Ophiolatreia: An Account of the Rites and Mysteries Connected with the Origin, Rise, and Development of Serpent Worship in Various Parts of the WorldSellon, Edward
History
Ophiolatreia: An Account of the Rites and Mysteries Connected with the Origin, Rise, and Development of Serpent Worship in Various Parts of the World
Sellon, Edward
Phallicism; Serpent worship
Immediately in connection with this singular structure and constituting
part of the eastern wall, is a building, in many respects the most
interesting visited by Mr. Stephens, and respecting which it is to be
regretted he has not given us a more complete account. It requires no
extraordinary effort of fancy to discover in the sculptures and paintings
with which it is decorated the pictured records of the teachings of the
deified Ku Kulcan, who instructed men in the arts, taught them in
religion, and instituted government. There are represented processions of
figures, covered with ornaments, and carrying arms. "One of the inner
chambers is covered," says Mr. Stephens, "from the floor to the arched
roof, with designs in painting, representing, in bright and vivid colours,
human figures, battles, horses, boats, trees, and various scenes in
domestic life." These correspond very nearly with the representations on
the walls of the ancient Buddhist temples of Java, which are described by
Mr. Crawfurd as being covered with designs of "a great variety of
subjects, such as processions, audiences, religious worship, battles,
hunting, maritime and other scenes."
Among the ruins of Uxmal is a structure closely resembling the Egclesia of
Chichen. It consists of two massive walls of stone, one hundred and
twenty-eight feet long, and thirty in thickness, and placed seventy feet
apart. So far as could be made out, they are exactly alike in plan and
ornament. The sides facing each other are embellished with sculpture, and
upon both remain the fragments of entwined colossal serpents which run the
whole length of the walls. In the centre of each facade, as at Chichen,
were the fragments of a great stone ring, which had been broken off and
probably destroyed. It would therefore seem that the emblem of the
entwined serpents was significant of the purposes to which these
structures were dedicated. The destruction of these stones is another
evidence of their religious character; for the conquerors always directed
their destroying zeal against those monuments, or parts of monuments, most
venerated and valued by the Indians, and which were deemed most intimately
connected with their superstitions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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