Serpent_god_Ningishzida_on_the_libation_vase_of_Gudea,_circa_2100_BCE

Snake worship is devotion to

serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

deities. The tradition is present in several ancient cultures, particularly in religion and mythology, where

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s were seen as the holders of knowledge, strength, and renewal.

Near East

Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

ns and

Semites Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group. The

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...

ians worshipped a serpent god named

Ningishzida Ningishzida ( Sumerian: DNIN-G̃IŠ-ZID-DA, possible meaning "Lord f theGood Tree") was a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes war. He was commonly associated with snakes. Like Dumuzi, he was believed to spend a part ...

. Before the arrival of the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

, snake cults were well established in

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, for archaeologists have uncovered serpent

cult object In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Ro ...

s in Bronze Age strata at several pre-Israelite cities in Canaan: two at

Megiddo Megiddo may refer to: Places and sites in Israel * Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley * Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel * Megiddo church (Israel) * Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel * Megiddo Junction, ...

, one at

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Av ...

, one in the ''sanctum sanctorum'' of the Area H temple at Hazor, and two at

Shechem Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first cap ...

. 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. In sixth-century Babylon a pair of bronze serpents flanked each of the four doorways of the temple of

Esagila The Ésagila or Esangil ( sux, , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki. Description In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by cu ...

. 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

and or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar, and computing * Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a boolea ...

to the god

Nabu Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian "nab ...

". At the tell of Tepe Gawra, at least seventeen Early Bronze Age

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

n bronze serpents were recovered. Snake decoration on pot from Rumeilah, 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

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

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 Masafi ( ar, مسافي) is a village located on the edge of the Hajar Mountains in the United Arab Emirates. It sits at the inland entrance of the Wadi Ham, which runs down to Fujairah City. The border between the emirates of Fujairah and Ras Al ...

. 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.

Judaism

Gnosticism

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people ...

originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

sects. In the formation of Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge (''

gnosis Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge ( γνῶσις, ''gnōsis'', f.). The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world. It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism, where it ...

'') of the divine spark within, over

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

(''pistis'') in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians. Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God, and the

Demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term ''demiurge''. Al ...

, "creator" of the material universe. The Gnostics considered the most essential part of the process of

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their

worldview A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural ...

along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority. In

, the biblical serpent in the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge (''

'') to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the

malevolent Malevolence may refer to: * Evil * Hostility * Malice (law) * Sadism, the experience of feeling pleasure from the pain of others. Other uses * Malevolence (band), an English hardcore punk band from Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South ...

's control. Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a

dualistic cosmology Dualism in cosmology or dualistic cosmology is the moral or spiritual belief that two fundamental concepts exist, which often oppose each other. It is an umbrella term that covers a diversity of views from various religions, including both traditi ...

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 A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatris ...

, identified with the Hebrew God of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil,

false god The phrase ''false god'' is a derogatory term used in Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) to indicate cult images or deities of non-Abrahamic Pagan religions, as well as other competin ...

and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, the father of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God. In the Archontic,

Sethian The Sethians were one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd and 3rd century CE, along with Valentinianism and Basilideanism. According to John D. Turner, it originated in the 2nd century CE as a fusion of two distinct Hellenistic ...

, and Ophite systems,

Yaldabaoth Yaldabaoth, Jaldabaoth, or Ildabaoth is an evil deity and creator of the material world in various Gnostic sects and movements, sometimes represented as a theriomorphic, lion-headed serpent. He is identified as the Demiurge and false god who ke ...

(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. However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent. For instance,

Valentinians Valentinianism was one of the major Gnostic Christian movements. Founded by Valentinus in the 2nd century AD, its influence spread widely, not just within Rome but also from Northwest Africa to Egypt through to Asia Minor and Syria in the East. ...

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. They were regarded as

heretics Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

by the

proto-orthodox The term proto-orthodox Christianity or proto-orthodoxy is often erroneously thought to have been coined by New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman, who borrowed it from Bentley Layton (a major scholar of Gnosticism and Coptologist at Yale), and desc ...

