Shot gleaming flame; his hollow jaw was fill’d
Dispersedly with jagged fangs of white,
Grim, unapproachable.”[238]
It is hardly to be inferred from this description, I may remark, that the worship of Draco would be one of love. Yet, Rawlinson says: “The stellar name of Hea was Kimmut; and it is suspected that in this aspect he was identified with the constellation Draco, which is perhaps the Kimmah[239] of Scripture.”[240] This is an interesting statement when taken in connection with what has been already said about Hea. To the Accadians and others the north was a favorable point, being the source of cool, vivifying breezes.
But, whether from fear or not, Draco inspired wide-spread attention and worship. Lillie remarks that the serpent of the “three precious gems” of the Buddhist, the serpent, sun, and tree, the A. U. M., is Draco at the pole. The Tria Ratna, or three precious symbols of the faith, have, in the representation given, their earliest emblem, except, perhaps, the swastika,[241] or cross, which was doubtless formed at one time of two serpents.[242]
Fig. 9.—The Buddhist Tria Ratna.
In the illustration, the serpent represents the male and the staff the female or negative principle. It has been asserted that we have in it the prototype of the caduceus of Hermes.
The assumption of the serpent as a totem,[243] or symbol, of a family or tribe has been held—as, for example, by Mr. McLennan[244] and Sir John Lubbock[245]—to afford an explanation of the origin and practice of serpent-worship. This honor was no doubt accorded the reptile at a very early period and in different parts of the world; and it is still done by the Nagas of India and others. In speaking of Parium, a city of the Troad, Strabo says: “It is here the story is related that the Ophiogeneis have some affinity with the serpent tribe.... According to fable the founder of the race of Ophiogeneis, a hero, was transformed from a serpent into a man. He was, perhaps, one of the African Psylli.” The power of curing by touch persons bitten by serpents[246] was claimed by this tribe. David would seem to have belonged to the serpent family, as appears from the name of his ancestor, Naasson; and it has been suggested that the brazen serpent found by Hezekiah, in the Temple of Solomon, was a symbol of it. The friendliness of David to the king of Ammon is thus explained.[247] Speaking of rattlesnakes, it is said, in Miss Emerson’s work, “These creatures were so highly esteemed that to have a serpent as his totem elevated an Indian chief above his brothers.”[248]
The fact of the same word meaning both serpent and life has been believed to cast light on the origin of the worship of serpents. After stating that the reptile was always a symbol of life and health in Egypt and other countries, the Abbé Pluche gives as the reason, “because among most of the Eastern nations, as the Phœnicians, Hebrews, Arabians, and others, with the language of which that of Egypt had an affinity, the word heve or hava equally signifies the life and the serpent. The name of Him who is, the great name of God, Jov or Jehova, thence draws its etymology. Heve, or the name of the common mother of mankind, comes likewise from the same word. Life could not be painted, but it might be marked out by the figure of the animal which bears its name.”[249] According to Lenormant,[250] one of the generic names in the Assyrian-Semitic tongue is havon, like the Arabian hiyah, both derived from the root hâvah, to live. From the same root came the Latin ave, a wish of good health, and also ævum, the life. The asp still bears the name of naja haje.