their traditionary mythology, traces, not obscure, of the fall of man.

We are informed by Olaus Magnus 1, that domestic serpents were considered as penates in the extreme parts of the north of Europe; and that they were fed on cows' milk, or that of sheep, together with the children. They played freely in the houses, and it was an offence of the first magnitude to hurt them.

Among the Ophites of the north, the most conspicuous were the Danes, who exhibited the sacred dragon upon their royal standard. Pontanus 2 alluding to it, expresses himself thus:--

Hinc rigidos Sclavos effert pernicibus alis,
   Et loco propugnat sanguinolenta DRACO.

The dragon standard of the Danes was carried by their piratical brethren, the Normans, into France; and was for many years the ensign of the Dukes of Normandy. Du Fresne cites a charter granted to one of the family of Bertran, to bear "the dragon standard."

But this custom, so commonly observed by the Ophites, would not have pre-eminently distinguished the Danes as worshippers of the sacred serpent, had there not been discovered a sacrificial vessel of their primitive idolatry, which is at once a confirmation of their superstition, and a key to its mysteries. It is, indeed, a most valuable interpreter of the Celtic faith, as it respected the tradition of the fall of man, and an eloquent index to the religion of the Druids.

This relic of idolatry is the celebrated horn found by a female peasant, near Tundera 1, in Denmark, in the year, 1639. It is of gold, and embossed in parallel circles, of rude workmanship. These circular compartments are seven in number, and in five out of the seven circles, the figure of a serpent is seen in various attitudes.

Circle 1 represents a naked boy or woman kneeling. The extended arms are held up to heaven. On each side of this figure is a large serpent in the attitude of attack.

In the second compartment of this circle, the same naked figure appears flying from a serpent which pursues. The third compartment represents the serpent with his face averted from the figure, who holds up both hands, as if in gratitude for deliverance.

Circle 2 exhibits a naked boy or woman (for the figure has no beard) seated upon the ground, with the hands brought together, as if in the action of prayer to a serpent. Another serpent is coiled behind the figure, with his head and the upper part of his body erect. The next compartment of this circle contains the same human figure in conversation with the serpent.

The serpent appears in three others of the seven circles, but not in so historical a form. In these it is probably a representation of the constellation Draco, for some of the remaining figures seem to belong to the zodiac.

It may be rash to conjecture that the first two circles allude to the history of man in paradise, persecuted by the serpent, and saved from his extreme violence: but, nevertheless, the compartment which describes the human figure in conversation with its dracontic enemy, seems to point to this event.

Koch considers the hieroglyphics as explanatory of the ancient practice of the country, which devoted human victims to serpent-gods. "Nos exinde conjecimus, a tenerâ ætate infantes serpentibus vovisse, superstitiosos veteres 1." Olaus Wormius is of opinion that the serpent referred to the serpent-tempter and destroyer.

But whichever be correct, (and for our theory it matters not which,) it is evident that the figures have a sacred signification, either as connected with the religious rites, superstitions, or fables of the original possessors.

Now we know, from unquestionable authority, that not only did Ophiolatreia prevail throughout the whole of this and the neighbouring countries, but also that the tradition of the serpent in paradise was preserved in the mythology of Scandinavia, with an accuracy equal to that of the Greeks and Phœnicians. Hence it matters not, whether THE HORN be descriptive of the fall of man, of the Ophite rites of the  Scandinavians, or simply of the zodiac, as delineated by the northern astronomers. For the astronomical mythology which relates to the serpent or dragon, was entirely borrowed from the events in Paradise, to which also may be referred the whole of the Ophite worship.

The Vandals worshipped their principal deity under the form of a flying dragon; and, like the rest of their northern brethren, kept domestic serpents. It is said that their women also kept snakes in hollow oaks, to whom they made offerings of milk 1, and whom they adored with the most abject humility. They prayed to them for blessings, for the health of their husbands, and family, &c. 2--in a word, adored them as gods.

The Lombards also cherished the same superstition,
for they carried it with their victorious arms into Italy. When Barbatus lived at Benevento, A.D. 688, he discovered that some of the inhabitants, who were Lombards, worshipped a golden viper and a tree, on which the skin of a wild beast was hung." He suppressed this idolatry, and being made Bishop of Benevento, cut down the tree, and melted the golden viper for a sacramental chalice 1.

V. WESTERN EUROPE.

1. BRITAIN. Our British ancestors, under the tuition of the venerable Druids, were not only worshippers 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 intimate intercourse with the civilized world, partly by their remoteness 2, and partly by their national character 3, 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 gods of the Gaulish Druids penetrated into the sacred mythology of the British, and furnished personifications for the different attributes of the dracontic god HU. This deity was called "THE DRAGON RULER OF THE WORLD 1," and his car was drawn by SERPENTS 2. His priests, in accommodation with the general custom of the ministers of the Ophite god, were called after him, ADDERS 3.

In a poem of Taliessin, translated by Davies, in his Appendix, No. 6, is the following enumeration of a Druid's titles:

"I am a Druid; I am an architect; I am a prophet;
I am a SERPENT"--(Gnadr.) From the word Gnadr is derived "adder," the name of a species of snake. Gnadr was probably pronounced like "adder" with a nasal aspirate.

The mythology of the Druids contained also a goddess CERIDWEN, whose car was drawn by serpents. It is conjectured that this was Grecian CERES; and not without reason, for the in-creasing intercourse between the British and
Gaulish Druids introduced into the purer religion of the former many of the corruptions ingrafted upon that of the latter by the Greeks and Romans. The Druids of Gaul had among them many divinities corresponding with those of Greece and Rome. They worshipped OGMIUS, (a compound deity between Hercules and Mercury,) and, after him, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva, or deities resembling them 1. Of these they made images; whereas hitherto the only image in the British worship was the great wicker idol, into which they thrust HUMAN VICTIMS designed to be burnt as AN EXPIATORY SACRIFICE for the sins of some chieftain. The wicker idol, though formed in the shape of a man, was perhaps rather a sacrificial ornament than a god; emblematic of the nature of the victims within it. The whole sacrifice was but an ignorant expression of the primeval and universal faith in the ATONEMENT.