Early Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

Africa

Danh-gbi

In Africa, one centre of serpent worship was the Kingdom of Dahomey (in present-day

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

), but the cult of this python seems to have been of exotic origin, introduced c. 1725 from the

Kingdom of Whydah The Kingdom of Whydah ( known locally as; ''Glexwe'' / ''Glehoue'', but also known and spelt in old literature as; ''Hueda'', ''Whidah,'' ''Ajuda'', ''Ouidah'', ''Whidaw,'' ''Juida'', and ''Juda'' ( yo, Igelefe; french: Ouidah) was a kingdom on ...

around the time of its conquest by Dahomey. This was the cult of the serpent deity called the Danh-gbi or Dangbe, who was a benefactor-god of wisdom and bliss, "associated with trees and the ocean". At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes. A killing of a python, even by accident, was punishable by death, but by the 19th century this was replaced by a fine. 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. 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. 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.

African diasporic religion

The belief has spread to the New World. In

Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is ...

, the creator

loa ( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerat ...

Damballa Damballa, also spelled Damballah, Dambala, Dambalah, among other variations ( ht, Danbala), is one of the most important of all loa, spirits in Haitian Voodoo and other African diaspora religious traditions such as Obeah. He is traditionally po ...

is represented as a serpent, and his wife

Ayida-Weddo Ayida-Weddo is a loa of fertility, rainbows, wind, water, fire, and snakes in Vodou, especially in Benin and Haiti. Ayida-Weddo is known as the "Rainbow Serpent". Variants of Ayida-Weddo's name include Aida-Weddo, Ayida-Wedo, Aido Quedo, and A ...

being the

rainbow serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...

Simbi A Simbi (also Cymbee, Sim'bi, pl. Bisimbi) is a water spirit in traditional Kongo spirituality. In Haitian Vodoun context, they are a large and diverse family of serpents known as loa. Hoodoo In Central Africa's Kongo region, "...bisimbi in ...

are a type of serpentine loa in Haitian Vodou. They are associated with water and sometimes are believed to act as

psychopomp Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are supernatural creatures, spirits, entities, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afte ...

s serving

Papa Legba Papa Legba is a lwa in Haitian Vodou, Winti and Louisiana Voodoo, who serves as the intermediary between the lwa and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives (or denies) permission to speak with the spirits of Guineé, and is bel ...

Example in art

Eva Meyerowitz wrote of an earthenware pot that was stored at the Museum of

Achimota College Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The schoo ...

in present-day

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. The base of the neck of this pot is surrounded by the rainbow snake. 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. 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. The first three snakes Danh-gbi, Li, Liwui were all worshipped at Whydah, Dahomey where the serpent cult originated. For the Dahomeans, the spirit of the serpent was one to be feared as he was unforgiving. 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.

Mami Wata

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.

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 Wadjet (; egy, wꜢḏyt "Green One"), known to the Greek world as Uto (; grc-koi, Οὐτώ) or Buto (; ) among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep. It became part ...

Renenutet Renenūtet (also transliterated Ernūtet, Renen-wetet, Renenet) was a goddess of nourishment and the harvest in the ancient Egyptian religion. The importance of the harvest caused people to make many offerings to Renenutet during harvest time. In ...

Nehebkau Nehebkau (also spelled Nehebu-Kau) is the primordial snake god in ancient Egyptian mythology. Although originally considered an evil spirit, he later functions as a funerary god associated with the afterlife. As one of the forty-two assessors ...

, and

Meretseger Meretseger (also known as Mersegrit' or Mertseger) was a Theban cobra-goddess in ancient Egyptian religion, in charge with guarding and protecting the vast Theban Necropolis — on the west bank of the Nile, in front of Thebes — and especial ...

. Serpents could also be evil and harmful such as the case of Apep. The serpent goddess Meretseger is regarded ambivalently with both veneration and fear. Charms against snakes were inscribed or chanted, sometimes even to protect the dead; There are known charms against snakes that invoke the snake deity Nehebkau. 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 In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis (), also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, Sakhet among other spellings, cop, Ⲥⲁⲭⲙⲓ, Sakhmi), is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness. Sekhmet is a solar de ...

, who also bore that role.

Social and family affiliations

In many parts of Africa, the serpent is looked upon as the incarnation of deceased relatives. Among the

Amazulu Zulu people (; zu, amaZulu) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 10–12 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Nata ...

, as among the

Betsileo The Betsileo are a highland ethnic group of Madagascar, the third largest in terms of population. They chose their name, meaning "The Many Invincible Ones", after a failed invasion by King Ramitraho of the Menabe kingdom in the early 19th centu ...

of Madagascar, certain species are assigned as the abode of certain classes. The

Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

, on the other hand, regard each species as the habitat of a particular family of the tribe.

