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diff --git a/39015.txt b/39015.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddf29c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/39015.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4538 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ophiolatreia, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ophiolatreia + An Account of the Rites and Mysteries Connected with the + Origin, Rise, and Development of Serpent Worship in Various + Parts of the World + +Author: Anonymous + +Release Date: February 29, 2012 [EBook #39015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPHIOLATREIA *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + +OPHIOLATREIA, OR SERPENT WORSHIP. + + + + + OPHIOLATREIA: + + AN ACCOUNT OF + + THE RITES AND MYSTERIES CONNECTED WITH + THE ORIGIN, RISE, AND DEVELOPMENT + + OF + + Serpent Worship + + IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD, + + ENRICHED WITH INTERESTING TRADITIONS, + + AND A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE CELEBRATED + + Serpent Mounds & Temples, + + THE WHOLE FORMING AN EXPOSITION OF ONE + OF THE PHASES OF + + PHALLIC, OR SEX WORSHIP. + + + PRIVATELY PRINTED. + 1889. + + + + +_PREFACE._ + + +_Our words by way of preface and introduction need be but few. The +following volume forms a companion to one already issued bearing the title +"Phallism." That work, though complete in itself, meets in this a further +elucidation of its subject, since, in the opinion of many, Ophiolatreia, +the worship of the Serpent, is of Phallic origin. Such a view, and others +of a contrary nature, have been honestly set forth, and the best and most +trustworthy authorities have been consulted for history, arguments, and +illustrations by which they may be understood. No attempt has been made to +insist upon any one method of interpretation as undoubtedly correct, but +simple facts have been stated, and the reader has been left to form his +own independent judgment._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE. + + CHAPTER I. 1 + + Ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--Of mysterious origin-- + Of universal prevalence--The Serpent, a common symbol in + mythology--Serpent Worship, natural but irrational--Bacchic + orgies--Olympias, mother of Alexander, and the Serpent Emblem-- + Thermuthis, the sacred Serpent--Asps--Saturn and his children-- + Sacrifices at altar of Saturn--Abaddon--Ritual of Zoroaster-- + Vulcan--Theology of Ophion--The Cuthites--The Ophiogeneis--The + Ophionians--Greek Traditions--Cecrops--Various Serpent + worshippers. + + CHAPTER II. 10 + + Supposed Phallic Origin of Serpent Worship--The idea of life-- + Adoration of the principle of generation--The Serpent as a + symbol of the Phallus--Phallic Worship at Benares--The Serpent + and Mahadeo--Festival of the "Nag panchami"--Snakes and Women-- + Traces of Phallic Worship in the Kumaon Rock Markings--The + Northern Bulb-stones--Professor Stephens on the Snake as a + Symbol of the Phallus--The "Dionysiak Myth"--Brown on the + Serpent as a Phallic Emblem--Mythology of the Aryan Nations-- + Sir G. W. Cox and the Phallic theory--Athenian Mythology. + + CHAPTER III. 17 + + Mythology of the Ancients--Characteristics of the Pagan Deities-- + Doctrine of the Reciprocal Principles of Nature--Creation and the + Egg--Creation and the Phallus--The Lotus--Osiris as the active, + dispensing, and originating energy--Hesiod and the generative + powers--Growth of Phallic Worship. + + CHAPTER IV. 21 + + Ancient Monuments of the West--The valley of the Mississippi-- + Numerous earth-works of the Western States--Theories as to the + origin of the mounds--"The Defence" Theory--The Religious + Theory--Earth-work of the "Great Serpent" on Bush Creek--The + "Alligator," Ohio--The "Cross," Pickaway County--Structures of + Wisconsin--Mr. Pigeon's drawings--Significance of earth-mounds-- + The Egg and Man's primitive ideas--The Egg as a symbol--Birth of + Brahma--Aristophanes and his "Comedy of the Birds"--The hymn to + Protogones--The Chinese and Creation--The Mundane or Orphic + Egg--Kneph--Mr. Gliddon's replies to certain inquiries--The + Orphic Theogony and the Egg--The Great Unity. + + CHAPTER V. 38 + + The Sun and Fire as emblems--The Serpent and the Sun--Taut and the + Serpent--Horapollo and the Serpent Symbol--Sanchoniathon and the + Serpent--Ancient Mysteries of Osiris, &c.--Rationale of the + connection of Solar, Phallic, and Serpent Worship--The Aztec + Pantheon--Mexican Gods--The Snake in Mexican Theology--The Great + Father and Mother--Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent--Researches + of Stephens and Catherwood--Discoveries of Mr. Stephens. + + CHAPTER VI. 60 + + Mexican Temple of Montezuma--The Serpent emblem in Mexico--Pyramid + of Cholula--Tradition of the giants of Auahuac--The temple of + Quetzalcoatl--North American Indians and the Rattlesnake--Indian + Tradition of a Great Serpent--Serpents in the Mounds of the West-- + Bigotry and folly of the Spanish Conquerors of the West--Wide + prevalence of Mexican Ophiolatreia. + + CHAPTER VII. 77 + + Egypt as the home of Serpent Worship--Thoth said to be the + founder of Ophiolatreia--Cneph the architect of the universe-- + Mysteries of Isis--The Isiac table--Frequency of the Serpent + symbol--Serapis--In the temples at Luxore, etc.--Discovery at + Malta--The Egyptian Basilisk--Mummies--Bracelets--The Caduceus-- + Temple of Cneph at Elephantina--Thebes--Story of a priest-- + Painting in a tomb at Biban at Malook--Pococke at Raigny. + + CHAPTER VIII. 84 + + Derivation of the name "Europe"--Greece colonized by Ophites-- + Numerous traces of the Serpent in Greece--Worship of Bacchus-- + Story of Ericthonias--Banquet of the Bacchantes--Minerva--Armour + of Agamemnon--Serpents at Epidaurus--Story of the pestilence in + Rome--Delphi--Mahomet at Atmeidan. + + CHAPTER IX. 89 + + Ophiolatreia in Britain--The Druids--Adders--Poem of Taliessin-- + The goddess Ceridwen--A Bardic poem--Snake stones--The anguinum-- + Execution of a Roman Knight--Remains of the serpent temple at + Abury--Serpent vestiges in Ireland of great rarity--St. Patrick. + + CHAPTER X. 94 + + India conspicuous in the history of Serpent Worship--Nagpur-- + Confessions of a snake worshipper--The gardeners of Guzerat-- + Cottages for snakes at Calicut--The Feast of the Serpents--The + deity Hari--Garuda--The snake as an emblem of immortality. + + CHAPTER XI. 99 + + Mr. Bullock's exhibition of objects illustrating Serpent Worship. + + + + +OPHIOLATREIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + _Ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--Of mysterious origin--Of + universal prevalence--The Serpent a common symbol in + mythology--Serpent-worship natural but irrational--Bacchic + orgies--Olympias, mother of Alexander, and the Serpent + emblem--Thermuthis, the Sacred Serpent--Asps--Saturn and his + children--Sacrifices at altar of Saturn--Abaddon--Ritual of + Zoroaster--Theologo of Ophion--The Cuthites--The Ophiogeneis--The + Ophionians--Greek Traditions--Cecrops--Various Serpent worshippers._ + + +Ophiolatreia, the worship of the serpent, next to the adoration of the +phallus, is one of the most remarkable, and, at first sight, unaccountable +forms of religion the world has ever known. Until the true source from +whence it sprang can be reached and understood, its nature will remain as +mysterious as its universality, for what man could see in an object so +repulsive and forbidding in its habits as this reptile, to render worship +to, is one of the most difficult of problems to find a solution to. There +is hardly a country of the ancient world, however, where it cannot be +traced, pervading every known system of mythology, and leaving proofs of +its existence and extent in the shape of monuments, temples, and +earthworks of the most elaborate and curious character. Babylon, Persia, +Hindostan, Ceylon, China, Japan, Burmah, Java, Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor, +Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, Northern and Western Europe, Mexico, Peru, +America--all yield abundant testimony to the same effect, and point to the +common origin of Pagan systems wherever found. Whether the worship was the +result of fear or respect is a question that naturally enough presents +itself, and in seeking to answer it we shall be confronted with the fact +that in some places, as Egypt, the symbol was that of a good demon, while +in India, Scandinavia, and Mexico, it was that of an evil one. It has been +remarked that in the warmer regions of the globe, where this creature is +the most formidable enemy which man can encounter, the serpent should be +considered the mythological attendant of an evil being is not surprising, +but that in the frozen or temperate regions of the earth, where he +dwindles into the insignificance of a reptile without power to create +alarm, he should be regarded in the same appalling character, is a fact +which cannot be accounted for by natural causes. Uniformity of tradition +can alone satisfactorily explain uniformity of superstition, where local +circumstances are so discordant. + +"The serpent is the symbol which most generally enters into the mythology +of the world. It may in different countries admit among its +fellow-satellites of Satan the most venomous or the most terrible of the +animals in each country, but it preserves its own constancy, as the only +invariable object of superstitious terror throughout the habitable world. +'Wherever the Devil reigned,' remarks Stillingfleet, 'the serpent was held +in some peculiar veneration.' The universality of this singular and +irrational, yet natural, superstition it is now proposed to show. +_Irrational_, for there is nothing in common between deity and a reptile, +to suggest the notion of Serpent-worship; and _natural_, because, allowing +the truth of the events in Paradise, every probability is in favour of +such a superstition springing up."[1] + +It may seem extraordinary that the worship of the serpent should ever have +been introduced into the world, and it must appear still more remarkable +that it should almost universally have prevailed. As mankind are said to +have been ruined through the influence of this being, we could little +expect that it would, of all other objects, have been adopted as the most +sacred and salutary symbol, and rendered the chief object of adoration. +Yet so we find it to have been, for in most of the ancient rites there is +some allusion to it. In the orgies of Bacchus, the persons who took part +in the ceremonies used to carry serpents in their hands, and with horrid +screams call upon "Eva, Eva." They were often crowned with serpents while +still making the same frantic exclamation. One part of the mysterious +rites of Jupiter Sabazius was to let a snake slip down the bosom of the +person to be initiated, which was taken out below. These ceremonies, and +this symbolic worship, are said to have begun among the Magi, who were the +sons of Chus, and by them they were propagated in various parts. +Epiphanius thinks that the invocation "Eva, Eva," related to the great +mother of mankind, who was deceived by the serpent, and Clemens of +Alexandria is of the same opinion. Others, however, think that Eva was +the same as Eph, Epha, Opha, which the Greeks rendered Ophis, and by it +denoted a serpent. Clemens acknowledges that the term Eva, properly +aspirated, had such a signification. + +Olympias, the mother of Alexander, was very fond of these orgies, in which +the serpent was introduced. Plutarch mentions that rites of this sort were +practised by the Edonian women near Mount Haemus in Thrace, and carried on +to a degree of madness. Olympias copied them closely in all their frantic +manoeuvres. She used to be followed with many attendants, who had each a +thyrsus with serpents twined round it. They had also snakes in their hair, +and in the chaplets which they wore, so that they made a most fearful +appearance. Their cries also were very shocking, and the whole was +attended with a continual repetition of the words, Evoe, Saboe, Hues +Attes, Attes Hues, which were titles of the god Dionusus. He was +peculiarly named Hues, and his priests were the Hyades and Hyautes. He was +likewise styled Evas. + +In Egypt was a serpent named Thermuthis, which was looked upon as very +sacred; and the natives are said to have made use of it as a royal tiara, +with which they ornamented the statues of Isis. We learn from Diodorus +Siculus that the kings of Egypt wore high bonnets, which terminated in a +round ball, and the whole was surrounded with figures of asps. The +priests, likewise, upon their bonnets had the representation of serpents. +The ancients had a notion that when Saturn devoured his own children, his +wife Ops deceived him by substituting a large stone in lieu of one of his +sons, which stone was called Abadir. But Ops and Opis, represented here as +a feminine, was the serpent deity, and Abadir is the same personage under +a different denomination. Abadir seems to be a variation of Ob-Adur, and +signifies the serpent god Orus. One of these stones, which Saturn was +supposed to have swallowed instead of a child, stood, according to +Pausanias, at Delphi. It was esteemed very sacred, and used to have +libations of wine poured upon it daily; and upon festivals was otherwise +honoured. The purport of the above was probably this: it was for a long +time a custom to offer children at the altar of Saturn; but in process of +time they removed it, and in its room erected a stone pillar, before which +they made their vows, and offered sacrifices of another nature. This stone +which they thus substituted was called Ab-Adar, from the deity represented +by it. The term Ab generally signifies a father, but in this instance it +certainly relates to a serpent, which was indifferently styled Ab, Aub, +and Ob. Some regard Abadon, or, as it is mentioned in the Book of the +Revelation, Abaddon, to have been the name of the same Ophite god, with +whose worship the world had been so long infected. He is termed Abaddon, +the angel of the bottomless pit--the prince of darkness. In another place +he is described as the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and +Satan. Hence the learned Heinsius is supposed to be right in the opinion +which he has given upon this passage, when he makes Abaddon the same as +the serpent Pytho. + +It is said that in the ritual of Zoroaster the great expanse of the +heavens, and even nature itself, was described under the symbol of a +serpent.[2] The like was mentioned in the Octateuch of Ostanes; and +moreover, in Persia and in other parts of the East they erected temples to +the serpent tribe, and held festivals to their honour, esteeming them _the +supreme of all Gods, and the superintendents of the whole world_. The +worship began among the people of Chaldea. They built the city Opis upon +the Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination and to the worship of +the serpent. From Chaldea the worship passed into Egypt, where the serpent +deity was called Canoph, Caneph, and C'neph. It had also the name of Ob, +or Oub, and was the same as the Basilicus, or Royal Serpent; the same also +as the Thermuthis, and in like manner was made use of by way of ornament +to the statues of their Gods. The chief Deity of Egypt is said to have +been Vulcan, who was also styled Opas, as we learn from Cicero. He was the +same as Osiris, the Sun; and hence was often called Ob-El, or Pytho Sol; +and there were pillars sacred to him, with curious hieroglyphical +inscriptions, which had the same name. They were very lofty, and narrow in +comparison of their length; hence among the Greeks, who copied from the +Egyptians, everything gradually tapering to a point was styled Obelos, and +Obeliscus. Ophel (Oph-El) was a name of the same purport, and many sacred +mounds, or Tapha, were thus denominated from the serpent Deity, to whom +they were sacred. + +Sanchoniathon makes mention of a history which he once wrote upon the +worship of the serpent. The title of this work, according to Eusebius, was +Ethothion, or Ethothia. Another treatise upon the same subject was written +by Pherecydes Tyrus, which was probably a copy of the former; for he is +said to have composed it from some previous accounts of the Phoenicians. +The title of his book was the Theology of Ophion, styled Ophioneus, and +his worshippers were called Ophionidae. Thoth and Athoth were certainly +titles of the Deity in the Gentile world; and the book of Sanchoniathon +might very possibly have been from hence named Ethothion, or more truly, +Athothion. But, from the subject upon which it was written, as well as +from the treatise of Pherecydes, we have reason to think that Athothion, +or Ethothion, was a mistake for Ath-Ophion, a title which more immediately +related to that worship of which the writer treated. Ath was a sacred +title, as we have shewn, and we imagine that this dissertation did not +barely relate to the serpentine Deity, but contained accounts of his +votaries, the Ophitae, the principal of which were the sons of Chus. The +worship of the serpent began among them, and they were from thence +denominated Ethiopians, and Aithopians, which the Greeks rendered +Aithiopes. They did not receive this name from their complexion, as has +sometimes been surmised, for the branch of Phut and the Luhim, were +probably of a deeper dye; but they were most likely so called from +Ath-Ope, and Ath-Opis, the God which they worshipped. This may be shewn +from Pliny. He says that the country Ethiopia (and consequently the +people), had the name of AEthiop, from a personage who was a Deity--_ab +AEthiope Vulcani filio_. The AEthiopes brought these rites into Greece, and +called the island where they first established them Ellopia, _Solis +Serpentis insula_. It was the same as Euboea, a name of the like +purport, in which island was a region named Ethiopium. Euboea is +properly Oub-Aia, and signifies, the Serpent Island. The same worship +prevailed among the Hyperboreans, as we may judge from the names of the +sacred women who used to come annually to Delos; they were priestesses of +the Tauric Goddess. Hercules was esteemed the chief God, the same as +Chronus, and was said to have produced the Mundane egg. He was represented +in the Orphic theology under the mixed symbol of a lion and a serpent, and +sometimes of a serpent only. + +The Cuthites, under the title of Heliadae, having settled at Rhodes, as +they were Hivites, or Ophites, the island was in consequence named +Ophiusa. There was likewise a tradition that it had once swarmed with +serpents. (Bochart says the island is said to have been named Rhodus from +_Rhad_, a Syriac word for a serpent.) The like notion prevailed almost in +every place where they settled. They came under the more general titles +of Leleges and Pelasgi; but more particularly of Elopians, Europians, +Oropians, Asopians, Inopians, Ophionians, and AEthiopes, as appears from +the names which they bequeathed; and in most places where they resided +there were handed down traditions which alluded to their original title of +Ophites. In Phrygia, and upon the Hellespont, whither they sent out +colonies very early, was a people styled the Ophiogeneis, or the serpent +breed, who were said to retain an affinity and correspondence with +serpents; and a notion prevailed that some hero, who had conducted them, +was changed from a serpent to a man. In Colchis was a river Ophis, and +there was another of the same name in Arcadia. It was so named from a body +of people who settled upon its banks, and were said to have been conducted +by a serpent. + +It is said these reptiles are seldom found in islands, but that Tenos, one +of the Cyclades, was supposed to have once swarmed with them.[3] + +Thucydides mentions a people of AEtotia, called Ophionians; and the temple +of Apollo at Petara, in Lycia, seems to have had its first institution +from a priestess of the same name. The island of Cyprus was called +Ophiusa, and Ophiodes, from the serpents with which it was supposed to +have abounded. Of what species they were is nowhere mentioned, excepting +only that about Paphos there was said to have been a kind of serpent with +two legs. By this is meant the Ophite race, who came from Egypt, and from +Syria, and got footing in this island. They settled also in Crete, where +they increased greatly in numbers; so that Minos was said by an unseemly +allegory, _opheis ouresai, serpentes, minxisse_. The island Seriphus was +one vast rock, by the Romans called _saxum seriphium_, and made use of as +a large kind of prison for banished persons. It is represented as having +once abounded with serpents, and it is styled by Virgil, _serpentifera_, +as the passage is corrected by Scaliger. + +It is said by the Greeks that Medusa's head was brought by Perseus; by +this is meant the serpent Deity, whose worship was here introduced by +people called Peresians. Medusa's head denoted divine wisdom, and the +island was sacred to the serpent, as is apparent from its name. The +Athenians were esteemed _Serpentiginae_, and they had a tradition that the +chief guardian of their Acropolis was a serpent. + +It is reported of the goddess Ceres that she placed a dragon for a +guardian to her temple at Eleusis, and appointed another to attend upon +Erectheus. AEgeus of Athens, according to Androtion, was of the serpent +breed, and the first king of the country is said to have been a dragon. +Others make Cecrops the first who reigned. He is said to have been of a +two-fold nature, being formed with the body of a man blended with that of +a serpent. Diodorus says that this was a circumstance deemed by the +Athenians inexplicable; yet he labours to explain it by representing +Cecrops as half a man and half a brute, because he had been of two +different communities. Eustathius likewise tries to solve it nearly upon +the same principles, and with the like success. Some have said of Cecrops +that he underwent a metamorphosis, being changed from a serpent to a man. +By this was meant, according to Eustathius, that Cecrops by coming into +Hellas divested himself of all the rudeness and barbarity of his country, +and became more civilised and human. This is declared by some to be too +high a compliment to be paid to Greece in its infant state, and detracts +greatly from the character of the Egyptians. The learned Marsham therefore +animadverts with great justice, "it is more probable that he introduced +into Greece the urbanity of his own country, than that he was beholden to +Greece for anything from thence." In respect to the mixed character of +this personage, we may easily account for it. Cecrops was certainly a +title of the Deity, who was worshipped under this emblem. Something of the +like nature was mentioned of Triptolemus and Ericthonius, and the like has +been said of Hercules. The natives of Thebes in Boeotia, like the +Athenians, esteemed themselves of the serpent race. The Lacedaemonians +likewise referred themselves to the same original. Their city is said of +old to have swarmed with serpents. The same is said of the city Amyelae in +Italy, which was of Spartan origin. They came hither in such abundance +that it was abandoned by the inhabitants. Argos was infested in the same +manner till Apis came from Egypt and settled in that city. He was a +prophet, the reputed son of Apollo, and a person of great skill and +sagacity, and to him they attributed the blessing of having their country +freed from this evil. Thus the Argives gave the credit to this imaginary +personage of clearing their land of this grievance, but the brood came +from the very quarter from whence Apis was supposed to have arrived. They +were certainly Hivites from Egypt, and the same story is told of that +country. It is represented as having been of old over-run with serpents, +and almost depopulated through their numbers. Diodorus Siculus seems to +understand this literally, but a region that was annually overflowed, and +that too for so long a season, could not well be liable to such a +calamity. They were serpents of another nature with which it was thus +infested, and the history relates to the Cuthites, the original Ophitae, +who for a long time possessed that country. They passed from Egypt to +Syria, and to the Euphrates, and mention is made of a particular breed of +serpents upon that river, which were harmless to the natives but fatal to +anybody else. This can hardly be taken literally; for whatever may be the +wisdom of the serpent it cannot be sufficient to make these distinctions. +These serpents were of the same nature as the birds of Diomedes, and the +dogs in the temple of Vulcan; and the histories relate to Ophite priests, +who used to spare their own people and sacrifice strangers, a custom which +prevailed at one time in most parts of the world. The Cuthite priests are +said to have been very learned; and, as they were Ophites, whoever had the +advantage of their information was said to have been instructed by +serpents. + +As the worship of the serpent was of old so prevalent, many places, as +well as people, from thence received their names. Those who settled in +Campania were called Opici, which some would have changed to Ophici, +because they were denominated from serpents. They are in reality both +names of the same purport, and denote the origin of the people. + +We meet with places called Opis, Ophis, Ophitaea, Ophionia, Ophioessa, +Ophiodes, and Ophiusa. This last was an ancient name by which, according +to Stephanus, the islands Rhodes, Cynthus, Besbicus, Tenos, and the whole +continent of Africa, were distinguished. There were also cities so called. +Add to these places denominated Oboth, Obona, and reversed, Onoba, from +Ob, which was of the same purport. + +Clemens Alexandrinus says that the term Eva signified a serpent if +pronounced with a proper aspirate, and Epiphanius says the same thing. We +find that there were places of this name. There was a city Eva in Arcadia, +and another in Macedonia. There was also a mountain Eva, or Evan, taken +notice of by Pausanias, between which and Ithome lay the city Messene. He +mentions also an Eva in Argolis, and speaks of it as a large town. Another +name for a serpent, which we have not yet noticed, was Patan, or Pitan. +Many places in different parts were denominated from this term. Among +others was a city in Laconia, and another in Mysia, which Stephanus styles +a city of AEolia. They were undoubtedly so named from the worship of the +serpent, Pitan, and had probably Dracontia, which were figures and devices +relative to the religion which prevailed. Ovid mentions the latter city, +and has some allusions to its ancient history when he describes Medea as +flying through the air from Athea to Colchis. The city was situate upon +the ruin Eva, or Evan, which the Greeks rendered Evenus. According to +Strabo it is compounded of Eva-Ain, the fountain or river of Eva the +serpent. + +It is remarkable that the Opici, who are said to have been named from +serpents, had also the name of Pitanatae; at least, one part of that family +was so called. Pitanatae is a term of the same purport as Opici, and +relates to the votaries of Pitan, the serpent Deity, which was adored by +that people. Menelaus was of old called Pitanates, as we learn from +Hesychius, and the reason of it may be known from his being a Spartan, by +which he was intimated one of the Serpentigenae, or Ophites. Hence he was +represented with a serpent for a device upon his shield. It is said that a +brigade, or portion of infantry, was among some of the Greeks named +Pitanates, and the soldiers in consequence of it must have been termed +Pitanatae, undoubtedly, because they had the Pitan, or serpent, for their +standard. Analogous to this, among other nations there were soldiers +called Draconarii. In most countries the military standard was an emblem +of the Deity there worshipped. + +What has already been said has thrown some light upon the history of this +primitive idolatry, and we have shewn that wherever any of these Ophite +colonies settled, they left behind from their rites and institutions, as +well as from the names which they bequeathed to places, ample memorials, +by which they may be clearly traced out. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + _Supposed Phallic origin of Serpent-worship--The Idea of + Life--Adoration of the Principle of Generation--The Serpent as a + Symbol of the Phallus--Phallic Worship at Benares--The Serpent and + Mahadeo--Festival of the "Nag panchami"--Snakes and Women--Traces of + Phallic Worship in the Kumaon Rock-markings--The Northern Bulb + Stones--Professor Stephens on the Snake as a Symbol of the + Phallus--The "Dionysiak Myth"--Brown on the Serpent as a Phallic + emblem--Mythology of the Aryan Nation--Sir G. W. Cox and the Phallic + Theory--Athenian Mythology._ + + +Some persons are disposed to attribute to the Serpent, as a religious +emblem, an origin decidedly phallic. Mr. C. S. Wake takes a contrary view, +and says:--"So far as I can make out the serpent symbol has not a direct +Phallic reference, nor is its attribute of wisdom the most essential. The +idea most intimately associated with this animal was that of life, not +present merely, but continued, and probably everlasting. Thus the snake +_Bai_ was figured as Guardian of the doorways of the Egyptian Tombs which +represented the mansions of heaven. A sacred serpent would seem to have +been kept in all the Egyptian temples, and we are told that many of the +subjects, in the tombs of the kings at Thebes in particular, show the +importance it was thought to enjoy in a future state. Crowns, formed of +the Asp or sacred _Thermuthis_, were given to sovereigns and divinities, +particularly to Isis, and these no doubt were intended to symbolise +eternal life. Isis was a goddess of life and healing and the serpent +evidently belonged to her in that character, seeing that it was the symbol +also of other deities with the like attributes. Thus, on papyri it +encircles the figure of Harpocrates, who was identified with AEsculapius; +while not only was a great serpent kept alive in the great temple of +Serapis, but on later monuments this god is represented by a great serpent +with or without a human head. Mr. Fergusson, in accordance with his +peculiar theory as to the origin of serpent worship, thinks this +superstition characterised the old Turanaian (or rather let us say +Akkadian) empire of Chaldea, while tree-worship was more a characteristic +of the later Assyrian Empire. This opinion is no doubt correct, and it +means really that the older race had that form of faith with which the +serpent was always indirectly connected--adoration of the male principle +of generation, the principal phase of which was probably ancestor worship, +while the latter race adored the female principle, symbolised by the +sacred tree, the Assyrian 'grove.' The 'tree of life,' however, +undoubtedly had reference to the male element, and we may well imagine +that originally the fruit alone was treated as symbolical of the opposite +element." + +Mr. J. H. Rivett-Carnac, in his paper printed in the journal of the +Asiatic Society of Bengal, entitled "The Snake Symbol in India," suggests +that the serpent is a symbol of the phallus. He says:--"The serpent +appears on the prehistoric cromlechs and menhirs of Europe, on which I +believe the remains of phallic worship may be traced. What little +attention I have been able to give to the serpent-symbol has been chiefly +in its connection with the worship of Mahadeo or Siva, with a view to +ascertain whether the worship of the snake and that of Mahadeo or the +phallus may be considered identical, and whether the presence of the +serpent on the prehistoric remains of Europe can be shown to support my +theory, that the markings on the cromlechs and menhirs are indeed the +traces of this form of worship, carried to Europe from the East by the +tribes whose remains are buried beneath the tumuli. + +During my visits to Benares, the chief centre of Siva worship in India, I +have always carefully searched for the snake-symbol. On the most ordinary +class of "Mahadeo," a rough stone placed on end supposed to represent the +phallus, the serpent is not generally seen. But in the temples and in the +better class of shrines which abound in the city and neighbourhood the +snake is generally found encircling the phallus. The tail of the snake is +sometimes carried down the _Yoni_, and in one case I found two snakes on a +shrine thus depicted. + +In the Benares bazaar I once came across a splendid metal cobra, the head +erect and hood expanded, so made as to be placed around or above a stone +or metal "Mahadeo." It is now in England. The attitude of the cobra when +excited and the expansion of the head will suggest the reason for this +snake representing Mahadeo and the phallus. + +Although the presence of the snake in these models cannot be said to prove +much, and although from the easy adaptability of its form the snake must +always have been a favourite subject in ornament, still it will be seen +that the serpent is prominent in connection with the conventional shape +under which Mahadeo is worshipped at Benares and elsewhere, that it +sometimes takes the place of the Linga, and that it is to be found +entwined with almost every article connected with this worship." + +Further on the same writer says:--"The Nag panchami or fifth day of the +moon in Sawan is a great fete in the city of Nagpur, and more than usual +license is indulged in on that day. Rough pictures of snakes in all sorts +of shapes and positions are sold and distributed, something after the +manner of valentines. I cannot find any copies of these queer sketches, +and if I could they would hardly be fit to be reproduced. Mr. J. W. Neill, +the present Commissioner of Nagpur, was good enough to send me some +superior valentines of this class, and I submit them now for the +inspection of the Society. It will be seen that in these paintings, some +of which are not without merit either as to design or execution, no human +figures are introduced. In the ones I have seen in days gone by the +positions of the women with the snakes were of the most indecent +description and left no doubt that, so far as the idea represented in +these sketches was concerned, the cobra was regarded as the phallus. In +the pictures now sent the snakes will be seen represented in congress in +the well-known form of the Caduceus Esculapian rod. Then the many-headed +snake, drinking from the jewelled cup, takes me back to some of the +symbols of the mysteries of bygone days. The snake twisted round the tree +and the second snake approaching it are suggestive of the temptation and +fall. But I am not unmindful of the pitfalls from which Wilford suffered, +and I quite see that it is not impossible that this picture may be held to +be not strictly Hindu in its treatment. Still the tree and the serpent are +on the brass models which accompany this paper, and which I have already +shewn are to be purchased in the Benares Brass Bazaar of to-day--many +hundreds of miles away from Nagpur where these Valentines were drawn. + +In my paper on the Kumaon Rock Markings, besides noting the resemblance +between the cup markings of India and Europe, I hazarded the theory that +the concentric circles and certain curious markings of what some have +called the "jew's harp" type, so common in Europe, are traces of Phallic +worship carried there by tribes whose hosts decended into India, pushed +forward into the remotest corners of Europe, and, as their traces seem to +suggest, found their way on to the American Continent too. Whether the +markings really ever were intended to represent the Phallus and the Yoni +must always remain a matter of opinion. But I have no reason to be +dissatisfied with the reception with which this, to many somewhat pleasant +theory, has met in some of the Antiquarian Societies of Europe. + +No one who compares the stone Yonis of Benares, sent herewith, with the +engravings on the first page of the work on the Rock Markings of +Northumberland and Argyleshire, published privately by the Duke of +Northumberland, will deny that there is an extraordinary resemblance +between the conventional symbol of Siva worship of to-day and the ancient +markings on the rocks, menhirs and cromlechs of Northumberland, of +Scotland, of Brittany, of Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. + +And a further examination of the forms of the cromlechs and tumuli and +menhirs will suggest that the tumuli themselves were intended to indicate +the symbols of the Mahadeo and Yoni, conceived in no obscene sense, but as +representing regeneration, the new life, "life out of death, life +everlasting," which those buried in the tumuli, facing towards the sun in +its meridian, were expected to enjoy in the hereafter. Professor Stephens, +the well-known Scandinavian Antiquary, writing to me recently, speaks of +the symbols as follows:--"The pieces (papers) you were so good as to send +me were very valuable and welcome. There can be no doubt that it is to +India we have to look for the solution of many of our difficult +archaeological questions." + +"But especially interesting is your paper on the Ancient +Rock-Sculpturings. I believe that you are quite right in your views. Nay, +I go further. I think that the northern Bulb-stones are explained by the +same combination. I therefore send you the Swedish Archaeological Journal +for 1876, containing Baron Herculius' excellent dissertation on these +object.... You can examine the many excellent woodcuts. I look upon these +things as late conventionalized abridgments of the Linga and Yoni, life +out of death, life everlasting--thus a fitting ornament for the graves of +the departed." + +The author further says:--"Many who indignantly repudiate the idea of the +prevalence of Phallic Worship among our remote ancestors hold that these +symbols represent the snake or the sun. But admitting this, may not the +snake, after all, have been but a symbol of the phallus? And the sun, the +invigorating power of nature, has ever, I believe, been considered to +represent the same idea, not necessarily obscene, but the great mystery of +nature, the life transmitted from generation to generation, or, as +Professor Stephen puts it, 'life out of death, life everlasting.'" The +same idea, in fact, which, apart from any obscene conception, causes the +rude Mahadeo and Yoni to be worshipped daily by hundreds of thousands of +Hindus. + +Brown, in his "Great Dionysiak Myth," says:--"The Serpent has six +principal points of connection with Dionysos: 1.--As a symbol of, and +connected with, wisdom. 2.--As a solar emblem. 3.--As a symbol of time and +eternity. 4.--As an emblem of the earth, life. 5.--As connected with +fertilizing moisture. 6.--As a phallic emblem." + +Referring to the last of these, he proceeds--"The serpent being connected +with the sun, the earth life and fertility must needs be also a phallic +emblem, and so appropriate to the cult of Dionysos Priapos. Mr. Cox after +a review of the subject, observes, 'Finally, the symbol of the Phallus +suggested the form of the serpent, which thus became the emblem of life +and healing. There then we have the key to that tree and serpent worship +which has given rise to much ingenious speculation.' The myth of the +serpent and the tree is not, I apprehend, exhausted by any merely phallic +explanation, but the phallic element is certainly one of the most +prominent features in it, as it might be thought any inspection of the +carvings connected with the Topes of Sanchi and Amravati would show. It is +hard to believe, with Mr. Fergusson, that the usefulness and beauty of +trees gained them the payment of divine honours. Again, the Asherah or +Grove-cult (Exod. 34, 13; 1 Kings 17, 16; Jer. 17, 2; Micah 5, 14) was +essentially Phallic, Asherah being the Upright. It seems also to have been +in some degree connected with that famous relic, the brazen serpent of +Nehushtan (2 Kings 18, 4). Donaldson considers that the Serpent is the +emblem of desire. It has also been suggested that the creature symbolised +sensation generally." + +The Sir G. W. Cox referred to above, in his "Mythology of Argai Nations," +says:--"If there is one point more certain than another it is that +wherever tree and serpent worship has been found, the cultus of the +Phallos and the Ship, of the Linga and Yoni, in connection with the +worship of the sun, has been found also. It is impossible to dispute the +fact, and no explanation can be accepted for one part of the cultus which +fails to explain the other. It is unnecessary, therefore, to analyze +theories which profess to see in it the worship of the creeping brute or +the wide-spreading tree. A religion based on the worship of the venomous +reptile must have been a religion of terror; in the earliest glimpses +which we have of it, the serpent is a symbol of life and of love. Nor is +the Phallic cultus in any respect a cultus of the full-grown and branching +tree. In its earliest form the symbol is everywhere a mere stauros, or +pole; and although this stock or rod budded in the shape of the thyrsus +and the shepherd's staff, yet, even in its latest developements, the +worship is confined to small bushes and shrubs and diminutive plants of a +particular kind. Nor is it possible again to dispute the fact that every +nation, at some stage or other of its history, has attached to this cultus +precisely that meaning which the Brahman now attaches to the Linga and the +Yoni. That the Jews clung to it in this special sense with vehement +tenacity is the bitter complaint of the prophets; and the crucified +serpent adored for its healing powers stood untouched in the Temple until +it was removed and destroyed by Hezekiah. This worship of serpents, "void +of reason," condemned in the Wisdom of Solomon, probably survived even the +Babylonish captivity. Certainly it was adopted by the Christians who were +known as Ophites, Gnostics, and Nicolaitans. In Athenian mythology the +serpent and the tree are singularly prominent. Kekrops, Erechtheus, and +Erichthonios, are each and all serpentine in the lower portion of their +bodies. The sacred snake of Athene had its abode in the Akropolis, and her +olive trees secured for her the victory in her rivalry with Poseidon. The +health-giving serpent lay at the feet of Asklepios and snakes were fed in +his temple at Epidauros and elsewhere. That the ideas of mere terror and +death suggested by the venomous or the crushing reptile could never have +given way thus completely before those of life, healing, and safety, is +obvious enough; and the latter ideas alone are associated with the serpent +as the object of adoration. The deadly beast always was, and has always +remained, the object of the horror and loathing which is expressed for +Ahi, the choking and throttling snake, the Vritra whom Indra smites with +his unerring lance, the dreadful Azidahaka of the Avesta, the Zohak or +Biter of modern Persian mythology, the serpents whom Heraktes strangles in +his cradle, the Python, or Fafnir, or Grendel, or Sphinx whom Phoibos, or +Sigurd, or Beowulf, or Oidipous smite and slay. That the worship of the +Serpent has nothing to do with these evil beasts is abundantly clear from +all the Phallic monuments of the East or West. In the topes of Sanchi and +Amravati the disks which represent the Yoni predominate in every part of +the design; the emblem is worn with unmistakeable distinctness by every +female figure, carved within these disks, while above the multitude are +seen, on many of the disks, a group of women with their hands resting on +the linga, which they uphold. It may, indeed, be possible to trace out the +association which connects the Linga with the bull in Sivaison, as +denoting more particularly the male power, while the serpent in Jainaison +and Vishnavism is found with the female emblem, the Yoni. So again in +Egypt, some may discern in the bull Apis or Mnevis the predominance of the +male idea in that country, while in Assyria or Palestine the Serpent or +Agathos Daimon is connected with the altar of Baal. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + _Mythology of the Ancients--Characteristics of the Pagan + Deities--Doctrine of the Reciprocal Principles of Nature--Creation of + the Egg--Creation and the Phallus--The Lotus--Osiris as the active, + dispensing, and originating energy--Hesiod and the generative + powers--Growth of Phallic Worship._ + + +"By comparing all the varied legends of the East and West in conjunction," +says a learned author, "we obtain the following outline of the mythology +of the Ancients: It recognises, as the primary elements of things, two +independent principles of the nature of Male and Female; and these, in +mystic union, as the soul and body, constitute the Great Hermaphrodite +Deity, THE ONE, the universe itself, consisting still of the two separate +elements of its composition, modified though combined in one individual, +of which all things are regarded but as parts.... If we investigate the +Pantheons of the ancient nations, we shall find that each, notwithstanding +the variety of names, acknowledged the same deities and the same system of +theology; and, however humble any of the deities may appear, each who has +any claim to antiquity will be found ultimately, if not immediately, +resolvable into one or other of the Primeval Principles, the Great God and +Goddess of the Gentiles."[4] + +"We must not be surprised," says Sir William Jones, "at finding, on a +close examination, that the characters of all the Pagan deities, male and +female, melt into each other, and at last into one or two, for it seems a +well-founded opinion that the whole crowd of gods and goddesses in ancient +Rome and modern Varanes mean only the Powers of Nature, and principally +those of the Sun, expressed in a variety of ways and by a multitude of +fanciful names." + +The doctrine of the Reciprocal Principles of Nature, designated as active +and passive, male and female, and often symbolized as the Sun and Moon, or +the Sun and the Earth, was distinctly recognised in the mythological +systems of America. It will be well to notice the _rationale_ of this +doctrine, and some of the more striking forms which, in the developement +of human ideas, it has assumed; for it may safely be claimed that under +some of its aspects or modifications it has entered into every religious +system, if, indeed, it has not been the nucleus of every mythology. + +The idea of a creation, suggested by the existence of things, was, no +doubt, the first result of human reasoning. The mode of the event, the +manner in which it was brought about, was, it is equally unquestionable, +the inquiry which next occupied the mind, and man deduced from the +operations of nature around him his first theory of creation. From the +egg, after incubation, he saw emerging the living bird, a phenomenon +which, to his simple apprehension, was nothing less than an actual +creation. How naturally then, how almost of necessity, did that +phenomenon, one of the most obvious in nature, associate itself with his +ideas of creation--a creation which he could not help recognising, but +which he could not explain. The extent to which the egg, received as a +symbol, entered into the early cosmogonies will appear in another and more +appropriate connection. + +By a similar process did the creative power come to be symbolized under +the form of the Phallus, in it was recognised the cause of reproduction, +or, as it appeared to the primitive man, of creation. So the Egyptians, in +their refinement upon this idea, adopted the scarabaeus as a symbol of the +First Cause, the great hermaphrodite Unity, for the reason that they +believed that insect to be both male and female, capable of self-inception +and singular production, and possessed of the power of vitalizing its own +work. + +It is well known that the Nymphoe, Lotus, or Water-Lily is held sacred +throughout the East, and the various sects of that quarter of the globe +represent their deities, either decorated with its flowers, holding it as +a sceptre, or seated on a lotus throne or pedestal. "It is," says Maurice, +"the sublime and hallowed symbol that perpetually occurs in oriental +mythology, and not without substantial reason; for it is itself a lovely +prodigy, and contains a treasure of physical instruction." The reason of +its adoption as a symbol is explained by Mr. Payne Knight, and affords a +beautiful illustration of the _rationale_ of symbolism, and of the +profound significance often hidden beneath apparently insignificant +emblems. "This plant," observes Mr. Knight, "grows in the water, and +amongst its broad leaves puts forth a flower, in the centre of which is +formed its seed vessel, shaped like a bell or inverted cone, and punctured +on the top with little cavities or cells, in which the seeds grow. The +orifice of these cells being too small to let the seeds drop out when +ripe, they shoot forth into new plants in the places where they are +formed; the bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to nourish them until +large enough to burst it open and release themselves, after which, like +other aquatic plants, they take root wherever the current deposits them. +The plant, therefore, being thus productive of itself, and vegetating from +its own matrix, without being fostered in the earth, was naturally adopted +as a symbol of the productive power of waters upon which the active Spirit +of the Creator acted in giving life and vegetation to matter. We +accordingly find it employed in every part of the northern hemisphere +where the symbolical religion, improperly called idolatry, existed." + +Examples quoted illustrate the inductive powers by which unaided reason +arrives at its results, as well as the means by which it indicates them in +the absence of a written language or of one capable of conveying abstract +ideas. The mythological symbols of all early nations furnish ample +evidence that it was thus they embodied or shadowed forth their +conceptions,--the germ of a symbolic system, which was afterwards extended +to every manifestation of nature and every attribute of Divinity. + +We may in this manner rationally and satisfactorily account for the origin +of the doctrine of the reciprocal principles. Its universal acceptance +establishes that it was deduced from the operations of that law so +obviously governing all animated nature--that of reproduction or +procreation. + +In the Egyptian mythology, the Divine Osiris was venerated as the active, +dispensing, or originating energy, and was symbolized as the Sun; Isis as +terrene nature, the passive recipient, the producer; their annual +offspring was Horus, the vernal season or infant year. The poet Hesiod, in +the beginning of his Theogony, distinguishes the male and female, or +generative and productive powers of Nature, as Ouranus and Gaia, Heaven +and Earth. The celestial emblems of these powers were usually, as we have +said, the Sun and Moon; the terrestrial, Fire and Earth. They were +designed as Father and Mother; and their more obvious symbols, as has +already been intimated, were the Phallus and Kteis, or the Lingham and +Yoni of Hindustan. + +That the worship of the phallus passed from India or from Ethiopia into +Egypt, from Egypt into Asia Minor, and into Greece, is not so much a +matter of astonishment,--these nations communicated with each other; but +that this worship existed in countries a long time unknown to the rest of +the world--in many parts of America, with which the people of the Eastern +Continent had formerly no communication--is an astonishing but well +attested fact. When Mexico was discovered, there was found in the city of +Panuco, the particular worship of the Phallus well established, its image +was adorned in the temples; there were in the public places bas reliefs, +which like those of India, represented in various manners the union of the +two sexes. At Tlascalla, another city of Mexico, they revered the act of +generation under the united symbols of the characteristic organs of the +two sexes. Garcilasso de la Vega says--"that according to Blas Valera, the +God of Luxury was called Tiazolteuli," but some writers say, "this is a +mistake." One of the goddesses of the Mexican Pantheon was named +Tiazolteotl, which Boturini describes as Venus unchaste, low, and +abominable, the hieroglyphic of these men and women who are wholly +abandoned, mingling promiscuously one with another, gratifying their +bestial appetites like animals. Boturini is said to be not entirely +correct in his apprehensions of the character of this goddess. She is +Cinteotl, the goddess of Maize, under another aspect. Certain of the +temples of India abound with sculptured representations of the symbols of +Phallic Worship, and if we turn to the temples of Central America, which +in many respects exhibit a strict correspondence with those of India, we +find precisely the same symbols, separate and in combination. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + _Ancient Monuments of the West--The Valley of the Mississippi--Numerous + Earthworks of the Western States--Theory as to origin of the + mounds--The "Defence" Theory--The Religious Theory--Earthwork of the + "Great Serpent" on Bush Creek--The "Alligator," Ohio--The "Cross," + Pickaway County--Structures of Wisconsin--Mr. Pigeons Drawings-- + Significance of the Earth-mounds--The Egg and Man's Primitive + Ideas--The Egg as a Symbol--Birth of Brahma--Aristophanes and his + "Comedy of the Birds"--The Hymn to Protogones--The Chinese and + Creation--The Mundane or Orphic Egg--Kneph--Mr. Gliddon's replies to + certain enquiries--The Orphic Theogony and the Egg--The Great Unity._ + + +The ancient monuments of the Western United States consist for the most +part of elevations and embankments of earth and stone, erected with great +labour and manifest design. In connection with these, more or less +intimate, are found various minor relics of art, consisting of ornaments +and implements of many kinds, some of them composed of metal but most of +stone. + +These remains are spread over a vast amount of country. They are found on +the sources of the Alleghany, in the western part of the state of New York +on the east; and extend thence westwardly along the southern shore of Lake +Erie, and through Michigan and Wisconsin, to Iowa and the Nebraska +territory on the west. Some ancient works, probably belonging to the same +system with those of the Mississippi valley and erected by the same +people, occur upon the Susquehanna river as far down as the Valley of +Wyoming in Pennsylvania. The mound builders seem to have skirted the +southern border of Lake Erie, and spread themselves in diminished numbers +over the western part of the State of New York, along the shores of Lake +Ontario to the St. Lawrence river. They penetrated into the interior, +eastward, as far as the county of Onondaga, where some slight vestiges of +their work still exist. These seem to have been their limits at the +north-east. We have no record of their occurrence above the great lakes. +Carner mentions some on the shores of Lake Pepin, and some are said to +occur near Lake Travers, under the 46th parallel of latitude. Lewis and +Clarke saw them on the Missouri river, one thousand miles above its +junction with the Mississippi; and they have been observed on the Kanzas +and Platte and on other remote western rivers. They are found all over the +intermediate country, and spread over the valley of the Mississippi to the +Gulf of Mexico. They line the shores of the Gulf from Texas to Florida, +and extend in diminished numbers into South Carolina. They occur in great +numbers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, +Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and +Texas. They are found in less numbers in the Western portions of New York, +Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North and South Carolina; as also in Michigan, +Iowa, and in the Mexican territory beyond the Rio Grande del Norte. In +short, they occupy the entire basin of the Mississippi and its +tributaries, as also the fertile plains along the Gulf. + +Although possessing throughout certain general points of resemblance going +to establish a kindred origin, these works, nevertheless, resolve +themselves into three grand geographical divisions, which present in many +respects striking contrasts, yet so gradually merge into each other that +it is impossible to determine where one series terminates and the other +begins. In the region bordering upon the upper lakes, to a certain extent +in Michigan, Iowa and Missouri, but particularly in Wisconsin, we find a +succession of remains, entirely singular in their form and presenting but +slight analogy to any others of which we have in any portion of the globe. +The larger proportion of these are structures of earth bearing the forms +of beasts, birds, reptiles, and even of men; they are frequently of +gigantic dimensions, constituting huge _basso-relievos_ upon the face of +the country. They are very numerous and in most cases occur in long and +apparently dependent ranges. In connection with them are found many +conical mounds and occasional short lines of embankment, in rare instances +forming enclosures. These animal effigies are mainly confined to +Wisconsin, and extend across that territory from Ford du Lac in a +south-western direction, ascending the Fox river and following the general +course of Rock and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi. They may be much +more extensively disseminated; but it is here only that they have been +observed in considerable numbers. In Michigan, as also in Iowa and +Missouri, similar elevations of more or less outline are said to occur. +They are represented as dispersed in ranges like the buildings of a modern +city, and covering sometimes an arc of many acres. + +The number of these ancient remains is well calculated to excite surprise, +and has been adduced in support of the hypothesis that they are most if +not all of them natural formations, "the result of diluvial action," +modified perhaps in some instances, but never erected by man. Of course no +such suggestion was ever made by individuals who had enjoyed the +opportunity of seeing and investigating them. Single structures of earth +could not possibly bear more palpable evidences of an artificial origin +than do most of the western monuments. The evidences in support of this +assertion, derived from the form, structure, position and contents of +these remains, sufficiently appear in the pages of this work. + +The structure, not less than the form and position of a large number of +the Earthworks of the West, and especially of the Scioto valley, render it +clear that they were erected for other than defensive purposes. The small +dimensions of most of the circles, the occurrence of the ditch interior to +the embankments, and the fact that many of them are completely commanded +by adjacent heights, are some of the circumstances which may be mentioned +as sustaining this conclusion. We must seek, therefore, in the connection +in which these works are found and in the character of the mounds, if such +there be within their walls, for the secret of their origin. And it may be +observed that it is here we discover evidences still more satisfactory and +conclusive than are furnished by their small dimensions and other +circumstances above mentioned, that they were not intended for defence. +Thus, when we find an enclosure containing a number of mounds, all of +which it is capable of demonstration were religious in their purposes or +in some way connected with the superstitions of the people who built them, +the conclusion is irresistible that the enclosure itself was also deemed +sacred and thus set apart as "tabooed" or consecrated ground--especially +where it is obvious at the first glance that it possesses none of the +requisites of a military work. But it is not to be concluded that those +enclosures alone, which contain mounds of the description here named, were +designed for sacred purposes. We have reason to believe that the religious +system of the mound builders, like that of the Aztecs, exercised among +them a great if not controlling influence. Their government may have been, +for aught we know, a government of priesthood; one in which the priestly +and civil functions were jointly exercised, and one sufficiently powerful +to have secured in the Mississippi valley, as it did in Mexico, the +erection of many of those vast monuments which for ages will continue to +challenge the wonder of men. There may have been certain superstitious +ceremonies, having no connection with the purposes of the mounds, carried +on in the enclosures specially dedicated to them. It is a conclusion which +every day's investigation and observation has tended to confirm, that +most, perhaps all, of the earthworks not manifestly defensive in their +character were in some way connected with the superstitious