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
"We perceive, therefore, that in the kingdom of Mexico the serpent was
sacred, and emblematic of more gods than one: an observation which may be
extended to almost every other nation which adored the symbolical serpent.
This is a remarkable and valuable fact, and it discovers in Ophiolatreia
another feature of its aboriginal character. For it proves the serpent to
have been a symbol of intrinsic divinity, and not a mere representative of
peculiar properties which belong to some gods and not to others."[13]
From what has been presented, it will be seen that the serpent symbol was
of general acceptance in America, particularly among the semi-civilized
nations; that it entered widely into their symbolic representations, and
this significance was essentially the same with that which attached to it
among the early nations of the old continent. Upon the basis, therefore,
of the identity which we have observed in the elementary religious
conceptions of the Old and New World, and the striking uniformity in their
symbolical systems, we feel justified in ascribing to the emblematic
Serpent and Egg of Ohio a significance radically the same with that which
was assigned to the analogous compound symbol among the primitive nations
of the East. This conclusion is further sustained by the character of some
of the religious structures of the old continent, in which we find the
symbolic serpent and the egg or circle represented on a most gigantic
scale. Analogy could probably furnish no more decisive sanction, unless by
exhibiting other structures, in which not only a general correspondence,
but an absolute identity should exist. Such an identity it would be
unreasonable to look for, even in the works of the same people,
constructed in accordance with a common design.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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