The following translation of a Bardic poem, descriptive of one of their religious rites, identifies the superstition of the British Druids with the aboriginal Ophiolatreia, as expressed in the mysteries of Isis in Egypt. The poem is entitled,
[paragraph continues] "The Elegy of Uther Pendragon;" that is, of Uther, "The Dragon's Head;" and it is not a little remarkable that the word "Draig" in the British language, signifies, at the same time, "a fiery serpent, a dragon, and THE SUPREME GOD 1."

In the second part of this poem is the following description of the sacrificial rites of Uther Pendragon.

With solemn festivity round the two lakes;
With the lake next my side;
With my side moving round the sanctuary;
While the sanctuary is earnestly invoking
THE GLIDING KING, before whom the FAIR ONE
Retreats, upon the veil that covers the huge stones;
Whilst THE DRAGON moves round over
The places which contain vessels
Of drink offering:
Whilst the drink offering is in THE GOLDEN HORNS;
Whilst the golden horns are in the hand;
Whilst the knife is upon the chief victim;
Sincerely I implore thee, O victorious BELI, &c. &c. This is a most minute and interesting account of the religious rites of the Druids, proving in clear terms their addiction to Ophiolatreia:

we have not only the history of "THE GLIDING KING," who pursues "THE FAIR ONE," depicted upon "the veil which covers the huge stones"--a history which reminds us most forcibly of the events in Paradise, under a poetic garb; but we have, likewise, beneath that veil, within the sacred circle of "the huge stones," THE GREAT DRAGON, A LIVING SERPENT, "moving round the places which contain the vessels of drink-offering;" or, in other words, moving round the altar stone, in the same manner as the serpent in the Isiac mysteries passed about the sacred vessels containing the offerings:

"Pigraque labatur circa donaria serpens 1." The GOLDEN HORNS, which contained the drink offerings, were very probably of the same kind as that found in Tundera, in Denmark, and described in a preceding page of this chapter: a probability which confirms the Ophiolatreia of the DANES, argued in the same section from historical documents. And conversely, the existence of the Danish horn proves that in the mysteries of Druidical worship, the serpent was a prominent character.

If we refer to the description of the horn of Tundera 1 we shall find upon it precisely the same impressed history which was pictured "upon the veil that covered the huge stones." The dragon, "the gliding king," is seen in the same attitude of pursuing a naked figure, which might be mistaken, from the rude workmanship of the horn, for a boy; but which is proved by the Bardic poem, above cited, to be a female; "the fair one," as she is, by a figure of poetry, designated.

The god to whom these offerings were made and whose sacrifices were here celebrated, was BELL; perhaps the BEL of the Babylonians, and the OBEL of primitive worship; the archetype of APOLLO in the name and rites. To BEL, the Babylonians consecrated, as we have seen, a living serpent; and living serpents were also preserved in the Fane of Delphi, and in many other places where the deity OPH or OB was worshipped. The fabulous hero himself, in whose honour these sacrifices are celebrated, was distinguished by the title of "The Wonderful Dragon." Every circumstance, therefore, combines to strengthen the conclusion, that the Druids thus engaged were OPHITES of the original stock.

The learned Celtic scholar, from whose translation the above poem is taken, explains it in these words:--"These ceremonies are performed at a public and solemn festival, whilst the sanctuary, or assembly of priests and votaries, invoke the dragon king. The place of consecration is on the sacred mound, within the stone circle and mount which represent the world, and near the consecrated lakes 1. At this time
the huge stones of the temple were covered with a veil, on which was delineated the history of the dragon king. There seems also to have been a living serpent as a symbol of the god, who is gliding from place to place, and tasting the drink-offerings in the sacred vessels 1."

The sanctity of the serpent showed itself in another very curious part of the superstition of the British Druids, namely, in that which related to the formation and virtues of the celebrated anguinum, as it is called by Pliny, or gleinen nadroeth, that is, snake-stones, as they were called by the Britons. Sir Richard Colt Hoare gives an engraving of one in his "Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Amesbury," p. 56. "This is a bead of imperfect vitrification, representing two circular lines of opaque skyblue and white, which seem to represent a snake twined round a centre which is perforated." Many beads of this kind have been found in various parts of the island of Great Britain. Mr. Lhwyd, the celebrated Welsh antiquary, thus describes them in a letter to Ralph Thoresby:--"I am fully satisfied that they were amulets of the Druids. . . . . . . I have seen one of them that had nine small snakes upon it. . . . . . . . There are others that have one or two or more snakes 1."

These, we are informed by the Roman naturalist, were worn about the neck as charms, and were deemed efficacious in rendering their possessors fortunate in every difficult emergency. He records an anecdote of a Roman knight, who was put to death by Claudius for entering a court of justice with an anguinum on his neck, in the belief that its virtue would overrule the judgment in his favour.

The word anguinum is obviously derived from anguis, a snake; and the formation of it is thus described by Pliny:--"An infinite number of snakes, entwined together in the heat of summer, roll themselves into a mass, and from the saliva of their jaws, and the froth of their bodies, is engendered an EGG, which is called 'anguinum.' By the violent hissing of the serpents the egg is forced into the air, and the Druid, destined to secure it, must catch it in his sacred vest before it reaches the ground."

This singular superstition was still extant in Wales and Cornwall in the time of Camden, as we find from the following passage in his Britannia, page 815. "In most parts of Wales, throughout all Scotland, and in Cornwall, we find it a common opinion of the vulgar, that about Midsummer-eve it is usual for snakes to meet in company, and that by their joining heads together and hissing, a kind of bubble is formed, which the rest by continual hissing blow on till it passes quite through the body, and then it immediately hardens, and resembles a glass ring, which whoever finds will prosper in all undertakings. The rings thus generated are called gleinen nadroeth; in English, snake-stones." They are small glass amulets, commonly half as wide as finger rings, but much thicker, and of a green colour usually, though sometimes blue, and waved with red and white."

