The “Serpent Lineage” in the symbolism and myth of human history
According to some scholars, the presence of the serpentine figure in human traditions and symbolism has its roots in something real that happened at the dawn of man's evolution. There is a certain dismay among some researchers when considering the extremely limited space of time in which the human species evolved.
The moment Eve, the first mythical woman and mother of all living things, was convinced to collect the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Life, humanity fell victim to the first great deception of the serpent.
The one told by Genesis, the opening book of the Bible, is a story rich in symbolism. According to Western religious thought, the incident narrated by the sacred text presents the most insidious enemy that humanity must guard against.
Yet, the figure of the serpent is not only present in the stories of the Semitic tradition that gave birth to the story of Genesis. If we look at the mythology of other human cultures, we discover a scenario populated by reptiles, feathered serpents and strange reptiloid hybrid beings.
According to some scholars, the frequency of the serpentine figure in human traditions and symbolism has its roots in something real that happened at the dawn of man's evolution.
The scenario told by myths all over the world is almost the same: beings considered divine, with reptilian features and great powers, have delivered technological knowledge and urban civilization into the hands of humanity.
Is it possible that non-human entities have influenced the normal evolutionary progress of the human race? Could the rapid evolution of man, incapable of harmonizing with the times and rules of nature, depend on this? Is it possible that our DNA has been altered in an unnatural way for purposes unknown to us?
Although science has made giant strides in understanding the mechanisms that regulate the evolution of living beings, the origin of man still remains shrouded in mystery.
Archaeological investigations and fossil findings, rather than clarifying the history of human evolution, merely complicate a puzzle that is already quite complicated in itself. There is a certain dismay among some researchers when considering the extremely limited space of time in which the human species evolved.
To make an undue comparison, we can think of dinosaurs, a group of living beings that dominated planet Earth for 160 million years, an extremely long biological life cycle or, at least, in harmony with the cosmic times of the Universe.
If, however, we consider homo sapiens, we are disconcerted to consider that the homo genus appeared on the planet only 2 million years ago and, through a daring series of evolutionary leaps, managed to build the first modern cities in Mesopotamia, and then moved, in a few thousand years, from cuneiform writing to information technology and from the exploration of unknown territories to space flight.
Why is Homo Sapiens so fast?
Among the first to speak of an external intervention in the evolutionary history of man is Zecharia Sithchin, the researcher who dedicated his life to the study of Sumerian mythology.
In many of his books, Sithchin states his theory according to which, in a very distant past, a group of extraterrestrial travelers from the planet Nibiru, called Anunnaki, descended on Earth to exploit the mineral resources of our planet.
Needing manpower for the extraction of minerals, the Anunnaki thought of genetically manipulating the terrestrial species most similar to them, grafting their own DNA into it: a hominid, Homo Erectus, was chosen.
Could we be the result of genetic manipulation that has torn us from our natural development?
According to David Icke's hypothesis, some reptilian aliens, in the human guise of public men, have taken control of our planet, preventing humanity from normal spiritual, social and technological evolution. Their aim would be to enslave humanity and definitively take possession of planetary resources (including humanity).
The ideas contained in the book Children of the Matrix, apparently original and extravagant, but validated by a long and scrupulous series of documented clues, describe our life on planet Earth as an 'existential' deception managed by extraterrestrial, intraterrestrial and interdimensional forces to keep us in a mental, emotional and spiritual prison.
In confirmation of these theories, it seems that the ancient terrestrial myths all agree on one thing: the appearance of these ancient 'visitors' (which some consider 'invaders') is similar to that of the reptile family. And in almost all legends, reference is made to ancient half-man, half-reptile "gods".
The Sumerians
The Sumerians represent the first urbanized population in the world. They were the descendants of an ethnic group from southern Mesopotamia (today's south-eastern Iraq), indigenous or settled in that region from the time they migrated there (around 5000 BC) until the rise of Babylon (around 1500 BC).
The term Sumerian is actually the name given to the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia by their successors, the Semitic people of the Akkadians. The Sumerians, (or Shumerians from Shumer) in fact, called themselves sag-giga, literally "the black-headed people" and their land Ki-en-gi, "place of civilized lords".
In the pantheon of Sumerian deities there is Enki, the divinity of crafts, good, water, the sea, lakes, wisdom and creation. Enki, in some representations, appears as a half-man, half-serpent being.
The meaning of his name should be "lord of the earth". He was the guardian of the divine powers called Me, the gifts of civilization from which humanity would benefit.
His image is a serpent with a double ellipse, or Caduceus, very similar to the Staff of Asclepius. In the opinion of some authors, it is not surprising that the symbol of Enki was later used as a symbol of medicine, given its uncanny resemblance to the double helix of DNA.
The stories of the Old Testament
The Bible takes up some themes from Sumerian and Babylonian mythology. According to what was reported by the authors of the sacred text, the seducer of humanity who appears in the episode of 'Original Sin' has the appearance of a snake.
At the beginning of human history, the serpent proposes to Adam and Eve an alternative path to that foreseen by the cosmic order, so as to "become like God". What does it mean? According to some exegetes, Adam and Eve glimpsed in the serpent's proposal the path to immortality which would make them similar to God.
Others, however, see in the proposal the possibility for humanity to establish on its own what is good and what is bad, without any external divine authority. The serpent proposes to man to become his own god. In fact, the serpent responds seraphically to Eve's objection:
“You won't die at all! Indeed, God knows that the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." It is no longer the creator who establishes what is good or bad, but the creature.
Still others interpreted the tale of original sin as an evolutionary shortcut offered to humanity to bypass a process that would likely take thousands (if not millions) of years. Irenaeus of Lyons, an important Christian author of the 3rd century, defined that of Adam and Eve as a sin of impatience, a cop-out to skip ahead.
