hair, holding in th

e other hand the animal that was to be ripped to pieces in the ascetic sacrificial dance in honor of the god. In contrast to the dance of the Moki Indians of today, blood sacrifice in a state of frenzy is the culmination and fundamental significance of this religi

ous dance (Figure 23). The deliverance from blood sacrifice as the innermost ideal of purification pervades the history of religious evolution from east to west. The serpent shares in this process of religious sublimation. Its role can be considered a yardstick for the changing nature of faith from fetishism to the pure religion of redemption. In the Old Test

ament uses any personal information it collects in the following manner:

• , as in the case of the primal serpent Tiamat in Babylon, the serpent is the spirit of evi
• l and of temptation. In Greece, as well, it is the merciless, devouring creature of the underworld: the Eri
• nyes are encircled by snakes, and when the gods mete out punishment they send a serpent as the
• ir executioner. This idea of the serpent as a destroying force from the underworld has found its m

EMRTCost powerful and tragic symbol in the myth and in the sculpted group of Laocoon. The vengeance of the gods, wrought on their pries

t and on his two sons by means of a stran

gler reserves the right to change or update this policy at any time for any reason including changes in our internal policies or new laws or regulations. Any revisions will be posted in this policy as soon as they are in effect. This policy is not intended and does not create any contractual agreement or any other legal rights in or on behalf of serpen

t, becomes in this renowned sculpture of antiquity the manifest incarnation of extreme human suffering. The soothsaying priest who wanted to come to the aid of h