Volume Ii Part 7 (1/2)

[448]?? de ?? ???

?? ??at?? ?efa?a? ?f???, de????? ??a???t??.

As there was a perpetual fire kept up in the upper story, he describes it as s.h.i.+ning through the apertures in the building.

[449]?? de ?? ?ss??

Tespes??? ?efa??s?? ?p' ?f??s? p?? aa??sse?

?ase?? d' e? ?efa?e?? p?? ?a?et? de???e????.

But the n.o.blest description of Typhon is given in some very fine poetry by Nonnus. He has taken his ideas from some antient tower situated near the sea upon the summit of an high mountain. It was probably the Typhonian temple of Zeus upon mount Casius, near the famed Serbonian lake. He mentions sad noises heard within, and describes the roaring of the surge below: and says that all the monsters of the sea stabled in the cavities at the foot of the mountain, which was washed by the ocean.

[450]?? ?????e?t? de p??t?

?stae??? ??f???? es? ???e?t?? e?a????

?e??e? ta?sa pep??t?, ?a? ?e?? ????t? ?ast??

T???e?? ?efeess?? G??a?te??? de ?a?????

F???t?? ae?s???f?? a??? ????a ?e??t??, ???t??? e????e?t? ?e?? e?a??ptet? ???p?. ?t?.

We may perceive, that this is a mixed description, wherein, under the character of a gigantic personage, a towering edifice is alluded to; which was situated upon the summit of a mountain, and in the vicinity of the sea.

OB, OUB, PYTHO,

SIVE DE

OPHIOLATRIA.

?a?a pa?t? t?? ?????e??? pa?' ??? Te?? ?f?? s????? e?a ?a?

?st????? a?a??afeta?. Justin. Martyr. Apolog. l. 1. p. 60.

It may seem extraordinary, that the wors.h.i.+p of the serpent should have ever been introduced into the world: and it must appear still more remarkable, that it should almost universally have prevailed. As mankind are said to have been ruined through the influence of this being, we could little expect that it would, of all other objects, have been adopted, as the most sacred and salutary symbol; and rendered the chief object of [451]adoration. Yet so we find it to have been. In most of the antient rites there is some allusion to the [452]serpent. I have taken notice, that in the Orgies of Bacchus, the persons who partook of the ceremony used to carry serpents in their hands, and with horrid screams called upon Eva, Eva. They were often crowned with [453]serpents, and still made the same frantic exclamation. One part of the mysterious rites of Jupiter Sabazius was to let a snake slip down the bosom of the person to be initiated, which was taken out below[454]. These ceremonies, and this symbolic wors.h.i.+p, began among the Magi, who were the sons of Chus: and by them they were propagated in various parts. Epiphanius thinks, that the invocation, Eva, Eva, related to the great [455]mother of mankind, who was deceived by the serpent: and Clemens of Alexandria is of the same opinion. He supposes, that by this term was meant [456]??a? e?e????, d?' ?? ? p?a??

pa?????????se. But I should think, that Eva was the same as Eph, Epha, Opha, which the Greeks rendered ?f??, Ophis, and by it denoted a serpent.

Clemens acknowledges, that the term Eva properly aspirated had such a signification. [457]?? ???a t? ???a das???e??? ????e?eta? ?f??.

Olympias, the mother of [458]Alexander, was very fond of these Orgies, in which the serpent was introduced. Plutarch mentions, that rites of this sort were practised by the Edonian women near mount Haemus in Thrace; and carried on to a degree of madness. Olympias copied them closely in all their frantic manuvres. She used to be followed with many attendants, who had each a thyrsus with [459]serpents twined round it. They had also snakes in their hair, and in the chaplets, which they wore; so that they made a most fearful appearance. Their cries were very shocking: and the whole was attended with a continual repet.i.tion of the words, [460]Evoe, Saboe, Hues Attes, Attes Hues, which were t.i.tles of the G.o.d Dionusus. He was peculiarly named ???; and his priests were the Hyades, and Hyantes. He was likewise styled Evas. [461]??a? ? ?????s??.

