Mysterious Serpentine Icons: On the Origin of Serpentine Compositions on Old Russian Images

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Among the antiquities of the Russian Middle Ages, a very special place is occupied by round pendant-medallions, on one side of which there is a canonical Christian image (Christ, the Mother of God, the Archangel Michael or various saints), and on the other - a "serpentine composition" - a head or figure surrounded by snakes.

What is a coil

Appearing in Russia in the XI century, they spread in the XII-XIV centuries, but then fell out of use rather quickly, although some samples are known dating back to the XVIII century.

The name "serpentine amulets" was assigned to such pendants, but the presence of canonical images indicates that they were actually icons (if there were no serpentine compositions on the back, they would have been called that).

Therefore, it seems more correct to call such medallions not "amulets" (although, of course, any icon is, in a sense, a canonically permitted Christian amulet), but still precisely serpentine icons.

True, in Byzantium there were serpentines without icons on the front side (they were replaced by conspiracy texts from "hysteria"), which really cannot be called otherwise than amulets.

Classification of serpentine icons

The first Russian publication of such icons was a note by V. Anastasievich about the "Chernigov hryvnia" - a gold coil found in a rural settlement near Chernigov (Anastasievich, 1821). Interest in them never faded away, and a long series of various publications were summed up by T. V. Nikolaeva and A. V. Chernetsov (1991), in which the typology of serpentines was drawn from the iconic images on the obverse.

This approach seems to be quite justified, but not the only possible one. Therefore, I proposed a different classification scheme, proceeding from the fact that the originality of this group of antiquities is given precisely by the serpentine compositions on the reverse side of the icons, which in fact are reduced to two classes determined by iconography and the general layout of such compositions.

Class 1 - with a human head in the center of the composition, from which snakes diverge in different directions. Most researchers agree that the head of Medusa the Gorgon could be depicted in this way, although this interpretation (with snakes growing out of the head) was not the most characteristic of ancient art.

Most often, the Gorgon was depicted as a winged monster with long fangs and a protruding tongue. The serpent on the head of the Gorgon (from 2 to 12 specimens), on average, can be found only in one of the eight antique images of this monster.

It is also impossible to deny some similarity of the images on the serpentines with the late antique Gorgoneions (the head of the Gorgon on the chest armor); in addition, the "maiden Gorgonia" with a serpentine head appeared in the popular medieval novel "Alexandria".

There are, however, other points of view regarding this serpentine composition, among which the most weighed seems to be the assumption that snakes here mean diseases (or demons of diseases) expelled from a person both by the mystical action of a conspiracy and by divine power personified by icon images on serpentines.

Therefore, in the future, we propose to purely conditionally call the images on the serpentines of this class "Gorgon", bearing in mind that they were based on deep layers of folk ideas about "mystical medicine" and its demonology, which have only an external resemblance to some interpretations of the appearance of the Gorgon.

Class 2 - with a female "serpentine" monster (judging by the accentuated chest), whose legs branch out into 11-13 snakes (on a number of serpentines, snakes seem to grow out of the monster's body), and hands hold on to them. Regarding this image, it was suggested that the bronze statue of Scylla, which, according to the testimony of Nikita Choniates, stood at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, could serve as a prototype for it. If this hypothesis is correct, then class 2 serpentines could have appeared only before 1204, since after the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders, this statue (along with all the others) was melted down into a coin, which means that the visible image that could be used for playback on coils.

No matter how such a hypothesis is regarded, it is obvious that the two existing iconographic schemes of serpentine compositions go back to different prototypes and ultimately demonstrate two different traditions of depicting the "hysteria" against which the serpentine conspiracies were directed.

The overwhelming majority of Russian serpentines and all Byzantine ones known today belong to class 1, while class 2 is represented by no more than 1/6 of medallions.

Signs of compositions 1 and 2 classes practically do not overlap, the only exception is the aforementioned "Chernigov grivna" (a coil of class 2, which had only three replicas), where snakes emerge not only from the legs, but also from the head of the female figure.

