Snake worship

Last updated
The Caduceus, symbol of God Ningishzida, on the libation vase of Sumerian ruler Gudea, circa 2100 BCE. Serpent god Ningishzida on the libation vase of Gudea, circa 2100 BCE.jpg
The Caduceus, symbol of God Ningishzida, on the libation vase of Sumerian ruler Gudea, circa 2100 BCE.

Snake worship is devotion to serpent deities. The tradition is nearly universal in the religions and mythologies of ancient cultures, [1] where snakes were seen as the holders of knowledge, strength, and renewal. [2]

Contents

Near East

Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamians and Semites believed that snakes were immortal because they could infinitely shed their skin and appear forever youthful, appearing in a fresh guise every time. [3] The Sumerians worshipped a serpent god named Ningishzida. Before the arrival of the Israelites, snake cults were well established in Canaan in the Bronze Age, for archaeologists have uncovered serpent cult objects in Bronze Age strata at several pre-Israelite cities in Canaan: two at Megiddo, [4] one at Gezer, [5] one in the sanctum sanctorum of the Area H temple at Hazor, [6] and two at Shechem. [7]

In the surrounding region, serpent cult objects figured in other cultures. A late Bronze Age Hittite shrine in northern Syria contained a bronze statue of a god holding a serpent in one hand and a staff in the other. [8] In sixth-century Babylon a pair of bronze serpents flanked each of the four doorways of the temple of Esagila. [9] At the Babylonian New Year's festival, the priest was to commission from a woodworker, a metalworker, and a goldsmith two images, one of which "shall hold in its left hand a snake of cedar, raising its right [hand] to the god Nabu". [10] At the tell of Tepe Gawra, at least seventeen Early Bronze Age Assyrian bronze serpents were recovered. [11]

Snake motif on Bronze Age pottery from Rumailah, Al Ain. Snake decoration on pot from Rumeilah, Al Ain.jpg
Snake motif on Bronze Age pottery from Rumailah, Al Ain.

United Arab Emirates

Significant finds of pottery, bronze-ware and even gold depictions of snakes have been made throughout the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Bronze Age and Iron Age metallurgical centre of Saruq Al Hadid has yielded probably the richest trove of such objects, although finds have been made bearing snake symbols in Bronze Age sites at Rumailah, Bithnah and Masafi. Most of the depictions of snakes are similar, with a consistent dotted decoration applied to them.

Although the widespread depiction of snakes in sites across the UAE is thought by archaeologists to have a religious purpose, this remains conjecture. [12]

Judaism

Gnosticism

A lion-faced, serpentine deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquite expliquee et representee en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge. Lion-faced deity.jpg
A lion-faced, serpentine deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.

Gnosticism originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical Jewish and early Christian sects. [13] In the formation of Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge ( gnosis ) of the divine spark within, over faith (pistis) in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians. [14] [15] [16] [17] Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God, and the Demiurge, "creator" of the material universe. [14] [15] [16] [18] The Gnostics considered the most essential part of the process of salvation to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their worldview along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority. [14] [15] [16] [18]

In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge ( gnosis ) to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control. [18] Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a dualistic cosmology that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the liberating savior and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament. [15] [18] Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the Gospel, the father of Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God. [15] [18] In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created. [19] [20] [21]

However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent. [22] [23] For instance, Valentinians believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness. [22] [23] They were regarded as heretics by the proto-orthodox Early Church Fathers. [15] [18] [16]

Africa

Danh-gbi

In Africa, one centre of serpent worship was the Kingdom of Dahomey (in present-day Benin), but the cult of this python seems to have been of exotic origin, introduced c. 1725 from the Kingdom of Whydah around the time of its conquest by Dahomey. [24] This was the cult of the serpent deity called the Danh-gbi [24] or Dangbe, [25] who was a benefactor-god of wisdom and bliss, [24] [26] "associated with trees and the ocean". [27]

At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes.[ citation needed ] A killing of a python, even by accident, was punishable by death, but by the 19th century this was replaced by a fine. [26] [28] [a]

Danh-gbi has numerous wives, who until 1857 took part in a public procession from which the profane crowd was excluded; and those who peeked were punishable by death. [26] A python was carried around the town in a hammock, perhaps as a ceremony for the expulsion of evils.

Rainbow Snake

The Rainbow Snake was called the Aido Hwedo, a sort of cosmic serpent which could cause quakes and floods and even controlled the motions of heavenly bodies. [30] The rainbow-god of the Ashanti was also conceived to have the form of a snake. His messenger was said to be a small variety of boa, but only certain individuals, not the whole species, were sacred. In West African mythology in general, Ayida-Weddo is believed to hold up the sky. [31] [32]

African diasporic religion

The belief has spread to the New World. In Haitian Vodou, the creator loa Damballa is represented as a serpent, and his wife Ayida-Weddo being the rainbow serpent. [33] Simbi are a type of serpentine loa in Haitian Vodou. They are associated with water and sometimes are believed to act as psychopomps serving Papa Legba.[ citation needed ]

Example in art

Eva Meyerowitz wrote of an earthenware pot that was stored at the Museum of Achimota College in present-day Ghana. The base of the neck of this pot is surrounded by the rainbow snake. [34] The legend of this creature explains that the rainbow snake only emerged from its home when it was thirsty. Keeping its tail on the ground the snake would raise its head to the sky looking for the rain god. As it drank great quantities of water, the snake would spill some which would fall to the earth as rain. [35]

There are four other snakes on the sides of this pot: Danh-gbi, the life giving snake, Li, for protection, Liwui, which was associated with Wu, god of the sea, and Fa, the messenger of the gods. [36] The first three snakes Danh-gbi, Li, Liwui were all worshipped at Whydah, Dahomey where the serpent cult originated. [37] For the Dahomeans, the spirit of the serpent was one to be feared as he was unforgiving. [38] They believed that the serpent spirit could manifest itself in any long, winding objects such as plant roots and animal nerves. They also believed it could manifest itself as the umbilical cord, making it a symbol of fertility and life. [39]

Mami Wata

Mami Wata, who plays a major role in various African and African-American religions Mami Wata poster.png
Mami Wata, who plays a major role in various African and African-American religions

Mami Wata is a water spirit or class of spirits associated with fertility and healing, usually depicted as a woman holding a large snake or with the lower body of a serpent or fish. She is worshipped in West, Central, and Southern Africa and the African diaspora.[ citation needed ]

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians worshipped snakes, especially the cobra. The cobra was not only associated with the sun god Ra, but also many other deities such as Wadjet, Renenutet, Nehebkau, and Meretseger.