The anguinum continued to be venerated in Cornwall in the time of Dr. Borlase, but the tradition of its formation was somewhat different from the above. "The country people have a persuasion, that the snakes here breathing upon a hazel wand, produce a stone ring of a blue colour, in which there appears the yellow figure of a snake; and that beasts bit and envenomed, being given some of the water to drink wherein this stone has been infused, will perfectly recover of the poison 1."

These charms were usually called "glains;" and, according to Davies 2, "were some blue, some white, a third sort green, and a fourth variegated with all these colours, but still preserving the appearance of glass. Others again were made of earth, and only glazed over."

The "egg" of which Pliny speaks was only an envelope, the interior and real glain being either a circle or a lunette: the latter referring probably to the lunar deity, or according to Davies, to the arkite worship, the ark being sometimes described under the form of a lunette. These stones have been frequently found in Wales, Northamptonshire 1, and in many other parts of England. Dr. Stukeley, in his description of the Druidical temple of Abury in Wiltshire, mentions having bought two British beads of the inhabitants, "one large, of a light blue, and ribbed; and the other less, of a dark blue;" which had been dug up out of one of the barrows on Hakpen Hill, a promontory upon which rested the head of the serpent which formed the avenues to the temple of Abury. Beads of this kind have been found in the barrows near Stonehenge, and are probably most of them the "gleinen nadroeth," deposited in the sepulchres of the dead as talismanic securities; the same perhaps which had been worn by the deceased in their lifetime.

Analogous to this is the superstition of the Malabarians, who venerate the Pedra del Cobra, or serpent-stone, which the Brahmins persuade them is taken from the head of the hooded serpent, and, when consecrated by the priests, an effective charm against the bite of venomous snakes.

This is the serpent-stone to which Pliny alludes, as being held in high estimation by the eastern kings. "It must be cut out of the brain of a living serpent, where it grows; for if the serpent die, the stone dissolves. The natives, therefore, first charm the serpent to sleep with herbs; and when he is lulled, make a sudden incision in his head, and cut out the stone 1."

The superstition of the anguinum prevailed also in Scandinavia, as we learn from Olaus Magnus: "Creduntur (sc. serpentes) veterum relatione, lapidem flatu suo gignere 2."

Between the religion of the Druids and that of the Scandinavians there was a strong similarity, though not in every respect an identity. The same sacrificial rites to the dracontic god, and the same circular temples, may be observed in Britain and the Scandinavian countries 3; and a branch of the same idolatry flourished
in Ireland--so extensively was Ophiolatreia spread over Europe.

Mr. Faber is of opinion that "the many stories in England of the destruction of huge serpents, relate ultimately to the destruction of the living serpents worshipped by the Druids." He instances the cave of the dragon of Wharncliff in Yorkshire, as precisely similar by legendary description to the cave of Cadmus's dragon; and remarks that the manor of Sockburne, is still held by the tenure of exhibiting to the Bishop of Durham a sword with which a monstrous serpent is said to have been slain." The presentation of the sword to the Bishop, would seem to imply that a religious service had been rendered by its former owner. This might have been the destruction of an Ophite temple. For in most countries the overthrow of the serpent-worshippers is allegorized into a victory over some monstrous dragon, who infested the neighbourhood. That the votaries of Ophiolatreia penetrated into every part of Britain, is probable from the vestiges of some such idolatry even now to be found in Scotland and the western isles. Several obelisks remain in the vicinity of Aberdeen, Dundee, and Perth, upon which
are devices strongly indicative of Ophiolatreia. They are engraved in Gordon's Itinerarium Septentrionale. The serpent is a frequent and conspicuous hieroglyphic. From the Runic characters traced upon some of these stones, it is conjectured that they were erected by the Danes. Such might have been the case; but the Danes themselves were a sect of Ophites, and had not the people of the country been Ophites also, they might not have suffered these monuments to remain. Dr. Ingram pronounces some of these stones to be Phœnician, especially one on which the figure of a serpent is seen with the sun and moon revolving about his head. He considers this figure to be a record of "the old serpent."

An obelisk near Dundee, is very remarkable. It is plain on every side but one, on which is carved the representation of a man on horseback pursuing a dragon. The tradition is that the hero lived on the skirts of a forest where the dragon concealed himself, and preyed upon the human race. Among other victims, he devoured the nine daughters of this chieftain, who thereupon mounted his horse, and plunging into the forest, attacked the monster. The dragon fled before
him, but was overtaken and slain upon the spot where the obelisk above mentioned now stands to record the deed. The track through which the dragon and his pursuer passed is called "the den of Bal Dragon 1."

It is possible that this story may also allude to the destruction of an Ophite temple.

British Ophiolatreia sunk beneath the unsparing sword of the Romans. But a symbol of the idolatry survived its overthrow; and under the form of "the Dragon standard," not only sustained the nationality of the Welsh, but also became the idol of the Anglo-Saxons.

The origin of this standard is curiously though apocryphally explained by Matthew of Westminster. "The brother of the British king Aurelius beheld a vision--a fiery meteor in the form of a great dragon, illumined the heavens with a portentous glare. The astrologers unanimously expounded the omen to signify that the seer would one day sit upon the throne of Britain. Aurelius died, and his brother became king. His first royal act was to cause the fabrication of two dragons in gold, like the figure which the meteor assumed. One of these he placed
in Winchester Cathedral; the other he reserved to be carried before him in his military expeditions. And hence the custom which the kings of England have ever since observed--that of having the Dragon standard borne before them in battle." The dragon standard was borne before Richard in Palestine, and two noble knights disputed the honour of carrying it. "When the king had planted his standard in the middle," says Hoveden, "he gave his dragon to be borne by Peter de Pratellis, contrary to the claim of Robert de Trussebut, who demanded that honour as his hereditary right."

In the hands of the standard-bearer of Henry the Third, the dragon was avowedly the harbinger of destruction. In the Welsh campaign, "so great was the indignation of Henry," says Knighton, "that having raised the dragon standard, he ordered his troops to advance and give no quarter." The same, says Matthew of Paris--"animating his troops the marched daily clad in armour, and unfolding his royal ensign, the dragon which knows not how to spare, he threatened extermination to the Welsh." With similar ferocity and with the same terrific standard, he
marched against his rebellious barons. The dragon was always the herald of "no quarter."