In Egypt was a serpent named Thermuthis, which was looked upon as very sacred; and the natives are said to have made use of it as a royal tiara, with which they ornamented the statues of [462]Isis. We learn from Diodorus Siculus, that the kings of Egypt wore high bonnets, which terminated in a round ball: and the whole was surrounded with figures of [463]asps. The priests likewise upon their bonnets had the representation of serpents. The antients had a notion, that when Saturn devoured his own children, his wife Ops deceived him by subst.i.tuting a large stone in lieu of one of his sons, which stone was called Abadir. But Ops, and Opis, represented here as a feminine, was the serpent Deity, and Abadir is the same personage under a different denomination. [464]Abadir Deus est; et hoc nomine lapis ille, quem Saturnus dicitur devora.s.se pro Jove, quem Graeci a?t????

vocant.--Abdir quoque et Abadir a?t????. Abadir seems to be a variation of Ob-Adur, and signifies the serpent G.o.d Orus. One of these stones, which Saturn was supposed to have swallowed instead of a child, stood, according to [465]Pausanias, at Delphi. It was esteemed very sacred, and used to have libations of wine poured upon it daily; and upon festivals was otherwise honoured. The purport of the above history I imagine to have been this. It was for a long time a custom to offer children at the altar of Saturn: but in process of time they removed it, and in its room erected a st????, or stone pillar; before which they made their vows, and offered sacrifices of another nature. This stone, which they thus subst.i.tuted, was called Ab-Adar, from the Deity represented by it. The term Ab generally signifies a [466]father: but, in this instance, it certainly relates to a serpent, which was indifferently styled Ab, Aub, and [467]Ob. I take Abadon, or, as it is mentioned in the Revelations, Abaddon, to have been the name of the same Ophite G.o.d, with whose wors.h.i.+p the world had been so long infected. He is termed by the Evangelist [468]?add??, t?? ???e??? t?? ??ss??, the angel of the bottomless pit; that is, the prince of darkness. In another place he is described as the [469]dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan. Hence I think, that the learned Heinsius is very right in the opinion, which he has given upon this pa.s.sage; when he makes Abaddon the same as the serpent Pytho. Non dubitandum est, quin Pythius Apollo, hoc est spurcus ille spiritus, quem Hebraei Ob, et Abaddon, h.e.l.lenistae ad verb.u.m ?p??????a, caeteri ?p?????a, dixerunt, sub hac forma, qua miseriam humano generi invexit, primo cultus[470].

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Ophis Thermuthis, sive Ob Basiliscus aegyptiacus c.u.m Sacerdote Supplicante._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pl. VII.]

It is said, that, in the ritual of Zoroaster, the great expanse of the heavens, and even nature itself, was described under the symbol of a serpent[471]. The like was mentioned in the Octateuch of Ostanes: and moreover, that in Persis and in other parts of the east they erected temples to the serpent tribe, and held festivals to their honour, esteeming them [472]Te??? t??? e??st???, ?a? a??????? t?? ????, _the supreme of all G.o.ds, and the superintendants of the whole world_. The wors.h.i.+p began among the people of Chaldea. They built the city Opis upon the [473]Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination, and to the wors.h.i.+p of the serpent[474]. Inventi sunt ex iis (Chaldeis) augures, et magi, divinatores, et sortilegi, et inquirentes Ob, et Ideoni. From Chaldea the wors.h.i.+p pa.s.sed into Egypt, where the serpent Deity was called Can-oph, Can-eph, and C'neph. It had also the name of Ob, or Oub, and was the same as the Basiliscus, or Royal Serpent; the same also as the Thermuthis: and in like manner was made use of by way of ornament to the statues of their [475]G.o.ds. The chief Deity of Egypt is said to have been Vulcan, who was also styled Opas, as we learn from [476]Cicero. He was the same as Osiris, the Sun; and hence was often called Ob-El, sive Pytho Sol: and there were pillars sacred to him with curious hieroglyphical inscriptions, which had the same name. They were very lofty, and narrow in comparison of their length; hence among the Greeks, who copied from the Egyptians, every thing gradually tapering to a point was styled Obelos, and Obeliscus. Ophel (Oph-El) was a name of the same purport: and I have shewn, that many sacred mounds, or Tapha, were thus denominated from the serpent Deity, to whom they were sacred.

