Forlong - Rivers of Life
Forlong - Rivers of Life Forlong - Rivers of Life
266 Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands. our rural Maha-Deva was and is the original. See also the vase-worship of Egypt in the Ark of Phile, which I give at page 190. The Serpent-column—so felicitously placeci in this oval pit—seems to be the highly Sivo-tri-pythic column, which we observe in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities, as the tripod seen by Spon and Wheeler in 1675, and which they said was 14 to 15 feet high. I think they have mistaken or manufactured the third head; for when I visited the Hippodrome or āt Meidān of Constantinople in 1857, I did not see it, but my attention in those days was not so minute as since. I believe the heads were only perfect up to near the end of the seventh century A.C. One head is said to be carefully preserved in a Christian shrine, “the armoury of the Church of St. Jerome.” A writer in the Dark Blue of, I think, 1872, says that De Quincy carefully describes the column, calling it “the greatest talisman of Constantinope, having its original in the Mosaic serpent which healed the diseased if merely looked at.” “This consecrated talisman,” he says truly, “was venerated alike by Christian, Pagan, and Mahomedan;” and, writes the Rev. Mr. Deane, Fig 127.—THE AT-MEIDAN OR HIPPODROME, CONSTANTINOPLE—SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR IN 1857. “so superstitious are even the present Turks concerning it that they say: ‘Although, in consequence of the lower jaw of this brazen serpent having been struck off some serpents do come into the city, yet they do no harm to any one.’” (Annals Tur. 213). De Quincey says that the column was struck on the head by the last great iconoclast race, in the person of Mahomed II., on 29th May 1453, when he conquered Constantinople, then the glorious bulwark of Eastern Christianity. Even he, however, the mighty conqueror in his hour of triumph, feared attempting to crush the symbol of a mighty
Serpent and Phallic Worship. and wide-spread faith, and only “scotched the snake.”—“The fanatical Sultan riding to his stirrups in blood, the conqueror of the last of the Cæsars—who had glorified his station, and sealed his destiny by martyrdom—advanced to the column round which the triple serpent soared spirally upwards, wielding that iron mace, his sole weapon and well-known sign in. battle, struck it on the head, and shattered. one head only; crush it and destroy it he did not.” His people called it a symbol prefiguring the for- tunes of Mahommedanism, saying that his good genius wisely prompted him not to entirely crush the serpent. This serpent-column was, it is said, the work of Greeks, chiefly Lacedemonians, after their victory over Mardonius at Plataia, and is said to have been made out of the spoils of the Persian army obtained on that golden-lettered day of two great victories—the 22d of September 479 B.C. “For centuries,” says a reviewer in The Dark Blue, “it stood close to the altar of the Delphic oracle, and was surmounted by a golden tripod.” From my drawing of the broken column and its present locale in Constantinople, it will be seen that the constructors of the Hippodrome have in a very extraordinary manner, and I believe quite ignorantly, placed the serpent-column exactly in the same position and with the same accessories, as the most learned votariies of phallo-serpent faith would have demanded; for mark that it is still in in “the Abyss,” oval pit or Yoni; and, alongside of the “Column of Desire,” or the obelisk; and close to the Moslem Mosk and its candlestick columns, as if designed to expose also the roots of that faith, or, at least its architecture. Verily here stand represented Osiris and lsis, Apollo, Typhon, Ceres, Sun, and Fire; as well as every emotional, and also some of those spiritual ideas which can be abundantly gleaned from the various utterances of this once so celebrated aracle. Several authors, apparently following Herodotus IX. 8, say that this Serpent- Lingam, evidently Tauri aut Arei sed non hominis, carried a golden bowl, that is, was the Somnāt Siva, with the crescent over the tripod, a not uncommon form of Tri-Sool to this day. But let us return to the spot whence the triple serpent came; for we have only described its surroundings; and not tried sufficiently to read the meaning of the old priests and their followers. The site of the Python was the Navel or Omphalos of Ge or Terra; and we see it is also the reverse of this, “the caves of a great theatre, shut it, but cleft in the centre; from whence poured the water of the Kastalian spring,” that is waters from a Holy or Heated source—a fountain and spring, it was said, of immortal life; and one, too, which has given joy and consolation to thousands, aye millions, for some 1200 years.” The founders, we are told, were Lukoreans; that is, followers of Apollo, or Maha-Deva, and so we recognise our Sanskrit-Aryan friends, whom my chart shows, when Delphi rose to prominence, as spreading away west, full of such learning and poetry. “In the centre of the temple was a small opening in the ground, from which, from time to time, an intoxicating vapour arose; over this chasm stood the Priestess, called Pythia, whenever the oracle was to be consuIted. The words which she uttered after exhaling the vapour, were believe to contain 267