In camp this standard was planted in the front of the king's pavilion, to the right of the other ensigns, and was kept unfurled day and night 1.

The dragon was introduced by Henry the Seventh, as a supporter of the royal arms. He brought it from Wales, and it is still the king's crest as sovereign of that principality. It gave place, at the Union, to the Unicorn of Scotland; but the heraldic dragon is as different an animal from the poetic, as the poetic is from the religious, which last was merely a large serpent.

2. IRELAND.--The prevalence of the Celtic superstition in Ireland is marked, even now, by stupendous monuments: but the Druids of this nation assimilated themselves rather to those of Gaul than of Britain. The chief object of their adoration was OGHAM or OGMIUS, the same as the deity OG of Trachonitis. His images were represented as holding in their hands the club of Hercules, surmounted by the caduceus of Mercury, the wings of which were attached to
the club. The staff of the caduceus terminated in a ring.

At New Grange, in the county of Meath, has been discovered a grand cruciform cavern, whose consecration to Mithras is indisputable. This Persian deity was symbolized by a serpent, and is the corresponding god to Apollo in Grecian mythology. Here were dug up three remarkable stones, on which mystical figures, like spiral lines, or coiled serpents, rudely carved, have been observed. "These lines," says Mr. Beauford, who describes the cavern, "appear to be the representation of serpents coiled up, and were probably symbols of the Divine Being 1." The relation of these relics to the celebrated Omphalos we have considered in a former part of this volume, to which, therefore, the reader is referred.

For the paucity of the remains of the ancient Ophiolatreia in Ireland, we are perhaps indebted to the renowned St. Patrick, whose popular legend may not, after all, be so ridiculous or so groundless as Englishmen and Protestants are accustomed to imagine. It is said, and believed by the lower order of Irish



p. 272

to this day, that St. Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland by his prayers. May not this imply that St. Patrick, in evangelizing that country, overthrew the superstition of THE SERPENT-WORSHIPPERS? Such an inference is drawn by Bryant, from similar stories of the destruction of serpents in the Grecian Archipelago and Peloponnesus; and I see no reason why a similar line of argument should not be adopted in regard to the achievements of St. Patrick in Ireland. Such fables are general in Christian countries which were ever devoted to Ophiolatreia 1.

3. GAUL.--The ancient religion of Gaul, though established by Druids, was not so pure as that of Britain; neither did it retain so strong a hold upon the affections of the people. There was in it more of idolatry, and less of priestcraft; so that when the Romans subjugated the country, the natives passed rapidly into the superstitions of their conquerors. To render this transition the more easy, their primitive religion had already been corrupted by the inroads of Egyptian theology; but at what period or through what channel, is involved in mystery. The well-known figures of Gallic deities, decorated with the caduceus of Hermes, are monuments of the fact. This god was probably the Theutates of Celtic mythology, the Theuth or Thoth of the Egyptian 1; and identical with the Gothic Teut or Tuisto 2. The name Tat, Tath, or Tait," remarks Faber, "was well known to the ancient Irish," (whose priests we have observed were probably of the Gallic tribe of Druids.) "By this word they designated the first day of the month August, that being the month of harvest, and Tait being the god who presided over agriculture. The month which among the Egyptians corresponded with August was called by the name of the god Thoth 3."

This remark of Faber brings to mind the singular connexion of the sacred serpent with agriculture, in the mythology of the Greeks. There we have Ceres, the goddess of corn, sitting in a chariot drawn by serpents. Triptolemus, the founder of the Eleusinian mysteries, was no sooner instructed by Ceres in the arts of agriculture, than he was presented with the dracontic chariot to carry him through the world, to dispense the same blessings among mankind which he had bestowed upon his own countrymen. And both in the Pythian temple of Epirus, and at Lanuvium in Italy were sacred serpents to whom the farmers of the vicinity resorted for an omen of a good or bad harvest.

When we consider that Thoth was the great promoter of Ophiolatreia in Phœnicia and Egypt, the coincidence will be remarkable, as obliquely bearing upon the great question in hand--the derivation of all mythology relating to the serpent, from the events in Paradise.

For, independently of the connexion of the serpent-tempter with the tree and its fruit, the memory of which has been wonderfully preserved throughout the world, one of the immediate consequences of the serpent's success in seducing our first parents, was a general deterioration of the properties of the earth 1. Hence, in the confusion of truth and error, of which heathen mythology is almost entirely composed, would naturally arise the opinion that the serpent was in some mysterious manner influential upon agriculture: and the genius of superstition would very readily invest the reptile with the attribute of a god oracular to husbandmen.

To Teutates, or Mercury, the Druids of Gaul were accustomed to immolate human victims. There is nothing peculiar in this sacrificial observance, except its connexion with a singular opinion which borders so closely upon the doctrine of THE ATONEMENT, that I cannot pass it by. It is thus expressed by Cæsar 1:--"PRO VITA HOMINIS NISI VITA HOMINIS REDDATUR, NON POSSE ALTIER DEORUM IMMORTALIUM NUMEN PLACARI, ARBITRANTUR." The sacrifice of human victims was at one time universal, but in no religion has been preserved so clear a conception of the truth. The people who entertained it must have separated very early from the rest of the heathen, and retained their primeval errors almost unbroken.

In the Druids, then, we behold some of the first deviators from the faith of Noah; and the purer the druidism, the nearer the truth.

The other leading doctrines of the Druids correspond in simplicity with this remarkable opinion: the unity of the Godhead, and the immortality of the soul, being the foundation of their creed, before it was corrupted by the polytheism of Egypt transmitted through Phœnicia. It was in this corrupted state that the Romans found it.

THE SOLAR-SERPENT-WORSHIP of the Persians seems to have penetrated into Gaul; for "there is a mixed symbolic image at Arles, the principal part of which is that of a human person clothed with a veil, on which are wrought in relievo, the figures of the zodiac. Round this person THE DRAGON SERPENT winds his flexile course 1." . . . . . . .

