The Good and Evil Serpent (42 page)

Having recorded the words of Medea, quoted earlier, Ovid clarifies what happened: “There was the chariot, sent down from the sky. When she had mounted therein and stroked the bridled necks of the dragon-serpent team, shaking the light reins with her hands she was whirled aloft. She looked down on Thessalian Tempe lying below, and turned her dragon-serpents towards regions that she knew.”
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Earlier Ovid had described another dragon-serpent-drawn chariot. In this passage, Ceres, the goddess of fertility, yoked “her two serpents to her chariot [
angues curribus
], and soared into the air that is between heaven and earth [
et medium caeli terraeque
].”
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As we have seen from the opening chapters, the serpent represented reincarnation. By shedding its skin, it died to live again in a new and stronger body. The scene of chariots drawn by serpents, therefore, might also denote the journey of the soul to another human body.

A search for meaning in anguine symbolism may be assisted by reflections on the second-century
BCE
funeral stele from Smyrna. Quite unusually, two scenes are depicted. The upper one shows the tearful exit of the departed. The lower scene portrays a woman feeding a serpent from a phial; the serpent is coiled around a tree, which recalls not only the traditions about the Hesperides but also those concerning Genesis 3.
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The lower image suggests the underworld and the chthonic nature of the serpent, since the serpent can burrow down into that region. The context, a funeral stele, indicates that there is some concern, perhaps hope, for some further life after death.

Even more meaning might be represented by the winged serpents pulling a chariot. It suffices for our present purposes to once again stress that the serpent had a positive meaning in the ancient world. It was clearly a polyvalent symbol.

Were Serpents the Quintessential Guardians?

Having discussed the Gorgons and Ladon and perceived how the guardians in Greco-Roman antiquity are almost always serpents, as is clear also in the
Hymn of the Pearl
, we come now to a famous passage in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses.
According to the account, Cadmus sends his attendants out to seek a spring of fresh-running water
(vivis libandas fontibus undas)
for libation to Jove. They enter a primeval forest and a cave in which dwells a monstrous serpent sacred to Mars. When the “wayfarers of the Tyrian race” let down their vessels to obtain “fresh-running water,” breaking the place’s silence, the serpent springs forth. Thus, the “serpent [
serpens
] twines his scaly coils in rolling knots and with a spring curves himself into a huge bow.” This account reminds us of Ouroboros, the serpent.

The attendants are all destroyed. The massive serpent, then, “lifted high by more than half his length into the unsubstantial air … looks down upon the whole world, as huge, could you see him all, as is that serpent in the sky that lies outstretched between twin bears [
geminas qui separat arctos
].”
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Meanwhile, Cadmus, “wondering what had delayed his companions,” seeks them out and finds them all killed by the serpent. A ferocious battle ensues. Wounded by Cadmus’ javelin, the serpent, coiled in huge spiral folds, “shoots up, straight and tall as a tree; now he moves on with huge rush, like a stream in flood, sweeping down with his breast the trees in his path.” The serpent is eventually killed by Cadmus.
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The close relation between humans and animals is indicated by the metamorphoses of Cadmus. Later, overcome with age and despondency, he wonders if the serpent he had slain was a sacred serpent (
vipereos;
cf.
Metam.
4.543). He then asks that if he had been a sacred serpent, the gods turn him into a serpent
(et ut serpens in longam).
He is then turned into a serpent with scales. Note the description: “He fell prone upon his belly, and his legs were gradually folded together into one and drawn out into a slender, pointed tail. His arms yet remained.” He calls out in horror to his wife: “Touch me, take my hand, while I have a hand, while still the serpent [
anguis
] does not usurp me quite.” His wife bewails: “Where are your feet?” Then, Cadmus, now a snake, curls up into his wife’s naked breasts.
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There is some sexual innuendo here.

Another account, again preserved by Ovid, presents us with an additional example of the motif and symbolism of the guarding serpent. In preparing a feast for Jupiter, Phoebus instructed a raven “to bring a little water from running springs” (
tenuem vivis fontibus adfer aquam
[
Fasti
2.250]). On this journey, the raven sees a fig tree filled with fruit, but all of it was green. He waits until the fruit ripens and eats his fill. To cover his disobedience, the raven brings a long water snake
(longum … hydrum)
in his talons and tells Phoebus, “This snake caused my delay. He blocked the fresh-flowing water
(vivarum obsessor aquarum)
, and kept the spring from flowing and me from doing my duty” (
Fasti
2.258#x2013;60).
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It is apparent that the guardian serpents should not be categorized as negative symbols. They provide protection. In his
Theogony
, Hesiod refers to a serpent that guards treasure (line 334:
). In the
Hymn of the Pearl
, it is a serpent that guards the precious pearl. From Sparta comes a relief showing two women sitting in an elegant chair; behind them looms a large serpent with a goatee. The serpent seems to be guarding them.
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I would agree with M. L. West’s conclusion that in antiquity it is almost always a serpent that guards treasure, especially in mythology.
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What then is the symbolic meaning of the guardian serpent? Far too often it is taken as a negative symbol. The judgment lies in the eyes of the one looking at the serpent. If you are seeking water or some other thing guarded by a serpent, then the serpent would be an impediment and perhaps evil in your eyes. But, if you wanted something guarded, then the serpent is your best option. Note that, in particular, the serpent that Cadmus and his attendants met was sacred to Mars. Later, even Cadmus perceives, unfortunately too late for his fate, that the serpent was “sacred.” The serpent that guards the treasure may be sacred and a symbol of what is good and sacred in the cosmos.

