The Good and Evil Serpent (10 page)

In 1728, J. J. Kambach published a book on the mystery of Jesus Christ and the upraised serpent. His text was John 3:14. His method was to approach the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. He was convinced that the serpent in John 3:14 did not denote Jesus Christ; it signified Satan. This exegesis reflects the unexamined presupposition that the serpent is Satan.
³

Figure 6
. Snake Handler, Cobra, Author, and Boys. Marrakech.

In the
Evangelisches Gesangbuch
, we find reference to the serpent. The image is always negative. In “Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag,” we find the following second verse:

The old serpent, [as well as] sin and death,
[With] Hell, all misery, dread and distress
Is overcome by Jesus Christ,
Who today has risen from the dead. [my translation]
⁴

The old serpent is the sin and death that have been destroyed by Jesus Christ, as Paul states in Romans. There should be little wonder that New Testament experts who memorize such hymns find it impossible to ponder the positive symbolism of ophidian iconography, simile, and metaphor.

The symbolism of the serpent as the embodiment of sin and death reaches far beyond the walls of the church. For example, in F. Nietzsche’s
Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra: On the Other Side of Good and Evil)
, Zarathustra enters a region of death. Here there is neither grass nor tree. One does not hear the sound of a bird singing. “It was like a valley, which all the animals, even the predators, avoid. There is one exception. One hateful species comes here: a thick green serpent, but only when it is old in order to die. Thus, the shepherds call this valley ‘the Serpents’ Grave’ (Schlangen-Tod).”
⁵
The German denotes “the Serpents’ Death.”

The symbolic meaning of the serpent to denote sin permeates secular paintings. In 1893, Franz von Stuck visualized the concept of woman as seductress, which was a fin-de-siècle pervasive concept, especially in Germany before 1900. He captured the mood in his
Die Sunde
(The Sins). A seductively attractive nude woman, with long black hair, seems to beckon to the observer. She looks askance, as Kierkegaard portrayed his seducer in his
Either-Or
. Alas, over the shoulder of this heavenly endowed woman stares a threateningly black serpent. It curls over her back and down her left shoulder. Any possible acceptance of her bewitching invitation has dreadful consequences.
⁶

Figure 7
. Christ Shown Spearing a Basilisk and Trampling on Asps and Snakes. North Africa. Lamp. Circa fifth century. JHC Collection. Compare Psalm 91. See the photograph and discussion of a similar lamp in J. G. Westenholz,
Images of Inspiration: The Old Testament in Early Christian Art
(Jerusalem, 2000) p. 149.

Two years earlier, in 1891, using a greater mastery of “symbolismus,” Franz von Stuck achieved a superior oil painting of the costly wiles of the seductress. It is a masterpiece in the history of symbolism. It is called
Die Sinnlichkeit
(Voluptuousness) and is now in the Galerie Gunzenhause in Munich. A voluptuous woman, a sexually alluring vamp, looks invitingly at the interested, now captivated, viewer.

Again, there is one massive problem with the seductive invitation. Around her, from below her knee, around her thigh, through her legs and up to her waist, around her back and over her right shoulder curls a massive monster. It is a hideous black serpent. Its mouth is open. Its eyes have chosen any prospective Don Juan for lunch.
⁷
One is reminded of R. Briffault’s claim that we should “speak of the sexual impulse as pervading nature with a yell of cruelty rather than with a hymn of love.”
⁸

Why is the earlier attempt by Franz von Stuck far more successful?
Die Sinnlichkeit
is much more effective and ingeniously conceived and composed than
Die Sunde
. The titles are well chosen, since
Voluptuousness
is far more tantalizing than
Sin
. And the earlier painting is much more focused. It is also smaller;
Die Sunde
is 89 x 53 centimeters;
Die Sinnlichkeit
is 56 x 36 centimeters. But these comments scarcely explain why the earlier painting is superior.