But the most curious relic of the religion of the Gauls has been preserved in a piece of sculpture on the front of a temple at Montmorillon in Poitou, of which Montfaucon has given us an engraving 2. It is thus described by this ingenious antiquary--"Over the gate of the temple are eight human figures of rude workmanship, which are probably deities. Of these eight there are six images of men placed in two
groups, three and three together . . . . . . . the figures terminating the sides are women. One of them has long hair hanging down before her, and is dressed very like the women now-a-days. She holds her hands on her sides, and wears gloves like those now used. That on the other end is naked, and has TWO SERPENTS twisting round her legs, &c. Now these figures being all clothed, except the last mentioned, in garments apparently of a sacerdotal character, were probably intended to represent the habits of the priests and priestesses of the eight principal gods of the Gauls. For we have other images of the Gallic gods very differently habited from these. We may infer, therefore, that the naked female, with the two serpents, was the priestess of the deity to whom the serpent was more particularly sacred. A conclusion which is rendered reasonable by the fact, that the Ophite deity of the Egyptians was known to the Druids of Britain, and consequently must have been known to those of Gaul. Our inference, thus corroborated, is still farther illustrated by the customs prevalent at the Pythian temples of Epirus and Lanuvium, in which the god was a serpent, and the officiating priestess naked.

It is difficult to ascertain the connecting link between the several chains of Ophiolatreia through the world; but it is probable that some intercourse, unremembered in history, existed between the Grecian and Gallic states at a very early period; by means of which the religions of Egypt and Greece may have been partially transmitted to Gaul. To strengthen such a conjecture, Cæsar informs us, that the Druids of Gaul were acquainted with the Greek language, or at least the Greek alphabet: publicis privatisque rationibus GRÆCIS LITERIS utuntur 1."

The chief seat of the Druidical religion, however, was Britain, as the same writer assures us; to which country the young Druids of Gaul were sent for their education 2.

---

Britany

4. BRITANY. Connected with Gaul, if not itself a part of Gaul, is the interesting country of Britany; a country in which the ancient religion of the Celts found refuge when banished from almost every other by the Roman arms. Many vestiges of Ophiolatreia are still visible among the antiquities and customs of Britany. The dragon and the serpent are favorite ornaments upon the walls of the churches, of which that of Landevan is a curious example; as if they had been carved by the early Christians upon the exterior of their sanctuaries, to invite the hesitating Ophite to enter the portals of a consecrated building; serpents upon the wall being the sign of consecration 1.

But whether this was really the case or not, it is certain that the first inhabitants of Britany were worshippers of the god BEL, whose name may be still recognized in that of the Christian priesthood which has succeeded to his holy places. In the Breton language the word "Priest" is rendered "Belech," which appears to be the same as the Balak of Scripture, who was the priest and king of Moab. It has been already remarked that, in the Ophite religion, it was the general custom to name the priesthood after the god of their adoration. Thus the priestess of OUB was also called Oub; the priestess of PYTHON, Pythia; the high-priest of C’NEPH, Icnuphis, &c. Balak or Belech may similarly indicate a priest of BEL-THE-DRAGON. BEL and the DRAGON are always united, and

[paragraph continues] Balak would bear this signification if, as Stukeley asserts, the ancient name of a serpent in the Celtic language was "Hak." This word is now obsolete; but an ancient casuistical writer of Britany cited by Pelletier in his dictionary of the Breton language, has the following passage:

     Henvell an diaoul hac an aerouant.
i.e. "As the devil Hac the serpent." Pelletier translates hac as if it were only the conjunction "and:" but it may be the old word "Hac," a snake, which was known to the ancient Persians, and enters into the name "Takshac," of the serpent-tribes of the mountain Tak.

General de Penhouët, in his memoir on Ophiolatreia, lately read before the Academy of Nantes, mentions a curious custom which prevailed in the bourg of Sérent in the Morbihan, before the French Revolution, which seems to have been the relic of an Ophite ceremony. This was a procession of the villagers, in which they carried a Gwiber or snake, crying as they advanced, "Let him beware who will of the Gwiber Draig 1, peace to Molac!" The tradition of the
neighbourhood stated that in former times, a monster lived in the woods adjoining, who devoured infants. He was slain by a gentleman of the place, and hence the cry, "Peace (or silence) to Molac." A Breton family still bears the name of Molac with the motto "Gric à Molac en bon espoir." M. de Penhouët thinks that the word MolacMoloc; and alludes to the heathen deity of that name to whom the idolatrous Ammonites offered their children. But he adds, that in the immediate vicinity of Sérent, where the procession was held, is a commune called Molac. I will not pretend to determine whether or not Moloch, the god of the Ammonites, ever had an altar in Britany; but it is certainly remarkable, that many Breton customs, and not a few of the idols found in the district, have a strong resemblance to those of Oriental countries. Thus a rock in the Morbihan is carved into a form exactly pourtraying the head of the Egyptian Anubis. A statue of the Syrian goddess Lilith, whose head-dress resembles that of Isis, is still standing, almost in its primitive perfection, at the chateau of Quinipili in the parish of Baud, and for many ages has furnished the pattern for the caps of
the female peasantry of the commune: while the male portion of the villagers, throughout lower Britany, wear round their loins a chequered linen sash, which they call a "turban," inducing the conjecture that they were of oriental descent, and upon adopting the customs of Europe, removed their turbans from the head to the waist, without laying aside their forms or names. Other indications of an eastern origin are strongly marked among the peasantry of Lower Britany 1. It is therefore not improbable that the Moloch of the Ammonites might also have had an altar at Sérent.