Cities did have serpent guardians. Guarding the city from plagues or enemies is one of the functions of the serpent on the Tiber island (Asclepius) and the serpent in Alexandria. Lanuvium, a city near Rome, was imagined to be protected by a serpent. Finally, serpents are depicted in murals at Pompeii as the protectors of the city.
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To What Extent Did Serpents Symbolize the Erotic?

The serpent is often employed to indicate or stress eroticism. The depictions of Leda with the swan have already been mentioned. I expected to find Satyrs with a phallus like a serpent. I did not. I did find Priapus de picted with a serpent for a lingam, with two serpents below him swaying to his music.
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The Silenoi are shown with erect phalluses and kneeling by a tree. Two upraised serpents are portrayed behind them.
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It is obvious why too many specialists assume the serpent in antiquity denoted only, or primarily, the phallus and eroticism. They are too uncritically influenced by the psychoanalysts Freud and Jung. While these two geniuses made undeniably perspicacious insights into human psychology and behavior, they did not discover the universal key for discerning ancient symbols. It is impressive how many sophisticated books have been devoted to Greek symbolism from the vantage point of psychology.
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Attractive women depicted with serpents are understandably symbols of eroticism in our twentieth-century culture, but they may have had other meanings originally. Clearly, as we have seen, the bare-breasted serpent goddesses, or priestesses, in Minoan culture were not intended primarily to denote the erotic. Most interesting, along these lines of reflection, is the necklace on Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo (1462#x2013;1521
CE
). This famous portrait of 1480 contains an idealized image influenced by allegorical details and with a live serpent entwined around a gold necklace.

I am persuaded that Western culture seems in the post-Enlightenment Era to be especially interested in the serpent as a phallic symbol. For example, the erotic serpent is depicted in fantastic fashion by Franz von Stuck (1863#x2013;1928) in his
Die Sünde, um 1912
that is on display in Munich (StuckJugendstil-Verein). It portrays a vamp, partly nude, with a beastly serpent curling around her right shoulder and above her right breast. Equally erotic is Gustav Klimt’s (1862#x2013;1918) painting titled
Wasserschlangen II.
This picture about “water-serpents” depicts the figures of nude women flowing into serpentine shapes.

One point is necessary to emphasize. Too many specialists who have studied the symbol of the serpent in antiquity begin with the assumption that it is a phallic symbol. This is scarcely an adequate description of the vast amount of data assembled here and extant from antiquity. For example, Hygieia is depicted with Eros-Hypnos in iconography dating from the second century
CE
, and she has a serpent in her hand.
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But Hygieia is not a symbol of ancient eroticism. She symbolized healing and health, and she appears in poses that are pensive and reflective, but by no means erotic.

Were the Etruscans Enamored of Serpent Symbolism?

Before leaving an analysis of Greek and Roman serpent iconography, it is imperative to scan the Etruscan evidence for the symbol of the serpent.

The most important examples of Etruscan serpent iconography are the following: a deity or demon, perhaps Gorgo, with anguine feet, is preserved on a Greek bronze krater from the sixth century
BCE
.
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Also, protruding from under each arm is a serpent that is upraised and looking ahead. The krater was found in a grave in Vix in Châtillon-sur-Seine.
³⁸¹
Part of a chariot trapping has been recovered from Castel San Mariano. It seems similar to the fourth-century Scythian gold image of a serpent goddess that was designed for a horse’s brow shown earlier; this one appears to depict a large serpent over a woman between two lions that she holds by the throat.
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The woman is probably Gorgo, the goddess of animals.
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Quite interesting is the depiction of a sea demon with feet and legs in the form of serpents and with upraised heads with goatees. It was found in Conca (Satricum), near Rome. It dates from the fifth century
BCE
.
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How Did the Celts Employ Serpent Symbolism?

Similarly, the Celtic myths employed the imagery of the serpent to portray danger. Note the following lament by the famous bard Talyessin (Taliesin) who fears the invasion of Britain by the Anglo Saxons (my translation):
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    The Celts took from Roman iconography the figure of Mercury. Several examples of Celtic images of Mercury with the caduceus are seen throughout the world,
³⁸⁶
especially in the Musée Archéologique in Strasbourg. They date from the second century
BCE
until the second century
CE
. In the example from the second century
BCE
, the two serpents are clearly etched with eyes; on the statue are the words: [
M
]
ERCVR
[
US
].
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A bronze Celtic Mercury was found in a cemetery at Tongeren in Belgium; the statuette has three phalli, one in the usual place, a second on the head, and one for the nose. These images stress “potent fertility and good-luck.”
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Such meanings would apply also when one saw Mercury with anguine iconography. In her
Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend
, Miranda Green rightly points out that the Celts endowed the serpent “with multifarious symbolism,” notably, the underworld, water, regeneration, fertility, awe, and fear.
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