IMAGE COURTESY DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART
Snakes live in almost all environments and thus appear in all ancient cultures, albeit with different connotations. Belonging to the taxonomic order Serpentes, dozens of snake species live in the southern Levant, and it is often difficult to distinguish them in ancient written sources and artistic representations.
In the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, a serpent steals from Gilgamesh and eats the magical herb that could grant immortality. Several Near Eastern gods are associated with snakes, which generally connote danger or the strength to overcome it. In Canaanite religion, the serpent was associated with the god Baal, whose wife Asherah was sometimes depicted with snakes. In Arabia, the snake was a symbol of the sun. In Egypt, snakes could be either beneficial or harmful, as the giant snake Apep could devour a soul in the underworld, but the cobra was associated with the tutelary goddess of Lower Egypt, Wadjet, who served to protect the pharaoh.
Several iconic stories in the Hebrew Bible feature snakes, mostly under the generic name nahash. In the story of creation, a snake convinces Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, resulting in the first couple’s expulsion from Eden (Genesis 3). At Yahweh’s command, Moses and Aaron perform miracles before Pharaoh that include turning a walking stick into a snake that devours the snakes produced by Egyptian magicians (Exodus 7:8–13). During the Exodus, Yahweh sends venomous snakes to punish murmuring Israelites, but then instructs Moses to make a serpent of bronze by the sight of which people are healed (Numbers 21). More poisonous snakes appear in Psalm 58:4 and Proverbs 23:32.
Contrary to the overwhelmingly negative representation of snakes in the Bible, some ancient mythologies offer a more positive view. In the Greco-Roman world, the snake was an attribute of Asclepius and a symbol of life and health. The Rod of Asclepius (caduceus), which depicts a snake winding around a pole, is today a medical symbol. From classical antiquity come armlets in the shape of snakes that include this gold example from the first century CE, now in the Dallas Museum of Art.
The New Testament reuses the Exodus snake story to draw a link between the healing powers of the brazen serpent and the redeeming effects of Jesus’s crucifixion (John 3:14–15). To illustrate the Christian teaching about Jesus’s redemptive sacrifice, Christian iconography portrays Mary the mother of Jesus as crushing the snake’s head under her feet, in reference to Genesis 3:15: “He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” In the Book of Revelation, “that ancient serpent,” this time identified with Satan, is bound for a thousand years (12:9) and then finally destroyed (20:10).
Snakes live in almost all environments and thus appear in all ancient cultures, albeit with different connotations. Belonging to the taxonomic order Serpentes, dozens of snake species live in the southern Levant, and it is often difficult to distinguish them in ancient written sources and artistic representations. In the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, a serpent steals from Gilgamesh and eats the magical herb that could grant immortality. Several Near Eastern gods are associated with snakes, which generally connote danger or the strength to overcome it. In Canaanite religion, the serpent was associated with the god Baal, whose wife Asherah was […]
