Sapienza - Universita di Roma

THE FOUR-WINGED SERPENT ON HEBREW SEALS

Authors(s): William A. Ward
Source: Rivista degli studi orientali, Vol. 43, Fasc. 2 (Aprile 1968), pp. 135-143
Published by: Sapienza - Universita di Roma
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M

THE FOUR-WINGED SERPENT ON HEBREW SEALS

Among the symbols used on Hebrew seals of the early first mil-
lennium B.C. is a four-winged uraeus-snake. It is one of a group of
designs characterized by figures with spread wings, as if flying, the
others being the four-winged beetle and the " flying scroll " ' As far
as the writer is aware, the four-winged uraeus as a decorative symbol
in western Asia is limited to Hebrew seals. It is therefore possible that
the seal (or amulet) published here for the first time (Fig. I, no. i) is
of Hebrew origin. Unfortunately, the published examples of seals showing
this motive were all obtained by purchase and the two impressions were
not found in context. On palaeographic grounds, however, the group
as a whole is placed in the ninth to seventh centuries B.C.
Seals and impressions bearing the four-winged uraeus symbol are
as follows (Fig. i);

1) a scaraboid of steatite purchased in 'Amman and now in

the writer's collection 2. There are no traces of an inscription which
may indicate that this object is an amulet rather than a seal. The design
is a four-winged uraeus-snake with the body-markings well indicated.
Over its head is a sun-disc; another circle, perhaps also a sun-disc, is
between the head and the upper left wing, and a third circle is just below
the tail. Two lotus blossoms with curled stems are between the wings
on either side. Apart from the body of the uraeus, the cutting is
relatively shallow, but quite even and well done.

2) a scaraboid of dark red jasper purchased in Palestine and

now in the Cabinet des Médailles , Paris. It is inscribed: LYHMLYHW

1 The two-winged symbol on Hebrew royal stamps has long been a subject of
controversy and has been variously identified as a winged scroll, winged sun-disc or
a bird; cf. D. Diringer, in O. Tufnell, Lachish III The Iron Age , Oxford 1953,
p. 342, and C. C. McCown, Tell en-Nasbeh /, New Haven 1947, p. 156.
2 21 X 17 X 9 mm., bored lengthwise; covered with a thick brown coating (not
a glaze) which still adheres to the surface except where worn by handling.

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 136 W. A. Ward [2]

M'SYHW, " Belonging to Yahmelyahu (son of) Ma'aseyahu " ' The
design consists solely of a four-winged uraeus and no other marks or
symbols.

3) a scaraboid of green stone purchased in Jaffa and now in the

Clark Collection. It is inscribed: L'LŠM' BN HMLK, " Belonging to
'Elishama', son of the king " 2. The design shows a four-winged uraeus
wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with no other
marks or symbols.

4) a scaraboid of light green felspar or amazonite of unknown

provenance and now in the Richman Collection. It is inscribed: LŠPT,
" Belonging to Shapat " 3. The design shows a four-winged uraeus
wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt; a papyrus plant is beneath
the uraeus, a design of parallel line$ above it. The characters of the
inscription are arranged in the field amidst elements of the design.

5) a truncated cone of carnelian purchased in Beirut and now

in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It is inscribed: LBM 4. The design
shows a four-winged uraeus with a symbol above its head which, by

1 First published by Ch. Clermont-Ganneau, Recueil ď archéologie orientale ,

II, Paris 1898, pp. 27 ff.; see further, D. DiRINGER, Le iscrizioni antico-ebraiche pale-
stinesi, Florence 1934, p. 208, no. 51, pl. XX, no. 21, and K. Galling, ZDPV , 64
(1941), pp. 148, 182, pl. 6, no. 64. While Clermont-Ganneau, after discussing seve-
ral possibilities, offers no explanation for the relationship between the two names on
this seal, DiRINGER. loc. cit., and S. A. COOK assume that bn , " son of has been
omitted; see the latter's The Religion of Ancient Palestine in the Light of Archaeology ,
London 1930, p. 53. See also H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Bilder zum Alten Testa-
ment , II, 2d ed., Paris 1927, p. 165. On the personal names, cf. M. NOTH, Die Israe-
litischen Personennamen in Rahmen der gemeinsemitischen Namengebung (Reprint),
Hildesheim 1966, pp. 172, 197.
2 Ch. Clermont-Ganneau, Recueil ď archéologie orientale , I, Paris 1897, p. 36,
D. Diringer, Iscrizioni , p. 232, no. 72, pl. XXI, no. 9; K. Galling, op. cit., pp. 148,
182, pl. 6, no. 65. Clermont-Ganneau, unwilling to accept the obvious significance
of bn hmlk , suggested that the title is that of a royal official concerned with criminal
affairs. C. C. Torrey, AASOR, 2/3 (1923), p. 108, no. 9, upheld the literal meaning.
DiRINGER, loc. cit., suggests the name of the king may have been omitted. On the
personal name, cf. M. NOTH, op. cit., p. 185.
3 I. Ben Dor, QDAP, 13 (1948), pp. 64 ff. On the name, cf. M. Noth, op. cit.,
p. 187.
4 M. LlDZBARSKl, Ephemèris für semitische Epigraphik , I, Giessen 1902, p. 12;
D. Diringer, Iscrizioni , p. 245, no. 89, pl. XXII, no. 2; K. Galling, op. cit., pp. 148,
182, pl. 6, no. 66. LlDZBARSKl and Galling suggest the inscription is an abbreviation
for L . . . B(N) M . . ., " L . . ., son of M