But the most indisputable memorial of the dragon," is to be found in those eternal columns which have stamped his image upon the plains of Erdeven and Carnac, and display to the eyes of admiring ages the remains of a dracontium which must once have covered a territory at least eight miles in length. The description of this temple, which was certainly one of the most stupendous in the world, I reserve for the chapter especially dedicated to the subject of DRACONTIA. Other indications of Ophiolatreia claim our attention which are better suited to
this part of our inquiry. Among these we may consider the oracle of BEL, which has left a sufficient record of its existence in the name of the parish in which it is situated, which is still called Belz or Bels, being evidently a contraction of the Roman word Belus. This spot I visited in August and September 1831, in company with General de Penhouët, a gentleman of Rennes, well known for his antiquarian knowledge and ingenious writings on the antiquities of Armorica. Among other interesting places, he directed me to the island of St. Cado, to THE ORACLE OF BEL. This is a small rectangular inclosure, about three feet in length and two in height, contained by four slabs of stone. Over it is built a chapel dedicated to St. Cado, who is said to have landed upon this spot when he came to evangelize this part of Britany. The chapel and oracle stand upon a small island in the river Estel, which is joined to the main land by a causeway. The architect of this causeway, tradition states, was no less a personage than Satan himself, who undertook to build it at the request of St. Cado, on condition that the should have the first living thing that passed over it--hoping, as the saint was the only human
being on the island, he might himself be the unlucky passenger. By the assistance of his wife, who carried many of the materials in her apron, the Devil accomplished his task in a single night: and for his reward received the next morning a cat, which the cunning saint sent over before himself. To the chapel of St. Cado, many of the devout peasants of the Morbihan resort in the faithful expectation of being miraculously cured of deafness by thrusting their heads into the consecrated hole above mentioned. The guide who conducted us was an implicit believer in the miraculous powers of the holy corner, and declared, upon putting in his head, that he distinctly heard a sound! This was mere imagination--but it is probable that the purpose to which the place was formerly devoted, namely, the oracular responses of the priestess of Bel, may have left this superstition as a feeble record of the once famous Oracle.

It is remarkable that St. Cado is said to have been the Christian missionary, who, landing upon this spot, expelled from it a colony of serpents! by which tradition I understand the conversion to Christianity, of the serpent worshippers of Belz.
Similar stories are told of other Breton saints. St. Maudet established himself in an island near Treguier which bears his name, and cleared it in like manner of serpents. A St. Paul likewise settled in the Ile de Bas, which at that time was infested by an enormous dragon. Being solicited by the people to deliver them from this monster, "he passed his stole under his neck, and plunged him into the sea;" and the place of this achievement is still pointed out as "the dragon's leap." "How are we to understand these things," ingeniously demands M. de Penhouët, "if we do not look upon them as a transparent veil through which we perceive the efficacy of baptism administered to the followers of serpent-worship, who upon their conversion were plunged into the water 1?"

It is extremely probable that these and all similar traditions relate solely to the success of the first Christian missionaries over the votaries of the serpent. But the means by which they effected this desirable change in the religion of the idolaters were perhaps more politic than scriptural; more like the founders of a temporal than a spiritual kingdom. Finding the difficulty of a complete conversion, they were contented with a partial, and rather than not gain any converts, they sacrificed the consistency and simplicity of the Christian religion. They permitted the Ophites to retain many of their idolatrous opinions and practices even after baptism, considering, perhaps, that half a Christian was better than an entire Pagan, and hoping that though the father might be only an accommodating, the son would, in time, become a sincere believer in the Gospel. Hence we see the serpent, the emblem of consecration, carved upon the exterior of churches; such as Landevan, Dinan, and others. Hence, also, the introduction of the SUN and the SERPENT into ecclesiastical processions. But while they thus blended the old religion with the new, they endeavoured to remove scandal from the Christian congregation, by prominently exhibiting in a well-understood allegory, the triumph of Christianity over Ophiolatreia. Thus the church of Landevan, near Belz, which might have invited the Ophite to enter its gates by the serpent carved upon its exterior wall, showed the Christian, at its altar, a statue of St. Michael trampling under foot "the apostate dragon." And thus, also, theSolar Mount of Carnac, beneath which the dragon-temple winds his course, bears on its summit a chapel of the Archangel, the destroyer of that dragon's spiritual prototype. There was, therefore, much of the serpent's subtilty in the method which undermined the serpent's kingdom.

Du Fresne, in his glossary upon the word "Draco," explains the part which was borne by the dragon in the ecclesiastical processions of the Church of Rome. "An effigy of a dragon is wont to be carried, by which is designated the devil himself, or heresy, over both of which the Church triumphs." Again, in speaking of the customs of a particular monastery, he says, "On Palm Sunday there are two processions, in which the standard and the dragon precede. Holy water and a censer without fire; a cross and dragon on a pole are borne in procession. One of the boys, however, carries a lighted candle in a lantern, that fire may be at hand in case the light which is in the dragon's mouth should be extinguished."

In these customs there are strong traces of Ophiolatreia as connected with the worship of the sun. "The fire in the dragon's mouth,"
which they were so careful to keep alive, reminds us of the holy fire so reverently cherished by the children of the sun; and "the dragon upon the pole" recalls the standard of the Ophites in every country where they reigned: while the whole ceremony may be considered as a lively representation of an Ophite procession as it advanced through the sinuous parallelitha of Carnac.

CARNAC, however, is not the only dracontium of Britany. The whole of the department of the Morbihan may be considered as the terra sancta of BEL. Fragments of serpent temples may be seen in many communes, surrounding the great dracontium of Carnac, like village churches about the cathedral of their diocese. Even the islands upon the coasts not unfrequently present some striking memorial of the same prevailing worship. An island in the Morbihan which contains the relics of a dracontium, still commemorates, by its name, its ancient dedication. It is called "the Island of the Monks," probably from having been colonized in remote ages by the Druids who officiated in the dracontium: for I believe there are no remains of any Christian monastery from which it may have derived the appellation. At the western extremity of the dracontium is a long barrow, one end of which being broken, disclosed a very beautiful kistvaën. This spot is singularly called Penab: i.e. "the head of AB:" and as there is no vestige of a house upon the site so designated, the name of Penab must have belonged to the temple, and indicated that part of it which, like the "Hakpen" of Abury, was the "serpent's head."

