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Article OPHIOLOGY AND SERPENT SYMBOLISM. ← Page 5 of 9 →
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Ophiology And Serpent Symbolism.
deprecate and disarm a being which , as its manifestation on earth was good or evil , they looked on Avith A'eneration , or before which they trembled Avith horror . Such differing AUBAVS would , however , act A'ariously in different countries , and bring about a discrepancy of practices and observances on serpents of AA'hich a review , from a geographical point of A'iew , is most convenient ; and Ave begin , therefore , Avith that country where this symbolism is most ancient , most completely carried out , and not inactiA'e upon our own relations at the present day , AA'ith
THE HEBREWS . The earliest and most circumstantial accounts Ave have of the serpent , and its influence or connection with man , is in the Bible . The serpent-tempter of the first woman ; the serpent into which Moses ' s staff Avas turned , devouring the serpents of the Egyptian magicians before Pharaohare among the earliest
, and most remarkable traditions regarding this reptile that Ave find recorded . They have been A'ariously commented on , and many most curious traditions have been culled from the Talmud and the early Fathers , or their opponents , concerning the Avhole . As in Genesis the' property of human speech was given it , expositors and sculptors thought the organs of the human voice ,
a mouth and a female head , indispensable , on which generally appears , to represent potency and might of evil , a princely diadem . This was a favourite emblem of the middle ages ; and in their Bibles , either illuminated or after the invention of printing , the usual delineation of the temptation gives the trunk of the tree of life encircled bthe twining folds of the
y reptile , while from its branches . she appears as a beautiful virgin , sometimes Avith arms offering Eve the apple , sometimes with solely the human head . It is the first which is given , in a beautifully written roll , by Thomas Sprott , giving the entire English history , ab exordia mundi , to about 1272 , UOAV in the possession of Joseph MayerEsq . of Liverpoolthe liberal
, , , purchaser of the Fausset collection of Kentish antiquities , which roll the munificent proprietor , at the suggestion of the Avriter , alloAved him to publish in fac-simile , Avith a literal English translation . This is one of the vignette enrichments of the roll , Avhich , in the form of this serpent or one similar , might almost have given Horace the idea of his verse ( De Art . Poet . v . 4 ) —
" Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne ;" though the syrens and the harpies in his own mythology Avould also have afforded him prototypes of such monstrous combinations . The Egyptians , from tlie metaphorical nature of their
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ophiology And Serpent Symbolism.
deprecate and disarm a being which , as its manifestation on earth was good or evil , they looked on Avith A'eneration , or before which they trembled Avith horror . Such differing AUBAVS would , however , act A'ariously in different countries , and bring about a discrepancy of practices and observances on serpents of AA'hich a review , from a geographical point of A'iew , is most convenient ; and Ave begin , therefore , Avith that country where this symbolism is most ancient , most completely carried out , and not inactiA'e upon our own relations at the present day , AA'ith
THE HEBREWS . The earliest and most circumstantial accounts Ave have of the serpent , and its influence or connection with man , is in the Bible . The serpent-tempter of the first woman ; the serpent into which Moses ' s staff Avas turned , devouring the serpents of the Egyptian magicians before Pharaohare among the earliest
, and most remarkable traditions regarding this reptile that Ave find recorded . They have been A'ariously commented on , and many most curious traditions have been culled from the Talmud and the early Fathers , or their opponents , concerning the Avhole . As in Genesis the' property of human speech was given it , expositors and sculptors thought the organs of the human voice ,
a mouth and a female head , indispensable , on which generally appears , to represent potency and might of evil , a princely diadem . This was a favourite emblem of the middle ages ; and in their Bibles , either illuminated or after the invention of printing , the usual delineation of the temptation gives the trunk of the tree of life encircled bthe twining folds of the
y reptile , while from its branches . she appears as a beautiful virgin , sometimes Avith arms offering Eve the apple , sometimes with solely the human head . It is the first which is given , in a beautifully written roll , by Thomas Sprott , giving the entire English history , ab exordia mundi , to about 1272 , UOAV in the possession of Joseph MayerEsq . of Liverpoolthe liberal
, , , purchaser of the Fausset collection of Kentish antiquities , which roll the munificent proprietor , at the suggestion of the Avriter , alloAved him to publish in fac-simile , Avith a literal English translation . This is one of the vignette enrichments of the roll , Avhich , in the form of this serpent or one similar , might almost have given Horace the idea of his verse ( De Art . Poet . v . 4 ) —
" Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne ;" though the syrens and the harpies in his own mythology Avould also have afforded him prototypes of such monstrous combinations . The Egyptians , from tlie metaphorical nature of their