The Americas

North America

Indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

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. Among the Hopi of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, snake-handling figures largely in a dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit). The rattlesnake was worshipped in the

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

temple of the sun.

Mesoamerica

The

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

deity

Kukulkan K’uk’ulkan, also spelled Kukulkan, ( "''Plumed Serpent''", "''Amazing Serpent''") is the name of a Mesoamerican serpent deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula before the Spanish conquest of Yucat ...

and the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

Quetzalcoatl (both meaning " feathered serpent") figured prominently in their respective cultures of origin. Kukulkan ( Q'uq'umatz in

K'iche' K'iche', K'ichee', or Quiché may refer to: * K'iche' people of Guatemala, a subgroup of the Maya *K'iche' language, a Maya language spoken by the K'iche' people **Classical K'iche' language, the 16th century form of the K'iche' language *Kʼicheʼ ...

Maya) is associated with Vision Serpent iconography in

Maya art Ancient Maya art is the visual arts of the Maya civilization, an eastern and south-eastern Mesoamerican culture made up of a great number of small kingdoms in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Many regional artistic traditions e ...

. Kukulkan was an official state deity of

Itza Itza may refer to: * Itza people, an ethnic group of Guatemala * Itzaʼ language, a Mayan language * Itza Kingdom (disambiguation) * Itza, Navarre, a town in Spain See also * Chichen Itza Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with ...

in the northern Yucatan. The worship of Quetzalcoatl dates back to as early as the 1st century BC at

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...

. 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.

South America

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 , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. In

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

mythology featured a serpent figure in stories about a deluge.

Asia

Cambodia

Serpents, or

nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) 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. ...

s, play a particularly important role in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n mythology. A well-known story explains the emergence of the

Khmer people The Khmer people ( km, ជនជាតិខ្មែរ, ) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 90% of Cambodia's population of 17 million.

from the union of Indian and indigenous elements, the latter being represented as

s. According to the story, an Indian brahmana named Kaundinya came to Cambodia, which at the time was under the dominion of the naga king. The naga princess

Soma Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

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 The Khmer people ( km, ជនជាតិខ្មែរ, ) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 90% of Cambodia's population of 17 million.

are their descendants.

India

Snakes, nagas, have high status in

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...

. ' (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 a ''nāgīn''. 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. Kukke subramanya swamy temple, karnataka

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 (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 1). The Manasa-cult in Bengal, India, however, was dedicated to the anthropomorphic serpent goddess, Manasa (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 1). Temple of tamil peoples

Nāgas form an important part of Hindu mythology. They play prominent roles in various legends: * Shesha (Aadi shesha, Anantha) on whom Vishnu does yoga nidra (Anantha shayana). * Vasuki (snake), Vasuki is the king of Nagas. * Kaliya poisoned the Yamuna river where he lived. Krishna subdued Kaliya and compelled him to leave the river. * Manasa is the queen of the snakes. * Astika (Hinduism), Astika is half Brahmin and half naga. * A snake is commonly depicted around Shiva's neck. * Patanjali the great sage and author of the Yoga Sutras was said to be the embodiment of Adi Shesha, the divine serpent who forms Vishu's couch. It was rumored he transformed into a giant snake while teaching his students from behind a screen. * Nag panchami is an important Hindu festival associated with snake worship which takes place on the fifth day of Shravana (July–August). Snake idols are offered gifts of milk and incense to help the worshipper to gain knowledge, wealth, and fame. 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 (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). On the very last day of the Bengali month Shravana, all of these districts celebrate serpent-worship each year (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, 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 (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, 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 (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6). These districts also worshipped an object known as a Karandi (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, 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 (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, 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 (#Reference-idBhattacharyya1965, 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 kul devata also nagas are worship at many parts of India including Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In Madhya Pradesh a village Sironja Gadariya in KATNI District people worship naga as a god of their ancestry. They are mainly brahman who worship Shiva also. They are descendants of bharadwaj saga and using Surname Dwivedi. In this village people are worship naga dev in every ceremony like birth, marriage, and any other small and special events. They also claim that even a real serpent mostly cobra living with them but never harm anyone. They consider that they are their ancestors who are cursed due to some wrong deeds. Also, when one dreams of snakes, it is associated with the ancestors and sometimes Lord Shiva in Hindusim. 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.