The serpent would have become the bearer of technological and cultural capabilities that men would have developed naturally and in perfect harmony with the cosmic laws of the universe. In this interpretation, the stories of Sumerian mythology about Enki (bringer of civilization) and also the myth of Prometheus, who steals fire from the gods to deliver it to men, intersect.
The short span of time in which humanity evolved leaves some anthropologists baffled. Compared to the times of nature, man seems like a bolt of lightning that appeared on the planet. And it is an evolution that is actually not completely in harmony with the cosmos.
The cost of this rapid evolution was the separation of man from nature and the consequent destruction of the planet (Eden), the separation between men (Tower of Babel) and the consequent loss of unity of purpose and alienation. of individuals. In this perspective, the serpent embodied the symbol of the devil (diabolos = that which separates).
The Middle East and Africa
In the Middle East, Jinn have been handed down, mysterious serpent or dragon men whose presence has been affirmed since ancient times. In the pre-Islamic age, the Jinn were credited with considerable power, almost always capable of expressing a devastating and often deadly malice.
The Ancient Egyptians venerated many hybrid deities, in which human and animal characteristics merged. Among these was the ancient Egyptian god Sobek, who is depicted as a man with a crocodile head.
In Mali there is a population, the Dogon, who pass down a creation myth whose protagonist is a reptilian man. The Dogon claim to be descended from the god Amma, coming from the star Po Tolo (Sirius B).
Amma created the universe with the stars and constellations and then created Tenga, that is, the Earth, in the shape of a woman, with whom she mated, generating the Nommo, two half-man, half-snake beings, identified as the life force of water, and sent them to earth to impart fundamental teachings to humanity, such as weaving, metallurgy and agriculture.
The Dogon retain knowledge that is nothing short of miraculous. In 1947, after living with the Dagons for more than seventeen years. the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule reported a truly incredible story. The tribal elders revealed to Griaule one of their most closely guarded secrets, hidden even from most of the tribal community.
They claim to have received profound knowledge of the solar system from one of the mysterious Nommo. The elders are aware of the four moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and are aware of the spiral shape of the Milky Way and know that it is the planets that move around the Sun and not vice versa.
But what most baffles ethnologists is the Dogon's knowledge of the orbits, dimensions and density of the stars in theSirius system. The Dogon have carefully confirmed the existence of Sirius A, B and C, knowledge that modern science has only recently acquired.
Sirius C remained unknown until 1995, when astronomers noticed the gravitational influence it exerts on the movement of the entire system.
Ancient Greece
The first mythical king of Athens, Cecrops, was half-man, half-serpent. In Greek mythology, the servants of the Titans and Giants were snakes, who are sometimes represented in an "anguiform" form, that is, with their legs formed by serpentine endings very similar to those of Enki. Among these there is the image of the giant Klyteros.
East Asia
In the folk tales of ancient China there are two brothers, Nüwa, a female deity of creation, and Fu Xi, one of the three mythical Chinese rulers called "The Three Augusts", who lived, according to tradition, between 2952 and 2836 BC.
Both are depicted as hybrid beings, made up of a human torso and a serpent's tail. According to tradition, it is Nüwa who invents music and the technique for playing the flute, but above all it is she who creates men, molding them from clay.
Fu Xi was always represented linked, by the tail, to his sister Nüwa, whom he took as his wife. The images of her represent her with a compass and him with a square in his hand: the two instruments indicate that the two sovereigns invented norms, rules, standards. According to Chinese folklore, these two deities are responsible for the creation and education of mankind.
In Asian culture, the legends of the Long or dragons are also passed down, forms halfway between the physical plane and the astral plane, but rarely described in humanoid form, and which can change shape from human to reptilian.
This characteristic is often attributed to the Asian Emperors, who were believed to be able to voluntarily change their human form into a dragon and vice versa.
Christianity
Christian theology, which also bases its thought on the Jewish Old Testament, has taken the story of original sin as the fundamental moment of the so-called fall of man.
Redemption, or the defeat of the prince of this world (Satan) occurred with the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in which the primordial order is reconstituted and will come to fruition with the return of Jesus at the end of the times and the coming of the Celestial Jerusalem, the new creation in harmony with the cosmic order.
An interesting symbol of the redemption and defeat of the serpent is Marian iconography: the Virgin Mary is represented in the act of trampling the serpent's head, a symbol of victory over evil.
Pre-Columbian Americas
Mayan mythology knows a very important figure for the discussion we are developing: the god Quetzalcoatl. According to legends, this deity taught the Mayan people the secrets of agriculture, metallurgy and astronomy. Humanity owes its rapid evolutionary development to a reptilian external figure.
The representations of Quetzalcoatl are quite disturbing, as they see the Mayan god intent on devouring a man. Isn't this gift given to humanity completely free? What does the snake ask in return? What part of humanity is it devouring?
Contemporary era
The reptile is still a symbol present in human culture and is often associated with the heraldic symbols of great noble families (with blue "reptile" blood!), with brands of large companies and with works of art that shamelessly represent the dominance of the reptile on the human race, like a nefarious parasite:
What justifies this constant and penetrating presence of reptile symbolism in human culture? And why does it seem that even today there are so many references to the serpent and its power? Are we really prey to an external domination that has derailed us from the natural evolutionary path? What is the purpose of the serpent?
After this long, and largely incomplete, overview of myths and symbols, it seems possible to indicate some salient points:
- The snake is a symbol present in almost all human cultures;
- The serpent (or dragon) gives humanity the gift of technology and culture, accelerating the natural evolutionary process;
- The serpent (or dragon) is always in command: is it King, Emperor (president?)
- The gift of the serpent is not free: it devours man... what does it want in return?
- The power of the serpent is still in place… you just need to have eyes to notice it!