A more minute examination of the antiquities of Britany, assisted by a knowledge of the Breton language, would throw much light upon the ancient religion of that interesting country, which I cannot but think, was, at the least, a modification of that Ophiolatreia which, in almost every region of the world, had its altars, its dragon temples, and its human victims 1.

A longer stay in Britany might have enabled me to bring forward many more proofs of its aboriginal worship of the serpent: but the temple of Carnac, which I shall describe in a subsequent chapter, will abundantly establish the argument
which I have undertaken. This temple I have minutely and thoroughly investigated; and the plan published, both in the Archæologia, and in this volume (in which a restoration has been attempted,) will convince any but those against whose previously expressed theories it may militate, that it was truly a DRACONTIUM--a temple of the SOLAR SERPENT.
http://books.google.com/books?id=46Hfa0Ss-kIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

---

Ref.

http://books.google.com/books?id=46Hfa0Ss-kIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

---

Minoans

The Minoans worshiped goddesses. Although there is some evidence of male gods, depictions of Minoan goddesses vastly outnumber depictions of anything that could be considered a Minoan god. While some of these depictions of women are speculated to be images of worshipers and priestesses officiating at religious ceremonies, as opposed to the deity herself, there still seem to be several goddesses including a Mother Goddess of fertility, a Mistress of the Animals, a protectress of cities, the household, the harvest, and the underworld, and more. Some have argued that these are all aspects of a single Great Goddess. They are often represented by #serpents, (The serpent is a powerful symbol of life conquering death, because as comparitive mythology expert Joseph Campbell noted “ the shedding of the snake’s skin is life emerging from death”. The holiness of the snake is also seen in Hinduism as the Nagarajah, or serpent king) birds, poppies, and a somewhat vague shape of an animal upon the head.

Some suggest the goddess was linked to the "Earthshaker", a male represented by the bull and the sun, who would die each autumn and be reborn each spring. (compare to the myths of Attis of Phrygia or Adonis of west semetic origin, both of which finding their way into Greek culture by adoption. Both were agricultural culture based, with handsome young men symbolic of the agricultural cycle of birth-death-rebirth. Though the notorious bull-headed Minotaur is a purely Greek depiction, seals and seal-impressions reveal bird-headed or masked deities.

---

(above: the ubiquitous snake goddess and a Labyrys double sided axe, no doubt a symbolic representation of the moon)

A major festive celebration was exemplified in the famous athletic Minoan bull dance, represented at large in the frescoes of Knossos and inscribed in miniature seals. In this feat that appears extremely dangerous, both male and female dancers would confront the bull and, grasping it by its sacred horns, permit themselves to be tossed, somersaulting over its back to alight behind it. Each of these sequential movements appears in Minoan representations, but the actual significance of the bull dance in Minoan cult and cultural life is lost beyond retrieval. What is clear, however, is that there is no inkling of an antagonistic confrontation and triumph of the human through the ritual death of the bull, which is the essence of the surviving bullfight of Hispanic culture; rather, there is a sense of harmonious cooperation.
Interpretation of Minoan icons can easily range too far: Walter Burkert warns:
"To what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is a question which has not yet found a conclusive answer"
and suggests that useful parallels will be found in the relations between Etruscan and Archaic Greek culture and religion, or between Roman and Hellenistic culture. Minoan religion has not been transmitted in its own language, and the uses literate Greeks later made of surviving Cretan mythemes, after centuries of purely oral transmission, have transformed the meager sources: consider the Athenian point-of-view of the Theseus legend. A few Cretan names are preserved in Greek mythology, but there is no way to connect a name with an existing Minoan icon, such as the familiar "serpent”-goddess. Retrieval of metal and clay votive figures— double axes, (labyrs) miniature vessels, models of artifacts, animals, human figures—has identified sites of cult: here were numerous small shrines in Minoan Crete, and mountain peaks and very numerous sacred caves—over 300 have been explored—were the centers for some cult, but temples as the Greeks developed them were unknown. Within the palace complex, no central rooms devoted to cult have been recognized, other than the center court where youths of both sexes would practice the bull-leaping ritual. It is notable that there are no Minoan frescoes that depict any deities. Minoan sacred symbols include the bull and its horns of consecration, the labrys (double-headed axe), the pillar, the serpent, the sun-disk, and the tree(The bull is a very old idol seen among many ancient cultures, both agricultural and nomadic pastoral/herding. When Moses came down from mount Sinai he found his Hebrew peoples worshipping idols of calves much as their ancestors had done for centuries. The semetic cattle gods, Moloch notable among them, were significant among people with lunar based calendars as the horns of the bull were symbolic of the crescent moon, and as the ancient Hebrews were a shepherd people their livelihoods often depended on their livestocks).

-Possibility of human sacrifice?

Evidence that suggest the Minoans may have performed human sacrifice has been found at three sites: (1) Anemospilia, in a MMII building near Mt. Juktas, interpreted as a temple, (2) an EMII sanctuary complex at Fournou Korifi in south central Crete, and (3) Knossos, in an LMIB building known as the "North House." (explanation of abbreviations)
The temple at Anemospilia was destroyed by earthquake in the MMII period. The building seems to be a tripartite shrine, and terracotta feet and some carbonized wood were interpreted by the excavators as the remains of a cult statue. Four human skeletons were found in its ruins; one, belonging to a young man, was found in an unusually contracted position on a raised platform, suggesting that he had been trussed up for sacrifice, much like the bull in the sacrifice scene on the Mycenaean-era Agia Triadha sarcophagus. A bronze dagger was among his bones, and the discoloration of the bones on one side of his body suggests he died of blood loss. The bronze blade was fifteen inches long and had images of a boar on each side. The bones were on a raised platform at the center of the middle room, next to a pillar with a trough at its base.

The positions of the other three skeletons suggest that an earthquake caught them by surprise—the skeleton of a twenty-eight year old woman was spread-eagled on the ground in the same room as the sacrificed male. Next to the sacrificial platform was the skeleton of a man in his late thirties, with broken legs. His arms were raised, as if to protect himself from falling debris, which suggests that his legs were broken by the collapse of the building in the earthquake. In the front hall of the building was the fourth skeleton, too poorly preserved to allow determination of age or gender. Nearby 105 fragments of a clay vase were discovered, scattered in a pattern that suggests it had been dropped by the person in the front hall when he was struck by debris from the collapsing building. The jar appears to have contained bull's blood.