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Serpent and Phallic Worship.<br />
and wide-spread faith, and only “scotched the snake.”—“The fanatical Sultan riding<br />
to his stirrups in blood, the conqueror <strong>of</strong> the last <strong>of</strong> the Cæsars—who had glorified his<br />
station, and sealed his destiny by martyrdom—advanced to the column round which<br />
the triple serpent soared spirally upwards, wielding that iron mace, his sole weapon<br />
and well-known sign in. battle, struck it on the head, and shattered. one head only;<br />
crush it and destroy it he did not.” His people called it a symbol prefiguring the for-<br />
tunes <strong>of</strong> Mahommedanism, saying that his good genius wisely prompted him not to<br />
entirely crush the serpent. This serpent-column was, it is said, the work <strong>of</strong> Greeks,<br />
chiefly Lacedemonians, after their victory over Mardonius at Plataia, and is said to have<br />
been made out <strong>of</strong> the spoils <strong>of</strong> the Persian army obtained on that golden-lettered day<br />
<strong>of</strong> two great victories—the 22d <strong>of</strong> September 479 B.C. “For centuries,” says a<br />
reviewer in The Dark Blue, “it stood close to the altar <strong>of</strong> the Delphic oracle, and was<br />
surmounted by a golden tripod.”<br />
From my drawing <strong>of</strong> the broken column and its present locale in Constantinople,<br />
it will be seen that the constructors <strong>of</strong> the Hippodrome have in a very extraordinary<br />
manner, and I believe quite ignorantly, placed the serpent-column exactly in the same<br />
position and with the same accessories, as the most learned votariies <strong>of</strong> phallo-serpent<br />
faith would have demanded; for mark that it is still in in “the Abyss,” oval pit or Yoni;<br />
and, alongside <strong>of</strong> the “Column <strong>of</strong> Desire,” or the obelisk; and close to the Moslem Mosk<br />
and its candlestick columns, as if designed to expose also the roots <strong>of</strong> that faith, or, at<br />
least its architecture. Verily here stand represented Osiris and lsis, Apollo, Typhon,<br />
Ceres, Sun, and Fire; as well as every emotional, and also some <strong>of</strong> those spiritual ideas<br />
which can be abundantly gleaned from the various utterances <strong>of</strong> this once so celebrated<br />
aracle. Several authors, apparently following Herodotus IX. 8, say that this Serpent-<br />
Lingam, evidently Tauri aut Arei sed non hominis, carried a golden bowl, that is, was<br />
the Somnāt Siva, with the crescent over the tripod, a not uncommon form <strong>of</strong> Tri-Sool<br />
to this day. But let us return to the spot whence the triple serpent came; for we have<br />
only described its surroundings; and not tried sufficiently to read the meaning <strong>of</strong> the<br />
old priests and their followers.<br />
The site <strong>of</strong> the Python was the Navel or Omphalos <strong>of</strong> Ge or Terra; and we<br />
see it is also the reverse <strong>of</strong> this, “the caves <strong>of</strong> a great theatre, shut it, but cleft<br />
in the centre; from whence poured the water <strong>of</strong> the Kastalian spring,” that is<br />
waters from a Holy or Heated source—a fountain and spring, it was said, <strong>of</strong> immortal<br />
life; and one, too, which has given joy and consolation to thousands, aye<br />
millions, for some 1200 years.” The founders, we are told, were Lukoreans; that<br />
is, followers <strong>of</strong> Apollo, or Maha-Deva, and so we recognise our Sanskrit-Aryan<br />
friends, whom my chart shows, when Delphi rose to prominence, as spreading away<br />
west, full <strong>of</strong> such learning and poetry. “In the centre <strong>of</strong> the temple was a small<br />
opening in the ground, from which, from time to time, an intoxicating vapour arose;<br />
over this chasm stood the Priestess, called Pythia, whenever the oracle was to be consuIted.<br />
The words which she uttered after exhaling the vapour, were believe to contain<br />
267