Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) OPHIOLATREIA, OR SERPENT WORSHIP. OPHIOLATREIA: AN ACCOUNT OF THE RITES AND MYSTERIES CONNECTED WITH THE ORIGIN, RISE, AND DEVELOPMENT OF Serpent Worship IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD, ENRICHED WITH INTERESTING TRADITIONS, AND A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE CELEBRATED Serpent Mounds & Temples, THE WHOLE FORMING AN EXPOSITION OF ONE OF THE PHASES OF PHALLIC, OR SEX WORSHIP. PRIVATELY PRINTED. 1889. _PREFACE._ _Our words by way of preface and introduction need be but few. The following volume forms a companion to one already issued bearing the title "Phallism." That work, though complete in itself, meets in this a further elucidation of its subject, since, in the opinion of many, Ophiolatreia, the worship of the Serpent, is of Phallic origin. Such a view, and others of a contrary nature, have been honestly set forth, and the best and most trustworthy authorities have been consulted for history, arguments, and illustrations by which they may be understood. No attempt has been made to insist upon any one method of interpretation as undoubtedly correct, but simple facts have been stated, and the reader has been left to form his own independent judgment._ CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER I. 1 Ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--Of mysterious origin-- Of universal prevalence--The Serpent, a common symbol in mythology--Serpent Worship, natural but irrational--Bacchic orgies--Olympias, mother of Alexander, and the Serpent Emblem-- Thermuthis, the sacred Serpent--Asps--Saturn and his children-- Sacrifices at altar of Saturn--Abaddon--Ritual of Zoroaster-- Vulcan--Theology of Ophion--The Cuthites--The Ophiogeneis--The Ophionians--Greek Traditions--Cecrops--Various Serpent worshippers. CHAPTER II. 10 Supposed Phallic Origin of Serpent Worship--The idea of life-- Adoration of the principle of generation--The Serpent as a symbol of the Phallus--Phallic Worship at Benares--The Serpent and Mahadeo--Festival of the "Nag panchami"--Snakes and Women-- Traces of Phallic Worship in the Kumaon Rock Markings--The Northern Bulb-stones--Professor Stephens on the Snake as a Symbol of the Phallus--The "Dionysiak Myth"--Brown on the Serpent as a Phallic Emblem--Mythology of the Aryan Nations-- Sir G. W. Cox and the Phallic theory--Athenian Mythology. CHAPTER III. 17