_HERODOTUS_ observes, that in his time, near _Thebes_, there were to be seen tame Serpents, adorn’d with Jewels, and consecrated to _Jupiter_, which did no harm to any body: When they died, they were buried in _Jupiter_’s Temple[396]. _Ælian_ speaks of domestick Serpents, that were in the Houses of the _Egyptians_, and look’d upon as _household Gods_; and of another Serpent worshipped in a Tower at _Melitus_ in _Egypt_, that had a Priest and other Officers attending it, and served every day upon an Altar with Meal kneaded up with Honey, which the next day was found to be eaten. _In Melite Eg. Draco divinis honoribus afficitur in turri quadam_ ... _adsunt ei sacerdotes & ministri; mensa_ ... _ex farina subacta_.... Herod. lib. ii. cap. 17. Footnote 396: _——Ex Crocodilis alunt. appendentes auribus vel gemmas—sacris in arnis sepeliant._ _Euterpe_, lib. ii. p. 186. The _Phenicians_ also sacrificed to _Dragons_, calling them their _good Angels_, their propitious and kind Spirits. Nothing more common in the Heathen Religion, than the Appearance of a Serpent in some Form or other. The _Babylonians_ worshipped a _Dragon_, which the Prophet _Daniel_, by a Commission from the King, killed; which, one would think, was sufficient to convince the Royal Idolater of his egregious Stupidity in worshipping a Creature as Conservator of Mankind, that could not preserve its own Life. They represented the World by a Circle in the Form of a _Greek Theta_ Θ, and the _good Demon_, by a _Serpent_ in the midst of it; under which Figure, the Protectors of Countries and Cities, called tutelary Gods, were worshipped. The _Arabians_ reputed Serpents _sacred Beings_, and therefore would allow no Violence to be offered to them; and this Superstition yet remains among those People, according to _Veslingius_, says my Author. They take them into their Houses, feed and worship them as the _Genii_, or Guardians of the Place: Not only Men, but every kind of Things, had its peculiar _Genius_. Two were assigned to each Person, a good and evil Genius, and those were thought to attend them from the Cradle to the Grave. We read of a sacred Dragon that was kept in _Phrygia_ in _Asia Minor_, whose Residence was in a Wood, dedicated to _Diana_, Goddess of the Woods. Among other strange Animals in the _East-Indies_, _Alexander_ found in a Cave, a _monstrous Dragon_, which the Inhabitants counted sacred, and was adored by them, and daily supplied with Food: The poor, ignorant, superstitious People, humbly addrest the _Conqueror_, not to attack that _holy Place_, and disturb the Repose of their God. The victorious Army hearing its hideous and dreadful Roarings, were not a little terrify’d; they only saw its monstrous Head, when stretch’d out of its Mansion, and its Eyes appeared to them to be as big as a large _Macedonian Buckler_, a Species of defensive Armour[397]. Footnote 397: _Conrad. Gesner._ p. 44, 45. _Gyllius._