Pl. VII.
It is said, that, in the ritual of Zoroaster, the great expanse of the heavens, and even nature itself, was described under the symbol of a serpent[[471]]. The like was mentioned in the Octateuch of Ostanes: and moreover, that in Persis and in other parts of the east they erected temples to the serpent tribe, and held festivals to their honour, esteeming them [[472]]Θεους τους μεγιστους, και αρχηγους των ὁλων, the supreme of all Gods, and the superintendants of the whole world. The worship began among the people of Chaldea. They built the city Opis upon the [[473]]Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination, and to the worship of the serpent[[474]]. Inventi sunt ex iis (Chaldeis) augures, et magi, divinatores, et sortilegi, et inquirentes Ob, et Ideoni. From Chaldea the worship passed into Egypt, where the serpent Deity was called Can-oph, Can-eph, and C'neph. It had also the name of Ob, or Oub, and was the same as the Basiliscus, or Royal Serpent; the same also as the Thermuthis: and in like manner was made use of by way of ornament to the statues of their [[475]]Gods. The chief Deity of Egypt is said to have been Vulcan, who was also styled Opas, as we learn from [[476]]Cicero. He was the same as Osiris, the Sun; and hence was often called Ob-El, sive Pytho Sol: and there were pillars sacred to him with curious hieroglyphical inscriptions, which had the same name. They were very lofty, and narrow in comparison of their length; hence among the Greeks, who copied from the Egyptians, every thing gradually tapering to a point was styled Obelos, and Obeliscus. Ophel (Oph-El) was a name of the same purport: and I have shewn, that many sacred mounds, or Tapha, were thus denominated from the serpent Deity, to whom they were sacred.
Sanchoniathon makes mention of an history, which he once wrote upon the worship of the serpent. The title of this work, according to Eusebius was, [[477]]Ethothion, or Ethothia. Another treatise upon the same subject was written by Pherecydes Syrus, which was probably a copy of the former; for he is said to have composed it, [[478]]παρα Φοινικων λαβων τας αφορμας, from some previous accounts of the Phenicians. The title of his book was the Theology of Ophion, styled Ophioneus; and of his worshippers, called Ophionidæ. Thoth, and Athoth, were certainly titles of the Deity in the Gentile world: and the book of Sanchoniathon might very possibly have been from hence named Ethothion, or more truly Athothion. But from the subject, upon which it was written, as well as from the treatise of Pherecydes, I should think, that Athothion, or Ethothion, was a mistake for Ath-ophion, a title which more immediately related to that worship, of which the writer treated. Ath was a sacred title, as I have shewn: and I imagine, that this dissertation did not barely relate to the serpentine Deity; but contained accounts of his votaries, the Ophitæ, the principal of which were the sons of Chus. The worship of the Serpent began among them; and they were from thence denominated Ethopians, and Aithopians, which the Greeks rendered Αιθιοπες. It was a name, which they did not receive from their complexion, as has been commonly surmised; for the branch of Phut, and the Lubim, were probably of a deeper die: but they were so called from Ath-Ope, and Ath-Opis, the God which they worshipped. This may be proved from Pliny. He says that the country Æthiopia (and consequently the people) had the name of Æthiop from a personage who was a Deity—ab [[479]]Æthiope Vulcani filio. The Æthiopes brought these rites into Greece: and called the island, where they first established them, [[480]]Ellopia, Solis Serpentis insula. It was the same as Eubœa, a name of the like purport; in which island was a region named Æthiopium. Eubœa is properly Oub-Aia; and signifies the Serpent Island. The same worship prevailed among the Hyperboreans, as we may judge from the names of the sacred women, who used to come annually to Delos. They were priestesses of the Tauric Goddess, and were denominated from her titles.
[[481]]Ουπις τε, Λοξω τε, και Ευαιων Ἑκαεργη.
