. The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America . he wings, of the power which brooded over thevast expanse of chaos ; and that the whole signifies simply theEternal Creator. But while conceding that the hierogramis allusive to the Supreme Deity of the Egyptians, I am con-vinced that there is a deeper significance concealed beneath itthan has yet been explained ; and that a further study of theprimitive religions of the East will yet throw much new lightupon its meaning. The fact that the crux ansata, the Taauticsign of life, is sometimes dependent from
. The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America . he wings, of the power which brooded over thevast expanse of chaos ; and that the whole signifies simply theEternal Creator. But while conceding that the hierogramis allusive to the Supreme Deity of the Egyptians, I am con-vinced that there is a deeper significance concealed beneath itthan has yet been explained ; and that a further study of theprimitive religions of the East will yet throw much new lightupon its meaning. The fact that the crux ansata, the Taauticsign of life, is sometimes dependent from the necks of theserpents, should not be overlooked in attempting its sacred compound emblem was not peculiar to Egypt, Fig. Ql. From the Temple of Naksui Rustam, Persia. but is to be found through Ancient Assyria, and, in a modifiedform, on the Persian temples. The monuments discovered byMr. Layard, in what is supposed to be ancient Nineveh, arefruitful in representations of this symbol, which is regardedby that author as, in some way, allusive to the sun, and Fig. 68. Ornament over the entrance to an Ancient Temple at Ocosingo, Mexico. Amongst the numerous interesting monuments discovered byMr. Stephens in Central America and Mexico, there are one or SERPENT SYMBOL IN THE OLD WORLD. 249 two which bear an apparent representation of the same symbol ;and although the resemblance is probably only accidental, yetit is sufficiently striking to deserve notice. It is proper to observe that the accompaning engraving is, inpart, a restoration of the original, which is broken. It is of stuc-co, and occurs over the doorway of an ancient temple at Ocosingo,Mexico.* It differs from the sacred hierogram of the East,in having no serpents surrounding the globe in the centre ; butfrom its position, and the well attested fact, that all the orna-ments of the Mexican and Central American temples had somesignificance, we are justified in ascribing to it a symbolicalpurport
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