However, this is the only case of creating a "hybrid" image based on the canons of classes 1 and 2.

Iconography of serpentine images

Several publications have appeared recently new finds of serpentines in the vicinity of Suzdal and Veliky Novgorod, in which, however, the question of the origin of the serpentine iconography was not considered.

But this issue is touched upon in another work, which is a summary of finds from Veliky Novgorod, where all 12 medallions known there at the time of publication were taken into account.

The authors preferred to divide this small collection according to the images on the front side, resulting in 4 types - with the Archangel Michael, the Mother of God Oranta, the Crucifixion, St. George. Serpentines of three types bear the image of the "Gorgon" on the reverse side, and one type (with the Crucifixion), represented by three identical samples, is the "Scylla". The latter is depicted in the form of a human figure "full length" without obvious signs of sex, from the arms, legs and body of which snakes depart, the interpretation of which is extremely conditional and becomes clear only due to comparison with other medallions of this class.

Researchers of the Novgorod serpentines questioned the established opinion that the image of the "Gorgon" personified a certain demon ("hysteria" or, in Russian-language versions of conspiracies, "dyna").

The serpentine composition of class 1 was perceived by these researchers also straightforwardly as an image of the directly cut off head of Medusa the Gorgon, based on the fact that its properties were mentioned in some medieval literary works. Meanwhile, it has been repeatedly emphasized that this image is semantically extremely complex and such an unambiguous understanding of it is unlikely to be correct.

In addition, the researchers of Novgorod antiquities did not accept the hypothesis about the interpretation of the second iconographic class (with the "serpentine" monster), since "the given description of Scylla does not completely coincide with the image on the serpentines" and "it is unclear on which monsters Scylla's torso branched", and besides, "the figures on the serpentines …, as a rule, dressed, while Scylla at the Hippodrome was naked."As a result, it was concluded that on the coils of this class was placed "the same Gorgon, simply depicted before death."

The criticism presented requires detailed consideration. To begin with, before her death, Medusa Gorgon, according to all versions of the myth, had an ordinary female body, however, with wings behind her back. Not a single image or description is known in which the division of her body below the waist into any snakes was featured. Therefore, the last quoted phrase of our critics is incorrect in principle: the "snake" monster is not a Gorgon.

As for "all" details of the statue of Scylla in Constantinople, whatever they may be, it is impossible to expect their exact repetition on small medallions because of the obvious differences in size, plastic solution and style of these completely different monuments.

As for the "nudity" of the figure of "Scylla", there was a misunderstanding associated with the limited selection of Novgorod: on most medallions of class 2, the figure of "Scylla" is shown exactly naked, with an accentuated chest. And only on one series of Novgorod serpentines (with the Crucifixion) this figure was “dressed”, and all signs of gender were removed.

Probably, it was in Novgorod that one particular master carried out the "censorship" of the appearance of the "Scylla". Judging by the dating of the finds, the rethinking of the image of the monster took place relatively late, in the 12th century.

Although the authors of the Novgorod collection of finds attribute the serpentines with the Crucifixion and "Scylla" to the 11th century, this conclusion is based on general considerations about the distribution of serpentines and the appearance of other status items in the areas where such finds were made. The contexts of the finds themselves are rather vague and allow us to admit a significantly later date of their deposition into the layer, and, consequently, the appearance of things of this series.

Of the three finds of such serpentines, one comes from the Velikaya Street pavement (Nerevsky excavation site), from the horizon of the first half of the 12th century, however, the conditions of the deposition of the cultural layer on street pavements allow the possibility of getting into these open complexes both earlier (with respect to dendrochronological dating) and later things. The latter option seems more likely, since intensive residential development appears on the site of the find only in the second half of the 12th – early 13th centuries.

Two other finds of coils with "Scylla" come from the layer of the second half of the 12th century. at the estate E of the Troitsky excavation site.