rights of the +builders, though in what manner, it is, and perhaps ever will be, +impossible satisfactorily to determine. + +By far the most extraordinary and interesting earthwork discovered in the +West is the Great Serpent, situate on Brush Creek at a point known as the +"Three Forks," near the north line of Adams county, Ohio. It occupies the +summit of a high crescent-form hill or spur of land, rising a hundred and +fifty feet above the level of Brush Creek, which washes its base. The side +of the hill next the stream presents a perpendicular wall of rock, while +the other slopes rapidly, though it is not so steep as to preclude +cultivation. The top of the hill is not level but slightly convex, and +presents a very even surface one hundred and fifty feet wide by one +thousand long, measuring from its extremity to the point where it connects +with the table land. Conforming to the curve of the hill and occupying its +very summit is the serpent, its head resting near the point and its body +winding back for seven hundred feet in graceful undulations, terminating +in a triple coil at the tail. The entire length, if extended, would be not +less than one thousand feet. The neck of the serpent is stretched out and +slightly curved, and its mouth is opened wide as if in the act of +swallowing or ejecting an oval figure which rests partially within the +distended jaws. This oval is formed by an embankment of earth, without any +perceptible opening, four feet in height, and is perfectly regular in +outline, its transverse and conjugate diameters being one hundred and +sixty and eighty feet respectively. The ground within the oval is slightly +elevated: a small circular elevation of large stones much burned once +existed in its centre, but they have been thrown down and scattered by +some ignorant visitor, under the prevailing impression probably that gold +was hidden beneath them. The point of the hill within which this +egg-shaped figure rests seems to have been artificially cut to conform to +its outline, leaving a smooth platform, ten feet wide and somewhat +inclining inwards, all around it. + +Upon either side of the serpent's head extend two small triangular +elevations ten or twelve feet over. They are not high, and although too +distinct to be overlooked, are yet much too much obliterated to be +satisfactorily traced. + +An effigy in the form of an alligator occurs near Granville, Licking +county, Ohio, upon a high hill or headland; in connection with which there +are unmistakable evidences of an altar, similar to that in conjunction +with the work just named. It is known in the vicinity as "the Alligator," +which designation has been adopted for want of a better, although the +figure bears as close a resemblance to the lizard as any other reptile. It +is placed transversly to the point of land on which it occurs, the head +pointing to the south-west. The total length from the point of the nose +following the curve of the tail to the tip is about two hundred and fifty +feet, the breadth of the body forty feet, and the length of the feet or +paws each thirty-six feet. The ends of the paws are a little broader than +the remaining portions of the same, as if the spread of the toes had been +originally indicated. Some parts of the body are more elevated than +others, an attempt having evidently been made to preserve the proportions +of the object copied. The outline of the figure is clearly defined; its +average height is not less than four feet; at the shoulders it is six feet +in altitude. Upon the inner side of the effigy is an elevated circular +space covered with stones which have been much burned. This has been +denominated an altar. + +It seems more than probable that this singular effigy, like that last +described, had its origin in the superstition of its makers. It was +perhaps the high place where sacrifices were made on stated or +extraordinary occasions, and where the ancient people gathered to +celebrate the rites of their unknown worship. Its position and all the +circumstances attending it certainly favour such a conclusion. + +The same is true of a work in the form of a cross, occupying a like +situation near the village of Tarlton, Pickaway County, Ohio. From these +premises, we are certainly justified in concluding that these several +effigies had probably a cognate design, possessed a symbolical +significance, and were conspicuous objects of religious regard, and that +on certain occasions sacrifices were made on the altars within or near +them. + +The only structures sustaining any analogy to these are found in Wisconsin +and the extreme North-west. There we find great numbers of mounds bearing +the forms of animals of various kinds, and entering into a great variety +of combinations with each other, and with conical mounds and lines of +embankments, which are also abundant. They are usually found on the low, +level, or undulating prairies, and seldom in such conspicuous positions as +those discovered in Ohio. Whether they were built by the same people with +the latter, and had a common design and purpose, it is not undertaken to +say, nor is it a question into which we propose to enter. + +It is an interesting fact that amongst the animal effigies of Wisconsin, +structures in the form of serpents are of frequent occurrence. + +Some years ago, Mr. Pigeon, of Virginia, made drawings of a number of +these, and he stated that near the junction of the St. Peter's with the +Mississippi River were a large number of mounds and monuments, +consisting--1st, of a circle and square in combination, as at Circleville, +in Ohio, the sole difference being a large truncated mound in the centre +of the square, as well as in the centre of the circle, with a platform +round its base; 2nd, near by, the effigy of a gigantic animal resembling +the elk, in length one hundred and ninety-five feet; 3rd, in the same +vicinity, a large conical mound, three hundred feet in diameter at the +base, and thirty feet in height, its summit covered with charcoal. This +mound was surrounded by one hundred and twenty smaller mounds, disposed in +the form of a circle. Twelve miles to the westward of these, and within +sight of them, was a large conical truncated mound, sixty feet in diameter +at the bottom, and eighteen feet high, built upon a raised platform or +bottom. It was surrounded by a circle three hundred and sixty-five feet in +circumference. Entwined around this circle, in a triple coil, was an +embankment, in the form of a serpent, two thousand three hundred and ten +feet in length. This embankment, at the centre of the body, was eighteen +feet in diameter, but diminished towards the head and tail in just +proportion. The elevation of the head was four feet, of the body six feet, +of the tail two feet. The central mound was capped with blue clay, beneath +which was sand mixed with charcoal and ashes. + +Mounds arranged in serpentine form have also been found in Iowa, at a +place formerly known as Prairie La Porte, afterwards called Gottenburgh. +Also at a place seven miles north of these on Turkey River, where the +range was two and a half miles long, the mounds occurring at regular +intervals. Twenty miles to the westward of this locality was the effigy of +a great serpent with that of a tortoise in front of its mouth. This +structure was found to be one thousand and four feet long, eighteen feet +broad at its widest part, and six feet high; the tortoise was eighteen by +twelve feet. + +Mr. Pigeon gave accounts of many other structures, tending to illustrate +and confirm the opinions advanced respecting the religious and symbolical +character and design of many, if not all, the more regular earth-works of +the Western States. Thirty miles west of Prairie Du Chien, he found a +circle enclosing a pentagon, which in its turn enclosed another circle, +within which was a conical truncated mound. The outer circle was twelve +hundred feet in circumference, the embankment twelve feet broad and from +three to five feet high. The entrance was on the east. The mound was +thirty-six feet in diameter by twelve feet high. Its summit was composed +of white pipe-clay, beneath which was found a large quantity of mica in +sheets. It exhibited abundant traces of fire. + +Four miles distant from this, on the lowlands of the Kickapoo River, Mr. +Pigeon discovered a mound with eight radiating points, undoubtedly +designed to represent the Sun. It was sixty feet in diameter at the base, +and three feet high. The points extended outwards about nine feet. +Surrounding this mound were five crescent-shaped mounds so arranged as to +constitute a circle. Many analagous structures were discovered at other +places, both in Wisconsin and Iowa. At Cappile Bluffs, on the Mississippi +River, was found a conical, truncated mound, surrounded by nine radiating +effigies of men, the heads pointing inwards. + +Probably no one will hesitate in ascribing to work just described, some +extraordinary significance. It cannot be supposed to be the offspring of +an idle fancy or a savage whim. It bears, in its position and the harmony +of its structure, the evidences of design, and it seems to have been begun +and finished in accordance with a matured plan, and not to have been the +result of successive and unmeaning combinations. It is probably not a work +for defence, for there is nothing to defend; on the contrary, it is +clearly and unmistakably, in form and attitude, the representation of a +serpent, with jaws distended, in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval +figure, which may be distinguished, from the suggestions of analogy, as an +egg. Assuming for the entire structure a religious origin, it can be +regarded only as the recognised symbol of some grand mythological idea. +What abstract conception was thus embodied; or what vast event thus +typically commemorated, we have no certain means of knowing! Analogy, +however, although too often consulted on trivial grounds, furnishes us +with gleams of light, of greater or less steadiness, as our appeals to its +assistance happen to be conducted, on every subject connected with man's +beliefs. We proceed now to discover what light reason and analogy shed +upon the singular structure before us. + +Naturally, and almost of necessity, the egg became associated with man's +primitive idea of a creation. It aptly symbolised that primordial, +quiescent state of things which preceded their vitalization and +activity--the inanimate chaos, before life began, when "the earth was +without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." It was +thus received in the early cosmogonies, in all of which the vivification +of the Mundane Egg constituted the act of creation; from it sprang the +world resplendent in glory and teeming with life. + +Faber says--"The ancient pagans, in almost every part of the globe, were +wont to symbolize the world by an Egg. Hence this symbol is introduced +into the cosmogonies of nearly all nations, and there are few persons even +among those who have not made mythology their study, to whom the Mundane +Egg is not perfectly familiar. It was employed, not only to represent the +earth, but also the Universe in its largest extent."[5] + +"The world," says Menu, "was all darkness, undiscernible, +undistinguishable, altogether in a profound sleep, till the Self-Existent, +Invisible God (Brahm), making it manifest with five elements and other +glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom. Desiring to raise up +creatures by an emanation from his own essence, he first created the +waters, and inspired them with power of motion; by that power was produced +a golden egg, blazing like a thousand stars, in which was born Brahma, the +great parent of national beings, that which is the invisible cause, +self-existent, but unperceived. This divinity having dwelt in the Egg +through revolving years, himself meditating upon himself, divided into two +equal parts, and from these halves he framed the heavens and the earth, +placing in the midst the subtil ether, the eight points of the world, and +the permanent receptacle of the waters." + +The above is Maurice's translation. Sir William Jones renders it:--"The +sole, self-existent power, having willed to produce various beings from +his own divine substance, first, with a thought created the waters, and +placed in them a productive seed. That seed became an egg, bright as +gold, blazing like the luminary with a thousand beams, and in that egg was +born himself, in the form of Brahma, the great forefather of all spirits." + +Aristophanes, in his Comedy of the Birds, is thought to have given the +notions of cosmogony, ancient even in his days. "Chaos, Night, black +Erebus, and wide Tartarus first existed: there was neither earth, nor air, +nor heaven; but in the bosom of Erebus black-winged Night produced an +Aerial Egg, from which was born golden-pinioned Love (Phanes), and he, the +Great Universal Father, begot our race out of dark Chaos, in the midst of +wide-spreading Tartarus, and called us into light." + +We find this conception clearly embodied in one of the Orphic fragments, +the Hymn to Protogones, who is equivalent to Phanes, the Life-giver, +Priapus, or Generator. + + "I invoke thee, oh Protogones, two-fold, great, wandering through the + ether; + Egg-Born rejoicing in thy golden wings; + Bull-faced, the Generator of the blessed and of mortal men; + The much-renowned Light, the far celebrated Ericapaeus; + Ineffable, occult, impetuous all-glittering strength; + Who scatterest the twilight cloud of darkness from the eyes, + And roam'st through the world upon the flight of thy wings, + Bringing forth the brilliant and all-pure light; wherefore I invoke + thee, as Phanes, + As Priapus the King, and as the dark-faced splendour,-- + Come, thou blessed being, full of Metis (wisdom) and generation, come in + joy + To thy sacred, ever-varying mysteries." + +We have, according to these early notions, the egg representing Being +simply; Chaos, the great void from which, by the will of the superlative +Unity, proceeds the generative or creative influence, designated among the +Greeks as "Phanes," "Golden-pinioned Love," "The Universal Father," +"Egg-born Protogones" (the latter Zeus or Jupiter); in India as "Brahma," +the "Great Parent of Rational Creatures," the "Father of the Universe;" +and in Egypt as "Ptha," the "Universal Creator." + +The Chinese, whose religious conceptions correspond generally with those +of India, entertained similar notions of the origin of things. They set +forth that Chaos, before the creation, existed in the form of a vast egg, +in which was contained the principles of all things. Its vivification, +among them also, constituted the act of creation. + +According to this and other authorities, the vivification of the Mundane +Egg is allegorically represented in the temple of Daibod, in Japan, by a +nest egg, which is shown floating in an expanse of waters against which a +bull (everywhere an emblem of generative energy, and prolific heat, the +Sun) is striking with his horns. + +"Near Lemisso, in the Island of Cyprus, is still to be seen a gigantic +egg-shaped vase, which is supposed to represent the Mundane or Orphic Egg. +It is of stone, and measures thirty feet in circumference. Upon one side, +in a semi-circular niche, is sculptured a bull, the emblem of productive +energy. This figure is understood to signify the Tauric constellation, +"The Stars of Abundance," with the heliacal or cosmical rising of which +was connected the return of the mystic reinvigorating principle of animal +fecundity."[6] + +In the opinions above mentioned, many other nations of the ancient world, +the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, and the Indo-Scythiac +nations of Europe participated. They not only supported the propriety of +the allegory, says Maurice, from the perfection of its external form, but +fancifully extended the allusion to its interior composition, comparing +the pure white shell to the fair expanse of heaven; the fluid, transparent +white, to the circumambient air, and the more solid yolk to the central +earth. + +Even the Polynesians entertained the same general notions. The tradition +of the Sandwich Islanders is that a bird (with them it is an emblem of +Deity) laid an egg upon the waters which burst of itself and produced the +Islands. + +The great hemaphrodite first principle in its character of Unity, the +Supreme Monad, the highest conception of Divinity was denominated Kneph or +Cnuphis among the Egyptians. According to Plutarch this god was without +beginning and without end, the One, uncreated and eternal, above all, and +comprehending all. And as Brahm, "the Self-existent Incorruptible" Unity +of the Hindus, by direction of His energetic will upon the expanse of +chaos, "with a thought" (say Menu) produced a "golden egg blazing like a +thousand stars" from which sprung Brahma, the Creator; so according to the +mystagogues, Kneph, the Unity of Egypt, was represented as a serpent +thrusting from his mouth an egg, from which proceeds the divinity _Phtha_, +the active creative power, equivalent in all his attributes to the Indian +Brahma. + +That Kneph was symbolized by the ancient Egyptians under the form of a +serpent is well known. It is not, however, so well established that the +act of creation was allegorically represented in Egypt by the symbolic +serpent thrusting from its mouth an egg, although no doubt of the fact +seems to have been entertained by the various authors who have hitherto +written on the Cosmogony and Mythology of the primitive nations of the +East. With the view of ascertaining what new light has been thrown upon +the subject by the investigations of the indefatigable Champollion and his +followers--whose researches among the monuments and records of Ancient +Egypt have been attended with most remarkable results--the following +inquiries were addressed to Mr. G. R. Gliddon (U.S. Consul at Cairo), a +gentleman distinguished for his acquaintance with Egyptian science, and +his zeal in disseminating information on a subject too little +understood:-- + +"Do the serpent and the egg, separate or in combination, occur among the +Egyptian symbols and if they occur what significance seem to have been +assigned them? Was the serpent in any way associated with the worship of +the sun or the kindred worship of the Phallus?" + +To these inquiries Mr. Gliddon replied as follows:--"In respect to your +first inquiry; I concede at once that the general view of the Greco-Roman +antiquity, the oriental traditions collected, often indiscriminately, by +the Fathers and the concurring suffrages of all occidental Mythologists, +attribute the compound symbol of the Serpent combined with the Mundane Egg +to the Egyptians. Modern criticism however, coupled with the application +of the tests furnished by Champollion le-Jeune and his followers since +1827 to the hieroglyphics of Egypt, has recognised so many exotic fables +and so much real ignorance of Egyptology in the accounts concerning that +mystified country, handed down to us from the schools of Alexandria and +Byzantium, that at the present hour science treads doubtingly, where but a +few years ago it was fashionable to make the most sweeping assertions; and +we now hesitate before qualifying, as Egyptian in origin, ideas that +belong to the Mythologies of other eastern nations. Classical authority, +correct enough when treating on the philosophy and speculative theories of +Ptolemaic and Roman Alexandria, is generally at fault when in respect to +questions belonging to anterior or Pharaonic times. Whatever we derive +through the medium of the Alexandrines, and especially through their +successors, the Gnostics, must by the Archaeologist be received with +suspicion. + +After this, you will not be surprised if I express doubts as to existence +of the myth of the Serpent and Egg in the Cosmogony of the early +Egyptians. It is lamentably true that, owing to twenty centuries of +destruction, so fearfully wrought out by Mohammed Ali, we do not up to +this day possess one tithe of the monuments or papyri bequeathed to +posterity by the recording genius of the Khime. It is possible that this +myth may have been contained in the vast amount of hieroglyphical +literature now lost to us. But the fact that in no instance whatever, amid +the myriads of inscribed or sculptured documents extant, does the symbol +of the Serpent and the Egg occur, militates against the assumption of +this, perhaps Phoenician myth, as originally Egyptian. "The worship of +the Serpent," observes Ampere, "by the Ophites may certainly have a real +connection with the choice of the Egyptian symbol by which Divinity is +designated in the paintings and hieroglyphics, and which is the Serpent +Uraeus (Basilisk royal, of the Greeks, the seraph set up by Moses. Se Ra +Ph is the singular of seraphim, meaning Semitice, splendour, fire, light; +emblematic of the fiery disk of the sun and which, under the name of +Nehushtan--"Serpent Dragon"--was broken up by the reforming Hezekiah. 2 +Kings, 18, 4); or with the serpent with wings and feet, which we see +represented in the Funeral Rituals; but the serpent is everywhere in the +Mythologies and Cosmogonies of the East, and we cannot be assured that the +serpent of the Ophites (any more than that emitting or encircling the +Mundane Egg) was Egyptian rather than Jewish, Persian, or Hindustanee." + +"No serpents found in the hieroglyphics bear, so far as I can perceive, +any direct relation to the Ouine Myth, nor have Egyptian Eggs any direct +connection with the Cosmogonical Serpent. The egg, under certain +conditions, seems to denote the idea of a human body. It is also used as a +phonetic sign =S=, and when combined with =T=, is the determinative of the +feminine gender; in which sense exclusively it is sometimes placed close +to a serpent in hieroglyphical legends." + +"My doubts apply in attempting to give a specific answer to your specific +question; _i.e._, the direct connection, in Egyptian Mythology, of the +Serpent and the Cosmogonical Egg. In the "Book of the Dead," according to +a MS. translation favoured me by the erudite Egyptologist, Mr. Birch, of +the British Museum, allusion is made to the "great mundane egg" addressed +by the deceased, which seems to refer to the winds or the +atmosphere--again the deceased exclaims 'I have raised myself up in the +form of the great Hawk which comes out of the Egg (_i.e._, the Sun).' + +"I do not here perceive any immediate allusion to the duplex emblem of the +egg combined with the serpent, the subject of your query. + +"Yet a reservation must be made in behalf of your very consistent +hypothesis--supported, as I allow, by all oriental and classical +authority, if not possibly by the Egyptian documents yet +undeciphered--which hypothesis is Euclidean. 'Things which are equal to +the same are equal to one another.' Now if the 'Mundane Egg' be in the +papyric rituals the equivalent to Sun and that by other hieroglyphical +texts we prove the Sun to be, in Egypt as elsewhere, symbolized by the +figure of a Serpent, does not the 'ultima ratio' resolve both emblems into +one? Your grasp of this Old and New World Question renders it superfluous +that I should now posit the syllogism. I content myself by referring you +to the best of authorities. One point alone is what I would venture to +suggest to your philosophical acumen, in respect to ancient 'parallelisms' +between the metaphysical conceptions of radically distinct nations (if you +please 'species' of mankind, at geographically different centres of +_origins_, compelled of necessity in ages anterior to alphabetical record +to express their ideas by pictures, figurative or symbolical). It is that +man's mind has always conceived, everywhere in the same method, everything +that relates to him; because the inability, in which his intelligence is +circumscribed, to figure to his mind's eye existence distinct from his +own, constrains him to devolve, in the pictorial or sculptural delineation +of his thoughts, within the same circle of ideas; and, ergo, the +figurative representative of his ideas must ever be, in all ages and +countries, the reflex of the same hypotheses, material or physical. May +not the emblem of the Serpent and Egg, as well in the New as in the Old +World, have originated from a similar organic law without thereby +establishing intercourse? Is not your serpent a "rattlesnake" and, ergo, +purely American? Are not Egyptian Serpents all purely Nilotic? The +metaphysical idea of the Cosmogonical Serpent may be one and the same; but +does not the zoological diversity of representation prove that America, +three thousand years ago, could have no possible intercourse with Egypt, +Phoenicia, or _vice versa_? + +"Such being the only values attached to Serpents and eggs in Egyptian +hieroglyphics it is arduous to speculate whether an esoteric significance +did or did not exist between those emblems in the, to us, unknown +Cosmogony of the Theban and Memphite Colleges. I, too, could derive +inferences and deduce analogies between the attributes of the God Knuphis, +or the God Ptha, and the 'Mundane Egg' recorded by Eusebius, Jamblichus, +and a wilderness of classical authorities, but I fear with no very +satisfactory result. It is, however, due to Mr. Bonomi, to cite his +language on this subject. Speaking of the colossal statue of Rameses +Sesostris at Metraheni, in a paper read before the Royal Society of +Literature, London, June, 1845, he observes, 'There is one more +consideration connected with the hieroglyphics of the great oval of the +belt, though not affecting the preceding argument; it is the oval or egg +which occurs between the figure of Ptha and the staff of which the usual +signification is Son or Child, but which by a kind of two-fold meaning, +common in the details of sculpture of this period (the 18th or 19th +Dynasty, say B.C. 1500 or 1200), I am inclined to believe refers also to +the myth or doctrine preserved in the writings of the Greek authors, as +belonging to Vulcan and said to be derived from Egypt, viz., the doctrine +of the Mundane Egg. Now, although in no Egyptian sculpture of the remote +period of this statue has there been found any allusion to this doctrine, +it is most distinctly hinted at in one of the age of the Ptolomies; and I +am inclined to think it was imported from the East by Sesostris, where, in +confirmation of its existence at a very remote period. I would quote the +existence of those egg-shaped basaltic stones, embossed with various +devices and covered with cuneatic inscriptions, which are brought from +some of the ancient cities of Mesopotamia. + +"In respect to your final inquiry, I may observe that I can produce +nothing from the hieroglyphics to connect, directly, Phallic Worship with +the solar emblem of the Serpent. In Semitic tongues, the same root +signifies Serpent and Phallus; both in different senses are solar +emblems." + +In the Orphic Theogony a similar origin is ascribed to the egg, from which +springs "the Egg-born Protogones," the Greek counterpart of the Egyptian +Phtha. The egg in this instance also proceeds from the pre-eminent Unity, +the Serpent God, the "Incomparable Cronus," or Hercules. (Bryant, quoting +Athenagoras, observes--"Hercules was esteemed the chief god, the same as +Cronus, and was said to have produced the Mundane Egg. He is represented +in the Orphic Theology, under the mixed symbol of a lion and a serpent, +and sometimes of a serpent only.") + +Cronus was originally esteemed the Supreme, as is manifest from his being +called Il or Ilus, which is the same with the Hebrew El and, according to +St. Jerome, one of the ten names of God. Damascius, in the life of +Isidorus, mentions distinctly that Cronus was worshipped under the name of +El, who, according to Sanchoniathon, had no one superior or antecedent to +himself. + +Brahm, Cronus, and Kneph each represented the mystical union of the +reciprocal or active and passive principles. Most, if not all, the +primitive nations recognised this Supreme Unity, although they did not all +assign him a name. He was the Creator of Gods, who were the Demiurgs of +the Universe, the creators of all rational beings, angels and men, and the +architects of the world. + +The early writers exhaust language in endeavours to express the lofty +character and attributes, and the superlative power and dignity of this +great Unity, the highest conception of which man is capable. He is spoken +of in the sacred book of the Hindus as the "Almighty, infinite, eternal, +incomprehensible, self-existent Being; he who see everything, though never +seen; he who is not to be compassed by description; he from whom the +universe proceeds; who reigns supreme, the light of all lights; whose +power is too infinite to be imagined; is Brahm, the One Being, True and +Unknown."[7] + +The supreme God of Gods of the Hindus was less frequently expressed by the +name Brahm than by the mystical syllable =O'M=, which corresponded to the +Hebrew Jehovah. Strange as the remark may seem to most minds, it is +nevertheless true, that the fundamental principles of the Hindu religion +were those of pure Monotheism, the worship of one supreme and only God. +Brahm was regarded as too mighty to be named; and, while his symbolized or +personified attributes were adored in gorgeous temples, not one was +erected to him. The holiest verse of the Vedas is paraphrased as follows: + +"Perfect truth; perfect happiness; without equal; immortal; absolute +unity; whom neither speech can describe nor mind comprehend; +all-pervading; all-transcending; delighted by his own boundless +intelligence, not limited by space or time; without feet, moving swiftly; +without hands, grasping all worlds; without ears, all-hearing, +understanding all; without cause, the first of all causes; all-ruling; +all-powerful; the Creator, Preserver, and Transformer of all things; such +is the Great One, Brahm." + +The character and power of Kneph are indicated in terms no less lofty and +comprehensive than those applied to the omnipotent Brahm. He is described +in the ancient Hermetic books as the "first God, immovable in the solitude +of his Unity, the fountain of all things, the root of all primary, +intelligible, existing forms, the God of Gods, before the etherial and +empyrean Gods and the celestial." + +In America this great Unity, this God of Gods, was equally recognised. In +Mexico as Teotl, "he who is all in himself" (Tloque Nahuaque); in Peru as +Varicocha, the "Soul of the Universe"; in Central America and Yucatan as +Stunah Ku or Hunab Ku, "God of Gods, the incorporeal origin of all +things." And as the Supreme Brahm of the Hindus, "whose name was +unutterable," was worshipped under no external form and had neither +temples nor altars erected to him, so the Supreme Teotl and the +corresponding Varicocha and Hunab Ku, "whose names," says the Spanish +conquerors, "were spoken only with extreme dread," were without an image +or an outward form of worship for the reason, according to the same +authorities, that each was regarded as the Invisible and Unknown God. + +The Mundane Egg, received as a symbol of original, passive, unorganized, +formless nature, became associated, in conformity with primitive notions, +with other symbols referring to the creative force or vitalizing +influence. Thus in the Hindu cosmogany Brahma is represented, after long +inertia, as arranging the passive elements, "creating the world and all +visible things." Under the form of the emblematic bull the generative +energy was represented breaking the quiescent egg. Encircled by the folds +of the agatho-demon, a type of the active principle, it was suspended +aloft at the temples of Tyre. For the serpent, like the bull, was an +emblem of the sun or of the attributes of that luminary--itself the +celestial emblem of the "Universal Father," the procreative power of +nature. "Everywhere," says Faber, "we find the great father exhibiting +himself in the form of a serpent, and everywhere we find the serpent +invested with the attributes of the Great Father and partaking of the +honours which were paid him."