Serpents could also be evil and harmful such as the case of Apep.[ citation needed ] The serpent goddess Meretseger is regarded ambivalently with both veneration and fear. [42]

Charms against snakes were inscribed or chanted, sometimes even to protect the dead; [b] There are known charms against snakes that invoke the snake deity Nehebkau. [44] [47]

Wadjet was the patron goddess of Upper Egypt, and was represented as a cobra with spread hood, or a cobra-headed woman. She later became one of the protective emblems on the pharaoh's crown once Upper and Lower Egypt were united. She was said to 'spit fire' at the pharaoh's enemies, and the enemies of Ra. Sometimes referred to as one of the eyes of Ra, she was often associated with the lioness goddess Sekhmet, who also bore that role.[ citation needed ]

Social and family affiliations

In many parts of Africa, the serpent is looked upon as the incarnation of deceased relatives. Among the Amazulu, as among the Betsileo of Madagascar, certain species are assigned as the abode of certain classes. The Maasai, on the other hand, regard each species as the habitat of a particular family of the tribe.[ citation needed ]

The Americas

North America

Indigenous peoples of the Americas such as the Hopi give reverence to the rattlesnake as grandfather and king of snakes who is able to give fair winds or cause tempest.[ citation needed ] Among the Hopi of Arizona, snake-handling figures largely in a dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit).[ citation needed ] The rattlesnake was worshipped in the Natchez temple of the sun.[ citation needed ]

Mesoamerica

The classic Maya vision serpent, as depicted at Yaxchilan YaxchilanDivineSerpent.jpg
The classic Maya vision serpent, as depicted at Yaxchilan

The Maya deity Kukulkan and the Aztec Quetzalcoatl (both meaning "feathered serpent") figured prominently in their respective cultures of origin. Kukulkan (Q'uq'umatz in K'iche' Maya) is associated with Vision Serpent iconography in Maya art. [48] Kukulkan was an official state deity of Itza in the northern Yucatan. [49]

The worship of Quetzalcoatl dates back to as early as the 1st century BC at Teotihuacan. [50] In the Postclassic period (AD 900–1519), the cult was centered at Cholula. Quetzalcoatl was associated with wind, the dawn, the planet Venus as the morning star, and was a tutelary patron of arts, crafts, merchants, and the priesthood. [51]

South America

The Raimondi Stela from the Chavin culture, Ancash, Peru depicts a fanged and clawed figure with snakes for hair. Estela.jpg
The Raimondi Stela from the Chavín culture, Ancash, Peru depicts a fanged and clawed figure with snakes for hair.

Serpents figure prominently in the art of the pre-Incan Chavín culture, as can be seen at the type-site of Chavín de Huántar in Peru. [52] In Chile the Mapuche mythology featured a serpent figure in stories about a deluge.[ citation needed ]

Asia

Cambodia

Serpents, or nāgas, play a particularly important role in Cambodian mythology. A well-known story explains the emergence of the Khmer people from the union of Indian and indigenous elements, the latter being represented as nāgas. According to the story, an Indian merchant named Kaundinya came to Cambodia, which at the time was under the dominion of the naga king. The naga princess Soma sallied forth to fight against the invader but was defeated. Presented with the option of marrying the victorious Kaundinya, Soma readily agreed to do so, and together they ruled the land. The Khmer people are their descendants. [53]

India

Manasa depicted in a village in the Sundarbans, West Bengal, India Gottin Manasa in Lehm.jpg
Manasa depicted in a village in the Sundarbans, West Bengal, India
Vishnu resting on Shesha on a copper pillar in Kullu Nagas on copper pillar, Kullu, H.P..jpg
Vishnu resting on Shesha on a copper pillar in Kullu

A race of snakes-like beings, termed nagas, are prominent in Hindu mythology. Nāga (Sanskrit: नाग) is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very large snake, found in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed nāgas; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the Ophiophagus hannah, the Ptyas mucosa and the Naja naja, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is called a nāgīni. The snake primarily represents rebirth, death and mortality, due to its casting of its skin and being symbolically "reborn". Over a large part of India, there are carved representations of cobras or nagas or stones as substitutes. To these human food and flowers are offered and lights are burned before the shrines. Among some Indians, a cobra which is accidentally killed is burned like a human being; no one would kill one intentionally. The serpent-god's image is carried in an annual procession by a celibate priestess.

Naga Temple Kukke Subramanya Swamy temple, Karnataka Kukke subramanya swamy temple, karnataka..JPG
Naga Temple Kukke Subramanya Swamy temple, Karnataka

At one time there were many prevalent different renditions of the serpent cult located in India. In Northern India, a masculine version of the serpent named Rivaan and known as the "king of the serpents" was worshipped. Instead of the "king of the serpents", actual live snakes were worshipped in Southern India (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 1). The Manasa-cult in Bengal, India, however, was dedicated to the anthropomorphic serpent goddess, Manasa (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 1).

A roadside temple to Snakes, Tamil Nadu, India Temple of tamil peoples.jpg
A roadside temple to Snakes, Tamil Nadu, India

Nāgas form an important part of Hindu mythology. They play prominent roles in various legends:[ citation needed ]

Different districts of Bengal celebrate the serpent in various ways. In the districts of East Mymensingh, West Sylhet, and North Tippera, serpent-worship rituals were very similar, however (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). On the very last day of the Bengali month Shravana, all of these districts celebrate serpent-worship each year (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). Regardless of their class and station, every family during this time created a clay model of the serpent-deity – usually the serpent-goddess with two snakes spreading their hoods on her shoulders. The people worshipped this model at their homes and sacrificed a goat or a pigeon for the deity's honor (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). Before the clay goddess was submerged in water at the end of the festival, the clay snakes were taken from her shoulders. The people believed that the earth these snakes were made from cured illnesses, especially children's diseases (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).