Paradoxically, the authors of the publication date these finds "no later than the 11th century", which contradicts the context of their discovery. Such an early appearance of coils here is justified by the fact that in the first half of the 11th century. a priest lived on the E estate. Whether this means that the authors consider clergy to be users and distributors of icons that are ambiguous from a canonical point of view, is not clarified, but the context of the article leads exactly to this conclusion.

However, the desire of church circles to eliminate serpentines from cult practice seems more likely, and therefore they hardly belonged to a clergyman, so that the connection between the serpentines found with early excavation deposits seems to be the least probable. Thus, all Novgorod finds allow dating local serpentines with images of "Scylla" not earlier than the second half of the 12th century, and this is exactly the time of strengthening of Christianity, when the image of "Easter / Dana" with a naked torso could well have undergone some censorship.

Who is Scylla and how did she appear

Let us return to the argumentation of the opponents of the attribution of the serpentine demon, who "it is not clear on which monsters the body of Scylla branched", devouring the companions of Odysseus, in the sculptural composition of the Constantinople Hippodrome. To answer this question, one should consider those famous images of Scylla that existed in antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Scylla (or Skilla, ancient Greek. Σκύλλα - "barking") became widely known thanks to Homer, who described in the adventures of Odysseus an episode with the passage of his ship past this monster. Homeric Scylla had 12 paws and six heads with three rows of teeth. Living in a cave, Scylla hunted sea creatures and sailing ships, and she did not imply any female body. When Odysseus' ship caught up with the monster, it immediately grabbed six of its companions, i.e. each of the heads received its prey (Homer. Odyssey. XII. 85-100, 245-259, 430). From this description, it can be understood that the heads belonged to some kind of dragon-like monster and had long necks, thanks to which they could reach the sailors on the deck of the ship. However, such an interpretation of the image of Scylla is not at all known in ancient fine art; instead, a completely different iconography gained wide popularity.

Among the earliest surviving images of Scylla is a ceramic figurine from the 5th century. BC. from the island of Milos, kept in the British Museum. This is a woman, whose body below the waist passes into a dragon's tail, and the front parts of the dogs' bodies grow from the monster's belly (it is to them that she owes her name "Barking"). On a number of images of the 5th – 4th centuries. BC. Scylla has two large dragon wings, most of all reminiscent of the wings of a bat, and holds an oar in her hands, with which she swings at her victims.

On a significant number of both classical and Hellenistic images of Scylla on red-figure ceramics, bronze and silver mirrors, falars, other decorative plates, coins and gems, she was depicted with a female torso, but the front parts of the dogs' bodies were necessarily placed below the belt, and instead of legs - a thick one dragon tail. This interpretation most of all coincides with the version of the legend according to which Scylla was a beautiful nymph, the daughter of the goddess of fierce sea waves Crateida and the hundred-headed giant Triton.

She turned into a monster thanks to the enchantment of the sorceress Kirka (Circe), who made her jealous of the sea god Glaucus and added a potion to the pond in which the nymph loved to swim. The story of Scylla's transformation into a monster is colorfully described by Ovid (Metamorphoses, XIV. 59-67):

Numerous images of Scylla on red-figure vases suggest that the description given was not the product of the great poet's invention, but exactly corresponded to the image that arose centuries earlier.

At the same time, even in the classical era, in some places Scylla was depicted without canine bodies, but at the same time as a serpentine, in particular, on some Etruscan burial urns and vases. At the same time in Etruria of the 5th century. BC NS. quite traditional dog-headed images of Scylla were also known, however, unlike the Greco-Roman iconography, the Etruscans depicted this monster with two snake-legs.

Already in the late antique era, the interpretation of Scylla's figure changed somewhat: the wings disappeared, and the branching of the lower body into two serpentine-dragon bodies began to occur more and more often.

