The Good and Evil Serpent (148 page)

252
. Pliny the Younger, to Tacitus; Book 6.20. An authoritative and popular work on Pompeii is the following: R. Brilliant,
Pompeii—AD 79: The Treasure of Rediscovery
(New York, 1979). The work is an official publication of the American Museum of Natural History. For a gold anguine armband, see p. 72. I have quoted Pliny from this book; see p. 22.

253
. Published by permission of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli and with the assistance of Dr. Marcello Del Verme. See L. Breglia,
Catalogo delle oreficerie del Museo Nazionale di Napoli
(Rome, 1941) and R. Siviero,
Gli ori e le ambre del Museo Nazionale di Napoli
(Florence, 1954).

254
. See J. J. Deiss,
Herculaneum: Italy’s Buried Treasure
(Malibu, 1989 [rev. ed.]) p. 153.

255
. A. S. Walker,
Animals in Ancient Art: From the Leo Mildenberg Collection:
Part 2 (Mainz, 1996) pp. 18–19.

256
. Also see G. Zahlhaas,
Aus Noahs Arche: Tierbilder des Sammlung Mildenberg aus fünf Jahrtausenden
(Mainz, 1996); see esp. pp. 33–35, “Die Schlange.”

257
. See the earlier discussion of the gold bracelets preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

258
. Charlesworth purchased them from antiquities dealers in the Old City of Jerusalem.

259
. See the photograph in Deiss,
Herculaneum
, p. 89.

260
. This object also belongs to the Charlesworth collection.

261
. While not dating from 100 BCE to 100 CE, the Collection Stathatos in the Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some very attractive gold serpent jewelry. Of note are the following: two gold snake bracelets from the third cent. BCE or early second cent. BCE [they boast red semiprecious stones]; seven gold snake armbands of the same period; a gold serpent ring from the fourth cent BCE with two red semiprecious gems near the first curve and one near the tail. Stathatos was a private collector who gave her collection to the Athens museum.

262
. The Hermitage and the BM, as well as other museums, feature earlier examples of ornate very advanced and expensive gold serpent jewelry; see
Greek Gold
, pp. 114, 210 (in Russian).

263
. See the picture in the present book.

264
. See the color photograph in A. M. Liberati and F. Bourbon,
Rom: Weltreich der Antike
(Erlangen, 1997) p. 91 (right).

265
. Published and discussed earlier in this book.

266
. See the color photograph in Liberati and Bourbon,
Rom: Weltreich der Antike
, p. 91 (left).

267
. I know only about the photograph in A. Böhme-Schönberger,
Kleidung und Schmuch in Rom und den Provinzen
(Stuttgart, 1997) p. 58 (Abb. 46).

268
. A gold piece of jewelry from an unknown site from the fifth or fourth cent. BCE depicts a wolf struggling with a large snake. See Busch,
Gold der Skythen
, p. 88.

269
. See the discussion and photograph of a third-century CE example in
Highlights of Archaeology: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
, pp. 116–17.

270
. See the examples of “snake thread vessels” in Y. Israeli,
The Wonders of Ancient Glass at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
(Jerusalem, 1998) p. 41.

271
. The technique of decorating glass with snake-thread designs reached its apogee of sophistication at Cologne by the end of the second century CE; we know that glassmakers migrated from the eastern Mediterranean to Cologne in the second century CE. See C. W. Clairmont, “Snake-Thread,”
The Glass Vessels
(The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report, Part 5; New Haven, 1963) pp. 42–46; D. B. Harden, “Snake-thread Glasses Found in the East,”
JRS
24 (1934) 50–55; F. Fremersdorf, “Die Henkelkanne von Cortil-Noirmont im Brusseler Museum, eine Kolnische Arbeit,”
LAntiquité Classique
7 (1938) 201–14. Also, see the publication cited by Clairmont, esp. on pp. xix-xx. For photographs of snake-thread glassware, see Clairmont, Plates 22:162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177.

272
. See Clairmont,
The Glass Vessels
, pp. 44–46 (discussions) and Plates 22 and 23.

273
. See the photography in
Highlights of Archaeology: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
, p. 117.