[8] + +Under this view, therefore, we may regard the compound symbol of the +serpent and the egg, though specifically allusive to the general creation, +as an illustration of the doctrine of the reciprocal principles which, as +we have already seen, enters largely into the entire fabric of primitive +philosophy and mythology. + +Thus have we shewn that the grand conception of a Supreme Unity and the +doctrine of the reciprocal principles existed in America in a well defined +and easily recognised form. + +Our present inquiry relates to the symbols by which they were represented +in both continents. That these were not usually arbitrary, but resulted +from associations, generally of an obvious kind, will be readily +admitted. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + _The Sun and Fire as emblems--The Serpent and the Sun--Taut and the + Serpent--Horapollo and the Serpent symbol--Sanchoniathon and the + Serpent--Ancient Mysteries of Osiris, &c.--Rationale of the connection + of Solar, Phallic, and Serpent Worship--The Aztec Pantheon--Mexican + Gods--The Snake in Mexican Mythology--The Great Father and + Mother--Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent--Researches of Stephens + and Catherwood--Discoveries of Mr. Stephens._ + + +That fire should be taken to be the physical, of what the sun is the +celestial emblem, is sufficiently apparent; we can readily understand also +how the bull, the goat, or ram, the phallus, and other symbols should have +the same import; also how naturally and almost inevitably and universally +the sun came to symbolize the active principle, the vivifying power, and +how obviously the egg symbolized the passive elements of nature, but how +the serpent came to possess, as a symbol, a like significance with these +is not so obvious. That it did so, however, cannot be doubted, and the +proofs will appear as we proceed; likewise that it sometimes symbolized +the great hermaphrodite first principle, the Supreme Unity of the Greeks +and Egyptians. + +Although generally, it did not always symbolize the sun, or the power of +which the sun is an emblem; but, invested with various meanings, it +entered widely into the primitive mythologies. It typified wisdom, power, +duration, the good and evil principles, life, reproduction--in short, in +Egypt, Syria, Greece, India, China, Scandinavia, America, everywhere in +the globe it has been a prominent emblem. In the somewhat poetical +language of a learned author, "It entered into the mythology of every +nation, consecrated almost every temple, symbolized almost every deity, +was imagined in the heavens, stamped on the earth, and ruled in the realms +of everlasting sorrow." Its general acceptance seems to have been remarked +at a very early period. It arrested the attention of the ancient sages, +who assigned a variety of reasons for its adoption, founded upon the +natural history of the reptile. Among these speculations, none are more +curious than those preserved by Sanchoniathon, who says:--"Taut first +attributed something of the Divine nature to the Serpent, in which he was +followed by the Phoenicians and Egyptians. For this animal was esteemed +by him to be the most inspirited of all reptiles, and of a fiery nature, +inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit, +without hands or feet, or any of the external members by which the other +animals effect their motion; and, in its progress, it assumes a variety of +forms, moving in a spiral course, and darting forward with whatever degree +of swiftness it pleases." + +It is, moreover, long lived, and has the quality not only of putting off +its old age, and assuming a second youth, but of receiving at the same +time an augmentation of its size and strength; and when it has filled the +appointed measure of its existence, it consumes itself, as Taut has laid +down in the Sacred Books, upon which account this animal is received into +the sacred rites and mysteries. + +Horapollo, referring to the serpent symbol, says of it:--"When the +Egyptians would represent the Universe they delineate a serpent bespeckled +with variegated scales, devouring its own tail, the scales intimating the +stars in the Universe. The animal is extremely heavy, as is the earth, and +extremely slippery like the water, moreover, it every year puts off its +old age with its skin, as in the Universe the annual period effects a +corresponding change and becomes renovated, and the making use of its own +body for food implies that all things whatever, which are generated by +divine providence in the world, undergo a corruption into them again." + +Nothing is more certain than that the serpent at a very remote period was +regarded with high veneration as the most mysterious of living creatures. +Its habits were imperfectly understood, and it was invested, as we +perceive from the above quotations, with the most extraordinary qualities. +Alike the object of fear, admiration, and wonder, it is not surprising +that it became early connected with man's superstitions, but how it +obtained so general a predominance it is difficult to understand. + +Perhaps there is no circumstance in the natural history of the serpent +more striking than that alluded to by Sanchoniathon, viz.: the annual +sloughing of its skin, or supposed rejuvenation. + + "As an old serpent casts his sealy vest, + Wreaths in the sun, in youthful glory dressed, + So when Alcides' mortal mould resign'd, + His better part enlarged, and grew refin'd."--OVID. + +It was probably this which connected it with the idea of an eternal +succession of forms, constant reproduction and dissolution, a process +which was supposed by the ancients to have been for ever going on in +nature. This doctrine is illustrated in the notion of a succession of Ages +which prevailed among the Greeks, corresponding to the Yugs of the Hindus, +and Suns of the aboriginal Mexicans. It is further illustrated by the +annual dissolution and renovation exhibited, in the succession of the +seasons, and which was supposed to result from the augmentation and +decline of the active principle, the Sun. + +The mysteries of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, in Egypt; Atys and Cybele, in +Phrygia; Ceres and Proserpine, at Eleusis; of Venus and Adonis in +Phoenicia; of Bona Dea, and Priapus, in Rome, are all susceptible of one +explanation. They all set forth and illustrated, by solemn and impressive +rites and mystical symbols, the grand phenomena of nature, especially as +connected with the creation of things and the perpetuation of life. In +all, it is worthy of remark, the serpent was more or less conspicuously +introduced, always as symbolical of the invigorating or active energy of +nature. In the mysteries of Ceres and Proserpine, the grand secret +communicated to the initiated was thus enigmatically expressed: _Taurus +Draconem genuit, et Taurum Draco_; "The bull has begotten a serpent, and +the serpent a bull." The bull, as already seen, was a prominent emblem of +generative force, the Bacchus Zagreus, or Tauriformis. + +The doctrine of an unending succession of forms was not remotely connected +with that of regeneration, or new birth, which was part of the phallic +system, and which was recognised in a form more or less distinct in nearly +all the primitive religions. In Hindustan, this doctrine is still enforced +in the most unequivocal manner, through the medium of rites of portentous +solemnity and significance to the devotees of the Hindu religion. "For the +purpose of regeneration," says Wilford, "it is directed to make an image +of pure gold of the female powers of nature in the shape of either a woman +or a cow. In this statue the person to be regenerated is enclosed, and +afterwards dragged out through the usual channel. As a statue of pure +gold, and of proper dimensions would be too expensive, it is sufficient to +make an image of the sacred Yoni, through which the person to be +regenerated is to pass." + +We have seen the serpent as a symbol of productive energy associated with +the egg as a symbol of the passive elements of nature. The egg does not, +however, appear except in the earlier cosmogonies. "As the male serpent," +says Faber, "was employed to symbolize the Great Father, so the female +serpent was equally used to typify the Great Mother. Such a mode of +representation may be proved by express testimony, and is wholly agreeable +to the analogy of the entire system of Gentile mythology. In the same +manner that the two great parents were worshipped under the hieroglyphics +of a bull and cow, a lion and lioness, &c., so they were adored under the +cognate figures of a male and female serpent." + +Nearly every inquirer into the primitive superstitions of men has observed +a close relationship, if not an absolute identity, in what are usually +distinguished as Solar, Phallic, and Serpent Worship, yet the _rationale_ +of the connection has been rarely detected. They really are all forms of a +single worship. "If (as it seems certain) they all three be identical," +observes Mr. O'Brien, "where is the occasion for surprise at our meeting +the sun, phallus, and serpent, the constituent symbols of each, occurring +in combination, embossed upon the same table, and grouped upon the same +architrave." + +We turn again to America. The principal God of the Aztecs, subordinate to +the great Unity, was the impersonation of the active, creative energy, +Tezcatlipoca or Tonacatlecoatl. He was also called Tonacatenctli. + +Like the Hindu Brahma, the Greek Phanes, and the Egyptian Phtha, he was +the "Creator of heaven and earth," "the Great Father," "the God of +Providence," who dwells in heaven, earth, and hades, and attends to the +government of the world. To denote this unfailing power and eternal youth, +his figure was that of a young man. His celestial emblem was Tonatiuh, the +Sun. His companion or wife was Cihuacohuatl or Tonaeacihua, "the Great +Mother" both of gods and men. + +The remaining gods and goddesses of the Aztec Pantheon resolve themselves +into modified impersonations of these two powers. Thus, we have Ometuctli +and Omecihuatl, the adorable god and goddess who preside over the +celestial paradise, and which, though generally supposed to be distinct +divinities, are, nevertheless, according to the Codex Vaticanus, but other +names for the deities already designated. We have also Xiuhteuctli, +"Master of the Year," "the God of Fire," the terrestrial symbol of the +active principle, and Xochitli, "the Goddess of Earth and Corn;" Tlaloc +and Cinteotl, or Chalchiuhcueije, "the god and goddess of the waters;" +Mictlanteuctli and Mictlancihuatl, "the god and goddess of the dead;" the +terrible Mexitli or Huitzlipochtli, corresponding to the Hindu Siva, in +his character of destroyer, and his wife Teoyamiqui, whose image, like +that of Kali, the consort of Siva, was decorated with the combined emblems +of life and death. + +In the simple mythology and pure Sabianism of Peru, we have already shown +the existence of the primeval principles symbolized, the first by the Sun +and the second by his wife and sister the Moon. That the sun was here +regarded as symbolizing the intermediate father, or demiurgic creator, +cannot be doubted. The great and solemn feast of Raimi was instituted in +acknowledgment of the Sun as the great father of all visible things, by +whom all living things are generated and sustained. The ceremonies of this +feast were emblematical, and principally referred to the sun as the +reproductive and preserving power of nature. In Mexico, where the +primitive religion partook of the fiercer nature of the people, we find +the Raimaic ceremonies assuming a sanguinary character, and the +acknowledgment of the reproductive associated with the propitiation of its +antagonist principle, as we see in the orgies of Huitzlipochtli in his +character of the Destroyer. The same remarks hold true of Central America, +the religion and mythology of which country correspond essentially with +those of the nations of Anahuac. + +We have said that the principal god of the Aztec pantheon, subordinate +only to the Unity and corresponding to the Hindu Brahma, was Tezcatlipoca, +Tonacatlecoalt, or Tonacateuctli. If we consult the etymology of these +names we shall find ample confirmation of the correctness of the +deductions already drawn from the mythologies of the East. Thus +Tonacateuctli embodied Lord Sun from Tonatiuh, Sun, _nacayo_ or catl, body +or person, and teuctli, master or lord. Again, Tonacatlcoatl, the Serpent +Sun, from Tonctiah and catl, as above, and coatl, serpent. If we adopt +another etymology for the names (and that which seems to have been most +generally accepted by the early writers) we shall have Tonacateuctli, Lord +of our Flesh, from to, the possessive pronoun plural, nacatl, flesh or +body, and teuctli, master or lord. We shall also have Tonacatlecoatl, +Serpent of our Flesh, from to and nacatl, and coatl, serpent. + +According to Sahagim, Tezcatlipoca, in his character of the God of Hosts, +was addressed as follows by the Mexican High Priest:--"We entreat that +those who die in war may be received by thee, our Father the Sun, and our +Mother the Earth, for thou alone reignest." The same authority informs us +that in the prayer of thanks, returned to Tezcatlipoca by the Mexican +kings on the occasion of their coronation, God was recognised as the God +of Fire, to whom Xiuthteuctli, Lord of Vegetation, and specifically Lord +of Fire, bears the same relation that Suyra does to the first person of +the Hindu Triad. The king petitions that he may act "in conformity with +the will of the ancient God, the Father of all Gods, who is the God of +Fire; whose habitation is in the midst of the waters, encompassed by +battlements, surrounded by rocks as it were with roses, whose name is +Xiuteuctli," etc. + +Tonacateuctli, or Tezcatlipoca, is often, not to say generally, both on +the monuments and in the paintings, represented as surrounded by a disc of +the sun. + +The name of the primitive goddess, the wife of Tezcatlipoca, was +Cihuacohuatl or Tonacacihua. She was well known by other names, all +referring to her attributes. The etymology of Cihuacohuatl is clearly +Cihua, woman or female, and coatl, serpent--Female Serpent. And +Tonacacihua is Female Sun, from Tonatiuh nacatl (as before) and cihua, +woman or female. Adopting the other etymology, it is Woman of our Flesh. + +Gama, who is said to be by far the most intelligent author who has treated +with any detail of the Mexican Gods, referring to the serpent symbols +belonging to the statue of Teoyaomiqui, says--"These refer to another +Goddess named Cihuacohuatl, or Female Serpent, which the Mexicans believe +gave to the light, at a single birth, two children, one male and the other +female, to whom they refer the origin of mankind: and hence twins, among +the Mexicans, are called cohuatl or coatl, which is corrupted in the +pronunciation by the vulgar into coate." + +Whichever etymology we assign to Tonaca in these combinations, the leading +fact that the Great Father was designated as the male serpent, and the +Great Mother as the female servant, remains unaffected. Not only were they +thus designated, but Cinacoatl or Cihuacohuatl was generally if not always +represented, in the paintings, accompanied by a great snake or +feather-headed serpent (Tonacatlecoatl "serpent sun") in which the monkish +interpreters did not fail to discover a palpable allusion to Eve and the +tempter of the garden. + +Pursuing the subject of the connection of the Serpent Symbol with American +Mythology, we remark, the fact that it was a conspicuous symbol and could +not escape the attention of the most superficial of observers of the +Mexican and Central American monuments, and mythological paintings. The +early Spaniards were particularly struck with its prominence. + +"The snake," says Dupaix, "was a conspicuous object in the Mexican +mythology, and we find it carved in various shapes and sizes, coiled, +extended, spiral or entwined with great beauty, and sometimes represented +with feathers and other ornaments. These different representatives," he +continues, "no doubt denoted its different attributes." + +The editor of Kingsborough's great work observes:--"Like the Egyptian +Sphynx, the mystical snake of the Mexicans had its enigmas, and both are +beyond our power to unravel;" this, however, is a matter of opinion, and +the conclusion is one from which many will strongly dissent. + +In almost every primitive mythology we find, not only a Great Father and +Mother, the representatives of the reciprocal principles, and a Great +Hemaphrodite Unity from whom the first proceed and in whom they are both +combined, but we find also a beneficial character, partaking of a divine +and human nature, who is the Great Teacher of Men, who instructs them in +religion, civil organization and the arts, and who, after a life of +exemplary usefulness, disappears mysteriously, leaving his people +impressed with the highest respect for his institutions and the +profoundest regard for his memory. This demi-god, to whom divine honours +are often paid after his withdrawal from the earth, is usually the Son of +the Sun, or of the Demiurgic Creator, the Great Father, who stands at the +head of the primitive pantheons and subordinate only to the Supreme Unity; +he is born of an earthly mother, a virgin, and often a vestal of the Sun, +who conceives in a mysterious manner, and who, after giving birth to her +half-divine son, is herself sometimes elevated to the rank of a goddess. +In the more refined and systematized mythologies he appears clearly as an +incarnation of the Great Father and partaking of his attributes, his +terrestial representative, and the mediator between him and man. He +appears as Buddha in India; Fohi in China; Schaka in Thibet; Zoroasta in +Persia; Osiris in Egypt; Taut in Phoenicia; Hermes or Cadmus in Greece; +Romulus in Rome; Odin in Scandinavia; and in each case is regarded as the +Great Teacher of Men, and the founder of religion. + +In the mythological systems of America, this intermediate demi-god was not +less clearly recognised than in those of the Old World; indeed, as these +systems were less complicated because less modified from the original or +primitive forms, the Great Teacher appears here with more distinctness. +Among the savage tribes his origin and character were, for obvious +reasons, much confused; but among the more advanced nations he occupied a +well-defined position. + +Among the nations of Anahuac, he bore the name of Quetzalcoatl (Feathered +Serpent) and was regarded with the highest veneration. His festivals were +the most gorgeous of the year. To him it is said the great temple of +Cholula was dedicated. His history, drawn from various sources, is as +follows:--The god of the "Milky Way"--in other words, of Heaven--the +principal deity of the Aztec Pantheon, and the Great Father of gods and +men, sent a message to a virgin of Tulan, telling her that it was the will +of the gods that she should conceive a son, which she did without knowing +any man. This son was Quetzalcoatl, who was figured as tall, of fair +complexion, open forehead, large eyes and a thick beard. He became high +priest of Tulan, introducted the worship of the gods, established laws +displaying the profoundest wisdom, regulated the calendar, and maintained +the most rigid and exemplary manners in his life. He was averse to +cruelty, abhorred war, and taught men to cultivate the soil, to reduce +metal from their ores, and many other things necessary to their welfare. +Under his benign administration the widest happiness prevailed amongst +men. The corn grew to such a size that a single ear was a load for a man; +gourds were as long as a man's body; it was unnecessary to dye cotton for +it grew of all colours; all fruits were in the greatest profusion and of +extraordinary size; there were also vast numbers of beautiful and sweet +singing birds. His reign was the golden age of Anahuac. He however +disappeared suddenly and mysteriously, in what manner is unknown. Some say +he died on the sea-shore, and others say that he wandered away in search +of the imaginary kingdom of Tlallapa. He was deified; temples were erected +to him, and he was adored throughout Anahuac. + +Quetzalcoatl is, therefore, but an incarnation of the "Serpent Sun" +Tonacatlecoalt, and, as is indicated by his name, the feathered serpent +was his recognised symbol. He was thus symbolized in accordance with a +practice which (says Gama) prevailed in Mexico, of associating or +connecting with the representatives of a god or goddess, the symbols of +the other deities from whom they are derived, or to whom they sustain +some relation. His temples were distinguished as being circular, and the +one dedicated to his worship in Mexico, was, according to Gomera, entered +by a door "like unto the mouth of a serpent, which was a thing to fear by +those who went in thereat, especially by the Christians, to whom it +represented very hell." + +The Mayas of Yucatan had a demi-god corresponding entirely with +Quetzalcoatl, if he was not the same under a different name--a conjecture +very well sustained by the evident relationship between the Mexican and +Mayan mythologies. He was named Itzamna or Zamna, and was the only son of +the principal God, Kinchanan. He arrived from the East, and instructed the +people in all that was essential to their welfare. "He," says Cogolludo, +"invented the characters which they use as letters, and which are called +after him, Itzamna, and they adore him as a god." + +There was another similar character in Yucatan, called Ku Kulcan or +Cuculcan, another in Nicaragua named Theotbilake, son of their principal +god Thomathoyo, and another in Colombia bearing the name of Bochia. Peru +and Guatemala furnish similar traditions, as do also Brazil, the nations +of the Tamanac race, Florida, and various savage tribes of the West. + +The serpent, as we show elsewhere, was an emblem both of Quetzalcoatl and +of Ku Kulcan--a fact which gives some importance to the statement of +Cabrera that Votan of Guatemala as above was represented to be a serpent, +or of serpent origin. + +Torquemada states, that the images of Huitzlipochtli of Mexico, +Quetzalcoatl, and Tlaloc were each represented with a golden serpent, +bearing different symbolical sacrificial allusions. He also assures us +that serpents often entered into the symbolical sacrificial ceremonies of +the Mexicans, and presents the following example:-- + +"Among the many sacrifices which these Indians made, there was one which +they performed in honour of the mountains, by forming serpents out of wood +or of the roots of the trees, to which they affixed serpents' heads, and +also dolls of the same, which they called Ecatotowin, which figures of +serpents and fictitious children they covered with dough, named by them +Tzoalli, composed of the seeds of Bledos, and placed them on supports of +wood, carved in the representation of hills or mountains, on the tops of +which they fixed them. This was the kind of offering which they made to +the mountains and high hills." + +The mother of Huitzlipochtli was a priestess of Tezcatlipoca (a cleanser +of the temple, says Gama) named Coatlantona, Coatlcue, or Coatlcyue +(serpent of the temple or serpent woman). She was extremely devoted to the +gods, and one day when walking in the temple, she beheld, descending in +the air, a ball made of variously coloured feathers. She placed it in her +girdle, became at once pregnant, and afterwards was delivered of Mexith or +Huitzlipochtli, full armed, with a spear in one hand, a shield in the +other, and a crest of green feathers on his head. He became, according to +some, their leader into Anahuac, guiding them to the place where Mexico is +built. His statue was of gigantic size, and covered with ornaments each +one of which had its significance. He was depicted placed upon a seat, +from the four corners of which issued four large serpents. "His body," +says Gomeza, "was beset with pearls, precious stones and gold, and for +collars and chains around his neck ten hearts of men made of gold. It had +also a counterfeit vizard, with eyes of glass, and in its neck death +painted, all of which things had their considerations and meanings." It +was to him in his divine character of the destroyer that the bloodiest +sacrifices of Mexico were performed. His wife, Teoyaomiqui (from Teo, +sacred or divine; Yaoyotl, war; and Miqui, to kill) was represented as a +figure bearing the full breasts of a woman, literally enveloped in +serpents, and ornamented with feathers, shells, and the teeth and claws of +a tiger. She had a necklace composed of six hands. Around her waist is a +belt to which death's heads are attached. One of her statues, a horrible +figure, still exists in the city of Mexico. It is carved from a solid +block of vasalt, and is nine feet in height and five and a half in +breadth. + +It is not improbable that the serpent-mother of Huitzlipochtli was an +impersonation of the great female serpent Cinacohuatl, the wife of +Tonacatlecoatl, the serpent-father of Quetzalcoatl. However this may be, +it is clear that a more intimate connection exists between the several +principal divinities of Mexico, than appears from the confused and meagre +accounts which have been left us of their mythology. Indeed, we have seen +that the Hindu Triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, has very nearly its +counterpart in Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc, and the celestial Huitzlipochtli, the +Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer and Reproducer. In the delineations of +Siva or Mahadeo, in his character of the destroyer, he is represented as +wrapped in tiger skins. A hooded snake is twisted around him and lifts its +head above his shoulder, and twisted snakes form his head-dress. In other +cases he holds a spear, a sword, a serpent, and a skull, and has a girdle +of skulls around his waist. The bull Nandi (emblem of generative force), +as also the lingham, are among his emblems. To him were dedicated the +bloodiest sacrifices of India. Durga, or Kali (an impersonation of Bhavin, +goddess of nature and fecundity) corresponds with the Mexican Tesyaomiqui, +and is represented in a similar manner. She is a war goddess and her +martial deeds give her a high position in the Hindu pantheon. As Kali, her +representatives are most terrible. The emblems of destruction are common +to all: she is entwined with serpents; a circlet of flowers surrounds her +head; a necklace of skulls; a girdle of dissevered human hands; tigers +crouching at her feet--indeed every combination of the horrible and the +loathsome is invoked to portray the dark character which she represents. +She delights in human sacrifices and the ritual prescribes that, previous +to the death of the victim, she should be invoked as follows: "Let the +sacrificer first repeat the name of Kali thrice, Hail, Kali! Kali! Hail, +Devi! Hail, Goddess of Thunder! iron-sceptered, hail, fierce Kali! Cut, +slay, destroy! bind, secure! Cut with the axe, drink blood, slay, +destroy!" "She has four hands," says Patterson, "two of which are employed +in the work of death; one points downwards, allusive to the destruction +which surrounds her, and the other upwards, which seems to promise the +regeneration of nature by a new creation." "On her festivals," says +Coleman, "her temples literally stream with blood." As Durga, however, she +is often represented as the patroness of Virtue and her battles with evil +demons form the subject of many Hindu poems. She is under this aspect the +armed Phallas. + +We have seen that the Creator of the World, the Great Father of the +Aztecs, Tonacatlecoatl or Tezcatlipoca, and his wife Cihuacohuatl, were +not only symbolized as the Sun and Moon, but also that they were +designated as the male and female serpent, and that in the mythological +pictures the former was represented as a feather-headed snake. We have +also seen that the incarnate or human representative of this deity +Quetzalcoatl, was also symbolized as a feathered serpent. This was in +accordance with the system of the Aztecs, who represented cognate symbols, +and invested the impersonations or descendants of the greater gods with +their emblems. + +These facts being well established, many monuments of American antiquity, +otherwise inexplicable, become invested with significance. In Mexico, +unfortunately, the monumental records of the ancient inhabitants have +been so ruthlessly destroyed or obliterated that now they afford us but +little aid in our researches. Her ancient paintings, although there are +some which have escaped the general devastation, are principally beyond +our reach and cannot be consulted particularly upon these points. In +Central America, however, we find many remains which, although in a ruined +state, are much more complete and much more interesting than any others +concerning which we possess any certain