These districts also worshipped an object known as a Karandi (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6). Resembling a small house made of cork, the Karandi is decorated with images of snakes, the snake goddess, and snake legends on its walls and roof (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6). The blood of sacrificed animals was sprinkled on the Karandi and it also was submerged in the river at the end of the festival (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).

Among the Khasi tribe of Meghalaya, there exists a legend of snake worshipping. The snake deity is called "U Thlen" (lit: Python or large serpent) and it is said to demand human sacrifice from his worshippers. Those who can provide the Thlen with human blood, are usually rewarded with riches, but he would shame those who cannot provide the needed sacrifice. The subject of the Thlen is still a sensitive subject among the Khasis, and in recent years, in some rural areas, people have been killed in the name of being "Nongshohnoh" or Keepers of the Thlen, the evil snake god.

As kuladevatas, nagas are worship at many parts of India including Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Finally, another tradition in Hindu culture relating to yoga brings up kundalini, a type of spiritual energy said to sit at the base of the human spine. The term means "coiled snake" in Sanskrit roots and several goddesses are associated with its vitality, including Adi Parashakti and Bhairavi. [54] [55]

China

Eight dragon kings who assembled at the gathering where Shakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra, as described in the sutra. Kumarajiva's translation of the Lotus Sutra refers to them by their Sanskrit names: Nanda, Upananda, Sagara, Vasuki, Takshaka, Anavatapta, Manasvin, and Utpalaka. According to the "Introduction" (first) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, each attends the gathering accompanied by several hundreds of thousands of followers. [56]

Korea

In Korean mythology, Eobshin, the wealth goddess, appears as an eared, black snake. Chilseongshin (the Jeju Island equivalent to Eobshin) and her seven daughters are all snakes. These goddesses are deities of orchards, courts, and protect the home. According to the Jeju Pungtorok, "The people fear snakes. They worship it as a god...When they see a snake, they call it a great god, and do not kill it or chase it away." The reason for snakes symbolizing worth was because they ate rats and other pests. [57]

Japan

Miwa deity

A major serpent deity in Japanese mythology is the god of Mount Miwa, i.e. Ōmononushi, and the shrine dedicated to it (Ōmiwa Jinja) is active and venerated to the present-day. [58] According to the mythology, this serpent deity assumes human form and visits women, begetting offspring. [59] According to mythology, one of the targets of his passion, the Lady Ikutamayori  [ ja ] or Ikutamayorihime sought to discover his identity by attaching a yarn to the hem of his clothing ("The Mt. Miwa Story"). [60] [c] Another wife, Lady Yamatohimomotoso  [ ja ], committed suicide with chopstick[s] after learning her husband was of serpent-form ("Legend of Hashihaka (Grave of Chopstick[s])"). [62] [63]

Some versions of the legend of Matsura Sayohime(var. Lady Otohi or Otohi-hime) are classed as the Miwasan-kei setsuwa (三輪山型説話, "stories of the Mt. Miwa pattern") [64] [d] But there is no enduring sign of snake worship in the original vicinity of the legend in the Matsura region, where a local shrine houses the supposed petrified remains, or bōfuseki (望夫石, "rock that contemplates the husband"), of Lady Matsura. [e] [65] [66] [67]

Orochi

The term orochi (大蛇) means literally "giant snake", the well-known example being the Yamata no orochi, the eight-forked giant serpent. [68] [69] This monster that devoured maidens in Izumo Province [68] [70] was also a deity, and addressed as such by the hero-god Susanoo who defeated the snake. [f] [71] [72]

It has been assumed that in more real terms, an annual offering of "human sacrifice" was being made to the serpent deity, a god of field and fertility, bestowing "fertility of crops and the productivity of man and cattle", [73] [74] or in terms of the specific rice crop, orochi was perhaps a "god of the river" which controlled the influx of irrigation water to the rice field. [75]

Whether "human sacrifice" in this case meant actually putting the maiden to death is a subject of debate and controversy. [76] It has been asserted human offerings (to the river god) were nonexistent in Japan, [77] [g] or that human offerings to the field deity were never widespread. [76] [h]

In the Yamata-no-orochi episode, mythologist Takeo Matsumura  [ ja ] hypothesized that the involved ritual was not an actual homicidal sacrifice of a maiden, but the appointment of a miko shamaness serving the snake deity, which would be a lifelong position. [79] [80] He proposed there was an earlier version of the myth, coining the name ogi itsuki kei (招ぎ齋き型, "[god]-invocation/invitation and purification type"), which was later altered to a serpent-slaying form, or taiji kei (退治型, "eradication type"). [81] [i]

Europe

Ancient Rome

In Italy, the Marsian goddess Angitia, whose name derives from the word for "serpent," was associated with witches, snakes, and snake-charmers. Angitia is believed to have also been a goddess of healing. Her worship was centered in the Central Apennine region. [82]

On the Iberian Peninsula there is evidence that before the introduction of Christianity, and perhaps more strongly before Roman invasions, serpent worship was a standout feature of local religions (see Sugaar). To this day there are numerous traces in European popular belief, especially in Germany, of respect for the snake, possibly a survival of ancestor worship: The "house snake" cares for the cows and the children, and its appearance is an omen of death; and the lives of a pair of house snakes are often held to be bound with that of the master and the mistress.[ citation needed ] Tradition states that one of the Gnostic sects known as the Ophites caused a tame serpent to coil around the sacramental bread, and worshipped it as the representative of the Savior.[ citation needed ] In Lanuvium (32 km from Rome) a big snake was venerated as a god and they offered human sacrifice to it. [83]