274
. The presentation by Clairmont needs to be updated and corrected.

275
. This is a very old symbol that considerably antedates its use by the Greeks for Hermes and the Romans for Mercury; for example, see the two serpents facing each other and standing on the Gudea vase that dates from about 2100 BCE, in Pritchard
ANEP
511. The caduceus in the eleventh-century BCE limestone Neo-Punic votive stele shows the serpents facing in opposite directions; see the photograph in
Encyclopédie Photographique de l’Art
, vol. 2, p. 134.

276
. Jalame is also called Jalamet el-Asafna and Khirbet el Asafnh.

277
. See G. D. Weinberg,
Excavations at Jalame: Site of a Glass Factory in Late Roman Palestine
(Columbia, 1988) pp. 81 (descriptions of 351 and 352), 330 (photographs of 351 and 352).

278
. See Clairmont, “Pinched,”
The Glass Vessels
, pp. 46–54; see Plates 5:180, 181, 185, 193, 194; 23:179, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 195, 198.

279
. See, e.g., the heroic votive bas-relief found at Piraeus and dating from the third century
BCE
(a serpent is shown below the hero). See M. Rostovtzeff,
The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World
(Oxford, 1941) vol. 1, Plate 21:1. Also, see the serpent bracelet in Plate 45:2.

280
. I am indebted to the excellent reflections presented by P. de Montebello and E. J. Milleker in
The Year One: Art of the Ancient World—East and West
(New York, 2000) see esp. pp. vii, 62–67.

281
. It is found in the Charlesworth collection and was purchased in Jerusalem.

282
. For a convenient glossary and drawings of glass shapes and types, see N. Kunina,
Ancient Glass in the Hermitage Collection
(St. Petersburg, 1997) pp. 341–47.

283
. An example of glass tableware is found in the Israel Museum. See the picture in Y. Israeli,
The Wonders of Ancient Glass at the Israel Museum
, p. 39. The example in the Israel Museum has only a thin snake-thread around the neck.

284
. Note, e.g., how different it is from the examples shown in Kunina,
Ancient Glass
, pp. 221–24.

285
. The example in the Israel Museum has only “trails applied in undulating, snake-like lines that are called ‘snake thread vessels.’ “ No head, eye, or skin is depicted as in our example. See Israeli,
The Wonders of Ancient Glass at the Israel Museum
, p. 40 (discussion) and p. 41 (color photograph).

286
. I am most grateful to Father Hermann Konings, curator of Saint Anne’s Museum in Bethesda (Bethzatha), for allowing me to publish the ophidian objects found at Bethesda, and for discussing with me the evidence of an Asklepieion at Bethesda. We even obtained ladders and workmen to explore a significant cave or cistern in which a magnificent pillar and two arches were erected during the Hasmonean Period.

287
. Since I did not excavate the site and no excavation reports were available to me, the present report is as precise as presently possible. I have profited from conversations with Dr. S. Gibson and Father Konings and am grateful to them for their suggestions and insights. I was able to examine the artifacts in the museum at Saint Anne’s Church.

288
. It seems that the two pools, especially the southern one, were shaped like trap-ezoids.

289
. C. Clermont-Ganneau, “The Jerusalem Researches,”
PEF
(1874) 261–80; see esp. pp. 264–69.

290
. I am grateful to S. Gibson for drawing my attention to this anguine vase.

291
. This was also the judgment of Clermont-Ganneau,
PEF
(1874) 268.

292
. Clermont-Ganneau,
PEF
(1874) 264.

293
. Can we be certain that Hermes and not also Asclepius were intended? Asclepius was sometimes shown holding the pine cone; see Pausanias,
Descriptio Graeciae
2.10.3. The Greek and English are conveniently collected in E. J. Edelstein and L. Edelstein,
Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies
, 2 vols. (Baltimore, 1998) p. 351. Also, see the comments in vol. 2, p. 226.

294
. Clermont-Ganneau,
PEF
(1874) 2 65–66.

295
. Clermont-Ganneau, ibid., p. 266.

296
. Clermont-Ganneau, ibid., p. 267.