The Roman era also includes a marble composition created by order of the Emperor Tiberius at the beginning of the 1st century. AD to decorate his villa in Sperlonga (south of Rome, on the seaside). Exhibited at the Sperlonga Archaeological Museum, the reconstruction of the statue of Scylla follows the early examples with the dog-headed branching of her body. According to Professor B. Andrea, it was a copy of a bronze original made in Rhodes c. 170 BC, and the original itself was later transported to Constantinople and installed at the Hippodrome.

The hypothesis of the Rhodian origin of the Constantinople Scylla is certainly quite admissible, however, the lack of reliable evidence of the movement of the statue from Rhodes to Constantinople does not allow us to consider this hypothesis as the only possible one. Since no evidence of the origin of the statue of Scylla has survived at the Hippodrome, it cannot be ruled out that it was created at a later period and showed a completely different iconography. What is it?

Not to mention the fact that in the late Roman or early Byzantine times, images of Scylla, illustrating the Homeric description of this monster, could have been created, there is another image that could form the basis of both the statue and the images on the serpentines - we are talking about the Siren.

In the ancient and Roman eras, the siren was represented mainly as a bird with a female head, i.e. in the Homeric interpretation given in the Odyssey. However, along with this absolutely dominant iconography in ancient art, there was another version of the image of sirens - in the form of a snake-legged monster with a female torso (instead of legs it had thick snake tails).

An example of this is the marble sculpture of a two-tailed siren from the Temple of Desponia in the city of Likosoura (Peloponnese, Greece, 2nd century BC). This version of sirens is rare and clearly marginalized; the origin of the iconography of such sirens has not been studied, and it is possible that it is associated with images of serpentine goddesses - common Indo-European chthonic demons.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire and a radical change in the population of Europe in the early Middle Ages, the bestiary of Europe was replenished with a third version of the sirens - in the form of a naked woman who had the body of a fish from her waist.

Beliefs in such female demons, called "mermaids", "undines", "melusines", were widespread among all Germanic, Baltic and Slavic peoples of Europe.

Siren-fish lured and killed sailors, dragging them with them to the seabed, and by this they were close not only to the ancient siren-birds, but also to Scylla. The image of a siren with two fish tails, which she held with her own hands, became especially widespread (“sirena bicaudata”, that is, two-tailed).

However, two-tailed sirens were already known in Hellas in the late Antique era (a statue in the city of Likosura in the Peloponnese), but this image became widespread only in the Middle Ages.

The most famous depictions of the two-tailed Sirens are the mosaics on the floors of the cathedrals in Pesaro (province of Rimini) and Otranto in Italy: this monster has a naked female torso, and instead of legs it has two fish bodies, ending in forked tail fins.

The mosaics of the cathedral in Pesaro date back to the 5th – 6th centuries, but they have been renovated from the 12th – 13th centuries, including the figure of the Siren named in the publication by Lamia. At the same time, Siren-Lamia holds her tails with her hands, and it is in this iconographic scheme that one can see a version of the image of the same monster, which at the same time began to be depicted on the coils.

Such a similarity can hardly be considered accidental, especially since it came from the Byzantine cultural environment.

In a mosaic from Otranto dating from the 1160s. The Siren from Pesaro is exactly the same, although the two tails of this siren do not have fins and are more like a serpentine.

In the XII-XIII centuries. double-tailed sirens appear in the decor of many architectural, primarily cult monuments of Italy (the temples of St. John the Evangelist in Ravenna, St. Michael in Pavia, San Lorenzo in Montillo, the Doge's palace in Venice, etc.), and in almost the same At the same time, a similar interpretation of the Siren spreads in France and England, where it is known for its numerous architectural monuments.

In the light of the above excursion, it is impossible to assert that the statue of Scylla, which stood at the Constantinople Hippodrome, was iconographically close to the sirens on the Italian mosaics, especially since it is not known when and by whom this statue was created.