Ancient Greece

Statue of Asclepius in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin 2005-12-28 Berlin Pergamon museum Statue of Asklepios.jpg
Statue of Asclepius in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin

Serpents figured prominently in archaic Greek myths. According to some sources, Ophion ("serpent", a.k.a. Ophioneus), ruled the world with Eurynome before the two of them were cast down by Kronos and Rhea. The oracles of the ancient Greeks were said to have been the continuation of the tradition begun with the worship of the Egyptian cobra goddess, Wadjet. Herodotus mentions a great serpent which defended the citadel of Athens.[ citation needed ]

The Minoan Snake Goddess brandished a serpent in either hand, perhaps evoking her role as a source of wisdom, rather than her role as Mistress of the Animals ( Potnia Theron ), with a leopard under each arm.[ citation needed ] It is not by accident that later the infant Herakles, a liminal hero on the threshold between the old ways and the new Olympian world,[ citation needed ] also brandished the two serpents that "threatened" him in his cradle. Although the Classical Greeks were clear that these snakes represented a threat, the snake-brandishing gesture of Herakles is the same as that of the Cretan goddess.[ citation needed ]

Typhon, the enemy of the Olympian gods, is described as a vast grisly monster with a hundred heads and a hundred serpents issuing from his thighs, who was conquered and cast into Tartarus by Zeus, or confined beneath volcanic regions, where he is the cause of eruptions. Typhon is thus the chthonic figuration of volcanic forces. Amongst his children by Echidna are Cerberus (a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and a serpentine mane), the serpent-tailed Chimaera, the serpent-like water beast Hydra, and the hundred-headed serpentine dragon Ladon. Both the Lernaean Hydra and Ladon were slain by Herakles.

Python, an enemy of Apollo, was always represented in vase-paintings and by sculptors as a serpent. Apollo slew Python and made her former home, Delphi, his own oracle. The Pythia took her title from the name Python. [84]

Amphisbaena, a Greek word, from amphis, meaning "both ways", and bainein, meaning "to go", also called the "Mother of Ants", is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end. According to Greek mythology, the mythological amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from Medusa the Gorgon's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with her head in his hand.[ citation needed ]

Medusa and the other Gorgons were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes whose origins predate the written myths of Greece and who were the protectors of the most ancient ritual secrets. The Gorgons wore a belt of two intertwined serpents in the same configuration of the caduceus. The Gorgon was placed at the highest point and central of the relief on the Parthenon.[ citation needed ]

Asclepius, the son of Apollo and Koronis, learned the secrets of keeping death at bay after observing one serpent bringing another (which Asclepius himself had fatally wounded) healing herbs. To prevent the entire human race from becoming immortal under Asclepius's care, Zeus killed him with a bolt of lightning. Asclepius' death at the hands of Zeus illustrates man's inability to challenge the natural order that separates mortal men from the gods. In honor of Asclepius, snakes were often used in healing rituals. Non-venomous Aesculapian snakes were left to crawl on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. The author of the Bibliotheca claimed that Athena gave Asclepius a vial of blood from the Gorgons. Gorgon blood had magical properties: if taken from the left side of the Gorgon, it was a fatal poison; from the right side, the blood was capable of bringing the dead back to life. However Euripides wrote in his tragedy Ion that the Athenian queen Creusa had inherited this vial from her ancestor Erichthonios, who was a snake himself. In this version the blood of Medusa had the healing power while the lethal poison originated from Medusa's serpents.[ citation needed ] Zeus placed Asclepius in the sky as the constellation Ophiucus, "the Serpent-Bearer".[ citation needed ] The modern symbol of medicine is the rod of Asclepius, a snake twining around a staff, while the symbol of pharmacy is the bowl of Hygieia, [85] a snake twining around a cup or bowl. Hygieia was a daughter of Asclepius.

Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great and a princess of the primitive land of Epirus, had the reputation of a snake-handler, and it was in serpent form that Zeus was said to have fathered Alexander upon her; tame snakes were still to be found at Macedonian Pella in the 2nd century AD (Lucian, Alexander the false prophet) [86] and at Ostia a bas-relief shows paired coiled serpents flanking a dressed altar, symbols or embodiments of the Lares of the household, worthy of veneration (Veyne 1987 illus p 211).

Celtic religion

Among other things, the Celtic goddess Brigid was said to be associated with serpents. Her festival day, Imbolc, is traditionally a time for weather prognostication based on watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens, which may be a forerunner of the North American Groundhog Day. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:

Additionally in the Celtic region, but not necessarily directly related the religion, serpent amulets were thought to protect one from all harm. Further proving the importance of serpents [88]

Norse religion

The Norse religion had the Midgard Serpent, (Jormungandr) which was a giant serpent that wrapped around the entire earth. It was not worshipped per se, but it a noteworthy mention as its fate is closely tied to Ragnarok event in the mythos that was synonymous with the end of the world. The Norse people probably got the idea of this snake from the nearby Germanic religions [89]