297
. Clermont-Ganneau thought the vase was for water (p. 267). This is impossible, but I would think that it was designed for wine that was often mixed with water for drinking.

298
. See the short description and photograph in S. Gibson, “Officers and Gentlemen,”
Eretz
52 (1997) 19–25; see esp. p. 24.

299
. Wine mixed with water was served at banquets by means of an elegant ladle, called a
simpulum
or a
cyathus
.

300
. Clermont-Ganneau,
PEF
(1874) 2 67.

301
. For the Latin text and English translation, see Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, pp. 361–62.

302
. Artemidorus,
Onirocritica
2.13; for the Greek and English, see Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, p. 367.

303
. Festus,
De Verborum Significatu
67 M; for the Latin and English, see Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, p. 366.

304
. Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, p. 229 (I added italics for clarity and emphasis).

305
. Clermont-Ganneau,
PEF
(1874) 264. The photographs of the Bezatha Vase did not appear in this volume nor the next one of the
PEF, Quarterly Statement
. For further reflections by Clermont-Ganneau on ophidian iconography, see his “Les cerfs mangeurs de serpents,”
Recueil d’archéologie orientale
(Paris, 1901) vol. 4, pp. 31922; cf. p. 90.

306
. See esp. Z. Amar, “The Metamorphosis of Holy Sites for Healing Purposes in Jerusalem,”
Judea and Samaria Research Studies: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting 1997
, ed. Y. Eshel (Kedumim-Ariel, 1997) pp. 207–22 (Hebrew).

307
. Asclepius appears with a chiton and wearing shoes, while the gods are depicted nude. See the draped Hygieia, e.g., in
LIMC
, vol. 5.2, pp. 380–95. Also see the discussions and illustrations in the present book, in the chapter on Greek and Latin texts.

308
. See the painting in
LIMC
, vol. V.2, pp. 380, 382:18.

309
. See the coin showing Hygieia in
LIMC
, vol. V.2, p. 382:19.

310
. See the sculpture shown in
LIMC
, vol. V.2, p. 395:3.

311
. See the female figure shown prominently in Gibson,
ErIsr
52 (1997) 24.

312
. Eusebius,
Praeparatio Evangelica
, 3.11.26: “A symbol is Asclepius to whom they attribute a staff, as a sign of support and relief for invalids.” See the Greek text and English translation in Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, p. 369.

313
. See Cornutus,
Theologiae Graecae Compendium, Cp. 33
(“The serpent is a sign of attention … The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing”); see the Greek text and English translation collected by Edelstein and Edelstein in
Asclepius
, p. 368.

314
.
Metam
. 15.654–59
(hunc modo serpentem, baculum qui nexibus ambit, per-spice)
. See the Latin text and English translation excerpted in Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, p. 361.

315
. Edelstein and Edelstein,
Asclepius
, p. 218.

316
. Clermont-Ganneau,
PEF
(1874) 2 6 8–69.

317
. The vase was given the number 11 for 1874. It is merely an insignificant item in a list published by Clermont-Ganneau in his thick
Archaeological Researches in Palestine During the Years 1873–1874
(London, 1896) vol. 2, p. 484. For Clermont-Ganneau’s comments on Bethesda, see
Recueil
(Paris, 1906) vol. 7, pp. 369–70.

318
. I am grateful to Dr. R. Chapman III and Dr. F. Cobbing for helping me examine this unique work. I am also appreciative to trustees of the Palestine Exploration Fund in London for permission to publish this anguine vessel. The object is reproduced by permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

319
. It was purchased by Charlesworth in the early 1990s from an antiquities dealer in the Old City of Jerusalem.

320
. I am grateful to the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum and in particular to Dr. M. Piccirillo for permission to publish their serpent realia. See Charlesworth, “Anguine Iconography in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Museum and Biblical Exegesis,”
Liber Annus
49 (1999) 431–42, Plates 5 and 6.

321
. In D. F. Grose’s
Early Ancient Glass
, all three examples of glass serpents are dated to the first century BCE or first century CE. See Grose,
Early Ancient Glass
(New York, 1989) p. 372, nos. 678, 679, 680.

322
. Joines,
JBL
87 (1968) 246.