information. + +The researches and explorations of Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood have +placed many of these before us in a form which enables us to detect their +leading features. Ranking first among the many interesting groups of ruins +discovered by these gentlemen, both in respect to their extent and +character, are those of Chichen-itza. One of the structures comprising +this group is described as follows:--"The building called the Castillo is +the first which we saw, and is, from every point of view, the grandest and +most conspicuous object that towers above the plain. The mound upon which +it stands measures one hundred and ninety-seven feet at the base, and is +built up, apparently solid, to the height of seventy-five feet. On the +west side is a stairway thirty-seven feet wide; on the north another, +forty-four feet wide, and containing ninety steps. On the ground at the +foot of the stairway, forming a bold, striking, and well-conceived +commencement, are two collossal serpents' heads (feathered) ten feet in +length, with mouths wide open and tongues protruding." + +"No doubt they were emblematic of some religious belief, and, in the minds +of the imaginative people passing between them, must have excited feelings +of solemn awe. The platform on the mound is about sixty feet square and is +crowned by a building measuring forty-three by forty-nine feet. Single +doorways face the east, south and west, having massive lentils of zapote +wood, covered with elaborate carvings, and the jambs are ornamented with +sculptured figures. The sculpture is much worn, but the head-dress of +feathers and portions of the rich attire still remain. The face is well +preserved and has a dignified aspect. All the other jambs are decorated +with sculptures of the same general character, and all open into a +corridor six feet wide, extending around three sides of the building. The +interior of this building was ornamented with very elaborate but much +obliterated carvings. + +"The sacred character of this remarkable structure is apparent at the +first glance, and it is equally obvious that the various sculptures must +have some significance. The entrance between the two colossal serpents' +heads remind us at once of Gomera's description of the entrance to the +temple of Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, which 'was like unto the mouth of a +serpent and which was a thing to fear by those who entered in thereat.'" + +The circumstance that these heads are feathered seems further to connect +this temple with the worship of that divinity. But in the figures +sculptured upon the jambs of the entrances, and which, Mr. Stephens +observes, were of the same general character throughout, we have further +proof that this structure was dedicated to a serpent divinity. Let it be +remembered that the dignified personage there represented is accompanied +by a feathered serpent, the folds of which are gracefully arrayed behind +the figure and the tail of which is marked by the rattles of the +rattle-snake--the distinguishing mark of the monumental serpent of the +continent, whether represented in the carvings of the mounds or in the +sculptures of Central America. This temple, we may therefore reasonably +infer, was sacred to the benign Quetzalcoatl, or a character corresponding +to him, whose symbolical serpent guarded the ascent to the summit, and +whose imposing representation was sculptured on its portals. This +inference is supported by the fact that in Mexican paintings the temples +of Quetzalcoatl are indicated by a serpent entwined around or rising above +them, as may be seen in an example from the Codex Borgianus in +Kingsborough. + +But this is not all. We have already said that amongst the Itzaes--"holy +men"--the founders of Chichen-itza and afterwards of Mayapan, there was a +character, corresponding in many respects with Quetzalcoatl, named Ku +Kulcan or Cuculcan. Torquemada, quoted by Cogolludo, asserts that this was +but another name for Quetzalcoatl. Cogolludo himself speaks of Ku Kulcan +as "one who had been a great captain among them," and was afterwards +worshipped as a god. Herrara states that he ruled at Chichen-itza; that +all agreed that he came from the westward, but that a difference exists as +to whether he came before or afterwards or with the Itzaes. "But" he adds, +"the name of the structure at Chichen-itza and the events of that country +after the death of the lords, shows that Cuculcan governed with them. He +was a man of good disposition, not known to have had wife or children, a +great statesman, and therefore looked upon as a god, he having contrived +to build another city in which business might be managed. To this purpose +they pitched upon a spot eight leagues from Merida, where they made an +enclosure of about an eighth of a league in circuit, being a wall of dry +stone with only two gates. They built temples, calling the greatest of +them Cuculcan. Near the enclosures were the houses of the prime men, among +whom Cuculcan divided the land, appointing towns to each of them. + +"This city was called Mayapan (the standard of Maya), the Mayan being the +language of the country. Cuculcan governed in peace and quietness and with +great justice for some years, when, having provided for his departure and +recommended to them the good form of government which had been +established, he returned to Mexico the same way he came, making some stay +at Chanpotan, where, as a memorial of his journey, he erected a structure +in the sea, which is to be seen to this day."[9] + +We have here the direct statement that the principal structure at Mayapan +was called Cuculcan; and from the language of Herrara the conclusion is +irresistible that the principal structure of Chichen-itza was also called +by the same name. These are extremely interesting facts, going far to show +that the figure represented in the "Castillo," and which we have +identified upon other evidence as being that of a personage corresponding +to Quetzalcoatl, is none other than the figure of the demi-god Ku Kulcan, +or Cuculcan, to whose worship the temple was dedicated and after whom it +was named. + +If we consult the etymology of the name Ku Kulcan we shall have further +and striking evidence in support of this conclusion. _Ku_ in the Mayan +language means God, and _can_ serpent. We have, then, Ku _Kul_can, +God--_Kul_, Serpent, or Serpent-God. What _Kul_ signifies it is not +pretended to say, but we may reasonably conjecture that it is a qualifying +word to _can_ serpent. _Kukum_ is feather, and it is possible that by +being converted into an adjective form it may change its termination into +Kukul. The etymology may therefore be Kukumcan Feather-Serpent, or +Kukulcan Feathered Serpent. We, however, repose on the first explanation, +and unhesitatingly hazard the opinion that, when opportunity is afforded +of ascertaining the value of _Kul_, the correctness of our conclusions +will be fully justified. + +And here we may also add that the etymology of Kinchahan, the name of the +principal god of the Mayas and corresponding to Tonacatlcoatl of Mexico, +is precisely the same as that of the latter. _Kin_ is Sun in the Mayan +language, and _Chahan_, as every one acquainted with the Spanish +pronunciation well knows, is nothing more than a variation in orthography +for _Caeaen_ or _Can_, serpent. Kin Chahan, Kincaan, or Kincan is, +therefore, Sun-serpent. + +The observation that Quetzalcoatl might be regarded as the incarnation of +Tezcatlipoca, or Tonacatlcoatl, corresponding to the Buddha of the Hindus, +was based upon the coincidences in their origin, character, and teachings, +but there are some remarkable coincidences between the temples dedicated +to the worship of these two great teachers--or perhaps we should say, +between the religious structures of Central America and Mexico and +Hindustan and the islands of the Indian Archipelago, which deserve +attention. + +From the top of the lofty temple at Chichen-itza, just described, Mr. +Stephens saw, for the first time, groups of columns or upright stones +which, he observes, proved upon examination to be among the most +remarkable and unintelligible remains he had yet encountered. "They stood +in rows of three, four and five abreast, many rows continuing in the same +direction, when they collectively changed and pursued another. They were +low, the tallest not more than six feet high. Many had fallen, in some +places lying prostrate in rows, all in the same direction, as if thrown +intentionally. In some cases they extended to the bases of large mounds, +on which were ruins of buildings and large fragments of sculptures, while +in others they branched off and terminated abruptly. I counted three +hundred and eighty, and there were many more; but so many were broken and +lay so irregularly that I gave up counting them." + +Those represented by Mr. Stephens, in his plate, occur in immediate +connection with the temple above described, and enclose an area nearly +four hundred feet square. + +In the third volume of the "Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society" is +an account of the mixed temples of the ancient city of Anarajapura +(situated in the centre of the island of Ceylon) by Captain Chapman, of +the British Army. The remarkable character of these ancient structures and +the decided resemblances which they sustain to those of Central America, +and particularly to the group of Chichen-itza, justify a somewhat detailed +notice of them. + +According to native records, Anarajapura was, for a period of thirteen +hundred years, both the principal seat of the religion of the country and +the residence of its kings. It abounded in magnificent buildings, +sculptures and other works of art, and was, as it still is, held in the +greatest veneration by the followers of Buddha as the most sacred spot in +the island. + +"At this time," says Captain Chapman, "the only remaining traces of the +city consist of nine temples; of two very extensive banks; of several +smaller ones in ruins; of groups of pillars, and of portions of walls, +which are scattered over an extent of several miles. The nine temples are +still held in great reverence, and are visited periodically by the +Buddhists. They consist first of an enclosure, in which are the sacred +trees called the Bogaha; the Thousand Pillars called Lowa Maha Paya; and +the seven mounds or Dagobas, each one of which has a distinct name given +it by its founder." + +The temple of Bo Malloa, especially sacred to Buddha, is of granite and +consists of a series of four rectangular terraces, faced with granite, +rising out of each other and diminishing both in height and extent, upon +which are situated the altars and the sacred Bogaha trees, or trees of +Buddha. The total height of the terraces is about twenty feet and the +extent of the largest thirty paces by fifteen. These terraces are ascended +by flights of steps. At the foot of the principal flight are slabs of +granite, placed perpendicularly, upon which figures are boldly sculptured; +and between is a semi-circular stone with simple mouldings let in the +ground. Upon the east of the building projects a colossal figure of +Buddha. Another similar, but smaller, structure is placed a little to the +eastward of that first described. Both are surrounded by a wall, enclosing +a space one hundred and twenty five paces long by seventy-five wide, +within which are planted a variety of odoriferous trees. + +A few paces to the eastward of this enclosure are the ruins of the +"Thousand Pillars." These consisted originally of 1600 pillars, disposed +in a square. The greater part are still standing; they consist, with a few +exceptions, of a single piece of gneiss in the rough state in which they +were quarried. They are ten or twelve feet above the ground; twelve inches +by eight square, and about four feet from each other; but the two in the +centre of the outer line differ from the rest in being of hard blue +granite, and in being more carefully finished. These pillars were said to +have been covered with _chunam_ (plaster) and thus converted into columns +having definite forms and proportions. There is a tradition that there +was formerly in the centre of this square a brazen chamber, in which was +contained a relic held in much veneration. A few paces from this was a +single pillar of gneiss in a rough state, which was from fourteen to +sixteen feet high. + +Captain Chapman observes that structures, accompanied by similar groups of +columns, exist on the opposite or continental coast. The temples of +Ramiseram, Madura, and the celebrated one of Seringham, have each their +"Thousand Pillars." In Ramiseram the pillars are arranged in colonnades of +several parallel rows, and these colonnades are separated by tanks or +spaces occupied by buildings in the manner indicated by Mr. Stephens at +Chichen-itza. Some of these pillars are carved; others are in their rough +state or covered with plaster. In Madura the pillars are disposed in a +square of lines radiating in such a manner that a person placed in the +centre can see through in every direction. This square is on a raised +terrace, the pillars rude and only about eight feet high. At Seringham the +pillars also form a square. + +The dagobas, occurring in connection with the temple of Buddha and the +"Thousand Pillars" at Anarajapura, deserve a notice, as they correspond in +many respects with some of the structures at Chichen. They are of various +dimensions and consist generally of raised terraces or platforms of great +extent, surrounded by mounds of earth faced with brick or stone, and often +crowned with circular, dome-shaped structures. The base is usually +surrounded by rows of columns. They vary from fifty to one hundred and +fifty feet in height. The dagobas, of intermediate size, have occasionally +a form approaching that of a bubble, but in general they have the form of +a bell. They constitute part of the Buddhist Temples, almost without +exception. We have, in the character of these singular columns and their +arrangement in respect to each other and the pyramidal structures in +connection with which they are found, a most striking resemblance between +the ruins of Chichen-itza in Central America, and Anarajapura in +Ceylon--between the temples of Buddha and those of Quetzalcoatl, or some +corresponding character. The further coincidences which exist between the +sacred architecture of India and Central America will be reserved for +another place. We cannot, however, omit to notice here the structure at +Chichen-itza designated as the "Caracol," both from its resemblance to the +dagobas of Ceylon and its connection with the worship of the Serpent +Deity. Mr. Stephens describes it as follows:-- + +"It is circular in form and is known by the name of the Caracol, or +Winding Staircase, on account of its interior arrangements. It stands on +the upper of two terraces. The lower one measuring in front, from north to +south, two hundred and twenty-three feet, and is still in good +preservation. A grand staircase, forty-five feet wide, and containing +twenty steps, rises to the platform of this terrace. On each side of the +staircase, forming a sort of balustrade, rest the entwined bodies of two +gigantic serpents, three feet wide, portions of which are still in place; +and amongst the ruins of the staircase a gigantic head, which had +terminated, at one side the foot of the steps. The platform of the second +terrace measured eighty feet in front and fifty-five in depth, and is +reached by another staircase forty-two feet wide and having forty-two +steps. In the centre of the steps and against the wall of the terrace are +the remains of a pedestal six feet high, on which probably once stood an +idol. On the platform, fifteen feet from the last step, stands the +building. It is twenty-two feet in diameter and has four small doorways +facing the cardinal points. Above the cornice the roof sloped off so as to +form an apex. The height, including the terraces, is little short of sixty +feet. The doorways give entrance to a circular corridor five feet wide. +The inner wall has four doorways, smaller than the others, and standing +intermediately with respect to them. These doors give entrance to a second +circular corridor, four feet wide, and in the centre is a circular mass, +apparently of solid stone, seven feet six inches in diameter; but in one +place, at the height of eleven feet from the floor, was a small square +opening, which I endeavoured to clear out but without success. The roof +was so tottering that I could not discover to what this opening led. The +walls of both corridors were plastered and covered with paintings, and +both were covered with a triangular arch." + +Mr. Stephens also found at Mayapan, which city, as we have seen, was built +by Ku Kulcan, the great ruler and demi-god of Chichen-itza, a dome-shaped +edifice of much the same character with that here described. It is the +principal structure here, and stands on a mound thirty feet high. The +walls are ten feet high to the top of the lower cornice, and fourteen more +to the upper one. It has a single entrance towards the west. The outer +wall is five feet thick, within which is a corridor three feet wide, +surrounding a solid cylindrical mass of stone, nine feet in thickness. The +walls have four or five coats of stucco and were covered with remains of +paintings, in which red, yellow, blue and white were distinctly visible. +On the south-west of the building was a double row of columns, eight feet +apart, though probably from the remains around, there had been more, and +by clearing away the trees others might be found. They were two feet and a +half in diameter. We are not informed upon the point but presumably the +columns were arranged, in respect to the structure, in the same manner as +those accompanying the dagobas of Ceylon, or the mounds of Chichen-itza. + +Among the ruins of Chichen are none more remarkable than that called by +the natives "Egclesia" or the Church. It is described by Mr. Stephens as +consisting of "two immense parallel walls each two hundred and +seventy-five feet long, thirty feet thick, and placed one hundred and +twenty feet apart. One hundred feet from the northern extremity, facing +the space between the walls, stands, on a terrace, a building thirty-five +feet long, containing a single chamber, with the front fallen, and rising +among the rubbish the remains of two columns elaborately ornamented, the +whole interior wall being exposed to view, covered from top to bottom with +sculptured figures in bas-relief much worn and faded. At the southern end +also, placed back a hundred feet and corresponding in position, is another +building eighty-one feet long, in ruins, but also exhibiting the remains +of this column richly sculptured. In the centre of the great stone walls, +exactly opposite each other, and at the height of thirty feet from the +ground, are two massive stone rings, four feet in diameter and one foot +one inch thick, the diameter of the hole is one foot seven inches. On the +rim and border are sculptured two entwined serpents; one of them is +feather-headed, the other is not." May we regard them as allusive to the +Serpent God and the Serpent Goddess of the Aztec mythology? Mr. Stephens +is disposed to regard the singular structure here described as a Gymnasium +or Tennis Court, and supports his opinion by a quotation from Herrara. It +seems to others much more probable that, with the other buildings of the +group, this had an exclusively sacred origin. However that may be, the +entwined serpents are clearly symbolical, inasmuch as we find them +elsewhere, in a much more conspicuous position, and occupying the first +place among the emblematic figures sculptured on the aboriginal temples. + +Immediately in connection with this singular structure and constituting +part of the eastern wall, is a building, in many respects the most +interesting visited by Mr. Stephens, and respecting which it is to be +regretted he has not given us a more complete account. It requires no +extraordinary effort of fancy to discover in the sculptures and paintings +with which it is decorated the pictured records of the teachings of the +deified Ku Kulcan, who instructed men in the arts, taught them in +religion, and instituted government. There are represented processions of +figures, covered with ornaments, and carrying arms. "One of the inner +chambers is covered," says Mr. Stephens, "from the floor to the arched +roof, with designs in painting, representing, in bright and vivid colours, +human figures, battles, horses, boats, trees, and various scenes in +domestic life." These correspond very nearly with the representations on +the walls of the ancient Buddhist temples of Java, which are described by +Mr. Crawfurd as being covered with designs of "a great variety of +subjects, such as processions, audiences, religious worship, battles, +hunting, maritime and other scenes." + +Among the ruins of Uxmal is a structure closely resembling the Egclesia of +Chichen. It consists of two massive walls of stone, one hundred and +twenty-eight feet long, and thirty in thickness, and placed seventy feet +apart. So far as could be made out, they are exactly alike in plan and +ornament. The sides facing each other are embellished with sculpture, and +upon both remain the fragments of entwined colossal serpents which run the +whole length of the walls. In the centre of each facade, as at Chichen, +were the fragments of a great stone ring, which had been broken off and +probably destroyed. It would therefore seem that the emblem of the +entwined serpents was significant of the purposes to which these +structures were dedicated. The destruction of these stones is another +evidence of their religious character; for the conquerors always directed +their destroying zeal against those monuments, or parts of monuments, most +venerated and valued by the Indians, and which were deemed most intimately +connected with their superstitions. + +Two hundred feet to the south of this edifice is another large and +imposing structure, called Casa de las Monjas, House of the Nuns. It +stands on the highest terraces, and is reached by a flight of steps. It is +quadrangular in form, with a courtyard in the centre. This is two hundred +and fourteen by two hundred and fifty-eight. "Passing through the arched +gateway," says Mr. Stephens, "we enter this noble courtyard, with four +great facades looking down upon it, each ornamented from one end to the +other with the richest and most elaborate carving known in the art of the +builders. The facade on the left is most richly ornamented, but is much +ruined. It is one hundred and sixty feet long, and is distinguished by two +colossal serpents entwined, running through and encompassing nearly all +the ornaments throughout its entire length. At the north end, where the +facade is most entire, the tail of one serpent is held up nearly over the +head of the other, and has an ornament upon it like a turban with a plume +of feathers. There are marks upon the extremity of the tail, probably +intended to represent the rattlesnake, with which the country abounds. The +lower serpent has its monstrous jaws wide open, and within there is a +human head, the face of which is distinctly visible in the stone. The head +and tail of the two serpents at the south end of the facade are said to +have corresponded with those at the north, and when the whole was entire, +in 1836, the serpents were seen encircling every ornament of the building. +The bodies of the serpents are covered with feathers. Its ruins present a +lively idea of the large and many well-constructed buildings of lime and +stone, which Bernal Diaz saw at Campeachy, with figures of serpents and +idols painted on their walls." Mr. Norman mentions that the heads of the +serpents were adorned with plumes of feathers, and that the tails showed +the peculiarity of the rattlesnake.[10] + +The eastern facade, opposite that just described, is less elaborately, but +more tastefully ornamented. Over each doorway is an ornament representing +the Sun. In every instance there is a face in the centre, with the tongue +projected, surmounted by an elaborate head-dress; between the bars there +is also a range of many lozenge-shaped ornaments, in which the remains of +red paint are distinctly visible, and at each end is a serpent's head with +the mouth open. The ornament over the principal doorway is much more +complicated and elaborate, and of that marked and peculiar style which +characterizes the highest efforts of the builders. + +The central figure, with the projecting tongue, is probably that of the +Sun, and in general design coincides with the central figure sculptured on +the great calendar stone of Mexico, and with that found by Mr. Stephens on +the walls of Casa No. 3 at Palenque, where it is represented as an object +of admiration. The protrusion of the tongue signified, among the Aztecs, +ability to speak, and denoted life or existence. Among the Sclavonian +nations, the idea of vitality was conveyed by ability to eat, as it is by +to breathe among ourselves, and to walk among the Indians of the Algonquin +stock. + +Although Central America was occupied by nations independent of those of +Mexico proper, yet some of them (as those inhabiting the Pacific coast, as +far south as Nicaragua) were descended directly from them, and all had +striking features in common with them. Their languages were in general +different, but cognate; their architecture was essentially the same; and +their religion, we have every reason for believing, was not widely +different, though doubtless that of the south was less ferocious in its +character, and not so generally disfigured by human sacrifices. + +We may therefore look with entire safety for common mythological notions, +especially when we are assured of the fact that, whatever its +modifications, the religion of the continent is essentially the same; and +especially when we know that whatever differences may have existed amongst +the various nations of Mexico and Central America, the elements of their +religion were derived from a common Tottecan root. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + _Mexican Temple of Montezuma--The Serpent Emblem in Mexico--Pyramid of + Cholula--Tradition of the Giants of Anahuac--The Temple of + Quetzalcoatl--North American Indians and the Rattlesnake--Indian + Tradition of a Great Serpent--Serpents in the Mounds of the + West--Bigotry and Folly of the Spanish Conquerors of the West--Wide + prevalence of Mexican Ophiolatreia._ + + +The monuments of Mexico representing the serpent are very numerous, and +have been specially remarked by nearly every traveller in that interesting +country. The symbol is equally conspicuous in the ancient paintings. + +"The great temple of Mexico," says Acosta, "was built of great stones in +fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuit was called +coate-pantli which is circuit of snakes." Duran informs us that this +temple was expressly built by the first Montezuma "for all the gods," and +hence called Coatlan, literally "serpent place." It contained, he also +informed us, the temple or shrine of Tezcatlipoca, Huitzlipochtli, and +Tlaloc, called Coateocalli, "Temple of the Serpent." + +Says Bernal Diaz, in his account of the march of Cortes to Mexico, "We +to-day arrived at a place called Terraguco, which we called the town of +the serpents, on account of the enormous figures of those reptiles which +we found in their temples, and which they worshipped as gods." + +It cannot be supposed that absolute serpent worship--a simple degraded +adoration of the reptile itself, or Fetishism, such as is said to exist in +some parts of Africa--prevailed in Mexico. The serpent entered into their +religious systems only as an emblem. It is nevertheless not impossible, on +the contrary it is extremely probable, that a degree of superstitious +veneration attached to the reptile itself. According to Bernal Diaz, +living rattlesnakes were kept in the great temple of Mexico as sacred +objects. He says, "Moreover, in that accursed house they kept vipers and +venomous snakes, who had something at their tails which sounded like +morris-bells, and these are the worst of vipers. They were kept in cradles +and barrels, and in earthen vessels, upon feathers, and there they laid +their eggs, and nursed up their snakelings, and they were fed with the +bodies of the sacrificed, and with dogs' meat." + +Charlevaix in the History of Paraguay, relates "that Alvarez, in one of +his expeditions into that country, found a town in which was a large tower +or temple the residence of a monstrous serpent which the inhabitants had +chosen for a divinity and which they fed with human flesh. He was as thick +as an ox, and seven and twenty feet long." This account has been regarded +as somewhat apocryphal, although it is likely enough that Serpent Worship +may have existed among some of the savage tribes of South America. + +It has been said "it should be remarked that Diaz was little disposed to +look with complacency upon the religion of the Mexicans, or whatever was +connected with it, and that his prejudices were not without their +influence on his language. His relation, nevertheless, may be regarded as +essentially reliable." + +Mr. Mayer, in his Description of Mexico, gives an interesting account of +the ancient and extraordinary Indian Pyramid of Cholula, an erection +intimately connected with the Quetzalcoatl we have been speaking of. + +This is one of the most remarkable relics of the aborigines on the +continent, for, although it was constructed only of the adobes or common +sun-dried brick, it still remains in sufficient distinctness to strike +every observer with wonder at the enterprise of its Indian builders. What +it was intended for, whether tomb or temple, no one has determined with +certainty, though the wisest antiquarians have been guessing since the +conquest. In the midst of a plain the Indians erected a mountain. The base +still remains to give us its dimensions; but what was its original height? +Was it the tomb of some mighty lord, or sovereign prince; or was it alone +a place of sacrifice? + +Many years ago in cutting a new road toward Puebla from Mexico it became +necessary to cross a portion of the base of this pyramid. The excavation +laid bare a square chamber, built of stone, the roof of which was +sustained by cypress beams. In it were found some idols of basalt, a +number of painted vases, and the remains of two dead bodies. No care was +taken of these relics by the discoverers, and they are lost to us for +ever. + +Approaching the pyramid from the east, it appears so broken and overgrown +with trees that it is difficult to make out any outline distinctly. From +the west, however, a very fair idea may be obtained of this massive +monument as it rises in solitary grandeur from the midst of the +wide-spreading plain. A well-paved road cut by the old Spaniards, ascends +from the north-west corner with steps at regular intervals, obliquing +first on the west side to the upper bench of the terrace, and thence +returning toward the same side until it is met by a steep flight rising to +the front of the small dome-crowned chapel, surrounded with its grave of +cypress and dedicated to the Virgin of Remedies. + +The summit is perfectly level, and protected by a parapet wall, whence a +magnificent view extends on every side over the level valley. Whatever +this edifice may have been, the idea of thus attaining permanently an +elevation to which the people might resort for prayer--or even for parade +or amusement--was a sublime conception and entitles the men who, centuries +ago, patiently erected the lofty pyramid, to the respect of posterity. + +There remain at present but four stories of the Pyramid of Cholula, rising +above each other and connected by terraces. These stories are formed, as +already said, of sun-dried bricks, interspersed with occasional layers of +plaster and stone work. "And this is all," says Mr. Mayer, "that is to be +told or described. Old as it is--interesting as it is--examined as it has +been by antiquaries of all countries--the result has ever been the same. +The Indians tell you that it was a place of sepulture, and the Mexicans +give you the universal reply of ignorance in this country: _Quien +Sabe?