Images

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ The perpetrator will be burnt alive, [26] or buried alive if he was a native, and a European could be decapitated. [29] Rather than a fine, [28] one description is that there is a mock mob lynching, which the snake-killer could absolve by purifying himself in water by paying a suitable bribe. [26]
  2. ↑ In the Book of the Dead, Spell 39 "Get back! Crawl away! Get away from me, you snake! Go, be drowned in the Lake of the Abyss, at the place where your father commanded that the slaying of you should be carried out." [43] The tombs of Unis, Teti and Seti I were inscribed with the charm, "Back with thee, hidden snake!", etc. [45]
  3. ↑ This motif has been likened to Ariadne's thread that guided Theseus. [61]
  4. ↑ Cranston remarks that a myth similar to the "Grave of Chopstick" myth above (his tale 122) has been interpolated, but other scholars prefer to compare the Lady Otohi legend to "The Mt. Miwa Story" because they both share the motif of the lady attaching a thread to her husband to discover his true identity to be a snake. [64] Kelsey does not categorize this as a god-husband tale, i.e., the , pp. 219, 232, lists it instead among the "Violent Deities", subtype "IV. Sexual Violence" , p. 231.
  5. ↑ Sayohime Shrine, part of Tashima Shrine.
  6. ↑ "Thou art an Awful Deity" or kashikoki kami ([可]畏き神).
  7. ↑ Even ritual animal sacrifices (cattle) to the god of the river were imported from Korea and China, with the deed of slaughter being conducted by foreigners ( toraijin ) from these lands. [78] It may be noted that Gadeleva's paper remarks on one of Susanoo's antics of skinning a horse (p. 179), which she connects with a rainmaker ritual (p. 190), and touches on the theory that Susanoo had a foreigner from Silla (Shiragi), whose name signifies 'shaman' in Old Korean (p. 168).
  8. ↑ Kelsey (endnote 21) comments that Takeshi Matsumae whom he consulted thought the practice probably did not exist (Matsumae (1970), p. 170), whereas Takeo Matsumura seems to accept that it did exist (Matsumura (1955), pp. 213–215). But cf. Matsumra's hypothesis below.
  9. ↑ Matsumae (1970) writing later uses the phraseology kamiogi kei (神招ぎ型, "god-invocation/invitation type").

Related Research Articles

The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind and represent dual expression of good and evil.

In the biblical Books of Kings, the Nehushtan is the bronze image of a serpent on a pole. The image is described in the Book of Numbers, where Yahweh instructed Moses to erect it so that the Israelites who saw it would be cured and be protected from dying from the bites of the "fiery serpents", which Yahweh had sent to punish them for speaking against Him and Moses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod of Asclepius</span> Symbol of medicine

In Greek mythology, the Rod of Asclepius, also known as the Staff of Aesculapius and as the asklepian, is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. In modern times, it is the predominant symbol for medicine and health care, although it is sometimes confused with the similar caduceus, which has two snakes and a pair of wings.

Yaldabaoth, otherwise known as Jaldabaoth or Ialdabaoth, is a malevolent God and demiurge according to various Gnostic sects, represented sometimes as a theriomorphic, lion-headed serpent. He is identified as a false god who keeps souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the material universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal worship</span> Glorification of animal deities

Animal worship is an umbrella term designating religious or ritual practices involving animals. This includes the worship of animal deities or animal sacrifice. An animal 'cult' is formed when a species is taken to represent a religious figure. Animal cults can be classified according to their formal features or by their symbolic content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nāga</span> Mythological creatures in Indian religions

In various Asian religious traditions, the Nagas are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. Furthermore, Nagas are also known as dragons and water spirits. A female naga is called a Nagi, or a Nagini. Their descendents are known as Nagavanshi. According to legend, they are the children of the sage Kashyapa and Kadru. Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout South Asia for at least 2,000 years. They are principally depicted in three forms: as entirely human with snakes on the heads and necks, as common serpents, or as half-human, half-snake beings in Hinduism and Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vasuki</span> Divine serpent in Hindu mythology

Vasuki is the king of the nagas in Hinduism. He is described as having a gem called Nagamani on his head. Shesha, another king of the nagas and the bed on which Vishnu rests, is his elder brother, and Manasa, another naga, is his sister. In Hindu iconography, he is generally depicted coiling around the neck of Shiva, who is believed to have blessed and worn him as an ornament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naga Panchami</span> Hindu festival honouring serpents

Naga Panchami is a day of traditional worship of nagas or snakes observed by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists throughout India & Nepal, and other countries where Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist adherents live. The worship is offered on the fifth day of bright half of lunar month of Shravana (July/August), according to the Hindu calendar. Some Indian states, such as Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat, celebrate Naga Panchami on the dark half of the same month. As part of the festivities, a Naga or serpent deity made of silver, stone, wood, or a painting is given a reverential bath with milk and their blessings are sought for the welfare of the family. Live snakes, especially cobras, are also worshipped on this day, especially with offerings of milk and generally with the assistance of a snake charmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian mythology</span>

Armenian mythology originated in ancient Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurro-Urartian, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek beliefs and deities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese dragon</span> Serpentine creature in Japanese mythology

Japanese dragons are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and the Indian subcontinent. The style and appearance of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon, especially the three-clawed long (龍) dragons which were introduced in Japan from China in ancient times. Like these other East Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities or kami associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hittite mythology and religion</span>

Hittite mythology and Hittite religion were the religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites, who created an empire centered in what is now Turkey from c. 1600–1180 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triple deity</span> Three deities that are worshipped as one

A triple deity is a deity with three apparent forms that function as a singular whole. Such deities may sometimes be referred to as threefold, tripled, triplicate, tripartite, triune, triadic, or as a trinity. The number three has a long history of mythical associations and triple deities are common throughout world mythology. Carl Jung considered the arrangement of deities into triplets an archetype in the history of religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snakes in mythology</span> Serpent that only appears in myths and legends

Snakes are a common occurrence in myths for a multitude of cultures. The Hopi people of North America viewed snakes as symbols of healing, transformation, and fertility. Snakes in Mexican folk culture tell about the fear of the snake to the pregnant women where the snake attacks the umbilical cord. The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars—sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete—and they were worshipped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration. Although not entirely a snake, the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl, in Mesoamerican culture, particularly Mayan and Aztec, held a multitude of roles as a deity. He was viewed as a twin entity which embodied that of god and man and equally man and serpent, yet was closely associated with fertility. In ancient Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl was the son of the fertility earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, and cloud serpent and hunting god, Maxicoat. His roles took the form of everything from bringer of morning winds and bright daylight for healthy crops, to a sea god capable of bringing on great floods. As shown in the images there are images of the sky serpent with its tail in its mouth, it is believed to be a reverence to the sun, for which Quetzalcoatl was also closely linked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glycon</span> Mythical creature; ancient snake god