If von Stuck’s purpose was to present a woman who had airs of “superiority” and the demonic, then the 1893
Die Sunde
is more effective. If he sought to depict an enticing seductress who comes with the deadly serpent, then the 1891
Die Sinnlichkeit
is far more successful. In it, the vamp leans back invitingly. Her arms are behind her. Her face seems to say, “Warum Nicht?” The spontaneous answer would be, “Why not, indeed!” Her body is curvaceous and pulchritudinous. The later painting shows the woman standing straight up with a standoffish posture. In the earlier painting, perhaps, von Stuck may have felt he had given too much rein to the positive and erotic lures of a young woman and he later wanted to accent more the mature woman as superior and demonic. Perhaps he had also depicted the serpent too powerfully.

What makes the earlier painting far more effective and emotionally captivating? It is the depiction of the serpent with the woman. In the earlier painting, the serpent is much more effectively drawn. Its mouth is open wider; its teeth and fangs are exposed and too ready for action. Its girth is equal to the size of the young woman’s buttock. In the 1891 painting, the serpent appears with more powerful symbology. In contrast to the later painting, the only way to the inviting gate is through the serpent. And in the earlier painting, the serpent has sufficient coils behind the seductress so that it can spring forth to action and come out from hiding. The ophidian symbolism is better conceived and presented in the earlier painting.

Clearly, the serpent or dragon was the symbol of the god that needed to be defeated at creation. One can think of numerous examples, including the mythological snakes that shape the myths and religions of those in northern Europe. For example, the primordial serpent lived in the ocean and, like Leviathan of the Bible, it was the monster of the deep and the chief enemy of Thor.
⁹

I intend to demonstrate, beyond doubt, that the regnant portrayal of the serpent as demonic and an embodiment of sin and temptation is only a partial and misleading portrayal of the multifaceted dimensions of ophidian iconography. There is much more to learn about this mysterious creature. What positive symbolic meanings has the serpent generated to be worshipped by or through by so many? Note the following focused selection of cultural groups:
¹⁰

• the Aborigines in Australia and the Rainbow Serpent
  
• the Sumerians and Akkadians who worshipped snake gods like Nirah
  

Figure 8
. A God and Associates Slaying the Dragon. Ancient Palestine or Syria. Courtesy of O. Keel
[Die Welt
(1972) No. 48;
Das Recht
No. 245].

• the Pharaohs and other Egyptians with their depictions of Isis and other gods as serpents and their penchant for the uraeus
  
• the unnamed people of the Indus Valley who depicted on a stone bowl a male figure grasping a serpent in each hand
  ¹¹
  
• the Minoans with their voluptuous serpent goddesses
  
• the Canaanite serpent cults in Beit Shean and elsewhere
  
• the Israelites who were associated with Nechushtan
  
• the Python group at Delphi
  
• the devotees of Asklepios (the Greek name) with his serpent staff, Hermes with the caduceus, and Athena with her serpents (among other gods) in ancient Greece
  
• the bards who popularized the Greek myths, especially those concerning Herakles (Hercules)
  
• those who were devoted to Agathadaimon and employed the Ouro-boros
  
• the Etruscans and Romans who idealized the serpent
  
• the Ophites who worshipped Christ as the serpent
  
• the Gnostics who revered the serpent
  
• the Norsemen who skillfully crafted a serpent ring for a woman around 300 ce
  ¹²
  
• the Celts with the image of Cernunnos who holds a large serpent
  ¹³
  and their double-headed guardian snakes
  ¹⁴
  
• the Zulus with their Mamba, or the snake hero
  ¹⁵
  
• the Aztecs and their feathered serpent, or Quetzalcoatl
  
• the group in Peru who made the first-century
  CE
  drum with Nasca iconography of a rotund figure with a snake “moving” from his chin and with serpent hair
  ¹⁶
  
• the serpent gods among the Native Americans, including the Hopi Indians in the United States and their snake dance
  ¹⁷
  
• the snake handlers in the Bible Belt in the southern parts of the United States
  

Figure 9
. Viking Serpent Ring. The image is from a replica made by the firm David-Anderson; it was purchased in Oslo. JHC Collection

• the Burmese snake worshippers
  
• the groups in India that revere the serpent as the guardian, and those who endorse the ancient tradition that Vishnu manifests himself as Shesha, the cosmic snake
  ¹⁸
  
• the Dinkas in Africa who revere snake magicians and call snakes their brothers, washing them with milk and anointing them with butter
  ¹⁹
  
• the Chinese who revere or worship the dragon
  ²⁰
  
• the cobra-focused religious groups in India