The winged serpents of Arabia (1)

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The folkloristic motif of flying serpents in Arabia is known in the Assyrian, Hebrew and Greek authors.

Annals of Sennacherib B.16-11’:
30 Doppelmeilen Landes von Aphek, das im Bereich des Landes Samena liegt, bis Raphia, an der Grenze des ‘Baches von Ägypten’, wo es keinen Fluss bibt, liess ich mittels Seilen, Ketten und Schwengeln durch Schöpfen meine Truppen mit Brunnenwasser tränken. Gemäss dem Befehle Aššurs, meines Herrn, fasste ich einen Plan, und [es beriet sich] mein Gemüt. Kamele aller Könige von Arabien bot ich auf und belud sie [mit Schläuchen]. 30 Doppelmeilen Landes, eine Strecke von 15 Tagen, zog ich durch [gewaltige] Sandmassen. 4 Doppelmeilen Landes mit Alaun [ … ] ging ich. 4 Doppelmeilen Landes, eine Strecke von 2 Tagen zertrat ich immer wieder Schlangen mit zwei Köpfen [ … deren … ] Tod bedeutete, und zog weiter. 4 Doppelmeilen Landes, eine Strecke [von 2 Tagen] mit gelben [Schlangen], die die Flügel gespreizt hielten. 4 Doppelmeilen, eine Strecke von 2 Tagen [ … ] 15 Doppelmeilen Landes, eine Strecke von 8 Tagen, zog ich [ … ]. Marduk, der grosse Herr kam mir zu Hilfe [ … ], er belebte meine Truppen. 20 Tage, 7 [ … ] an der Grenze von Ägypten hielt ich Abendrast [ … ].

Isaiah 30:6-7:
Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation, to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.

Isaiah 14:29:
Rejoice not, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote you is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

Herodotus 2.75-76:
There is a region moreover in Arabia, situated nearly over against the city of Buto, to which place I came to inquire about the winged serpents: and when I came thither I saw bones of serpents and spines in quantity so great that it is impossible to make report of the number, and there were heaps of spines, some heaps large and others less large and others smaller still than these, and these heaps were many in number. This region in which the spines are scattered upon the ground is of the nature of an entrance from a narrow mountain pass to a great plain, which plain adjoins the plain in Egypt; and the story goes that at the beginning of spring winged serpents from Arabia fly towards Egypt, and the birds called ibises meet them at the entrance to this country and do not suffer the serpents to go by but kill them. … the serpent its form is like that of the watersnake; and it has wings not feathered but most nearly resembling the wings of the bat.

Herodotus 3.107:
Those trees that bring forth frankincense are guarded by winged serpents, small in their sizes, many-colored in their looks, guard, many in multitude round each tree, those very ones that advance as an army against Egypt, and they are driven away from the trees by nothing other than the storax gum’s smoke.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Annals of Sennacherib B.16-11’
Herodotus 2.75-76
Herodotus 3.107
Isaiah 14:29
Isaiah 30:6-7

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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