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365 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA serpent

the remark of Jeroboam I. when he set up the golden calves, I Kings xii. 28). There is reason to believe that the worship of the snake was not confined to Jerusalem. Altogether aside from the great part played by the serpent in the mythology of the surrounding peoples and the certainty that this influenced the Hebrews, there is direct evidence in a small bronze serpent which was found at Gezer. The question of the relationship between Num. xxi. 4 aqq., to II Kings xviii. 4 is by some regarded as close, the former being considered as built upon the latter. This is quite in accordance with the mythopceic genius, and Numbers is, on the critical hypothesis, the later. Such a passage as Deut. viii. 15 and the fact of the comparative abundance of serpents in the Arabian desert would assist, especially in the case of the attribution of the origin of the brazen serpent to Mosaic times. In the passage in Numbers it is on the surface of the narrative that merely looking on the image brought healing. There is no suggestion that the brazen serpent is a divine figure, nor, on the other hand, is there a hint that it called for the exercise of faith in a peculiar degree; the healing was accomplished for those who looked on the image because it was the means appointed by Yahweh for that end. It became a mere sign to serve that purpose (cf. the symbolism in John iii. 14).

II. In Worship: From the standpoint of animistic primitive religion there is little cause for wonder in the diffused cult of the serpent, whether that cult rise to the height of actual wor-

:. The ship or be but the lower degree of ven- Basis. eration, totemic regard and immunity from destruction, or mere symbolism. The reptile's peculiar form and often its remarkable beauty and striking marking, its mysterious and sometimes exceedingly rapid mode of progression, its staring gaze and power to charm (as exercised on birds and the smaller animals), its ability ap parently to renew its youth and certainly its beauty by the shedding of its skin, the insidious character of its attack and the deadly character of its bite as exhibited in some species-all these and other characteristics have combined to make it one of the most admired and most dreaded of animals, and to give it a double repute for wisdom and power to heal, as well as for unrelenting hostility and de monic hatred for the race of men (cf. Gen. iii. 15). So that it is not remarkable that in religious sym bolism the serpent should figure so largely, that nations celebrated for wisdom should make it an accompaniment of their gods, heroes, and kings, and that in mythology and folk-lore its r81e should be so extensive. And the spell of the serpent is not yet loosed, so that in few departments of com parative religion is there greater need of more care ful scrutiny of statements of fact and especially of inferences current in the books on the subject. It is usual to assume that every effigy or representa tion of a serpent, as also the use of it in rites, is proof of serpent-worship in that locus or connec tion. Thus it is commonly held that the use of the snake in the snake-dances of the North ,American Indians involves worship. Yet it is probable that the true explanation in this instance is the supposed

connection of the serpent in folk-lore with rain and thus with agricultural fertility, so that the snakedance belongs in the realm of sympathetic magic ritual to induce rain and consequently bountiful harvests (see below on the connection of serpents with springs). Similarly the sculptures, etc., of the cobra with three, five, or seven heads, which is so often figured shadowing with its inflated hood this or that deity in India, no more warrant conclusion as to serpent-worship in that relation than does the fact that deities are,represented as seated on a lotus prove worship of the lotus. Its function there is merely that of an attendant upon the deity, an enhancement of whose powers is implied by the attendance of the deadly beast. In this connection its presence is in line with the efforts of a crude religious art, which, under the form of four- or sixhanded beings with distorted shape and outrd accompaniments, seeks to express the attribution to the gods of power and wisdom vastly superior to those qualities as seen in human beings.

It must not be concluded from the foregoing, however, that serpent-worship is or ever has been a rare phenomenon. It is both a priori probable that animistic peoples would worship an animal so uncanny as the serpent, and demonstrable that such worship was actual and continued beyond the animistic stage. But it is important to remember in this connection that when the stage of anthropomorphic religion was reached, there would be a natural tendency to cover up the traces of animal-worship as being less noble, and so those traces would easily become lost. Such a course would especially be followed in the literary religions. This does not involve the absolute extinction of the cult, however, for the worship often continued as a rural cult, or, perhaps, sub rosa, after the more aristocratic worship of the anthropomorphized deity had taken its place. Much of the evidence to be cited from Greece in all probability comes from this conservative stratum of the population.

Some of the most cogent proofs of serpent-worship in the ancient world come from the Greek area, especially in connection with (1) the submerged pre-Homeric religion, and (2) the later

2. In the " folk-religion " and the renascence Greek of the mysteries (see TRIBAL AND World. CULTIC MYsTERm6) in the century preceding and following the Christian era. The evidence is largely monumental, and is established under circumstances which make it evident that, e.g., Zeus superseded a deified snake, installing himself instead as the object of worship, and adopting its rites and sacrifices. Thus a huge bearded snake is figured on a Hymettus marble which was taken to Berlin in 1879, and is inscribed " to Zeus Meilichios " (" Meilichioa," here used euphemistically, meaning" kind "). A votive tablet is known, also figuring a bearded snake. Another from Eteonos in Baeotia shows a serpent emerging from a cave while a worshiper and his daughter stand in front, the former in the act of worship. The sup planting by Zeus Meilichios of the snake is clearly exhibited by a figure that is human in form, the snake being reduced to normal size (in the former cases it is gigantic) and located beneath the throne,