Snake in the grass

I should probably explain an allusion in that last post. The Samnites are the ones who originally venerated Apollo Soranos. As the Tyrrhenians claimed to be descendants of the Lydians the Samnites traced themselves back to Illyria, which is where Kadmos is exiled during the snake-prophecy scene in The Bakchai. Now Illyria is also where Olympias’ people came from and as I mentioned she met her future spouse when they were both being initiated into the Samothracian mysteries, though it wasn’t long after their gamos that things began to go sour for the newlyweds:

As for the lineage of Alexander, on his father’s side he was a descendant of Herakles through Karanos, and on his mother’s side a descendant of Aikos through Neoptolemos; this is accepted without any question. And we are told that Philip, after being initiated into the mysteries of Samothrace at the same time with Olympias, he himself being still a youth and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and betrothed himself to her at once with the consent of her brother, Arymbas. Well, then, the night before that on which the marriage was consummated, the bride dreamed that there was a peal of thunder and that a thunder-bolt fell upon her womb, and that thereby much fire was kindled, which broke into flames that travelled all about, and then was extinguished. At a later time, too, after the marriage, Philip dreamed that he was putting a seal upon his wife’s womb; and the device of the seal, as he thought, was the figure of a lion. The other seers, now, were led by the vision to suspect that Philip needed to put a closer watch upon his marriage relations; but Aristander of Telmessos said that the woman was pregnant, since no seal was put upon what was empty, and pregnant of a son whose nature would be bold and lion-like.

Moreover, a serpent was once seen lying stretched out by the side of Olympias as she slept, and we are told that this, more than anything else, dulled the ardor of Philip’s attentions to his wife, so that he no longer came often to sleep by her side, either because he feared that some spells and enchantments might be practised upon him by her, or because he shrank from her embraces in the conviction that she was the partner of a superior being.

But concerning these matters there is another story to this effect: all the women of these parts were addicted to the Orphic rites and the orgies of Dionysos from very ancient times (being called Klodones and Mimallones), and imitated in many ways the practices of the Edonian women and the Thracian women about Mount Haimos, from whom, as it would seem, the word threskeuein came to be applied to the celebration of extravagant and superstitious ceremonies.

Now Olympias, who affected these divine possessions more zealously than other women, and carried out these divine inspirations in wilder fashion, used to provide the revelling companies with great tame serpents, which would often lift their heads from out the ivy and the mystic winnowing baskets, or coil themselves about the wands and garlands of the women, thus terrifying the men. (Plutarch, Life of Alexander 2.1.6)

Snakes come up a lot in the exploits of Alexander. One of my favorites is the instance where the snake turns him on to some good drugs that will help his sick buddy Ptolemy:

For when Alexander, wearied by fighting and by anxiety, had taken his place beside Ptolemy, he ordered the bed on which he himself slept to be brought in. As soon as he lay down upon it, he immediately fell into a profound sleep. When he awoke, he said that in a dream a serpent had appeared to him, carrying an herb in its mouth, which it had indicated to be a cure for the poison; and the king declared too that he would recognize the colour of the herb if anyone could find it. Then, when it was found – for it was sought by many at the same time – he placed it upon the wound; and immediately the pain ceased and within a short time the wound was scabbed over. (Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni 9.8.26)

Alexander was seen as a mortal incarnation of the god Dionysos and this was nowhere more apparent than in the triumphant Bacchic revel he led through the great palace of Dareios after vanquishing the Persians:

Alexander held games in honour of his victories, performed costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends bountifully. While they were feasting and the drinking was far advanced, as they began to be drunken a madness took possession of the minds of the intoxicated guests. At this point one of the women present, Thaïs by name and Attic by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted women’s hands in a minute to extinguish the famed accomplishments of the Persians. This was said to men who were still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to form the comus and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek temples.

Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysos. Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the komos to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thaïs the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration.

It was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport. (Diodoros Sikeliotes, Library of History 17.72.1-6)

To create a new world you must always burn down the old. Halstead is right to be afraid. People are sick of the status quo and establishment neopaganism. Reading through the proposals that Julian Betkowski and Rhyd Wildermuth have posted at Eros is Eros is Eros and the Wild Hunt I am hopeful that seeds of such a renaissance will be planted at the Polytheist Leadership Conference later this week. If the lineage of Thracian temple snakes can be restored in a single midsummer evening fucking anything could happen man.