Hercules was esteemed the chief God, the same as Chronus; and was said to have produced the Mundane egg. He was represented in the Orphic Theology under the mixed symbol of a [[482]]lion and serpent: and sometimes of a [[483]]serpent only. I have before mentioned, that the Cuthites under the title of Heliadæ settled at Rhodes: and, as they were Hivites or Ophites, that the island in consequence of it was of old named Ophiusa. There was likewise a tradition, that it had once swarmed with [[484]]serpents. The like notion prevailed almost in every place, where they settled. They came under the more general titles of Leleges and Pelasgi: but more particularly of Elopians, Europians, Oropians, Asopians, Inopians, Ophionians, and Æthiopes, as appears from the names, which they bequeathed; and in most places, where they resided, there were handed down traditions, which alluded to their original title of Ophites. In Phrygia, and upon the Hellespont, whither they sent out colonies very early, was a people styled Οφιογενεις, or the serpent-breed; who were said to retain an affinity and correspondence with [[485]]serpents. And a notion prevailed, that some hero, who had conducted them, was changed from a serpent to a man. In Colchis was a river Ophis; and there was another of the same name in Arcadia. It was so named from a body of people, who settled upon its banks, and were said to have been conducted by a serpent: [[486]]Τον ἡγεμονα γενεσθαι δρακοντα. These reptiles are seldom found in islands, yet Tenos, one of the Cyclades, was supposed to have once swarmed with them. [[487]]Εν τῃ Τηνῳ, μιᾳ των Κυκλαδων νησῳ, οφεις και σκορπιοι δεινοι εγινοντο. Thucydides mentions a people of Ætolia called [[488]]Ophionians: and the temple of Apollo at Patara in Lycia seems to have had its first institution from a priestess of the same [[489]]name. The island of Cyprus was styled Ophiusa, and Ophiodes, from the serpents, with which it was supposed to have [[490]]abounded. Of what species they were is no where mentioned; excepting only that about Paphos there was said to have been a [[491]]kind of serpent with two legs. By this is meant the Ophite race, who came from Egypt, and from Syria, and got footing in this [[492]]island. They settled also in Crete, where they increased greatly in numbers; so that Minos was said by an unseemly allegory, [[493]]οφεις ουρησαι, serpentes minxisse. The island Seriphus was one vast rock, by the Romans called [[494]]saxum seriphium; and made use of as a larger kind of prison for banished persons. It is represented as having once abounded with serpents; and it is styled by Virgil serpentifera, as the passage is happily corrected by Scaliger.
[[495]]Æginamque simul, serpentiferamque Seriphon.
It had this epithet not on account of any real serpents, but according to the Greeks from [[496]]Medusa's head, which was brought hither by Perseus. By this is meant the serpent Deity, whose worship was here introduced by people called Peresians. Medusa's head denoted divine wisdom: and the island was sacred to the serpent as is apparent from its name[[497]]. The Athenians were esteemed Serpentigenæ; and they had a tradition, that the chief guardian of their Acropolis was a [[498]]serpent. It is reported of the Goddess Ceres, that she placed a dragon for a guardian to her temple at [[499]]Eleusis; and appointed another to attend upon Erectheus. Ægeus of Athens, according to Androtion, was of the [[500]]serpent breed: and the first king of the country is said to have been [[501]]Δρακων, a Dragon. Others make Cecrops the first who reigned. He is said to have been [[502]]διφυης, of a twofold nature; συμφυες εχων σωμα ανδρος και δρακοντος, being formed with the body of a man blended with that of a serpent. Diodorus says, that this was a circumstance deemed by the Athenians inexplicable: yet he labours to explain it, by representing Cecrops, as half a man, and half a [[503]]brute; because he had been of two different communities. Eustathius likewise tries to solve it nearly upon the same principles, and with the like success. Some had mentioned of Cecrops, that he underwent a metamorphosis, [[504]]απο οφεως εις ανθρωπον ελθειν, that he was changed from a serpent to a man. By this was signified according to Eustathius, that Cecrops, by coming into Hellas, divested himself of all the rudeness and barbarity of his [[505]]country, and became more civilized and humane. This is too high a compliment to be payed to Greece in its infant state, and detracts greatly from the character of the Egyptians. The learned Marsham therefore animadverts with great justice. [[506]]Est verisimilius ilium ex Ægypto mores magis civiles in Græciam induxisse. It is more probable, that he introduced into Greece, the urbanity of his own country, than that he was beholden to Greece for any thing from thence. In respect to the mixed character of this personage, we may, I think, easily account for it. Cecrops was certainly a title of the Deity, who was worshipped under this [[507]]emblem. Something of the like nature was mentioned of Triptolemus, and [[508]]Ericthonius: and the like has been said above of Hercules. The natives of Thebes in Bœotia, like the Athenians above, esteemed themselves of the serpent race. The Lacedæmonians likewise referred themselves to the same original. Their city is said of old to have swarmed with [[509]]serpents. The same is said of the city Amyclæ in Italy, which was of Spartan original. They came hither in such abundance, that it was abandoned by the [[510]]inhabitants. Argos was infested in the same manner, till Apis came from Egypt, and settled in that city. He was a prophet, the reputed son of Apollo, and a person of great skill and sagacity. To him they attributed the blessing of having their country freed from this evil.
[[511]]Απις γαρ ελθων εκ περας Ναυπακτιας,
Ιατρομαντις, παις Απολλωνος, χθονα