The Good and Evil Serpent (13 page)

Eleventh, the snake is socially independent. It is usually seen in groups only at birth or at the culmination of hibernation. It is not gregarious as are dogs, and does not live in groups like lions. It does not hunt in packs, like wolves and hyenas; it hunts alone. There are no reports of seeing examples of cooperative hunting. The snake stays in a place alone. The only social behavior—with the exception of some sea snakes that swim in groups—is the grouping of snakes in a den to hibernate and mate; neither of these activities is what sociologists classify as social behavior. Both are things that have to be done, and there is no dialogue or social interchange involved. Unlike the ant, snakes have no hierarchies, no dominance, and no territoriality. All these seemingly unique features of the snake could represent its elite nature. It can thus easily symbolize mystery and wonder.

Twelfth, the snake is cold blooded and needs to obtain its warmth from its surroundings. That might strengthen its association with the earth. It lives off Mother Earth and from the Sun, also often seen as a god. A golden cobra, especially when aroused, becomes like the sun on earth, blazing forth radiance.
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It is easy to imagine why the ancient Egyptians chose the cobra in making the uraeus and placing it on the crowns or heads of the pharaohs.

Thirteenth, the snake is almost invisible when it is resting because its color is usually similar to its surroundings.
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This attribute of the snake might add to its elusiveness and invisibility. It can signify the being that is there, but cannot be perceived. Thus, the snake may symbolize the mysterious elusiveness of a god.

Fourteenth, the snake can hide in an abundance of places: in trees, caves, under rocks and fallen trees, in the water, in holes, in cactus bunches, in tunnels, and in nests. It can also hide itself in the sand. Thus, the Horn-viper is imperceptible in the beige desert sand.
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This ability would add to its power to symbolize the hidden one: a god or the God.

Fifteenth, the snake does not show fear, as do dogs and even lions. When confronted by danger it does not slink away or lower its neck, in obedience and submission.
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It either relies on passive strategies or rises and faces the danger.
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It seems fearless and strikingly independent. This phenomenon is especially notable in the python, since the Asian Netpython grows to well over 10 meters.
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Such fearlessness would make the snake more admired and revered. The king cobra, lightning fast and deadly, may be revered because it is feared. It can kill an elephant.
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Sixteenth, the snake is amphibious. The ability to move rapidly over land, into the earth, up a tree, or through water would symbolize the ability to go virtually everywhere. It is the creature that can go where it wants. It is no wonder that some ancients added to ophidian symbolism the feathered or winged snake, which was especially strong among the Aztecs, who worshipped the Feathered God, Quetzalcoatl, an incarnation of the “Serpent Sun,” Tonacatocoatl. This feathered serpent symbolized many good things: healing, learning, and the art of poetry. The feathered serpent is the lord of healing and the lord of the Morning Star (the god who brings back the sun to the heavens).
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It now becomes clear what the artists intended in the depictions on Greek vases (especially those in the Hermitage) and on sarcophagi (notably in Basel and Berlin) of chariots drawn by large snakes with wings, especially in the Medea symbolism (see
Chap. 4
).
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The snake can go everywhere: under the earth, over the earth, under and through the water, and even, with wings, into the heavens.

Seventeenth, the snake sheds its skin (called ecdysis), as many as four times a year.
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Ecdysis would symbolize the snake’s ability to rejuvenate itself and to gain a new, better, and larger body and existence. The ancient would assume that old age and death were signaled by wrinkles, which would be lost if we could shed our old skin, like the snake.

It is no wonder so many ancient tales and fables,
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like the story of Gil-gamesh, relate how the snake alone knows (and has) the power of rebirth, rejuvenation, reincarnation, and immortality. It is also no wonder that the Asclepian cult chose the snake as the symbol of medicine and health since the physician gives new life to one who is about to die from some disease. The snake curled around a staff in statues of Asclepius signifies the power to give health and new life. Similarly, the monuments placed above graves, for example, at Rhodes, depict large curled serpents; most likely these denoted the symbol of immortality.
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While many scholars err in presupposing that the snake is to be dreaded and is a symbol of evil, some experts on snake symbolism exaggerate the positive symbolism of a serpent, often concluding that this creature symbolizes only, or primarily, immortality. Note the words of R. Briffault, who points his reader to “an animal which plays a larger part in religious and mythological conceptions than any totem or any of the creatures that have become connected with the gods, namely, the serpent. The serpent is in all primitive thought, as well as in later symbolism, the emblem of immortality.”
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The symbolism is worldwide; for example, the Aztecs considered the rattlesnake the “yellow lord” of all serpents. For them, this serpent symbolized lightning, cycles of rebirth, and renewal. Images, such as a gold double-headed serpent in the triangular form holding in its mouth a frog, are Aztec images. This image dates from 1000 to 1530 and probably antedates 1520. The conquering Spaniards were horrified by live rattlesnakes considered sacred by Aztecs and revered in their temples.
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Often today the serpent appears in unusual places. The image of a serpent drinking from a bowl, a modern depiction inspired by the images of Asclepius or Hygieia, is found on the doors of an institute for the study of ancient Judaism. Why? Is it because of the importance of ophidian symbolism within Judaism? No; the building was formerly a hospital.