Glycon, also spelled Glykon, was an ancient snake god. He had a large and influential cult within the Roman Empire in the 2nd century, with contemporary satirist Lucian providing the primary literary reference to the deity. Lucian claimed Glycon was created in the mid-2nd century by the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonoteichos. Lucian was ill-disposed toward the cult, calling Alexander a false prophet and accusing the whole enterprise of being a hoax: Glycon himself was supposedly a hand puppet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minoan snake goddess figurines</span> Artifacts from the Minoan civilization

Two Minoan snake goddess figurines were excavated in 1903 in the Minoan palace at Knossos in the Greek island of Crete. The decades-long excavation programme led by the English archaeologist Arthur Evans greatly expanded knowledge and awareness of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization, but Evans has subsequently been criticised for overstatements and excessively speculative ideas, both in terms of his "restoration" of specific objects, including the most famous of these figures, and the ideas about the Minoans he drew from the archaeology. The figures are now on display at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum (AMH).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manasa</span> Hindu folk goddess of snakes

Manasa is a Hindu goddess of snakes. She is worshipped mainly in Bihar, Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, South Assam and other parts of northeastern India and in Uttarakhand, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite, and also for fertility and prosperity. In Hinduism, Manasa is the sister of Shesha and Vasuki, king of Nāgas (serpents), and wife of sage Jaratkaru. She is the mother of the sage Astika. She is also known as Vishahari, Nityā (eternal) and Padmavati.

Illyrian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the Illyrian peoples, a group of tribes who spoke the Illyrian languages and inhabited part of the western Balkan Peninsula from at least the 8th century BC until the 7th century AD. The available written sources are very tenuous. They consist largely of personal and place names, and a few glosses from Classical sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horned deity</span> Deity depicted with horns or antlers

Deities depicted with horns or antlers are found in numerous religions across the world. Horned animals, such as bulls, goats, and rams, may be worshiped as deities or serve as inspiration for a deity's appearance in religions that venerate animal gods. Many pagan religions include horned gods in their pantheons, such as Pan in Greek mythology and Ikenga in Odinala. Some neopagan religions have reconstructed these deities into the concept of the Horned God, representing the male aspect of divinity in Wiccan belief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">False god</span> Derogatory term for foreign deities in Abrahamic religions

The phrase false god is a derogatory term used in Abrahamic religions to indicate cult images or deities of non-Abrahamic Pagan religions, as well as other competing entities or objects to which particular importance is attributed. Conversely, followers of animistic and polytheistic religions may regard the gods of various monotheistic religions as "false gods", because they do not believe that any real deity possesses the properties ascribed by monotheists to their sole deity. Atheists, who do not believe in any deities, do not usually use the term false god even though that would encompass all deities from the atheist viewpoint. Usage of this term is generally limited to theists, who choose to worship some deity or deities, but not others.

Serpents are referred to in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The symbol of a serpent or snake played important roles in the religious traditions and cultural life of ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan. The serpent was a symbol of evil power and chaos from the underworld as well as a symbol of fertility, life, healing, and rebirth.

