Snake

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Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles found almost worldwide. A few species are venomous,^[1] and colloquially, the word "snake" has become synonymous with slyness or deception.^[2]

History[edit | edit source]

Biblical[edit | edit source]

Moses used a Staff of Eden to create an illusion of it changing into a snake.^[3]

6th century BCE[edit | edit source]

Hermes Trismegistus also held a Staff that was decorated with two intertwined snakes. When he was encountered by Pythagoras and his pupil, Kyros of Zarax, Hermes plunged the Staff into the ground and the snakes appeared to speak, informing Pythagoras that he was to be the next possessor of the Staff.^[4]

5th century BCE[edit | edit source]

Snakes featured heavily in Greek myths, and some signs of the myths still remained in the landscape during the 5th century BCE. The clearest of these were the ruins of the Snake Temple within the Valley of the Snake in Phokis. Named after the skeleton of a gigantic snake wrapped around the stonework, it was believed to have been the Python of legends killed by the god Apollo.^[5]

During the Peloponnesian War, many snakes inhabited various tombs and ruins all around Greece. Their poisonous fangs were valued at 9 drachmae apiece.^[6]

A relief of Asklepios, his daughter Hygieia, and two snakes

Snakes were also a vital part of the practices at the Sanctuary of Asklepios, where they were kept in the sanctuary's tholos and used to heal the sick.^[7]^[8] They were so important in the proceedings that the Greek god of healing, Asklepios, was usually depicted with a snake-wrapped staff.^[6] His daughter, Hygieia, was also said to able to repel harmful snakes, and aid with recovery from their poison.^[9]

During this period, the soil from the island of Lemnos was believed to cure snake bites.^[10] Snakes were also connected with the mythological Medusa and the Writhing Dread; the hair of said creatures was said to have taken the form of living snakes.^[6]

1st century BCE[edit | edit source]

During the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Egyptians worshipped the snake-goddess Wadjet.^[9]

In 30 BCE, the Hidden One Amunet provided Cleopatra with a vial of poison, which the pharaoh used to take her life and avoid capture by the Roman forces of Octavian.^[11] Legend would later hold that Amunet had assassinated Cleopatra using a venomous asp.^[12]

9th century[edit | edit source]

Snakes were fairly common in 9th-century England, foraging in the grassy areas whilst sleeping in more dark and damp places, like caves and ruins. Snakes would also often find a good place to sleep inside pots and crates inside houses. The Viking shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir of the Raven Clan encountered many snakes during her travels throughout the English countryside,^[13] but only one during her travels in Ireland.^[14]

18th century[edit | edit source]

During the 18th century, particularly the Seven Years' War and subsequent American Revolutionary War, many banners were posted all over Boston, New York, and the River Valley depicting Benjamin Franklin's political cartoon of a dismembered snake captioned "Join, or Die".^[15]