However, such a hypothesis seems to be no less permissible than the idea of preserving the ancient version of Scylla there. Based on the available extremely concise description of the statue, it could well combine the features of the barbarian Siren and Homeric Scylla with six (or 12?) Serpentine bodies reaching out to the ship of Odysseus and grabbing their victims from the deck.

The last objection of our opponents is the assertion that.

Indeed, if we consider such images as direct images of ancient monsters, then Scylla is much inferior to the Gorgon, which, however, exactly corresponds to the number of serpentines of both classes.

However, if we take into account the above remarks, it turns out that the "Scylla" on the coils was only a kind of visualization of the Sirena (that is, the same Slavic mermaid), and that not only was not inferior to the Gorgon in its magical "potential", but rather ahead of her, since it was much closer to the Slavic worldview.

Perhaps that is why the personification of "hysteria" in the form of "Scylla-Siren" did not become popular in Byzantium, but spread in Russia.

Who was portrayed on the coils

The above observations indicate that the origins of the images on the serpentines should not be looked for directly in ancient art - they are hidden in that still insufficiently explored layer of the folk culture of medieval Byzantium, in which the strongest processing of the original ancient images took place, often bringing them almost beyond recognition. …

In many ways, such a processing was under the influence of barbarian (Germanic and Slavic) beliefs, which penetrated the Byzantine folk culture during the Great Migration and the Slavic colonization of Greece.

Therefore, in relation to the serpentine icons, both "Gorgon" and "Scylla" are not designations of ancient antique monsters, but the conventional names of the two main iconographic classes of the image of a malicious demon - "hysteria" ("dyna"), which were placed on the backs of some icons.

The two mentioned classes of serpentines are firmly associated with different icon images on their obverse.

On the serpentine class 1 (with the "Gorgon") were placed images of the Archangel Michael, the Mother of God (all three canonical types - Orant, Eleus, Odigitriya), various saints (Theodore Stratilat, George, Kozma and Damian, Boris and Gleb, Nikita, Varvara, unnamed), Savior on the throne, seven youths of Ephesus.

On serpentines of class 2 (with "Scylla") - these are Jesus Christ (in the scenes of the Crucifixion and Baptism), the Mother of God (Oranta or Odigitria) and the Archangel Michael. In the latter case, we are talking only about the "Chernigov hryvnia" - a coil, which has significant differences from all other samples of class 2, since on it the "Scylla" is not just a snake-footed one - snakes also come out of her head. Consequently, the "Chernihiv hryvnia" demonstrates a special kind of class 2, in which the interpretation of "Scylla" is noticeably different from all the others and clearly goes back to a separate prototype.

The presented classification chart shows not only the differences between the coil classes, but also how strong the connections were between the images on the front and back of the medallions. So, in the composition of class 2, you can see only 5 main types of icons - four of them carry images of the Crucifixion, the Mother of God (Hodegetria or Ornata) and the Epiphany scene. The fifth type, demonstrated by the "Chernihiv gryvna", not only differed in the interpretation of "Scylla", but also carried the image of the Archangel Michael, which is completely uncharacteristic for class 2 serpentines.

The number of original types (combinations of images on both sides of medallions) in class 1 was noticeably larger, although it is rather difficult to indicate their exact number. If we proceed from the most ancient samples of the XII-XIII centuries, then there were at least 5 - with icons of the Archangel Michael, the Mother of God Eleusa, St. George, St. Theodore Stratilates and possibly Our Lady of the Sign.

The remaining serpentines of class 1 already demonstrate the stage of creative development of the original schemes in the 13th-16th centuries, when the place of Byzantine icon images was taken either by specifically Russians (icons of Saints Boris and Gleb), or not at all used in the early period (with St. and Damian, St. Nikita the Besogon, Savior on the throne).

A separate rather variegated group is made up of those types of class 1 serpentines, which were the result of borrowing icon images from class 2 - with icons Our Lady of Hodegetria, Our Lady of the Sign, Crucifixion. The fact that we are talking about the borrowing of iconic plots can be seen from the later (relative to the samples of class 2) dating of such serpentines and additions to the original iconography (for example, the Crucifixion is accompanied by forthcoming ones).