References

Citations
  1. ↑ Moorehead, W. G. (1885). "Universality of Serpent-Worship". The Old Testament Student. 4 (5): 205–210. doi:10.1086/469567. ISSN   0190-5945. JSTOR   3156392.
  2. ↑ Smart, Ninian (10 November 2020) [26 July 1999]. "Polytheism: Animal and human forms". Encyclopædia Britannica . Edinburgh: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2021. Just as plants can be seen as divine forces, so can types or species of animals. For instance, the cult of the snake is widespread and is especially important in the Indian tradition. The serpent is vital in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) story of Adam and Eve and appears in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh as one who knows the secret of rejuvenation. The snake has a fertility aspect because of its possible phallic significance and because it lives in holes in the life-giving earth.
  3. ↑ "Snake Worship". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  4. ↑ Gordon Loud, Megiddo II: Plates plate 240: 1, 4, from Stratum X (dated by Loud 1650-1550 BC) and Stratum VIIB (dated 1250-1150 BC), noted by Karen Randolph Joines, "The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult" Journal of Biblical Literature87.3 (September 1968:245–256) p. 245 note 2.
  5. ↑ R.A.S. Macalister, Gezer II, p. 399, fig. 488, noted by Joiner 1968:245 note 3, from the high place area, dated Late Bronze Age.
  6. ↑ Yigael Yadin et al. Hazor III-IV: Plates, pl. 339, 5, 6, dated Late Bronze Age II (Yadiin to Joiner, in Joiner 1968:245 note 4).
  7. ↑ Callaway and Toombs to Joiner (Joiner 1968:246 note 5).
  8. ↑ Maurice Vieyra, Hittite Art 2300 - 750 B.C. (Alec Tiranti Ltd., London 1955) fig. 114.
  9. ↑ Leonard W. King, A History of Babylon, p. 72.
  10. ↑ Pritchard ANET , 331, noted in Joines 1968:246 and note 8.
  11. ↑ E.A. Speiser, Excavations at Tepe Gawra: I. Levels I-VIII, p. 114ff., noted in Joines 1968:246 and note 9.
  12. ↑ "Brushing off sands of time at the archaeological site of Saruq al-Hadid". The National. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
  13. ↑ Magris, Aldo (2005). "Gnosticism: Gnosticism from its origins to the Middle Ages (further considerations)". In Jones, Lindsay (ed.). Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan Inc. pp. 3515–3516. ISBN   978-0028657332. OCLC   56057973.
  14. 1 2 3 May, Gerhard (2008). "Part V: The Shaping of Christian Theology - Monotheism and creation". In Mitchell, Margaret M.; Young, Frances M. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 1: Origins to Constantine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 434–451, 452–456. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521812399.026. ISBN   9781139054836.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ehrman, Bart D. (2005) [2003]. "Christians "In The Know": The Worlds of Early Christian Gnosticism". Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 113–134. doi:10.1017/s0009640700110273. ISBN   978-0-19-518249-1. LCCN   2003053097. S2CID   152458823.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Brakke, David (2010). The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 18–51. ISBN   9780674066038. JSTOR   j.ctvjnrvhh.6. S2CID   169308502.
  17. ↑ Layton, Bentley (1999). "Prolegomena to the Study of Ancient Gnosticism". In Ferguson, Everett (ed.). Doctrinal Diversity: Varieties of Early Christianity. Recent Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. pp. 106–123. ISBN   0-8153-3071-5.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kvam, Kristen E.; Schearing, Linda S.; Ziegler, Valarie H., eds. (1999). "Early Christian Interpretations (50–450 CE)". Eve and Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 108–155. doi:10.2307/j.ctt2050vqm.8. ISBN   9780253212719. JSTOR   j.ctt2050vqm.8.
  19. ↑ Litwa, M. David (2016) [2015]. "Part I: The Self-deifying Rebel – "I Am God and There is No Other!": The Boast of Yaldabaoth". Desiring Divinity: Self-deification in Early Jewish and Christian Mythmaking. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 47–65. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190467166.003.0004. ISBN   9780199967728. LCCN   2015051032. OCLC   966607824.
  20. ↑ Fischer-Mueller, E. Aydeet (January 1990). "Yaldabaoth: The Gnostic Female Principle in Its Fallenness". Novum Testamentum . 32 (1). Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers: 79–95. doi:10.1163/156853690X00205. eISSN   1568-5365. ISSN   0048-1009. JSTOR   1560677.
  21. ↑ Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Arendzen, John Peter (1908). "Demiurge". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  22. 1 2 Bousset, Wilhelm (1911). "Valentinus and the Valentinians"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 27 (11th ed.). pp. 852–857.
  23. 1 2 Logan, Alastair H. B. (2002) [2000]. "Part IX: Internal Challenges – Gnosticism". In Esler, Philip F. (ed.). The Early Christian World. Routledge Worlds (1st ed.). New York and London: Routledge. pp. 923–925. ISBN   9781032199344.
  24. 1 2 3 Hambly (1931), p. 10.
  25. ↑ Law (2004), pp. 23–24 et passim.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Cook, Stanley Arthur (1911). "Serpent-worship"  . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 676–682.
  27. ↑ According to Burton (1864), cited by Hambly (1931) , p. 9
  28. 1 2 Hambly (1931), pp. 9–10.
  29. ↑ Hambly (1931), p. 11.
  30. ↑ Andrews, Tamra (2007) [1998]. "Rainbow Snakes". Dictionary of Nature Myths: Legends of the Earth, Sea, and Sky. Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN   9780195136777.
  31. ↑ Shannon R. Turlington (2002), page 84 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Voodoo, Pearson Education, Inc ISBN   978-0-02-864236-9.
  32. ↑ Neil Philip (1999), page 6, Myths and Legends Explained, Dorling Kindersley ISBN   978-0-7566-2871-0.
  33. ↑ Gordon, Leah (1985). The Book of Vodou, Barron's Educational Series, pp. 50–51 ISBN   978-0-7641-5249-8.
  34. ↑ Meyerowitz 1940, p. 48
  35. ↑ Meyerowitz 1940, p. 48.
  36. ↑ Meyerowitz 1940, p. 48.
  37. ↑ Meyerowitz 1940, p. 48.
  38. ↑ Nida & Smalley 1959, p. 17.
  39. ↑ Nida & Smalley 1959, p. 17.
  40. ↑ Jell-Bahlsen (1997), p. 105
  41. ↑ Chesi (1997), p. 255
  42. ↑ Mundkur (1978) , p. 129apud Bruyère (1930)
  43. ↑ Faulkner, Raymond O. (2010). Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. New York, NY: Fall River Press. pp. 67–68.
  44. 1 2 Wilson, J. A. (1969) [1950]. "[Egyptian ]Charms Against Snakes". In Pritchard, James B. (ed.). Ancient Near Easter Texts (3rd ed.). Princeton University. p. 326. ISBN   9781400882762.
