The _Kadmonites_ got the name of _Hivites_, as I apprehend, from their celebrity in building temples of the serpentine form. At first they were consecrated to true religion; but too soon all these, and other patriarchal temples in the land of _Canaan_ were polluted to idolatrous purposes; and probably from them the worship of snakes became famous. Now the word _Avim_, _Hevæus_ in the _Syriac_, signifies a _snake_. And from this custom of the _Phœnicians_ making serpentine temples, the notion might arise of the _Phœnicians_ worshipping serpents, as _Eusebius_ observes, _pr. ev._ I. And from this the _Greeks_ made their fables of _Cadmus_ overcoming a great snake, sowing its teeth, and armed men sprouting up, _&c._ On this account it is, that they who represent this exploit of his, describe it as done by a stone of a very extraordinary bulk, _Ovid. Met._ III. _v._ 59. ————_dextrâque molarem Sustulit, et magnum magno conamine misit. Illius impulsu cùm turribus ardua celsis Mœnia mota forent; serpens sine vulnere mansit._ The bulk of the serpent is equally extravagant, ————_immensos sinuatur in arcus. ————tantoque est corpore, quanto Si totum species, geminos qui separat arctos. Ipse modò immensum spiris facientibus orbem Cingitur, interdum longâ trabe rectior exit._ This is but a poetical description of the circle and the avenues at _Abury_. You have this same action of the heroes represented in some _Tyrian_ coins: _Cadmus_ is throwing a stone at a serpent. That of _Gordian_ III. in _Vaillant_’s colony coins, vol. II. p. 217. Another of _Gallienus_, p. 350. The author quotes _Nonnus_’s _Dionysiacs_ IV. reciting the history of his breaking a snake’s head with a stone. And he thinks those other _Tyrian_ coins belong to this same history, as that p. 136, where a snake is represented as roll’d about a great stone. [Illustration: I. _A coin of_ Gordian III. Vaillant’s colon. II. p. 217. _which the learned author adjudges to_ Cadmus. _Another of_ Gallienus, p. 350. _Both struck at_ Tyre. II. _A coin of the city of_ Tyre _in_ Vaillant’s colon. p. 136, 147. _The learned author says a stone and serpent is the symbol of_ Cadmus. _The truth is, they regard_ Cadmus _founding serpentine temples._] It was from the city of _Sareptha_ that _Europa_ was carry’d off; ’tis in the country of _Sidon_; and I apprehend, from the name of it, here was originally a serpentine temple. _Sareptha_ is the serpent _Ptha_. I have an ancient coin of this city, in brass. A palm-tree on one side, a leopard’s face on the other, which refers to the wine here famous: of which the learned _Reland_ in _Palestina_. _Conon_, in his narration 37, gives us the origin of the _greek_ fable of _Cadmus_’s men, the _Phœnicians_, springing out of the ground armed, for before then helmets and shields were unknown. Hence they were call’d _Spartæ_.