_--who knows? who can tell?" + +Baron Humboldt says:--"The Pyramid of Cholula is exactly the same height +as that of Tonatiuh Ylxaqual, at Teotihuacan. It is three metres higher +than that of Mycerinus, or the third of the great Egyptian pyramids of the +group of Djizeh. Its base, however, is larger than that of any pyramid +hitherto discovered by travellers in the old world, and is double of that +known as the Pyramid of Cheops. Those who wish to form an idea of the +immense mass of this Mexican monument by the comparison of objects best +known to them, may imagine a square four times greater than that of the +Place Vendome in Paris, covered with layers of bricks rising to twice the +elevation of the Louvre. Some persons imagine that the whole of the +edifice is not artificial, but as far as explorations have been made there +is no reason to doubt that it is entirely a work of art. In its present +state (and we are ignorant of its perfect original height) its +perpendicular proportion is to its base as eight to one, while in the +three great pyramids of Djizeh the proportion is found to be one and +six-tenths to one and seven-tenths to one; or nearly as eight to five." + +May not this have been the base of some mighty temple destroyed long +before the conquest, and of which even the tradition no longer lingers +among the neighbouring Indians? + +In continuation Humboldt observes that "that the inhabitants of Anahauc +apparently designed giving the Pyramid of Cholula the same height, and +double the base of the Pyramid of Teotihuacan, and that the Pyramid of +Asychis, the largest known of the Egyptians, has a base of 800 feet, and +is like that of Cholula built of brick. The cathedral of Strasburgh is +eight feet, and the cross of St Peter's at Rome forty-one feet lower than +the top of the Pyramid of Cheops. Pyramids exist throughout Mexico; in the +forests of Papantla at a short distance above the level of the sea; on the +plains of Cholula and of Teotihuacan, at the elevations which exceed those +of the passes of the Alps. In the most widely distant nations, in climates +the most different, man seems to have adopted the same style of +construction, the same ornaments, the same customs, and to have placed +himself under the government of the same political institutions." + +Is this an argument? it has been asked; that all men have sprung from one +stock, or that the human mind is the same everywhere, and, affected by +similar interests or necessities, invariably comes to the same result, +whether pointing a pyramid or an arrow, in making a law or a ladle? + +"Much as I distrust," says Mayer, "all the dark and groping efforts of +antiquarians, I will nevertheless offer you some sketches and legends +which may serve at least to base a conjecture upon as to the divinity to +whom this pyramid was erected, and to prove, perhaps, that it was intended +as the foundation of a temple and not the covering of a tomb." + +A tradition, which has been recorded by a Dominican monk who visited +Cholula in 1566, is thus related from his work, by the traveller already +quoted. + +"Before the great inundation which took place 4,800 years after the +erection of the world, the country of Anahuac was inhabited by giants, all +of whom either perished in the inundation or were transformed into fishes, +save seven who fled into caverns. + +"When the waters subsided, one of the giants, called Xelhua, surnamed the +'Architect,' went to Cholula, where as a memorial of the Tlaloc which had +served for an asylum to himself and his six brethern, he built an +artificial hill in the form of a pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made in +the province of Tlalmanalco, at the foot of the Sierra of Cecotl, and in +order to convey them to Cholula he placed a file of men who passed them +from hand to hand. The gods beheld, with wrath, an edifice the top of +which was to reach the clouds. Irritated at the daring attempt of Xelhua, +they hurled fire on the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished. The work +was discontinued, and the monument was afterwards dedicated to +Quetzalcoatl." Of this god we have already given a description in these +pages. + +The following singular story in relation to this divinity and certain +services of his temple, is to be found in the "Natural and Moral History +of Acosta," book 5, chap. 30. + +"There was at this temple of Quetzalcoatl, at Cholula, a court of +reasonable greatness, in which they made great dances and pastimes with +games and comedies, on the festival day of this idol, for which purpose +there was in the midst of this court a theatre of thirty feet square, very +finely decked and trimmed--the which they decked with flowers that +day--with all the art and invention that might be, being environed around +with arches of divers flowers and feathers, and in some places there were +tied many small birds, conies, and other tame beasts. After dinner, all +the people assembled in this place, and the players presented themselves +and played comedies. Some counterfeited the deaf and rheumatic, others the +lame, some the blind and crippled which came to seek for cure from the +idol. The deaf answered confusedly, the rheumatic coughed, the lame +halted, telling their miseries and griefs, wherewith they made the people +to laugh. Others came forth in the form of little beasts, some attired +like snails, others like toads, and some like lizards; then meeting +together they told their offices, and, everyone retiring to his place, +they sounded on small flutes which was pleasant to hear. They likewise +counterfeited butterflies and small birds of divers colours which were +represented by the children who were sent to the temple for education. +Then they went into a little forest, planted there for the purpose, whence +the priests of the temple drew them forth with instruments of music. In +the meantime they used many pleasant speeches, some in propounding, others +in defending, wherewith the assistants were pleasantly entertained. This +done, they made a masque or mummery with all the personages, and so the +feast ended." + +From these traditions we derive several important facts. First, that +Quetzalcoatl was "god of the air;" second, that he was represented as a +"feathered serpent;" third, that he was the great divinity of the +Cholulans; and fourth, that a hill was raised by them upon which they +erected a temple to his glory where they celebrated his festivals with +pomp and splendour. + +Combining all these, is it unreasonable to believe that the Pyramid of +Cholula was the base of this temple, and that he was there worshipped as +the Great Spirit of the Air--or of the seasons; the God who produced the +fruitfulness of the earth, regulated the Sun, the wind, and the shower, +and thus spread plenty over the land. It has been thought too, that the +serpent might not improbably typify lightning, and the feathers swiftness, +thus denoting one of the attributes of the air and that the most speedy +and destructive. + +Mr. Mayer says:--"I constantly saw serpents, in the city of Mexico, carved +in stone, and in the various collections of antiquities," and he gives +drawings of several of the principal, notably one carved with exquisite +skill and found in the court-yard of the University. + +Vasquez Coronado, Governor of New Gallicia, as the northern territories of +Spain were then called, wrote to the Viceroy Mendoza in 1539, concerning +the unknown regions still beyond him to the northward. His account was +chiefly based upon the fabulous relation of the Friar Marco Niza, and is +not entirely to be relied upon. In this letter he mentions that "in the +province of Topira there were people who had great towers and temples +covered with straw, with small round windows, filled with human skulls, +and before the temple a great round ditch, the brim of which was compassed +with a serpent, made of various metals, which held its tail in its mouth, +and before which men were sacrificed." + +Du Paix has given many examples of the carving representing the snake, +which he found in his Antiquarian Explorations in Mexico. One found near +the ancient city of Chochimilco represents a snake artificially coiled +carved from a block of porphry. "Its long body is gracefully entwined, +leaving its head and tail free. There is something showy in the execution +of the figure. Its head is elevated and curiously ornamented, its open +mouth exhibits two long and pointed fangs, its tongue (which is unusually +long) is cloven at the extremity like an anchor, its body is fancifully +scaled, and its tail (covered with circles) ends with three rattles. The +snake was a frequent emblem with the Mexican artists. The flexibility of +its figure rendering it susceptible of an infinite diversity of position, +regular and irregular; they availed themselves of this advantage and +varied their representations of it without limit and without ever giving +it an unnatural attitude." + +Near Quauhquechula, Du Paix found another remarkable sculpture of the +serpent carved in black basalt, and so entwined that the space within the +folds of its body formed a font sufficiently large to contain a +considerable quantity of water. The body of the reptile was spirally +entwined, and the head probably served as a handle to move it. It was +decorated with circles, and the tail was that of a rattlesnake. + +Du Paix also found at Tepeyaca, in a quarter of the town called St. +Michael Tlaixegui (signifying in the Mexican language the cavity of the +mountain) a serpent carved in red porphry. It is of large dimensions, in +an attitude of repose, and coiled upon itself in spiral circles so as to +leave a hollow space or transverse axis in the middle. The head, which has +a fierce expression, is armed with two long and sharp fangs, and the +tongue is double being divided longitudinally. The entire surface of the +body is ornamented or covered with broad and long feathers, and the tail +terminates in four rattles. Its length from the head to the extremity of +the tail is about twenty feet, and it gradually diminishes in thickness. +"This reptile," Du Paix says, "was the monarch or giant of its species, +and in pagan times was a deity greatly esteemed under the name +Quetzalcoatl, or Feathered Serpent. It is extremely well sculptured, and +there are still marks of its having been once painted with vermillion." + +But the symbolical feathered serpent was not peculiar to Mexico and +Yucatan. Squier, in his Explorations in Nicaragua, several times +encountered it. Near the city of Santiago de Managua, the capital of the +Republic, situated upon the shores of Lake Managua or Leon, and near the +top of the high volcanic ridge which separates the waters flowing into the +Atlantic from those running into the Pacific, is an extinct crater, now +partially filled with water, forming a lake nearly two miles in +circumference, called Nihapa. The sides of this crater are perpendicular +rocks ranging from five hundred to eight hundred feet in height. There is +but one point where descent is possible. It leads to a little space, +formed by the fallen rocks and debris which permits a foothold for the +traveller. Standing here, he sees above him, on the smooth face of the +cliff, a variety of figures, executed by the aborigines, in red paint. +Most conspicuous amongst them, is a feathered serpent coiled and +ornamented. It is about four feet in diameter. Upon some of the other +rocks were found paintings of the serpent, perfectly corresponding with +the representations in the Dresden MS. copied by Kingsborough and +confirming the conjectures of Humboldt and other investigators that this +MS. had its origin to the southward of Mexico. The figure copied was +supposed by the natives who had visited it to represent the sun. Some +years ago, large figures of the sun and moon were visible upon the cliffs, +but the section upon which they were painted was thrown down by the great +earthquake of 1838. Parts of the figures can yet be traced upon the fallen +fragments. + +It is a singular fact that many of the North American Indian tribes +entertain a superstitious regard for serpents, and particularly for the +rattlesnake. Though always avoiding, they never destroyed it, "lest," says +Bartram, "the spirit of the reptile should excite its kindred to revenge." + +According to Adair, this fear was not unmingled with veneration. +Charlevoix states that the Natchez had the figure of a rattlesnake, carved +from wood, placed among other objects upon the altar of their temple, to +which they paid great honours. Heckwelder relates that the Linni Linape, +called the rattlesnake "grandfather" and would on no account allow it to +be destroyed. Henney states that the Indians around Lake Huron had a +similar superstition, and also designated the rattlesnake as their +"grandfather." He also mentions instances in which offerings of tobacco +were made to it, and its parental care solicited for the party performing +the sacrifice. Carver also mentions an instance of similar regard on the +part of a Menominee Indian, who carried a rattlesnake constantly with him, +"treating it as a deity, and calling it his great father." + +A portion of the veneration with which the reptile was regarded in these +cases may be referred to that superstition so common among the savage +tribes, under the influence of which everything remarkable in nature was +regarded as a medicine or mystery, and therefore entitled to respect. +Still there appears to be, linked beneath all, the remnant of an Ophite +superstition of a different character which is shown in the general use of +the serpent as a symbol of incorporeal powers, of "Manitous" or spirits. + +Mr. James, in his MSS. in the possession of the New York Historical +Society, states, "that the Menominees translate the _manitou_ of the +Chippeways by _ahwahtoke_," which means emphatically a snake. "Whether," +he continues, "the word was first formed as a name for a surprising or +disgusting object, and thence transferred to spiritual beings, or whether +the extension of its signification has been in an opposite direction, it +is difficult to determine." Bossu also affirms that the Arkansas believed +in the existence of a great spirit, which they adore under form of a +serpent. In the North-west it was a symbol of evil power. + +Here we may suitably introduce the tradition of a great serpent, which is +to this day, current amongst a large portion of the Indians of the +Algonquin stock. It affords some curious parallelisms with the allegorical +relations of the old world. The Great Teacher of the Algonquins, +Manabozho, is always placed in antagonism to a great serpent, a spirit of +evil, who corresponds very nearly with the Egyptian Typhon, the Indian +Kaliya, and the Scandinavian Midgard. He is also connected with the +Algonquin notions of a deluge; and as Typhon is placed in opposition to +Osiris or Apollo, Kaliya to Surya or the Sun, and Midgard to Wodin or +Odin, so does he bear a corresponding relation to Manabozho. The conflicts +between the two are frequent; and although the struggles are sometimes +long and doubtful, Manabozho is usually successful against his adversary. +One of these contests involved the destruction of the earth by water, and +its reproduction by the powerful and beneficent Manabozho. The tradition +in which this grand event is embodied was thus related by +Kah-ge-ga-gah-boowh, a chief of the Ojibway. In all of its essentials, it +is recorded by means of the rude pictured signs of the Indians, and +scattered all over the Algonquin territories. + +One day returning to his lodge, from a long journey, Manabozho missed from +it his young cousin, who resided with him, he called his name aloud, but +received no answer. He looked around on the sand for the tracks of his +feet, and he there, for the first time, discovered the trail of +Meshekenabek, the serpent. He then knew that his cousin had been seized by +his great enemy. He armed himself, and followed on his track, he passed +the great river, and crossed mountains and valleys to the shores of the +deep and gloomy lake now called Manitou Lake, Spirit Lake, or the Lake of +Devils. The trail of Meshekenabek led to the edge of the water. + +At the bottom of this lake was the dwelling of the serpent, and it was +filled with evil spirits--his attendants and companions. Their forms were +monstrous and terrible, but most, like their master, bore the semblance of +serpents. In the centre of this horrible assemblage was Meshekenabek +himself, coiling his volumes around the hapless cousin of Manabozho. His +head was red as with blood, and his eyes were fierce and glowed like fire. +His body was all over armed with hard and glistening scales of every shade +and colour. + +Manabozho looked down upon the writhing spirits of evil, and he vowed deep +revenge. He directed the clouds to disappear from the heavens, the winds +to be still, and the air to become stagnant over the lake of the manitous, +and bade the sun shine upon it with all its fierceness; for thus he sought +to drive his enemy forth to seek the cool shadows of the trees, that grew +upon its banks, so that he might be able to take vengeance upon him. + +Meanwhile, Manabozho, seized his bow and arrows and placed himself near +the spot where he deemed the serpents would come to enjoy the shade. He +then transferred himself into the broken stump of a withered tree, so that +his enemies might not discover his presence. + +The winds became still, and the sun shone hot on the lake of the evil +manitous. By and by the waters became troubled, and bubbles rose to the +surface, for the rays of the sun penetrated to the horrible brood within +its depths. The commotion increased, and a serpent lifted its head high +above the centre of the lake and gazed around the shores. Directly another +came to the surface, and they listened for the footsteps of Manabozho but +they heard him nowhere on the face of the earth, and they said one to the +other, "Manabozho sleeps." And then they plunged again beneath the waters, +which seemed to hiss as they closed over them. + +It was not long before the lake of manitous became more troubled than +before, it boiled from its very depths, and the hot waves dashed wildly +against the rocks on its shores. The commotion increased, and soon +Meshekenabek, the Great Serpent, emerged slowly to the surface, and moved +towards the shore. His blood-red crest glowed with a deeper hue, and the +reflection from his glancing scales was like the blinding glitter of a +sleet covered forest beneath the morning sun of winter. He was followed by +the evil spirits, so great a number that they covered the shores of the +lake with their foul trailing carcases. + +They saw the broken, blasted stump into which Manabozho had transformed +himself, and suspecting it might be one of his disguises, for they knew +his cunning, one of them approached, and wound his tail around it, and +sought to drag it down. But Manabozho stood firm, though he could hardly +refrain from crying aloud, for the tail of the monster tickled his sides. + +The Great Serpent wound his vast folds among the trees of the forest, and +the rest also sought the shade, while one was left to listen for the steps +of Manabozho. + +When they all slept, Manabozho silently drew an arrow from his quiver, he +placed it in his bow, and aimed it where he saw the heart beat against +the sides of the Great Serpent. He launched it, and with a howl that shook +the mountains and startled the wild beasts in their caves, the monstre +awoke, and, followed by its frightful companions, uttering mingled sounds +of rage and terror, plunged again into the lake. Here they vented their +fury on the helpless cousin of Manabozho, whose body they tore into a +thousand fragments, his mangled lungs rose to the surface, and covered it +with whiteness. And this is the origin of the foam on the water. + +When the Great Serpent knew that he was mortally wounded, both he and the +evil spirits around him were rendered tenfold more terrible by their great +wrath and they rose to overwhelm Manabozho. The water of the lake swelled +upwards from its dark depths, and with a sound like many thunders, it +rolled madly on its track, bearing the rocks and trees before it with +resistless fury. High on the crest of the foremost wave, black as the +midnight, rode the writhing form of the wounded Meshekenabek, and red eyes +glazed around him, and the hot breaths of the monstrous brood hissed +fiercely above the retreating Manabozho. Then thought Manabozho of his +Indian children, and he ran by their villages, and in a voice of alarm +bade them flee to the mountains, for the Great Serpent was deluging the +earth in his expiring wrath, sparing no living thing. The Indians caught +up their children, and wildly sought safety where he bade them. But +Manabozho continued his flight along the base of the western hills, and +finally took refuge on a high mountain beyond Lake Superior, far towards +the north. There he found many men and animals who had fled from the flood +that already covered the valleys and plains, and even the highest hills. +Still the waters continued to rise, and soon all the mountains were +overwhelmed save that on which stood Manabozho. Then he gathered together +timber, and made a raft, upon which the men and women, and the animals +that were with him, all placed themselves. No sooner had they done so, +than the rising floods closed over the mountain and they floated alone on +the surface of the waters; and thus they floated for many days, and some +died, and the rest became sorrowful, and reproached Manabozho that he did +not disperse the waters and renew the earth that they might live. But +though he knew that his great enemy was by this time dead, yet could not +Manabozho renew the world unless he had some earth in his hands wherewith +to begin the work. And this he explained to those that were with him, and +he said that were it ever so little, even a few grains of earth, then +could he disperse the waters and renew the world. Then the beaver +volunteered to go to the bottom of the deep, and get some earth, and they +all applauded her design. She plunged in, they waited long, and when she +returned she was dead; they opened her hands but there was no earth in +them. "Then," said the otter, "will I seek the earth:" and the bold +swimmer dived from the raft. The otter was gone still longer than the +beaver, but when he returned to the surface he too was dead, and there was +no earth in his claws. "Who shall find the earth?" exclaimed all those +left on the raft, "now that the beaver and the otter are dead?" and they +desponded more than before, repeating, "Who shall find the earth?" "That +will I," said the muskrat, and he quickly disappeared between the logs of +the raft. The muskrat was gone very long, much longer than the otter, and +it was thought he would never return, when he suddenly rose near by, but +he was too weak to speak, and he swam slowly towards the raft. He had +hardly got upon it when he too died from his great exertion. They opened +his little hands and there, clasped closely between the fingers, they +found a few grains of fresh earth. These Manabozho carefully collected and +dried them in the sun, and then he rubbed them into a fine powder in his +palms, and, rising up, he blew them abroad upon the waters. No sooner was +this done than the flood began to subside, and soon the trees on the +mountains and hills emerged from the deep, and the plains and the valleys +came in view and the waters disappeared from the land leaving no trace but +a thick sediment, which was the dust that Manabozho had blown abroad from +the raft. + +Then it was found that Meshekenabek, the Great Serpent, was dead, and that +the evil manitous, his companions, had returned to the depths of the lake +of spirits, from which, for the fear of Manabozho, they never more dared +to come forth. And in gratitude to the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, +those animals were ever after held sacred by the Indians, and they became +their brethren, and they never killed nor molested them until the medicine +of the stranger made them forget their relations and turned their hearts +to ingratitude. + +In the mounds of the West have been found various sculptures of the +serpent, and amongst them one as follows:--It represents a coiled +rattlesnake, and is carved in a very compact cinnamon-coloured sandstone. +It is six and a quarter inches long, one and three-eighths broad, and a +quarter of an inch thick. The workmanship is delicate, and the +characteristic features of the rattlesnake are perfectly represented, the +head, unfortunately, is not entire, but enough remains to show that it was +surmounted by some kind of feather-work resembling that so conspicuously +represented in the sculptured monuments of the South. It was found +carefully enveloped in sheet copper, and under circumstances which render +it certain that it was an object of high regard and probably of worship. + +Notwithstanding the striking resemblances which have been pointed out, in +the elementary religions of the old and new worlds, and the not less +remarkable coincidences in their symbolical systems, we are scarcely +prepared to find in America that specific combination which fills so +conspicuous a place in the early cosmogonies and mythologies of the East, +and which constitute the basis of these investigations, namely, the +compound symbol of the Serpent and the Egg. It must be admitted that, in +the few meagre and imperfect accounts which we have of the notions of +cosmogony entertained by the American nations, we have no distinct +allusion to it. The symbolism is far too refined and abstract to be +adopted by wandering, savage tribes, and we can only look for it, if at +all, among the more civilized nations of the central part of the +continent, where religion and mythology ranked as an intelligible system. +And here we have at once to regret and reprobate the worse than barbarous +zeal of the Spanish conquerors, who, not content with destroying the +pictured records and overturning and defacing the primitive monuments of +those remarkable nations; distorted the few traditions which they +recorded, so as to lend a seeming support to the fictions of their own +religion, and invested the sacred rites of the aborigines with horrible +and repulsive features, so as to furnish, among people like minded with +themselves, some apology for their savage cruelty. Not only were orders +given by the first Bishop of Mexico, the infamous Zumanaga, for the +burning of all the Mexican MSS. which could be procured, but all persons +were discouraged from recording the traditions of the ancient inhabitants. + +So far, therefore, from having a complete and consistent account of the +beliefs and conceptions of those nations, to which reference may be had in +inquiries of this kind, we have only detached and scattered fragments, +rescued by later hands from the general destruction. Under such +circumstances we cannot expect to find parallel evidences of the existence +of specific conceptions; that is to say, we may find certain +representations clearly symbolical and referring to the cosmogony, +mythology, or religion of the primitive inhabitants and yet look in vain +among the scanty and distorted traditions and few mutilated pictured +records which are left us for collateral support of the significance which +reason and analogy may assign to them. + +It is not assumed to say that any distinct representation of the Serpent +and the Egg exists amongst the monuments of Mexico or Central America; +what future investigations may disclose remains to be seen. If, until the +present time, we have remained in profound ignorance of the existence of +the grand monument under notice, in one of the best populated states, what +treasures of antiquity may yet be hidden in the fastnesses of the central +part of the continent! + +It has often been said that every feature in the religion of the New +World, discovered by Cortez and Pizarro, indicates an origin common to the +superstitions of Egypt and Asia. The same solar worship, the same +pyramidal monuments, and the same Ophiolatreia distinguish them all. + +Acosta says "the temple of Vitziliputzli was built of great stones in +fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuit was called 'the +circuit of snakes' because the walls of the enclosure were covered with +the figures of snakes. Vitziliputzli held in his right hand a staff cut in +the form of a serpent, and the four corners of the ark in which he was +seated terminated each with a carved representation of the head of a +serpent. From the sides of the god projected the heads of two serpents and +his right hand leaned upon a staff like a serpent. The Mexican century was +represented by a circle, having the sun in the centre, surrounded by the +symbols of the years. The circumference was a serpent twisted into four +knots at the cardinal points."