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 (snake), 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.

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.

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 Shrine, Ōmiwa Jinja) is active and venerated to the present-day. According to the mythology, this serpent deity assumes human form and visits women, begetting offspring. According to mythology, one of the targets of his passion, the or Ōmononushi#Affair with Ikutamayorihime, Ikutamayorihime sought to discover his identity by attaching a yarn to the hem of his clothing ("The Mt. Miwa Story"). Another wife, , committed suicide with chopstick[s] after learning her husband was of serpent-form ("Legend of Hashihaka (Grave of Chopstick[s])"). Some versions of the legend of Matsura Sayohime(var. Lady Otohi or Otohi-hime) are classed as the But there is no enduring sign of snake worship in the original vicinity of the legend in the , where a local shrine houses the supposed petrified remains, or , of Lady Matsura.

Orochi

The term means literally "giant snake", the well-known example being the Yamata no orochi, the eight-forked giant serpent. This monster that devoured maidens in Izumo Province was also a deity, and addressed as such by the hero-god Susanoo who defeated the snake. 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", 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. Whether "human sacrifice" in this case meant actually putting the maiden to death is a subject of debate and controversy. It has been asserted human offerings (to the river god) were nonexistent in Japan, or that human offerings to the field deity were never widespread. In the Yamata-no-orochi episode, mythologist 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. He proposed there was an earlier version of the myth, coining the name , which was later altered to a serpent-slaying form, or .

Europe

Old Prussia

A snake was kept and fed with milk during rites dedicated to Potrimpus, a Old Prussians, Prussian god.

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 Apennines#Central Apennines, Central Apennine region. 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. 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. In Lanuvium (32 km from Rome) a big snake was venerated as a god and they offered human sacrifice to it.

Ancient Greece

2005-12-28 Berlin Pergamon museum Statue of Asklepios

Serpents figured prominently in archaic Greek myths. According to some sources, Ophion ("serpent", a.k.a. Ophioneus), ruled the world with Eurynome (Oceanid), Eurynome before the two of them were cast down by Cronus, Kronos and Rhea (mythology), 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,

. We learn from Herodotus of a great serpent which defended the citadel of Athens. The Minoan civilization, 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. It is not by accident that later the infant Heracles, Herakles, a liminal hero on the threshold between the old ways and the new Olympian world, 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. Typhon, the enemy of the Twelve Olympians, 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 (mythology), Echidna are Cerberus (a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and a serpentine mane), the serpent-tailed Chimera (mythology), Chimaera, the serpent-like water beast Lernaean Hydra, Hydra, and the hundred-headed serpentine dragon Ladon (mythology), Ladon. Both the Lernaean Hydra and Ladon were slain by Herakles. Python (mythology), 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. 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. 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. Asclepius, the son of Apollo and Coronis (mythology), 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-poisonous Aesculapian snakes were left to crawl on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. The author of the ''Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), 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 (play), 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. Zeus placed Asclepius in the sky as the constellation Ophiucus, "the Serpent-Bearer". 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, 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 History of Pella, Pella in the 2nd century AD (Lucian, ''Alexander the false prophet'') and at Ostia Antica (archaeological site), 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

Imbolc was traditionally a time of weather divination, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens may be a forerunner of the North American Groundhog Day. 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. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:

Images

File:Naag or serpent.jpg, Naag or serpent at Naksaal, Kathmandu File:Nag at Nag pokhari.jpg, Nag at Nag pokhari, Naksaal, Kathmandu File:naga1.jpg, The Snake God Naga and his consort.The photo is taken at the cave temples clusters of Ajanta Caves, Ajanta, Maharashtra, India File:Naga2 1112111556.jpg, Krishna dancing over snake Kaliya at the sand-covered temple ruins in Talakkadu, Karnataka, India. File:Naga4.jpg, A motif of a snake goddess. Carving on volcanic rock at the Ellora Kailasanathar Temple, Kailash Temple, Ellora, India File:Snake cult Indian.JPG, A snake worship altar from south India

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * *

External links

"Legendary Snakes"
Indian Times—Spirituality, December 9, 2004
Entheogens and snake loreMannarasala Snake Temple
{{Authority control Hindu snake worship, Snakes in religion Animals in Buddhism km:នាគខ្មែរ និង នាគសាសនា