  45. ↑ Mundkur (1978), p. 129 and Mundkur (1983), p. 52 apud Wilson, 2nd ed. (1955) [1950], p. 326 [44]
  46. ↑ Shorter, A. W. (1935), "The God Neḥebkau", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 21: 48
  47. ↑ Mundkur (1978), p. 129 apud Shorter (1935), p. 48 [46] (Chester Beatty VIII B.1), invoking Neḥebka 𓅐𓎛𓃀𓂓𓏤𓆙𓅍
  48. ↑ Mary Miller, Maya Art and Architecture (London: Thames and Hudson, 1999).
  49. ↑ Sharer, Robert J. and Loa P. Traxler, The Ancient Maya (6th ed.). (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006).
  50. ↑ Ringle, William M., Tomás Gallareta Negrón, and George J. Bey (1998) "The Return of Quetzalcoatl". In Ancient Mesoamerica 9(2): 183–232.
  51. ↑ Smith, Michael E., The Aztecs (2nd ed.). (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2003).
  52. ↑ Richard L. Burger, "Chavinntar and its Sphere of Influence", In Handbook of South American Archeology, edited by H. Silverman and W. Isbell. (New York: Springer, 2008), pp. 681-706.
  53. ↑ Chandler, A History of Cambodia, p.13.
  54. ↑ Dyczkowski, Mark (1988). The Canon of the Saivagama and the Kubjika: Tantras of the Western Kaula Tradition. SUNY Press. pp. 60–89. ISBN   9780887064944.
  55. ↑ Frawley, David (2009). Inner Tantric Yoga: Working With Universal Shakti: Secrets of Mantras, Deities and Meditation. Lotus Press. pp. 163–164. ISBN   978-0-940676-50-3.
  56. ↑ "Eight great dragon kings - Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia".
  57. ↑ "업".
  58. ↑ Casal, U. A. (1959). "The Goblin Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan" (PDF). Folklore Studies. 18. Nanzan University: 87–88. doi:10.2307/1177429. JSTOR   1177429.
  59. ↑ Daniels, F. J. (September 1960). "Snake and Dragon Lore of Japan" (PDF). Folklore. 71 (3): 155–156. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1960.9717234. JSTOR   1258001.
  60. ↑ Kelsey (1981), p. 232.
  61. ↑ Ishida, Eiichirô; Yoshida, Ken'ichi (1950). "The Kappa Legend: A Comparative Ethnological Study on the Japanese Water-Spirit "Kappa" and Its Habit of Trying to Lure Horses into the Water" (PDF). Folklore Studies. 9: 67–68. doi:10.2307/1177401. JSTOR   1177401.
  62. ↑ Suzuki, Masanobu [in Japanese] (2017). ""6. Legend of the Ōmiwa-no-Ason Clan and the eastern expedition (Article 27)". Clans and Genealogy in Ancient Japan: Legends of Ancestor Worship. Taylor & Francis. p. 177. ISBN   9781351983327.
  63. ↑ Cranston, Edwin A. (1998). The Gem-Glistening Cup. Stanford University Press. p. 75. ISBN   978-0-8047-3157-7.
  64. 1 2 Nagano, Kazuo (1974), "Hirefurinomine no jijitsu to kyokō" 褶振峯説話の事実と虚構, 国文学研究 (in Japanese) (53): 1, 5, ISSN   0389-8636 alt pdf@core.ac.uk
  65. ↑ Kim, Kyonran (1998-10-01), "Nikkan ni okeru denshō no arikata: Sayohime setsuwa to Jesan setsuwa" 日・韓における伝承のあり方 ―「さよひめ」説話と「堤上（ジェサン）」説話― [Down the Generations in Korea and Japan: The Tales of Sayohime and Jesang], 国際日本文学研究集会会議録 (in Japanese), 21 (21): 21–36, doi:10.24619/00002586 (English abstract)
  66. ↑ Jōya, Moku (1963). Mock Jōya's Things Japanese. Tokyo News Service Press. p. 222.
  67. ↑ The Japan Office, ed. (1915), "September Sights: The Season of Festivals", Japan (59), (based on material supplied by) Shiga Shigetaka, The Japan Office: 16
  68. 1 2 Cranston, Edwin A. (2020), Hellyer, Robert; Fuess, Harald (eds.), "Locally Ancient and Globally Modern: Restoration Discourse and the Tensions of Modernity", The Meiji Restoration: Japan as a Global Nation, Cambridge University Press, p. 226, ISBN   9781108478052
  69. ↑ Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. Vol. 1. Translated by Aston, William George. London: Japan Society of London. 1896. pp. 52–58. ISBN   9780524053478.
  70. ↑ Aston (1896), p. 52.
  71. ↑ Matsumae, Takeshi [in Japanese] (1970). "Yamatanoorochi shinwa no kōzō tto seiritsu" 八岐大蛇神話の構造と成立. Nihon shinwa no keisei日本神話の形成. Matsumae Takeshi chosakushū 8 (in Japanese). Ōfū. p. 165. ISBN   9784827300185.
  72. ↑ Aston (1896), p. 56.
  73. ↑ Fujita, Kenji [in Japanese] (1986). Cauchy, Venant (ed.). Culture and Value in Historical Perspective: A Comparison between Orientals and Occidentals in Myth and Religion. Philosophy and Culture 2. Ed. du Beffroi. p. 188. ISBN   9782980101816.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); (repr.) Fujita Kenji chosakushū (1996) 6, p. 532.
  74. ↑ Pretzell, Klaus-Albrecht (1970). "Zur Frage des Schlangenbildes im japanischen Altertum" [On the Question of the Snake Image in Japanese Antiquity]. Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens E.V. (107/108): 50.
  75. ↑ Gadeleva, Emilia (2000). "Susanoo: One of the Central Gods in Japanese Mythology". Japan Review (12): 187. JSTOR   25791053.
  76. 1 2 Kelsey, W. Michael (1981). "The Raging Deity in Japanese Mythology". Asian Folklore Studies. 40 (2): 221. doi:10.2307/1177865. JSTOR   1177865.
  77. ↑ Gadeleva (2000), p. 186.
  78. ↑ Gadeleva (2000), p. 191.
  79. ↑ Pretzell (1970), p. 52.
  80. ↑ Blacker, Carmen (2007) [2004]. The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan. Routledge. pp. 97–99. ISBN   9781135318734.
  81. ↑ Matsumura, Takeo [in Japanese] (1955). "Chapter 11. Yamata no orochi taiji no shinwa" 11章 八岐大蛇退治の神話. Nihon shinwa no kenkyū日本神話の研究 (in Japanese). Vol. 3. Baifūkan., §2 Taiji-kei zenki to shite no ogi-itsuki-kei 「退治型」前期としての「招ぎ齋き型」, p. 196ff.
  82. ↑ Emma Dench, From Barbarians to New Men: Greek, Roman, and Modern Perceptions of Peoples from the Central Apennines (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), pp. 24, 159.
  83. ↑ See Plutarch, Parallela Minora XIV, 309a and Sextus Propertius Elegies IV, 8.
  84. ↑ Karl Kerenyi The Gods of the Greeks 1951:136.
  85. ↑ "History of the Bowl of Hygeia award | Drug Topics". Drugtopics.modernmedicine.com. 2002-10-07. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
  86. ↑ "Lucian of Samosata: Alexander the False Prophet".
  87. ↑ Carmichael, Alexander (1900) Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, Ortha Nan Gaidheal, Volume I, p. 169 The Sacred Texts Archive
  88. ↑ Moorehead, W. G. (1885). "Universality of Serpent-Worship". The Old Testament Student. 4 (5): 205–210. doi:10.1086/469567. ISSN   0190-5945. JSTOR   3156392.
  89. ↑ van der Sluijs, Marinus Anthony; Peratt, Anthony L. (2009). "The Ourobóros as an Auroral Phenomenon". Journal of Folklore Research. 46 (1): 3–41. doi:10.2979/JFR.2009.46.1.3. ISSN   0737-7037. JSTOR   40206938.
Bibliography
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.