The secondary nature of such newly formed types of coils is also indicated by their "weak" connections with their class, ie. uniqueness of known samples.

It should be noted that within class 1, a series of serpentines stands out with the image of a kind of hybrid of "Scylla" and "Gorgon" on the reverse side. In the center of the composition is the head, but the serpentine bodies come out only from two places - from below and from above. And although the body of the monster is practically invisible here, the compositional solution itself is extremely close to the interpretation of "Scylla" on the "Chernihiv hryvnia", the drawing of which was greatly simplified and schematized. Most of the serpentines with icons of Our Lady of Tenderness and Saints Kozma and Damian belong to this series.

Another original series of serpentines is made up of late icons with two mounted holy warriors, on the reverse side of which are placed extremely schematized images of "Scylla". Here, the contours of the upper part of the body of this monster are guessed only along the lines of the serpentine bodies, the female sexual characteristics have been lost, but the general composition of the placement of the snakes remains the same as on the medallions of the 12th – 13th centuries.

They are dated to the 14th century, but a somewhat earlier date of these medallions (within the 13th century) cannot be ruled out, since the gap with the original prototypes could hardly have been so great.

Summary of the Serpentine Icon Review

Let's summarize our review: class 2 coils (with "Scylla"), which appeared in Russia mainly in the 12th century. (with the exception of the notorious "Chernigov grivna", obviously made in the XI century.), very soon were forgotten, so that among the medallions of the XIV-XVI centuries. they almost never occur. At the same time, one of the earliest types of such serpentines (with the Archangel Michael and "Scylla") was greatly reworked - one head was left from the "Scylla" figure, which made it identical to the "Gorgon". Already from the XII century. Serpentine icons with the Archangel Michael carried on the back only images of the "Gorgon", though stylistically very different from all the other "Gorgons". Since the XIII century. on the reverse sides of the medallions with the Mother of God of the Sign and Hodegetria "Scylla" no longer fits, but only the "Gorgon" is depicted, and the serpentines with scenes of Baptism and Crucifixion are no longer reproduced (only 3 icons with the Crucifixion on the front side and the "Gorgon" on the back are known).

Thus, the second class of serpentine icons existed in Russia for a very short time, probably no more than 200 years (from the end of the 11th to the middle of the 13th centuries), after which only the medallions with the "Gorgon" were copied. The only exceptions were imitative and heavily schematized (hardly recognizable) "Scylla" on several serpentines with two mounted holy warriors (XIII or XIV centuries).

How can one explain the rapid discontinuation of the production of class 2 coils while keeping class 1 medallions for quite a long time?

Apparently, it is no coincidence that the boundary in their distribution falls on the 13th century. - the time of severe disasters that befell Russia, and, in particular, the urban craft, which suffered greatly from the Mongol invasion. Although class 2 coils were made in at least two cities of Russia - Kiev and Veliky Novgorod, the number of craftsmen who were carriers of the tradition of their production was probably small. Therefore, it was enough for one of them to die or be captured, as a whole tradition (storyline) could break off. Without good initial dies or casting molds, making high-quality castings of serpentine icons only from the impressions of finished products was a difficult task.

Most likely, the Kiev (and other South Russian, if they existed) center for the production of class 2 serpentines ceased to exist in 1240 when the capital was ruined.

It is more difficult to explain the completion of the production of a kind of class 2 coil in Novgorod. However, if only one master was engaged in their manufacture there, then any accidental reason could put an end to this line. Apparently, the craftsmen who cast class 1 coils were more fortunate, and they saved their lives and tools, which made it possible to continue the production of coils in the subsequent centuries of Russian history.

Russians serpentine icons Thus, they are a vivid example of long-term cultural transformations that took place first in medieval Byzantium, and then perceived and continued in Russia in the course of rethinking Byzantine folk religious and magical ideas.

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