It remains to observe the overthrow or supersession of the serpent in Christian lands. At Axum in Abyssinia, where worship was divided between the serpent and the Mosaic Law, it is said that the great dragon was burst asunder by the prayers of Christian saints (c. A.D. 340; Fergusson, p. 35). At the Phrygian Hierapolis the serpent Echidna was ex pelled by the Apostles Philip and John. France had traditions of the destruction of serpents by missionaries (Deane, Serpent Worship, p. 283 seq.), and memory possibly survived at Luchon in the Pyrenees, where the clergy and people celebrated the eve of St. John by burning live serpents. Christian saints have also stepped into the shoes of earlier serpent-slayers; while, in stories of the "St. George and the Dragon" type, the victory of the pious over the enemy of mankind has often been treated as a literal conflict with dragons, thus introducing a new and confusing element into the subject. At Rouen the celebration of St. Romain seems to preserve a recollection of human sacrifice to a serpent demon which was primarily suppressed by a pagan hero, and at Metz, where St. Clement is celebrated as the conqueror of a dragon, its image (formerly kept in the cathedral) was taken round the streets at the annual festival and received offerings of food. Most remarkable of all, at Cocullo in the Abruzzi mountains on the border of the old territory of the Marsi snake-men, the serpent-deity has a lineal descendant in the shape of St. Domenico of Foligno (A.D. 950-1031). The shrine is famous for its cures, and when the saint has his serpent-festival on the first Thurs day in May, Serpari or serpent-men carry coils of live reptiles in procession before his image, which in turn is hung with ser pents of all sizes. The rites are a valuable testimony to the persistence of the cult among people who still claim power over serpents and immunity from their bite, and who live hard by the home of the ancient tribe which ascribed its origin to the son of Circe (M. C. Harrison, Folklore xviii. 187 sqq.). One may
recall the old cult of Sabazios where men waved great red snakes over their heads as they marched in procession. Moreover, we find at Madagascar the procession of the god of fertility and heal ing, the patron of serpents who are the ministers of his vengeance (Frazer, Paus. v. 66 seq.). In a Bengal festival the men march entwined with serpents, while the chief man has a rock-boa or python round his neck and is carried or rides on a buffalo (Fer gusson 259). (S. A. C.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.—The literature is large and scattered. See besides the works already cited: J. Muehly, Die Schlange im Mythus end Cultus der klassischen Volker (1867) ; J. Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (1888) ; M. Winternitz, "Der Sarpabali, ein altindischer Schlangen cult," in Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft (vol. xviii., Vienna, 1888) ; J. E. Harrison, in Journal of Hellenic Studies (vol. xix., 1889) ; A. W. Buckland, Anthropological Studies (1891) ; A. H. Sayce, "Serpent Worship in Ancient and Modern Egypt," in Contempo rary Review (1893) ; W. Crooke, The Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India (1896) ; D. G. Brinton, Myths of the New World (1896) ; J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903) ; W. R. Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (3rd ed., St. A. Cook, 1927, Index). See also the articles on serpent worship in The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (ed. J. Hastings, vol. xi., 192o) ; and J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough (3rd ed. 12 vols., 1907—Is, Index).