Sanchoniathon makes mention of an history, which he once wrote upon the wors.h.i.+p of the serpent. The t.i.tle of this work, according to Eusebius was, [477]Ethothion, or Ethothia. Another treatise upon the same subject was written by Pherecydes Syrus, which was probably a copy of the former; for he is said to have composed it, [478]pa?a F??????? ?a?? ta? af??a?, _from some previous accounts of the Phenicians_. The t.i.tle of his book was the Theology of Ophion, styled Ophioneus; and of his wors.h.i.+ppers, called Ophionidae. Thoth, and Athoth, were certainly t.i.tles of the Deity in the Gentile world: and the book of Sanchoniathon might very possibly have been from hence named Ethothion, or more truly Athothion. But from the subject, upon which it was written, as well as from the treatise of Pherecydes, I should think, that Athothion, or Ethothion, was a mistake for Ath-ophion, a t.i.tle which more immediately related to that wors.h.i.+p, of which the writer treated. _Ath_ was a sacred t.i.tle, as I have shewn: and I imagine, that this dissertation did not barely relate to the serpentine Deity; but contained accounts of his votaries, the Ophitae, the princ.i.p.al of which were the sons of Chus. The wors.h.i.+p of the Serpent began among them; and they were from thence denominated Ethopians, and Aithopians, which the Greeks rendered ?????pe?. It was a name, which they did not receive from their complexion, as has been commonly surmised; for the branch of Phut, and the Lubim, were probably of a deeper die: but they were so called from Ath-Ope, and Ath-Opis, the G.o.d which they wors.h.i.+pped. This may be proved from Pliny.

He says that the country aethiopia (and consequently the people) had the name of aethiop from a personage who was a Deity--ab [479]aethiope Vulcani filio. The aethiopes brought these rites into Greece: and called the island, where they first established them, [480]Ellopia, Solis Serpentis insula. It was the same as Euba, a name of the like purport; in which island was a region named aethiopium. Euba is properly Oub-Aia; and signifies the Serpent Island. The same wors.h.i.+p prevailed among the Hyperboreans, as we may judge from the names of the sacred women, who used to come annually to Delos. They were priestesses of the Tauric G.o.ddess, and were denominated from her t.i.tles.

[481]??p?? te, ???? te, ?a? ??a??? ??ae???.

Hercules was esteemed the chief G.o.d, the same as Chronus; and was said to have produced the Mundane egg. He was represented in the Orphic Theology under the mixed symbol of a [482]lion and serpent: and sometimes of a [483]serpent only. I have before mentioned, that the Cuthites under the t.i.tle of Heliadae settled at Rhodes: and, as they were Hivites or Ophites, that the island in consequence of it was of old named Ophiusa. There was likewise a tradition, that it had once swarmed with [484]serpents. The like notion prevailed almost in every place, where they settled. They came under the more general t.i.tles of Leleges and Pelasgi: but more particularly of Elopians, Europians, Oropians, Asopians, Inopians, Ophionians, and aethiopes, as appears from the names, which they bequeathed; and in most places, where they resided, there were handed down traditions, which alluded to their original t.i.tle of Ophites. In Phrygia, and upon the h.e.l.lespont, whither they sent out colonies very early, was a people styled ?f???e?e??, or the serpent-breed; who were said to retain an affinity and correspondence with [485]serpents. And a notion prevailed, that some hero, who had conducted them, was changed from a serpent to a man. In Colchis was a river Ophis; and there was another of the same name in Arcadia. It was so named from a body of people, who settled upon its banks, and were said to have been conducted by a serpent: [486]??? ??e??a ?e?es?a? d?a???ta. These reptiles are seldom found in islands, yet Tenos, one of the Cyclades, was supposed to have once swarmed with them. [487]?? t? ????, ?? t?? ????ad??