Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
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CHAPTER 2: THE SERPENT<br />
The serpent has always stood for two diametrically opposed ideas, namely as the<br />
foe of mankind and the symbol of evil on the one hand, and as man’s protector<br />
and saviour in disease and distress on the other. 100<br />
Serpent imagery is common in the myths and folk tales of cultures around the world.<br />
Apep, the great night-serpent, harried the solar god Ra during his journey through the<br />
underworld from the sun’s setting in the west to its rising in the east. 101 The Norsemen believed<br />
that the god Thor would one day die in battle with the world-serpent Jormungand. 102 The Greek<br />
god Apollo acquired his most famous and prestigious oracle, Delphi, by slaying the great Python<br />
who originally inhabited the site. The Babylonian god Marduk was forced to fight the primeval<br />
goddess, Tiamat, who could take the form of a serpent, in order to re-establish order in the<br />
universe. 103 Thus, the serpent, often in monstrous and/or draconic form, played the roles of the<br />
“other” and enemy to both gods and heroes. In a classical context, this seems to be the role of<br />
the serpent in mythic narrative, but the cultic associations of this animal were not solely<br />
negative. In fact, snakes were more often healers or benevolent guardians of hearth and home 104<br />
and represented the procreative power of man and the gods. Rumors of gods taking the form of<br />
serpents in order to impregnate women were associated with Augustus’ mother, Atia, 105 and<br />
Alexander the Great’s mother, Olympias. 106 Thus, a wide array of meanings is attached to the<br />
symbol of the serpent.<br />
I shall begin with hybrids associated with the more fearsome aspects of snakes before<br />
moving to benevolent serpent deities that offered boons to mankind. The most prominent<br />
classical expression of ophidian imagery as a danger to the order of the cosmos can be found in<br />
100<br />
Schouten 1967, 1.<br />
101<br />
Spence 1990, 131.<br />
102<br />
Sturluson 1954, 88.<br />
103<br />
Dalley 2000, 251-3.<br />
104<br />
Bevan (1986, 261) states that the snake served as a guardian for both mortal and divine property. This assertion<br />
is born out by the roles of the deities discussed in this chapter.<br />
105<br />
Suet. Aug. 94. In this passage, Suetonius records the story that Atia conceived Augustus by Apollo disguised in<br />
serpent form.<br />
106<br />
Plut. Vit. Alex. II.9. Plutarch records that Philip found Olympias in bed with a snake after participating in the<br />
rites of Sabazius and that this incident may have alienated Philip from her company. See also Turcan 1999, 291.<br />
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