Unfortunately, the excavators of this site have not published an official excavation report; the site is mainly known through a 1981 article in National Geographic (Sakellarakis and Sapouna-Sakellerakis 1981, see also Rutter).
Not all agree that this was human sacrifice. Nanno Marinatos says the man supposedly sacrificed actually died in the earthquake that hit at the time he died. She notes that this earthquake destroyed the building, and also killed the two Minoans who supposedly sacrificed him. She also argues that the building was not a temple and that the evidence for sacrifice "is far from ... conclusive." Dennis Hughes concurs and also argues that the platform where the man lay was not necessarily an altar, and the blade was probably a spearhead that may not have been placed on the young man, but could have fallen during the earthquake from shelves or an upper floor.
At the sanctuary-complex of Fournou Korifi, fragments of a human skull were found in the same room as a small hearth, cooking-hole, and cooking-equipment. This skull has been interpreted as the remains of a sacrificed victim.

In the "North House" at Knossos, the bones of at least four children (who had been in good health) were found which bore signs that "they were butchered in the same way the Minoans slaughtered their sheep and goats, suggesting that they had been sacrificed and eaten. The senior Cretan archaeologist Nicolas Platon was so horrified at this suggestion that he insisted the bones must be those of apes, not humans."
The bones, found by Peter Warren, date to Late Minoan IB (1580-1490), before the Myceneans arrived (in LM IIIA, circa 1320-1200) according to Paul Rehak and John G. Younger. Dennis Hughes and Rodney Castleden argue that these bones were deposited as a 'secondary burial'. Secondary burial is the not-uncommon practice of burying the dead twice: immediately following death, and then again after the flesh is gone from the skeleton. The main weakness of this argument is that it does not explain the type of cuts and knife marks upon the bones.

Like much of the archaeology of the Bronze Age, burial remains constitute a substantial proportion of material and archaeological evidence for the period. By the end of the Second Palace Period Minoan burial practice is dominated by two broad forms: 'Circular Tombs', or Tholoi, (located in South Crete) and 'House Tombs', (located in the north and the east). Of course, there are many trends and patterns within Minoan mortuary practice that do not conform to this simple breakdown. Throughout this period there is a trend towards individual burials, with some distinguished exceptions. These include the much-debated Chrysolakkos complex, Mallia, consisting of a number of buildings forming a complex. This is located in the centre of Mallia's burial area and may have been the focus for burial rituals, or the 'crypt' for a notable family.

These tombs often evidence group burial, where more than one body is deposited. These may represent the burial crypts for generations of a kin group, or of a particular settlement where the individuals are not closely related and shared in the construction of the tomb. The 'house tomb' at Gournia is a typical example, where the construction consisted of a clay and reed roof, topping a mud-brick and stone base. At Ayia Photia certain rock-cut chamber tombs may have been used solely for the burial of children, indicating complex burial patterns that differed from region to region. Mortuary furniture and grave goods varied widely, but could include storage jars, bronze articles such as tools and weapons, and beauty articles such as pendants. Little is known about mortuary rituals, or the stages through which the deceased passed before final burial, but it has been indicated that 'toasting rituals' may have formed a part of this, suggested by the prevalence of drinking vessels found at some tombs.

In later periods (EM III) a trend towards singular burials, usually in clay Pithoi (large storage vessels), is observed throughout Crete, replacing the practice of built tombs. Equally, the introduction of Larnake or Larnax burials emerges, where the body was deposited in a clay or wooden sacrophagus. These coffins were often richly decorated with motifs and scenes similar to those of the earlier fresco and vase painting tradition. However, rock-cut tombs and Tholoi remained in use even by the LM III period, including the site of Phylaki.
The distribution of burial sites varies in time and space. Some functional demands may have influenced the decision to locate a cemetery: the Late Minoan rock-cut tombs at Armeni utilise the geography of the area for structural support, where chambers are dug deep into the rock. Generally, cemeteries tend to cluster in regions close to settled areas. The Mochlos cemetery, for example, would have served the inhabitants of that island who settled in the south of the area. The cemetery itself has been interpreted to indicate a visible hierarchy, perhaps indicating social differentiation within the local population; larger, monumental tombs for the 'èlite', and smaller tombs, including some early Pithoi burials, for the larger part of the population.
The German geologist Hans Georg Wunderlich argued that the Palace of Knossos itself was a mortuary temple. This interpretation is strongly rejected by mainstream archaeology


g)Language

Knowledge of the spoken and written language of the Minoans is scant, due to the small number of records found. Sometimes the Minoan language is referred to as Eteocretan, but this presents confusion between the language written in Linear A scripts and the language written in a Euboean- derived alphabet after the Greek Dark Ages. While the Eteocretan language is suspected to be a descendant of Minoan, there is not enough source material in either language to allow conclusions to be made. It also is unknown whether the language written in Cretan hieroglyphs is Minoan. As with Linear A, it is un-deciphered and its phonetic values are unknown.

Approximately 3,000 tablets bearing writing have been discovered so far in Minoan contexts. The overwhelming majority are in the Linear B script, apparently being inventories of goods or resources. Others are inscriptions on religious objects associated with cult worship? Because most of these inscriptions are concise economic records rather than dedicatory inscriptions, the translation of Minoan remains a challenge. The hieroglyphs came into use from MMI and were in parallel use with the emerging Linear A from the eighteenth century BC (MM II) and disappeared at some point during the seventeenth century BC (MM III).

In the Mycenean period, Linear A was replaced by Linear B, recording a very archaic version of the Greek language. Linear B was successfully deciphered by Michael Ventris in 1953, but the earlier scripts remain a mystery. Unless Eteocretan truly is its descendant, it is perhaps during the Greek Dark Ages, a time of economic and socio-political collapse, that the Minoan language became extinct.