Forlong - Rivers of Life

Serpent and Phallic Worship.
A small brochure by the Earl of Carnarvon shows us, that neither the serpent nor
his usually accompanying deity—Fire, is yet dead in these old seats of empire; both, he
states, are considered necessary to give light and beauty, and were thought to inspire
awe and veneration for the holy dead. The Earl visited in 1860 the very holy shrine
of Shek-Adi Ayezide of Mesopotamia, about 25 miles from Mosul on the spurs of the
Nestorian Mountains, overlooking the plains of Nineveh, and speaks thus of his
approach to it through wooded gorges:—“Its most marked features were conical
spires, fashioned in the form of a wavy and pointed flame. . . . . . marking the old
fire worship which is more truly, if not more openly professed amongst the Yezidis, than
any other nation west of mount Elbruz,” the holy Hermon of the Caucasians. He found
the serpent “prominently sculptured on the side posts of the inner sanctuary,” for it
is the commonest emblem of these parts, not only internally but externally, and on all
churches, monasteries, and convents; so much so, that taken in connection with the
October Saturnalia, and the water ducts and water appliances to all these shrines, we are
thus assured. that they have always been more or less serpent temples: Perhaps on
this account the old Shek selected this Pytho-Fire shrine as his final resting-place.
The lamps and all the appurtenances, says the Earl, were too sacred to be defiled by
an unbeliever’s touch, and the fire was never permitted to go out in the adytum, or
holy of holies.
Let us now glance briefly at some of the most highly esteemed specimens of Grecian
art, and remove if possible some of the gloss and pretty painting with which the poet
and artist have draped their figures; for, as I have long ago urged, they have but
worked up the cold harsh outlines and ideas into lovely forms and enchanting pictures,
which we, going to the root of matters, must try to dissipate. Given a Christlike
idea, it is easy to enshroud the babe in swaddling bands and lay him romantically
in a manger and bring the star and wise men from the East to do homage at the
shrine; to kill all the babes in Judea, and stir up the anxious, nervous minds, of conquerors
and conquered, and bring statesmen and monarchs to the foot of a cross; but we
must be here real, and neither accept Boodha of the grove of Lubina, Christ of Bethlehem,
nor the Prophet of the Desert; without sifting all.
As man learned to sculpture freely. the representation of
male and female took the most beautiful forms of man and woman,
and when Poetry and Music became arts, common and appreciated,
the two were personified by the sexes; Music became Woman and
Love; and Apollo and others played upon such lyres to enraptured
nature; and it is here, as with the lyre, that he is shown to us
as passing through the Door of Life. He is in the state which
Solomon calls blessed, because his quiver is shown full of arrows, and
his bow is ever with him, or he is supposed. to be holding his bow
Fig. 44.—APOLLO WITH LYRE.
after shooting forth his arrow. At other times he is found sculp-
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