- The Worship of the Serpent
The Worship of the Serpent is a 19th century study of the practice of snake-worship, specifically the Biblical snake from the garden of Eden. The work was written by
John Bathurst Deane in 1833. The serpent is found inGenesis of theOld Testament , in which the serpent convinces Eve, who goes on to convince Adam to eat from the forbidden fruit of knowledge:A number of
Gnostic texts, some only discovered recently such as those from theNag Hammadi Library expound on an idea of knowledge and how the serpent gave knowledge to man. Deane draws a number of conclusions and makes certain guesses regarding snake worship, not just confined to Europe, but indeed all over the world. Deane goes on in his title to list a number of associations to the serpent such as thedragon and theleviathan . So thorough (albeit outdated) is his research, that he has "traced THE WORSHIP OF THE SERPENT from Babylonia, east and west, through Persia, Hindûstan, China, Mexico, Britain, Scandinavia, Italy, Illyricum, Thrace, Greece, Asia Minor, and Phœnicia." (Ch VIII)See also
*
Ophites
*Snake worship External links
* [http://sacred-texts.com/etc/wos/index.htm The Worship of the Serpent (full text online)]
* [http://www.antiqillum.com/texts/bg/Qadosh/qadosh055.htm The sons of the Serpent Tribe]
* [http://sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/gar15.htm The Ophites, The Gnostics and Their Remains by Charles William King 1887]
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