[11] + +The Mexican month was divided into twenty days; the serpent and dragon +symbolized two of them. In Mexico there was also a temple dedicated to the +God of the Air, and the door of it was formed so as to resemble a +serpent's mouth.[12] + +Amongst other things, Peter Martyr mentions a large serpent-idol at +Campeachy, made of stones and bitumen, in the act of devouring a marble +lion. When first seen by the Spaniards it was warm with the blood of human +victims. + +"Ancient painting and sculptures abound with evidences of Mexican +Ophiolatreia, and prove that there was scarcely a Mexican deity who was +not symbolized by a serpent or a dragon. Many deities appear holding +serpents in their hands, and small figures of priests are represented with +a snake over each head. This reminds us forcibly of the priests of the +Egyptian Isis, who are described in sculpture with the sacred asp upon the +head and a cone in the left hand. And to confirm the original mutual +connexion of all the serpent-worshippers throughout all the world--the +Mexican paintings, as well as the Egyptian and Persian hieroglyphics, +describe the Ophite Hierogram of the intertwined serpents in almost all +its varieties. A very remarkable one occurs in M. Allard's collection of +sculptures; in which the dragons forming it have each a man's head in his +mouth. The gods of Mexico are frequently pictured fighting with serpents +and dragons; and gods, and sometimes men, are represented in conversation +with the same loathsome creatures. There is scarcely, indeed, a feature in +the mystery of Ophiolatreia which may not be recognised in the Mexican +superstitions. + +"We perceive, therefore, that in the kingdom of Mexico the serpent was +sacred, and emblematic of more gods than one: an observation which may be +extended to almost every other nation which adored the symbolical serpent. +This is a remarkable and valuable fact, and it discovers in Ophiolatreia +another feature of its aboriginal character. For it proves the serpent to +have been a symbol of intrinsic divinity, and not a mere representative of +peculiar properties which belong to some gods and not to others."[13] + +From what has been presented, it will be seen that the serpent symbol was +of general acceptance in America, particularly among the semi-civilized +nations; that it entered widely into their symbolic representations, and +this significance was essentially the same with that which attached to it +among the early nations of the old continent. Upon the basis, therefore, +of the identity which we have observed in the elementary religious +conceptions of the Old and New World, and the striking uniformity in their +symbolical systems, we feel justified in ascribing to the emblematic +Serpent and Egg of Ohio a significance radically the same with that which +was assigned to the analogous compound symbol among the primitive nations +of the East. This conclusion is further sustained by the character of some +of the religious structures of the old continent, in which we find the +symbolic serpent and the egg or circle represented on a most gigantic +scale. Analogy could probably furnish no more decisive sanction, unless by +exhibiting other structures, in which not only a general correspondence, +but an absolute identity should exist. Such an identity it would be +unreasonable to look for, even in the works of the same people, +constructed in accordance with a common design. + +It may seem hardly consistent with the caution which should characterize +researches of this kind, to hazard the suggestion that the symbolical +Serpent and Egg of Ohio are distinctly allusive to the specific notions of +cosmogony which prevailed among the nations of the East, for the reason +that it is impossible to bring positive collateral proof that such notions +were entertained by any of the American nations. The absence of written +records and of impartially preserved traditions we have already had ample +reason to deplore; and unless further explorations shall present us with +unexpected results, the deficiency may always exist. But we must remember +that in no respect are men more tenacious than in the preservation of +their rudimental religious beliefs and early conceptions. In the words of +a philosophical investigator--"Of all researches that most effectually aid +us to discover the origin of a nation or people whose history is involved +in the obscurity of ancient times, none perhaps are attended with such +important results as the analysis of their theological dogmas and their +religious practices. To such matters mankind adhere with the greatest +tenacity, which, though modified and corrupted in the revolution of ages, +still retain features of their original construction, when language, arts, +sciences and political establishments no longer preserve distinct +lineaments of their ancient constitutions."[14] + +A striking example of the truth of these remarks is furnished in the +religion of India, which, to this day, notwithstanding the revolution of +time and empire, the destructions of foreign and of civil wars, and the +constant addition of allegorical fictions (more fatal to the primitive +system than all the other causes combined), still retains its original +features, which are easily recognisable, and which identify it with the +religions which prevailed in monumental Egypt, on the plains of Assyria, +in the valleys of Greece, among the sterner nations around the Caspian, +and among their kindred tribes on the rugged shores of Scandinavia. + +This tenacity is not less strikingly illustrated in the careful +perpetuation of rites, festivals and scenic representations which +originated in notions which have long since become obsolete, and are now +forgotten. Very few of the attendants on the annual May-day festival, as +celebrated a few years back in this country, and very few of those who +have read about the same are aware that it was only a perpetuation of the +vernal solar festival of Baal, and that the garlanded pole was anciently a +Phallic emblem. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + _Egypt as the Home of Serpent Worship--Thoth said to be the founder of + Ophiolatreia--Cneph, the Architect of the Universe--Mysteries of + Isis--The Isaic Table--Frequency of the Serpent Symbol--Serapis--In + the Temples at Luxore, etc.--Discovery at Malta--The Egyptian + Basilisk--Mummies--Bracelets--The Caduceus--Temple of Cneph at + Elephantina--Thebes--Story of a Priest--Painting in a Tomb at Biban at + Malook--Pococke at Raigny._ + + +Egypt, of all ancient nations the most noted for its idolatry, was in its +earliest days the home of the peculiar worship we are contemplating. A +learned writer on the subject says "the serpent entered into the Egyptian +religion under all his characters--of an Emblem of Divinity, a Charm or +Oracle, and a God." Cneph, Thoth and Isis were conspicuous and chief among +the gods and goddesses thus symbolized, though he is said to have entered +more or less into the symbolical worship of all the gods. + +Sanchoniathon describes Thoth as the founder of Serpent Worship in Egypt, +and he is generally regarded as the planter of the earliest colonies in +Phoenicia and Egypt after the Deluge. He has been called the Reformer of +the Religions of Egypt, and Deane says: "He taught the Egyptians (or +rather that part of his colony which was settled in Egypt) a religion, +which, partaking of Zabaism and Ophiolatreia, had some mixture also of +primeval truth. The Divine Spirit he denominted Cneph, and described him +as the Original, Eternal Spirit, pervading all creation, whose symbol was +a serpent." + +Cneph was called by the priests the architect of the universe, and has +been represented as a serpent with an egg in his mouth; the serpent being +his hieroglyphical emblem, and the egg setting forth the mundane elements +as proceeding from him. + +After his death Thoth was, in return for services rendered to the people, +made a god of--the god of health, or of healing, and so became the +prototype of AEsculapius. His learning appears to have been great, and he +instructed the people in astronomy, morals, hieroglyphics and letters. He +is generally represented leaning upon a knotted stick which has around it +a serpent. + +The mysteries of the worship of Isis abounded in allusions to the serpent, +and Montfaucon says that the Isaic table, a plate of brass overlaid with +brass enamel, intermixed with plates of silver, which described the +mysteries, was charged with serpents in every part as emblems of the +goddess. The particular serpent thus employed was that small one well know +as the instrument used in her suicide by the celebrated Cleopatra, the +asp. This creature is pictured and carved on the priestly robes, the +tiaras of the kings, the image of the goddess. The British Museum +possesses a head of this divinity wearing a coronet of them. Not only so, +the living reptiles were kept in her temple and were supposed to sanctify +the offerings by crawling about amongst them. + +As we have said the serpent entered largely into the symbolical worship of +all the Egyptian deities, and Cneph, Thoth and Isis can only be regarded +as three of the chief. + +Deane says there is scarcely an Egyptian deity which is not occasionally +symbolized by it. Several of these deities are represented with their +proper heads terminating in serpents' bodies. In Montfaucon, vol. 2, plate +207, there is an engraving of Serapis with a human head and serpentine +tail. Two other minor gods are also represented, the one by a serpent with +a bull's head, the other by a serpent with the radiated head of the lion. +The second of these, which Montfaucon supposes to be an image of Apis, is +bored through the middle: probably with a design to hang about the neck, +as they did many other small figures of gods, by way of ornament or +charms. + +The figure of Serapis encircled by serpents is found on tombs. The +appearance of serpents on tombs was very general. On an urn of Egnatius, +Nicephoras, and of Herbasia Clymene, engraved in Montfaucon, vol. 5, a +young man entwined by a serpent is described as falling headlong to the +ground. In the urn of Herbasia Clymene the corners are ornamented with +figures of serpents. It is a singular coincidence that the creature by +whom it is believed came death into the world should be consecrated by the +earliest heathen idolaters to the receptacles of the dead. It is +remarkable also that Serapis was supposed by the Egyptians to have +dominion over evil demons, or in other words was the same as Pluto or +Satan. + +On some of the Egyptian temples the serpent has been conspicuously figured +as an emblem consecrated to the Divine service. Thus it is found at +Luxore, Komombu, Dendara, Apollinopolis and Esnay. The Pamphylian obelisk +also bears it many times--fifty-two it is said--and according to Pococke +each of the pillars of the temple of Gava has it twice sculptured. + +All writers on the subject have noticed the variations of form under which +the serpent has appeared on Egyptian monuments, and have laid stress upon +it as indicating the great consideration in which he was held. There is +little to be wondered at in this when we remember that he was regarded as +symbolical of divine wisdom, power, and creative energy; of immortality +and regeneration, from the shedding of his own skin; and of eternity, when +represented in the act of biting his own tail. + +One writer says the world was represented by a circle, intersected by two +diameters perpendicular to each other, which diameters, according to +Eusebius, were serpents. Jablonski says the circumference only, was a +serpent. + +Kircher says that the elements (or rather what were so considered in +ancient times) were represented by serpents. Earth was symbolized by a +prostrate two-horned snake; water, by a serpent moving in an undulated +manner; air, by an erect serpent in the act of hissing; fire, by an asp +standing on its tail and bearing upon his head a globe. "From these +hieroglyphics," remarks Deane, "it is clear that the serpent was the most +expressive symbol of divinity with the Egyptians." + +An engraving in Montfaucon, vol. 2, p. 237, calls for notice here, as +illustrating the great extent to which the veneration of the serpent once +prevailed in Egypt. In the year 1694, in an old wall of Malta, was +discovered a plate of gold, supposed to have been concealed there by its +possessors at a time when everything idolatrous was destroyed as +abominable. Montfaucon says: "This plate was rolled up in a golden casket; +it consists of two long rows which contain a very great number of Egyptian +deities, most of which have the head of some beast or bird. Many serpents +are also seen intermixed, the arms and legs of the gods terminating in +serpents' tails. The first figure has upon its back a long shell with a +serpent upon it; in each row there is a serpent extended upon an altar. +Among the figures of the sacred row there is seen an Isis of tolerably +good form. This same plate, no doubt, contains the most profound mysteries +of the Egyptian superstition." + +It hardly matters where we look in Egypt, this same serpent symbol is +found entering into the composition of everything, whether ornamental, +useful or ecclesiastical. The basilisk, the most venomous of all snakes, +and so regarded as the king of the species and named after the oracular +god of Canaan OB or OUB, was represented on coins with rays upon his head +like a crown; around the coin was inscribed "Agathodaemon." The emperor +Nero in the "madness of his vanity," it is said, caused a number of such +coins to be struck with the inscription "The New Agathodaemon," meaning +himself. + +The Egyptians held basilisks in such veneration that they made images of +them in gold and consecrated and placed them in the temples of their gods. +Bryant thinks that they were the same as the Thermuthis, or deadly asp. +These creatures the Egyptian priests are said to have preserved by digging +holes for them in the corners of their temples, and was a part of their +superstition to believe that whosoever was accidentally bitten by them was +divinely favoured.[15] + +Deane further mentions that the serpent is sometimes found sculptured, and +attached to the breasts of mummies; but whether with a view to talismanic +security, or as indicative of the priesthood of Isis, is doubtful. A +female mummy, opened by M. Passalacqua at Paris some years ago, was +adorned with a necklace of serpents carved in stone. + +Bracelets, in the form of serpents, were worn by the Grecian women in the +time of Clemens Alexdrinus, who thus reproves the fashion: "The women are +not ashamed to place about them the most manifold symbols of the evil one; +for as the serpent deceived Eve, so the golden trinket in the fashion of a +serpent misleads the women." The children also wore chaplets of the same +kind. + +We must not omit to notice the Caduceus, which forms, it is said, one of +the most striking examples of the talismanic serpent. According to +Montfaucon, Kirchen and others, the notion that this belonged exclusively +to Hermes or Mercury is erroneous, as it can be seen in the hand of +Cybele, Minerva Amebis, Hercules Ogmius and the personified constellation +Virgo, said by Lucian to have had her symbol in the Pythian priestess. + +Variously represented in the main, the Caduceus always preserved the +original design of a winged wand entwined by two serpents. It is found +sometimes without the wings, but never without the serpents; the varieties +consisting chiefly in the number of folds made by the serpents' bodies +round the wand, and the relative positions of the wings and serpents' +heads. It was regarded as powerful in paralyzing the mind and raising the +dead. + +Kirchen says that the Caduceus was originally expressed by the simple +figure of a cross, by which its inventor, Thoth, is said to have +symbolized the four elements proceeding from a common centre. + +"Ophiolatreia," says Deane, "had taken such deep root in Egypt that the +serpent was not merely regarded as an emblem of divinity, but even held in +estimation as the instrument of an oracle. The priests of the temple of +Isis had a silver image of a serpent so constructed as to enable a person +in attendance to move its head without being observed by the supplicating +votary. + +"But Egyptian superstition was not contented with worshipping divinity +through its emblem the serpent. The senseless idolater soon bowed before +the symbol itself, and worshipped this reptile, the representative of +man's energy, as a god." + +In addition to the temple of the great serpent-god Cneph at Elephantina, +there was a renowned one of Jupiter at Thebes, where the practice of +Ophiolatreia was carried to a great length. Herodotus writes: "At Thebes +there are two serpents, by no means injurious to men; small in size, +having two horns springing up from the top of the head. They bury these +when dead in the temple of Jupiter: for they say that they are sacred to +that god." AElian says: "In the time of Ptolemy Euergetes, a very large +serpent was kept in the temple of AEsculapius at Alexandria, and in another +place a live one of great magnitude was kept and adored with divine +honours; the name of this place he called Melite." He gives the following +story:--"This serpent had priests and ministers, a table and a bowl. The +priests every day carried into the sacred chamber a cake made of flour and +honey and then retired. Returning the next day they always found the bowl +empty. On one occasion, one of the priests, being extremely anxious to see +the sacred serpent, went in alone, and having deposited the cake retired. +When the serpent had ascended the table to his feast, the priest came in, +throwing open the door with great violence: upon which the serpent +departed with great indignation. But the priest was shortly after seized +with a mental malady, and, having confessed his crime, became dumb and +wasted away until he died." + +In Hewart's tables of Egyptian hieroglyphics we see a priest offering +adoration to a serpent. The same occurs on the Isiac table. + +"In a tomb at Biban, at Malook, is a beautiful painting descriptive of the +rites of Ophiolatreia. The officiating priest is represented with a sword +in his hand, and three headless victims are kneeling before an immense +serpent. Isis is seen sitting under the arch made by the serpent's body, +and the sacred asp, with a human face, is behind her seated on the +serpent's tail. This picture proves that the serpent was propitiated by +human victims."[16] + +It is noteworthy that in Egypt as in Phoenicia and other places serpent +worship was not immediately destroyed by the advance of Christianity. The +Gnostics united it with the religion of the cross, and a quotation from +Bishop Pococke will, just here, be most appropriate and interesting. + +"We came to Raigny, where the religious sheikh of the famous Heredy was at +the side of the river to meet us. He went with us to the grotto of the +serpent that has been so much talked of under the name of the Sheikh +Heredy, of which I shall give you a particular account, in order to show +the folly, credulity, and superstition of these people; for the Christians +have faith in it as well as the Turks. We went ascending between the rocky +mountain for half a mile, and came to a part where the valley opens wider. +On the right is a mosque, built with a dome over it, against the side of +the rock, like a sheikh's burial-place. In it there is a large cleft in +the rock out of which they say the serpent comes. There is a tomb in the +mosque, in the Turkish manner, that they say is the tomb of Heredy, which +would make one imagine that one of their saints is buried there, and that +they suppose his soul may be in the serpent, for I observed that they went +and kissed the tomb with much devotion and said their prayers at it. +Opposite to this cleft there is another, which they say is the tomb of +Ogli Hassan, that is of Hassan, the son of Heredy; there are two other +clefts which they say are inhabited by saints or angels. The sheikh told +me there were two of these serpents, but the common notion is that there +is only one. He said it had been there ever since the time of Mahomet. The +shape of it is like that of other serpents of the harmless breed. He comes +out only during the four summer months, and it is said that they sacrifice +to it. This the sheikh denied, and affirmed they only brought lambs, +sheep, and money to buy oil for the lamps--but I saw much blood and +entrails of beasts lately killed before the door. + +"The stories are so ridiculous that they ought not to be repeated, if it +were not to give an instance of their idolatry in those parts in this +respect, though the Mahometan religion seems to be very far from it in +other things. They say the virtue of this serpent is to cure all diseases +of those who go to it. + +"They are also full of a story, that when a number of women go there once +a year, he passes by and looks on them, and goes and twines about the neck +of the most beautiful. + +"I was surprised to hear a grave and sensible Christian say that he always +cured any distempers, but that worse followed. And some really believe +that he works miracles, and say it is the devil mentioned in Tobit, whom +the angel Gabriel drove into the utmost parts of Egypt." + +The bishop is of opinion (in which he is joined by others) that the above +superstition is a remnant of the ancient Ophiolatreia. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + _Derivation of the name "Europe"--Greece colonized by Ophites--Numerous + Traces of the Serpent in Greece--Worship of Bacchus--Story of + Ericthonias--Banquets of the Bacchants--Minerva--Armour of Agamemnon-- + Serpents at Epidaurus--Story of the pestilence in Rome--Delphi--Mahomet + at Atmeidan._ + + +Bryant and Faber both derive the name of "Europe" from "Aur-ab, the solar +serpent." "Whether this be correct or not," says Deane, "it is certain +that Ophiolatreia prevailed in this quarter of the globe at the earliest +period of idolatry. The first inhabitants of Europe are said to have been +the offspring of a woman, partly of the human and partly of the dracontic +figure, a tradition which alludes to their Ophite origin. + +"Of the countries of Europe, Greece was first colonized by Ophites, but at +separate times, both from Egypt and Phoenicia; 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 Phoenician or an Egyptian. +Bochart has shown that Cadmus 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 +Sanchoniathan to have been the father of the Phoenician 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." + +In Greece there are numerous traces of the worship of the serpent--it was +so common indeed at one time that Justin Martyr declared the people +introduced it into the mysteries of all their gods. In the mysteries and +excesses of Bacchus it is well-known, of course, to have played a +conspicuous part. The people bore them entwined upon their heads, and +carrying them in their hands, swung them about crying aloud, "enia, enia." +The sign of the Bacchic ceremonies was a consecrated serpent, and in the +processions a troop of virgins of noble family carried the reptile with +golden baskets containing sesamum, honey cakes and grains of salt, +articles all specially connected with serpent worship. The first may be +seen in the British Museum, in the hands of priests kneeling before the +sacred serpent of Egypt. Honey cakes, according to Herodotus, were +presented once a month as food to the sacred serpent in the Acropolis at +Athens. + +The most remarkable feature of all in the Bacchic orgies is said to have +been the mystic serpent. "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 legs. He was placed by Minerva in a basket, which she gave to the +daughter 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."[17] + +At the banquets of the Bacchantes, or rather, after them, it was usual to +carry round a cup, which was called the "cup of the good daemon." The +symbol of this daemon was a serpent, as seen on the medals of the town of +Dionysopolis in Thrace. On one side were the heads of Gordian and Serapis +on the other a coiled serpent. + +The serpent was mixed up to a considerable extent with the worship of many +other of the Grecian deities. The statues, by Phidias, of Minerva, +represent her as decorated with this emblem. In ancient medals, as shown +by Montfaucon, she sometimes holds a caduceus in her right hand; at other +times she has a staff around which a serpent is twisted, and at others, a +large serpent appears going in front of her; while she is sometimes seen +with her crest composed of a serpent. It is remarkable too, that in the +Acropolis at Athens was kept a live serpent who was generally considered +the guardian of the place, and Athens was a city specially consecrated to +Minerva. + +Examples of Grecian Ophiolatreia might easily be multiplied to a +considerable extent, but we have space for little more than a brief +glance. It is known that upon the walls of Athens was a sculptured head of +Medusa, whose hair was intertwined with snakes, and in the temple at Tega +was a similar figure which was supposed to possess talismanic power to +preserve or destroy. The print in Montfaucon represents the face of Medusa +as mild and beautiful, but the serpents as threatening and terrible. There +is a story current, that a priestess 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, and that the sight of +this fearful object instantaneously converted the intruder into stone. + +The armour of Agamemnon, king of Argos, was ornamented with a three headed +serpent; Menelaus, king of Sparta, had one on his shield, and the Spartan +people, with the Athenians, affirmed they were of serpentine origin and +called themselves _ophiogenae_. + +At Epidaurus, according to Pausanias, live serpents were kept and fed +regularly by servants, who, on account of religious awe, were fearful of +approaching the sacred reptiles which in themselves were of the most +harmless character. The statue of AEsculapius, at this temple, represented +him resting one hand upon the head of a serpent, while his sister, Hygeia, +had one twisted about her. It is reported that the god AEsculapius was +conveyed by a woman named Nicagora, the wife of Echetimus, to Sicyon under +the form of a serpent. + +Livy, Ovid, Florus, Valerius Maximus, and Aurelius Victor, relate that a +pestilence of a violent and fatal character once broke out in Rome, and +that the oracle of Delphi advised an embassy to Epidaurus to fetch the god +AEsculapius. This advice was taken, and a company of eleven were sent with +the humble supplications of the senate and people of Rome. While they were +gazing at the statue of the god, a serpent, "venerable, not horrible," say +these authors, 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 principal ambassador. Setting sail with the +god, they duly arrived off Antium, when 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. + +Delphi appears to have been the principal stronghold of serpent worship +in Greece. Strabo says its original name was Pytho--derived from the +serpent Python, slain there by Apollo. From this story Heinsius concludes +that the god Apollo was first worshipped at Delphi, under the symbol of a +serpent. It is known that the public assemblies at Delphi were called +Pythia, these were originally intended for the adoration of the Python. + +In Gibbon and the _Annales Turcici_ we have interesting matter about the +serpentine column. The former says it was taken from Delphi to +Constantinople by the founder of the latter city and set up on a pillar in +the Hippodrome. Montfaucon, however, thinks that Constantine only caused a +similar column to be made, and that the original remained in its place. +Deane says, "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 +serpent's heads is mutilated." + +From the _Annales_ we get the following explanation of this inquiry. "When +Mahomet came to Atmeidan he saw there a stone column, on which was placed +a three-headed brazen serpent. Looking at 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 serpent's 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 off, some +serpents do come into the city, yet they do harm to no one." + +Commenting upon this story Deane remarks--"This traditionary legend, +preserved by Leunclavius, marks the stronghold 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 era as the seventeenth century. +Among the Greeks who resorted to Constantinople were many idolators 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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + _Ophiolatreia in Britain--The Druids--Adders--Poem of Taliessin--The + Goddess Ceridwen--A Bardic Poem--Snake Stones--The Anguinum--Execution + of a Roman Knight--Remains of the Serpent-temple at Abury--Serpent + vestiges in Ireland of great rarity--St. Patrick._ + + +It will probably be a matter of surprise to many, but it is a fact that +even in Britain in ancient times Ophiolatreia largely prevailed. Deane +says: "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 intercourse with the civilized world, partly +by their remoteness and partly by their national character, 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" and his car was +drawn by serpents. His priests in accommodation with the general custom of +the Ophite god, were called after him "Adders."[18] + +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 the Grecian +"Ceres;" and not without reason, for the interesting 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. 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 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 "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."