[394]. In Jonstonus de Quadruped, cap. viii. p. 142.
THÆAUTUS, so often mentioned by Sanchoniatho, attributed some Deity to the Nature of the Serpent; an Opinion approved by the Phenicians, therefore look’d upon as holy and immortal, and comes into the sacred Mysteries[[395]].
[395]. Euseb. Præp. Evangel. l. i. c. 10. from Philo Biblius, the Translator of Sanchon.
They represented the World by a Circle, in the middle of which was a Serpent, representing the good Demon, or Genius of the World, by which ’tis animated, and is a Symbol of the Almighty Creator. Behold here the Blasphemy of Satan, in giving to God the Form of a Serpent, which he had borrow’d himself to make war against God in Paradise. They sometimes represented their Gods with the Bodies of Serpents, and honour’d those odious Animals with divine Worship, as Symbols of Apollo, of the Sun, and of Medicine, and were put into the Charge of Ceres and Proserpine.
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.
[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]].