Eighteenth, the snake can disappear into the earth. Thus, it is chthonic; that is, it enters into the lower world that is unknown to humans. The snake can also plunge into the sea, in which some ancients thought the gates to the netherworld were placed. It is able to penetrate the source of the life that pours into the grasses, bushes, and trees through their roots. It knows and even enters the underworld. It is also symbolic of the agitation that creates new growth from the earth.

Figure 14
. Close-up of Serpent Drinking. Tübingen; Institutum ludaicum. JHC

Nineteenth, the snake can be astonishingly beautiful. It needs no cosmetics. Nothing in nature can be so bewitchingly lovely as a gigantic cobra raised fully before you with the hood extended and its gold glistening scales blinding one from the sharp rays of the sun. The Green Mamba can also bewitch; if it is large, it can “easily look a human in the face!”
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The beauty may be considered demonically attractive. It should also be astonishingly divine. Such attributes of the snake were reasons the ancient Egyptians chose the snake to symbolize divinity, beauty, wisdom, royalty, and power; all these attributes were symbolized by the uraeus.

Too many interpretations of Genesis 3 assume, without exploring the issue, that the serpent is male. The serpent may have been depicted as innocent and good and perhaps very attractive so that “the woman” would want to converse with it.

Though the noun
nähäs (n
^e
has;
Gen 3:1) in biblical Hebrew is masculine, the gender of a noun does not necessarily indicate the gender of the one being depicted. Thus, one cannot use grammar alone to determine the sex of a creature. Sometimes the “serpent” of Genesis 3 is imagined to be a female. In Muenster, in the Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, is Johann Brabender’s
Sündenfall
. He depicts a serpent curled around the tree of life. The serpent is a she, and has exposed breasts like “the woman.” She is attractive, innocent, even angelic. Likewise, the serpent depicted so attractively in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence is feminine.
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In 1860, the serpent was found so attractive that an elegant set of glasses with a pitcher was made with serpents prominently depicted. Between 1899 and 1908, a blue jeweled cigarette case was crafted; on the cover is a gold serpent with inlaid diamonds. It is 9.4 centimeters in length and stunning. A sun umbrella of 1899 bears a ruby that is held by gold serpents in a spiral form. A jeweled pen with a ruby and diamonds is artistically formed into two serpents.
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This and other serpent-ornamented jewelry belonged to the czars.

Figure 15
. Black African Cobra. Marrakech. JHC

Twentieth, the snake often possesses deadly venom. That makes it the giver of death. The Boomslang can deliver venom that kills an adult human rapidly.
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The power of snakes to administer death rapidly, mysteriously, and unexpectedly would empower the snake as a symbol of death, life, and power. Thus, envenomation could symbolize a god that can bring the end even to those who are mighty, young, and full of health. And such demise appears instantaneously.

The serpent as the one who brings death is well represented in antiquity. For example, almost all in Western society today know about the Trojan War, and if they do not remember the details, many are aware of the fate of Laocoon (G. Laokoon) and his two sons. He was the priest of Poseidon, and he tried to warn the Trojans that the horse left by the Greeks was a danger. Two large serpents ascend from the sea. They strangle his two young sons and then Laocoon. Finally, they slither under the altar of Athena, probably symbolizing that a Greek god had sent them to kill Lao-coon and his sons. A marble aesthetically depicting the two serpents killing Laocoon and his two sons dates from about 150
BCE
and is on public display in the Vatican.
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The episode is immortalized by memorable portrayals of the mythical event. The
Laocoon
created by El Greco is now in the National Gallery in Washington. El Greco depicted one son as already dead. The other futilely holds one serpent at a distance. Laocoon wrestles with a larger serpent that is about to bite him on the right eye.
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The use of the serpent to denote danger is found virtually everywhere. It is well known on flags, especially on the Revolutionary War serpent flag and on an early flag of Texas. Both flags have the motto, “Don’t tread on me.”

Twenty-first, the snake can show no facial emotion. It cannot smile or grimace; it can only open its mouth partly or fully. Any putative smile usually becomes perceived as a grimace. It is a deadly threat or promise, as the horrific fangs become visible.
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The expressionlessness of the snake could symbolize its superiority. It is above emotions. It is from another realm or world. It does not act like earthly creatures. Sometimes, to accentuate a serpent’s benign or even inviting quality, the animal is depicted with a smile, and it looks like a placid duck (see, e.g., the sculpture of Hygieia in the Hermitage).

Twenty-second, the raised snake can resemble an engorged phallus. That could signify its sexual powers. Despite the fact that snakes sometimes copulate only after hibernation, this factor along with its two penises would add to its ability to symbolize the phallus, eroticism, sexuality, and fertility. It is no wonder that the snake is deemed an aphrodisiac in some countries, even today. It is obvious why the Greeks and Romans depicted Priapus as grossly ithyphallic and some deities with a lingam that was a serpent.
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