[19] + +In the second part of this poem is the following 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 Bell, etc., etc." + +This is a most minute and interesting account of the religious rites of +the Druids, proving in clear terms their addiction to Ophiolatreia: for 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. + +The Golden Horns which contained the drink offerings were very probably of +the same kind as that found in Tundera, in Denmark. + +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 R. C. Hoare in his _Modern Wiltshire_, Hundred of +Amesbury, gives an engraving of one, and says: "This is a head of +imperfect vitrification representing two circular lines of opaque skylight +and white, which seem to represent a snake twined round a centre which is +perforated." Mr. Lhwyd, the Welsh antiquary, writing to Ralph Thornley +says:--"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." + +A story comes to us, on Roman authority (that of Pliny), that a knight +entering a court of justice wearing an anguinum about his neck was ordered +by Claudius to be put to death, it being believed that the influence would +improperly wrest judgment in his favour. + +Of this anguinum (a word derived from _anguis_, a snake,) Pliny says: "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." + +Information relative to the prevalence of this superstition in England +will be found in Davies' _Myths of the Druids_, Camden's _Britannia_, and +Borlase's _Cornwall_. + +Perhaps the most remarkable of all British relics of this worship are to +be found on the hills overlooking the village of Abury, in the county of +Wiltshire. There, twenty-six miles from the celebrated ruins of +Stonehenge, are to be found the remains of a great Serpentine Temple--one +of the most imposing, as it certainly is one the most interesting, +monuments of the British Islands. It was first accurately described by Dr. +Stukeley in 1793 in his celebrated work entitled _Abury, a Temple of the +British Druids_. It was afterwards carefully examined by Sir R. C. Hoare +and an account published in his elaborate work _Ancient Wiltshire_. Dr. +Stukeley was the first to detect the design of the structure and his +conclusions have been sustained by the observations of every antiquary who +has succeeded him. + +The temple of Abury consisted originally of a grand circumvallation of +earth 1,400 feet in diameter, enclosing an area of upwards of twenty-two +acres. It has an inner ditch and the height of the embankment, measuring +from the bottom of the ditch, is seventeen feet. It is quite regular, +though not an exact circle in form, and has four entrances at equal +distances apart, though nearly at right angles to each other. Within this +grand circle were originally two double or concentric circles composed of +massive upright stones: a row of large stones, one hundred in number, was +placed upon the inner brow of the ditch. Extending upon either hand from +this grand central structure were parallel lines of huge upright stones, +constituting, upon each side, avenues upwards of a mile in length. These +formed the body of the serpent. Each avenue consisted of two hundred +stones. The head of the serpent was represented by an oval structure +consisting of two concentric lines of upright stones; the outer line +containing forty, the inner eighteen stones. This head rests upon an +eminence known as Overton, or Hakpen Hill, from which is commanded a view +of the entire structure, winding back for more than two miles to the point +of the tail, towards Bekhampton. + +_Hakpen_ in the old British dialects signified _Hak_, serpent, and _pen_, +head, _i.e._, Head of the Serpent. "To our name of _Hakpen_," says +Stukeley, "alludes _ochim_, called 'doleful creatures' in our +translation." Isa. (13 v. 21), speaking of the desolation of Babylon, +says: "Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall +be full of _ochim_, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance +there." St. Jerome translates it "serpents." The Arabians call a serpent +_Haie_, and wood-serpents _Hageshin_; and thence our _Hakpen_; _Pen_ is +"head" in British. + +"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 appear 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." + +Remains indicating the presence of Serpent Worship in Ireland are +extremely scarce, but we must remember the story prevalent in the country, +accepted as truthful by a large majority of its inhabitants, that St. +Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland by his prayers. After all, this +may mean nothing more than that by his preaching he overturned and +uprooted the superstitious practices of the serpent worshippers of his +times. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + _India conspicuous in the history of Serpent Worship--Nagpur-- + Confessions of a Snake Worshipper--The gardeners of Guzerat--Cottages + for Snakes at Calicut--The Feast of Serpents--The Deity + Hari--Garuda--The Snake as an emblem of immortality._ + + +In the course of this work we have had occasion frequently to allude to +India as the home of the peculiar worship before us, and perhaps that +country may fairly be placed side by side with Egypt for the multitude of +illustrations it affords of what we are seeking to elucidate. + +Mr. Rivett-Carnac from whose paper in the journal of the Bengal Asiatic +Society we have already quoted, says:--"The palace of the Bhonslahs at +Benares brings me to Nagpur, where, many years ago, I commenced to make, +with but small success, some rough notes on Serpent Worship. Looking up +some old sketches, I find that the Mahadeo in the oldest temples at Nagpur +is surmounted by the Nag as at Benares. And in the old temple near the +palace of the Nagpur, or city of the Nag or cobra, is a five-headed snake, +elaborately coiled. The Bhonslahs apparently took the many-coiled Nag with +them to Benares. A similar representation of the Nag is found in the +temple near the Itwarah gate at Nagpur. Here again the Nag or cobra is +certainly worshipped as Mahadeo or the phallus, and there are certain +obvious points connected with the position assumed by the cobra when +excited and the expansion of the hood, which suggest the reason for this +snake in particular being adopted as a representation of the phallus and +an emblem of Siva. + +"The worship of the snake is very common in the old Nagpur Province where, +especially among the lower class, the votaries of Siva or Nag Bhushan, 'he +who wears snakes as his ornaments,' are numerous. It is likely enough that +the city took its name from the Nag temple, still to be seen there, and +that the river Nag, perhaps, took its name from the city or temple, and +not the city from the river, as some think. Certain it is that many of the +Kunbi or cultivating class worship the snake and the snake only, and that +this worship is something more than the ordinary superstitious awe with +which all Hindus regard the snake. I find from my notes that one Kunbi +whom I questioned in old days, when I was a Settlement Officer in camp in +the Nagpur Division, stated that he worshipped the Nag and nothing else; +that he worshipped clay images of the snake, and when he could afford to +pay snake-catchers for a look at a live one, he worshipped the living +snake; that if he saw a Nag on the road he would worship it, and that he +believed no Hindu would kill a Nag or cobra if he knew it were a Nag. He +then gave me the following list of articles he would use in worshipping +the snake, when he could afford it; and I take it, the list is similar to +what would be used in ordinary Siva Worship. 1--Water. 2--Gandh, pigment +of sandal-wood for the forehead or body. 3--Cleaned rice. 4--Flowers. +5--Leaves of the Bail tree. 6--Milk. 7--Curds. 8--A thread or piece of +cloth. 9--Red powder. 10--Saffron. 11--Abir, a powder composed of fragrant +substances. 12--Garlands of flowers. 13--Buttemah or grain soaked and +parched. 14--Jowarri. 15--Five lights. 16--Sweetmeats. 17--Betel leaves. +18--Cocoa nut. 19--A sum of money (according to means). 20--Flowers +offered by the suppliant, the palms of the hands being joined. + +"All these articles, my informant assured me, were offered to the snake in +regular succession, one after the other, the worshipper repeating the +while certain _mantras_ or incantations. Having offered all these gifts, +the worshipper prostrates himself before the snake, and, begging for +pardon if he has ever offended against him, craves that the snake will +continue his favour upon him and protect him from every danger." + +In the _Oriental Memoirs_ by Forbes, we are told of the gardeners of +Guzerat who would never allow the snakes to be disturbed, calling them +"father," "brother," and other familiar and endearing names. The head +gardener paid them religious honours. As Deane says, "here we observe a +mixture of the original Serpent Worship, with the more modern doctrine of +transmigration." + +Still more striking is the information in Purchas's _Pilgrims_, that a +king of Calicut built cottages for live serpents, whom he tended with +peculiar care, and made it a capital crime for any person in his dominions +to destroy a snake. "The natives," he says, "looked upon serpents as +endued with divine spirits." + +Then there is the festival called "The Feast of the Serpents," at which +every worshipper, in the hope of propitiating the reptiles during the +ensuing year, sets by a portion of his rice for the hooded snake on the +outside of his house. + +The deities of India and the wonderful temples and caves, as those at +Salsette and Elephanta, as may be seen in Maurice's _Indian Antiquities_, +Moor's _Hindu Pantheon_, _The Asiatic Researches_, Faber's _Pagan +Idolatry_ and numerous other works, are universally adorned with, or +represented by this great symbol. Thus we have the statue of Jeyne, the +Indian AEsculapius, turbaned by a seven-headed snake; that of Vishnu on a +rock in the Ganges, reposing on a coiled serpent whose numerous folds form +a canopy over the sleeping god; Parus Nauth symbolized by a serpent; +Jagan-Nath worshipped under the form of a seven-headed dragon. + +Hari, appears to be one of the titles of Vishnu--that of the deity in his +preserving quality--and his appearance on the rock, as just mentioned, is +thus noticed in Wilkins' _Hitopadesa_: "Nearly opposite Sultan Ganj, a +considerable town in the province of Bahar, there stands a rock of +granite, forming a small island in the Ganges, known to Europeans by the +name of 'the rock of Ichangiri,' which is highly worthy of the traveller's +notice for the vast number of images carved upon every part of its +surface. Among the rest there is Hari, of a gigantic size, recumbent upon +a coiled serpent, whose heads (which are numerous) the artist has +contrived to spread into a kind of canopy over the sleeping god; and from +each of its mouths issues a forked tongue, seeming to threaten instant +death to any whom rashness might prompt to disturb him. The whole lies +almost clear of the block on which it is hewn. It is finely imagined and +is executed with great skill. The Hindus are taught to believe that at the +end of every _Calpa_ (creation or formation) all things are absorbed in +the Deity, and that in the interval of another creation, he reposeth +himself upon the serpent Sesha (duration) who is also called Ananta +(endlessness)." + +Moor says Garuda was an animal--half bird, half man--and was the _vahan_ +or vehicle of Vishnu, also Arun's younger brother. He is sometimes +described in the manner that our poets and painters describe a griffin or +a cherub; and he is placed at the entrance of the passes leading to the +Hindu garden of Eden, and there appears in the character of a destroying +angel in as far as he resists the approach of serpents, which in most +systems of poetical mythology appears to have been the beautiful, +deceiving, insinuating form that sin originally assumed. Garuda espoused a +beautiful woman; the tribes of serpents, alarmed thereat, lest his progeny +should, inheriting his propensities, overpower them, waged fierce war +against him; but he destroyed them all, save one, which he placed as an +ornament about his neck. In the Elephanta cave Garuda is often seen with +this appendage; and some very old gold coins are in existence depicting +him with snakes or elephants in his talons and beaks. Destroyer of +serpents, Naganteka, is one of his names. + +He was of great use to Krishna in clearing the country round Dwarka +(otherwise Dravira) from savage ferocious animals and noxious reptiles. +Vishnu had granted to Garuda the power of destroying his as well as Siva's +enemies; also generally those guilty of constant uncleanness, unbelievers, +dealers in iniquity, ungrateful persons, those who slander their spiritual +guides, or defiled their beds; but forebade him to touch a Brahman, +whatever was his guilt, as the pain of disobedience would be a scorching +pain in his throat, and any attack on a holy or pious person would be +followed by a great diminution of strength. By mistake, however, Garuda +sometimes seized a priest or a religious man, but was admonished and +punished in the first case by the scorching flame, and was unable, even +when he had bound him in his den, to hurt the man of piety.[20] To Rama +also, in the war of Lauka, Garuda was eminently useful: in Rama's last +conflict with Ravana the latter was not overcome without the aid of +Garuda, sent by Vishnu to destroy the serpent-arrows of Ravana. These +arrows are called "Sharpa-vana" (in the current dialect _Sarpa_ a snake, +is corrupted into _Saap_ or _Samp_, and _vana_, an arrow, into _ban_) +and had the faculty of separating, between the bow and the object, into +many parts, each becoming a serpent. Viswamitra conferred upon Rama the +power of transforming his arrows into "Garuda-vanas," they similarly +separating themselves into "Garuda's," the terror and destroyer of the +_Sarpa_. + +Some legends make Garuda the offspring of Kasyapa and Diti. This +all-prolific dame laid an egg, which, it was predicted, would preserve her +deliverer from some great affliction. After a lapse of five hundred years +Garuda sprung from the egg, flew to the abode of Indra, extinguished the +fire that surrounded it, conquered its guards, the _devatas_, and bore off +the _amrita_ (ambrosia), which enabled him to liberate his captive mother. +A few drops of this immortal beverage falling on the species of grass +called "Kusa," it became eternally consecrated; and the serpents greedily +licking it up so lacerated their tongues with the sharp grass that they +have ever since remained forked; but the boon of eternity was ensured to +them by their thus partaking of the immortal fluid. This cause of snakes +having forked tongues is still popularly in the tales of India attributed +to the above greediness; and their supposed immortality may have +originated in some such stories as these; a small portion of _amrita_, as +in the case of Rahu, would ensure them this boon. + +In all mythological language the snake is an emblem of immortality: its +endless figure when its tail is inserted in its mouth, and the annual +renewal of its skin and vigour, afford symbols of continued youth and +eternity; and its supposed medicinal or life-preserving qualities may also +have contributed to the fabled honours of the serpent tribe. In Hindu +mythology serpents are of universal occurence and importance; in some +shape or other they abound in all directions; a similar state of things +prevails in Greece and Egypt. Ingenious and learned authors attribute this +universality of serpent forms to the early and all pervading prevalence of +sin, which, in this identical shape, they tell us, and as indeed we all +know, is as old as the days of our greatest grandmother: thus much as to +its age, when there was but one woman; its prevalence, now there are so +many, this is no place to discuss. + +If such writers were to trace the allegories of Sin and Death, and the end +of their empire, they might discover further allusions to the Christian +dispensation in the traditions of the Hindus than have hitherto been +published--Krishna crushing, but not destroying, the type of Sive, has +often been largely discussed. Garuda is also the proverbial, but not the +utter destroyer of serpents, for he spared one, they and their archetype +being, in reference to created beings, eternal. His continual and destined +state of warfare with serpent, a shape mostly assumed by the enemies of +the virtuous incarnations or deified heroes of the Hindus, is a continued +allegory of the conflicts between Vice and Virtue so infinitely +personified. Garuda, at length, appears the coadjutor of all virtuous +sin-subduing efforts, as the vehicle of the chastening and triumphant +party, and conveys him on the wings of the winds to the regions of eternal +day. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + _Mr. Bullock's Exhibition of Objects illustrating Serpent Worship._ + + +Upwards of sixty years ago, there was opened at the Egyptian Hall, +Piccadilly, what was described as the "Unique Exhibition called Ancient +Mexico; collected on the spot in 1823, by the assistance of the Mexican +Government, by W. Bullock, F.L.S., &c., &c." The illustration attached to +a published description of this collection shows that it contained +reproductions of some of the most remarkable of the serpent deities to be +found in the temples of the western parts of America, and the following +extract will prove interesting to our readers. + +"The rattlesnake appears to have been the most general object of worship, +veneration, and fear; indeed it occurs in some manner combined with almost +every other, and is still found in many of the Indian villages. It remains +at Tezcuco, quite perfect at the present time. Broken fragments may be met +in the exterior of the houses in Mexico in several places; the great head +placed at the left of the sacrificial stone is cast from one in the corner +of the fine building used for the Government Lottery Office, and exposed +to the street. It must have belonged to an idol at least seventy feet +long, probably in the great temple, and broken and buried at the Conquest. +They are generally in a coiled up state, with the tail or rattle on the +back, but they vary in their size and position. The finest that is known +to exist, I discovered in the deserted part of the Cloister of the +Dominican Convent opposite the Palace of the Inquisition. It is coiled up +in an irritated erect position, with the jaws extended, and in the act of +gorging an elegantly dressed female, who appears in the mouth of the +enormous reptile, crushed and lacerated, a disgusting detail withal too +horrible for description. + +"Turning to a letter from Cortes to Charles V., as given by Humboldt, we +read, 'From the square we proceeded to the great temple, but before we +entered it we made a circuit through a number of large courts, the +smallest of which appeared to me to contain more ground than the great +square in Salamanca, with double enclosures built of lime and stone, and +the courts paved with large white cut stone, very clean; or, where not +paved, they were plastered and polished. When we approached the gate of +the great temple, to which the ascent was by a hundred and fourteen +steps, and before we had mounted one of them, Montezuma sent down to us +six priests and two of his noblemen to carry Cortes up, as they had done +their sovereign, which he politely declined. When we had ascended to the +summit of the temple, we observed on the platform as we passed the large +stone whereon were placed the victims who were to be sacrificed. Here was +a great figure which resembled a dragon, and much blood fresh spilt. +Cortes then addressing himself to Montezuma requested that he would do him +the favour to show us his gods. Montezuma, having first consulted his +priests, led us into a tower where there was a kind of saloon. Here were +two altars highly adorned, with richly wrought timbers on the roof, and +over the altars gigantic figures resembling very fat men. The one on the +right was Huitzilopochtli their war god, with a great face and terrible +eyes, this figure was entirely covered with gold and jewels, and his body +bound with golden serpents, in his right hand he held a bow, and in his +left a bundle of arrows. The little idol which stood by him represented +his page, and bore a lance and target richly ornamented with gold and +jewels. The great idol had round his neck the figures of human heads and +hearts made of pure gold and silver, ornamented with precious stones of a +blue colour. Before the idol was a pan of incense, with three hearts of +human victims which were then burning, mixed with copal. The whole of that +apartment, both walls and floor, was stained with human blood in such +quantity as to give a very offensive smell. On the left was the other +great figure, with a countenance like a bear, and great shining eyes of +the polished substance whereof their mirrors are made. The body of this +idol was also covered with jewels. These two deities it was said were +brothers; the name of the last was Tezcatepuca, and he was the god of the +infernal regions. He presided, according to their notions, over the souls +of men. His body was covered with figures representing little devils with +tails of serpents, and the walls and pavement of this temple were so +besmeared with blood that they gave off a worse odour than all the +slaughter-houses of Castille. An offering lay before him of five human +hearts. In the summit of the temple, and in a recess the timber of which +was highly ornamented, we saw a figure half human and the other half +resembling an alligator, inlaid with jewels, and partly covered with a +mantle. This idol was said to contain the germ and origin of all created +things, and was the god of harvests and fruits. The walls and altars were +bestained like the rest, and so offensive that we thought we never could +get out soon enough. + +"'In this place they had a drum of most enormous size, the head of which +was made of the skins of large serpents. This instrument when struck +resounded with a noise that could be heard to the distance of two leagues, +and so doleful that it deserved to be named the music of the infernal +regions; and with their horrible sounding horns and trumpets, their great +knives for sacrifice, their human victims, and their blood besprinkled +altars, I devoted them and all their wickedness to God's vengeance, and +thought that the time would never arrive that I should escape from this +scene of butchery, horrible smells, and more detestable sights. + +"'On the site of the church, called St. Jago el Taltelulco, was a temple, +which, we have already observed, was surrounded with courts as large as +the square of Salamanca. At a little distance from it stood a tower, a +true hell or habitation for demons, with a mouth, resembling that of an +enormous monster, wide open, and ready as it were to devour those who +entered. At the door stood frightful idols; by it was a place for +sacrifice, and within, boilers and pots full of water to dress the flesh +of the victims which were eaten by the priests. The idols were like +serpents and devils, and before them were tables and knives for sacrifice, +the place being covered with the blood which was spilt on those occasions. +The furniture was like that of a butcher's stall, and I never gave this +accursed building any name except that of hell. Having passed this, we saw +great piles of wood, and a reservoir of water supplied by a pipe from the +great aqueduct; and crossing a court we came to another temple, wherein +were the tombs of the Mexican nobility, it was begrimed with soot and +blood. Next to this was another, full of skeletons and piles of bones, +each kept apart, but regularly arranged. In each temple were idols, and +each had also its particular priests, who wore long vestments of black, +their long hair was clotted together, and their ears lacerated in honour +of their gods.'" + +Mr. Bullock then proceeds to describe a cast of the great idol of the +goddess of war, which he had brought to England with him. + +"This monstrous idol, before which thousands of human victims were +annually sacrificed on the altar, is, with its pedestal, about twelve feet +high and four feet wide, it is sculptured out of one solid piece of grey +basalt. Its form is partly human, and the rest composed of rattlesnakes +and the tiger. The head, enormously wide, seems that of two rattlesnakes +united, the fangs hanging out of the mouth, on which the still palpitating +hearts of the unfortunate victims were rubbed as an act of the most +acceptable oblation. The body is that of a deformed human frame, and the +place of arms supplied by the heads of rattlesnakes placed on square +plinths and united by fringed ornaments. Round the waist is a girdle, +which was originally covered with gold, and beneath this, reaching nearly +to the ground and partly covering its deformed cloven feet, a drapery +entirely composed of wreathed rattlesnakes which the nations call +cohuatlicuye or garments of serpents, on each side of which is a winged +termination of the feathers of the vulture. Between the feet, descending +from the body, another wreathed serpent rested its head on the ground, and +the whole composition of this deity is strictly appropriate to the +infernal purpose for which it was used, and with which the personal +ornaments too well accord. From the neck, spreading over its deformed +breast, is a necklace composed of human hands, hearts, and skulls--fit +emblems of the sanguinary rites daily performed in its honour. + +"The death's head and mutilated hands, four of which surround the bosom of +the goddess, remind us of the terrible sacrifices of Teoquawhquat, +celebrated in the fifteenth century period of thirteen days after the +summer solstice, in honour of the god of war and his female companion, +Teoyamiqui. The mutilated hands alternate with the figure of certain vases +in which incense was burnt. These vases were called Topxicalli, bags in +the form of calabashes. This idol was sculptured on every side, even +beneath where was represented Mictlanteuchtli, the Lord of the place of +the dead; it cannot be doubted, but that it was supported in the air by +means of two columns, on which rested the arms. According to this +whimsical arrangement, the head of the idol was probably elevated five or +six metres above the pavement of the temple, so that the priests dragging +their unfortunate victims to the altar made them pass under the figure of +Mictlanteuchtli. The Viceroy of Mexico transported this monument to the +University which he thought the most proper place to preserve one of the +most curious remains of American antiquity. The Professors of the +University, monks of the Order of St. Dominic, were unwilling to expose +this idol to the sight of the Mexican youth, and caused it to be reburied +in one of the passages of the College. But Mr. Humboldt had it disinterred +at the request of the Bishop of Monterey. + +"A highly curious specimen of Mexican sculpture is an exceeding hard stone +resembling hornstein, a coarse kind of jade, it is a species of compact +tale, of most elaborate workmanship, and the bust of a priest, or perhaps +of the idol representing the Sun. The head is crowned with a high +mitre-shaped cap, decorated with jewels and feathers, it has long pendant +earrings. The hands are raised, the right sustains something resembling a +knotted club, while the left takes hold of a festoon of flowers which +descends from the head; all the other parts are covered with the great +rattlesnake, whose enormous head and jaws are on the right side of the +figure, while the backs and sides are covered with the scales and rattles +of the deadly reptile." + +Our prescribed limits are now reached, and we are able to add but little +to what has already been advanced exhibiting the widespread prevalence of +this singular form of worship. Again and again has wonderment been +expressed that it should ever be possible for a creature so disgusting to +become an object of worship, but so it has been, and no age or country +seems to have been strange to it. Very early indeed in history men began +to worship a serpent, that brazen one of the Exodus, which Hezekiah +destroyed on account of the idolatry into which it led the people. But if +that object was put away, the hope that the worship would cease was vain, +for it started up amongst the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, +the Egyptians, and spread into Greece, Esthonia, Finland, Italy, Persia, +Hindustan, Ceylon, China, Japan, Burmah, Java, Arabia, Syria, Ethiopia, +Britain, Mexico, and Peru. + +Such was its extent--wide as the world itself, and vast beyond estimate or +description was its influence over the minds of those who came within its +reach. Let the curious reader who would know more, and who would make +himself acquainted with the multitudinous forms in which the emblem was +depicted, study the works of such writers as Kingsford and Montfaucon, +with their numerous and well executed plates, and he will meditate with +astonishment upon the singular fascination which this repulsive reptile +seems to have exercised over the human mind. He is said, we know, so to +fascinate the victim he is about to seize as his prey that the unhappy +creature is deprived of all power of resistance, a fascination no less +overwhelming seems to have paralyzed the human mind and caused it to adopt +from some cause or other such a repelling reptile as an object of worship. +The spell is broken now, however, and but little remains of what was once +so universal, beyond the earth mounds where its temples stood and the half +ruined sculptures collected in the museums of civilized countries. + + +THE END. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Deane. + +[2] Eusebius. + +[3] Aristoph. + +[4] Cory's Ancient Fragments, Intro. 34. + +[5] Origin Pagan Idol., Vol. 1, p. 175. + +[6] Landseer's Sabaean Res. + +[7] Coleman's Hind. Mythology. + +[8] Origin Pagan Idol., vol. 1, p. 45. + +[9] Herrara, Hist. America, vol. iv., pp. 162-3. + +[10] Trav. in Yucatan. + +[11] Clavigero, vol. 1. + +[12] Faber. + +[13] Deane. + +[14] McCulloch's American Researches, p. 225. + +[15] Gesner, Hist. Anim. p. 54, citing AElian. + +[16] Deane. + +[17] Deane. + +[18] Davies' Mythol. of Druids. + +[19] Owen's Dict. Art. Draig. + +[20] Asiatic Res., vol. 5, p. 514. + +[21] Moor's Hindu Pantheon 342. + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Characters in larger font are indicated by =large=. + +Foonote 21 appears on page 98 of the text, but there is no corresponding +marker on the page. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ophiolatreia, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPHIOLATREIA *** + +***** This file should be named 39015.txt or 39015.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/1/39015/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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