Serpent of Eden

The Serpent of Eden (or the Genesis Serpent) is the name often given to the infamous serpent that tempts Eve into eating the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis, leading to the fall of man. The serpent would also be cursed by the Hebrew God to have its limbs severed, leaving all future snakes limbless.

Although the serpent itself is not a dragon as in the Book of Genesis, the serpent has been associated with dragons such as the Red Dragon in the Book of Revelation. It further develops draconic features or is itself a dragon in medieval Abrahamic tradition.

Description

Jewish and Christian Sources

Many rabbinical sources debate the serpent's appearance prior to the fall. The Zohar (Book of Splendor) claims the serpent to have had two hind legs and was as tall as a camel. A couple Egyptian sources detail the serpent similarly as a bipedal and slender creature, slightly taller than a human, with long arms and legs. Others thought the serpent to have been a winged serpent such as Matthew Henry in his Commentary Upon the Whole Bible (1708-10). Additionally, some scholars thought that the removal of the serpent's limbs was figurative and not literal, and that the serpent had the same appearance as any other snake.

While European artwork initially depicted the serpent as a normal snake, the serpent of Eden would gradually become depicted as a serpentine woman with a human face and arms. These renditions of the serpent were called draconpides ("dragon-footed"). Some artists created artwork with the demoness Lilith from rabbinical lore in mind, who was sometimes thought to be the serpent of Eden in a transformed appearance. Later on the serpent in some artwork would become a full half-woman half-snake entity such as in Michealangelo's artwork depicting Eve's temptation.

Islamic Sources

Islamic artwork shows the Serpent of Eden as a winged creature with legs. Islamic myth tells that the serpent prior to the fall was the most beautiful of creatures and was created two thousand years before the creation of Adam. The serpent "had a multi-colored tail, red, yellow, green, white, black, a mane of pearl, hair of topaz, eyes like the planets Venus and Jupiter, and an aroma like musk blended like ambergris". In addition, she ate saffron, and lived in a pond that was on the shore of River Cawthar.

Mythology

In the Book of Genesis, the serpent appears after the creation of Adam and Eve. The serpent asks Eve about what the Hebrew God had told them about not to eat any fruit from the trees in the garden of Eden. Eve confirms this, saying eating any fruit in the garden would kill them, however the serpent says to the contrary. In addition, the serpent comments that the eating the forbidden fruit would make them knowledgeable of good and evil, this wisdom being what tempts Eve. Eve proceeds to eat the fruit and gets Adam to eat them too. When the Hebrew God sees what has happened, he removes the limbs of the serpent, condemning it and it's predecessors to eat only what is on the ground for the rest of their lives.

Christian Interpretations

The trope of dragons claiming to be the serpent of Eden is popular in medieval Christian texts. An example is in the Acts of Thomas, where Saint Thomas encounters a dragon from India who claims to be the serpent of Eden. The dragon had inflicted a near-fatal bite onto an apostle with its venom, Saint Thomas demanding that it bites down on the apostle again and store all the venom back into itself. The dragon proceeds to do this, the venom causing the dragon to inflate itself before bursting and dying in the process.