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[3] The Four-winged Serpent on Hebrezv Seals 137

Fig. i. - Four-winged Uraei. 1: seal (or amulet) in author's collection; 2-5: Hebrew
seals; 6-7: Hebrew seal impressions.

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138 W. A. Ward [4]

analogy with (3) and (4) was probably intended to represent a crown.
The letters of the inscription are arranged in the field among elements
of the design.

6) an impression from Tell Judeidah, southern Palestine. The

impression is incomplete, but remnants of the inscription are preserved
below the symbol ' The design is a four-winged creature which is
" quite a different type from 4-winged beetle stamps " 2, and is consi-
dered by K. Galling to be another example of the four-winged uraeus3.
While the head is badly preserved, the curved tail would certainly favor
a uraeus rather than a beetle.

7) an impression from Tell ed-Duweir, Palestine. It is inscribed

SPNYW, " Safanyah " 4. The design shows a four-winged uraeus,
incomplete, with no other marks or symbols.

That the serpent portrayed on these seals and impressions is the

Egyptian uraeus-snake is obvious. The use of an Egyptian symbol on
Hebrew stamps occasions no difficulties for at the time these stamps
were in vogue the Hebrews were inclining strongly toward paganism 5.
The Egyptian uraeus-snake, best identified as the spitting cobra ( Naje
nigrocollis) 6, was a fitting symbol for the protection of gods and kings
and the destruction of enemies. As will be shown below, this dual role
can be seen in the Hebrew usage of this symbol.
But a four- winged uraeus could not have come from Egypt where
uraei normally have two wings. It is evident that the original Egyptian
motive underwent a transformation when it was borrowed into Hebrew

art. The reason for this transformation is simply that four-winged crea-
tures in general were at home in western Asiatic art, but alien to Egypt
until Saïte times.

1 F. Bliss and R. A. S. Macalister, Excavations in Palestine During the Years

1898-1900, London 1902, p. 120, pl. 56, no. 25.
2 Ibid., p. 120.
3 K. Galling, op. cit., p. 148.
4 D. Diringer, PEQ, i 941, p. 54, no. 22, pl. IV, no. 9, and in O. Tufnell,
Lachish III , p. 341, pl. 47B, no. 9.
5 Cf. W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 4th ed., Baltimore
1956, pp. 155 ff.
6 M. A. MURRAY, JEA, 34 (1948), pp. 117-18. This contradicts the commonly
accepted identification with Naje Haje , but Miss Murray's arguments are most
convincing. On the uraeus in general, see H. Bonnet, Reallexikon der ägyptischen
Religions ge schichte, Berlin 1952, pp. 844 ff.

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[5] The Four-winged Serpent on Hebrew Seals 139

Briefly, the history of four-winged figures in ancient oriental art

is this. In western Asia, the earliest example would appear to be a four-
winged eagle on a Hittite stamp seal of the early second millennium
B.C. *. Four-winged deities and demons begin to appear on north Me-
sopotamian cylinder seals around the middle of the second millennium 2
and on an ivory panel from Ugarit of around 1350 B.C. 3. Such repre-
sentations are infrequent, however, and it is not until the early first
millennium that four-winged figures are common. At this time they
appear on cylinder seals and stone reliefs in Mesopotamia and north
Syria, and on Syro-Palestinian seals, bowls and ivories 4. The very
rare portrayals from areas around the periphery of the Near East show
that this motive was not indigenous there 5. In the Near East proper,
four-winged figures can be considered part of the normal repertoire of
western Asiatic art after 1000 B.C., a status they never achieved in
Egypt.
In Egypt, there is only one four-winged figure which antedates
the eighth century B.C. This is a unique male spirit hovering over the
Scales of Justice in the Theban tomb of Nakhtamon (no. 341), dating
to the reign of Ramses II 6. This is obviously a thirteenth century bor-
rowing of a motive already at home in western Asia. Apart from this,
the earliest four-winged figures in Egyptian art are faience amulets in

1 T. BERAN, Die hethitische Glyptik von Bogazköy , Berlin 1967, p. 151, pl. 4,
no. 34.
2 For example: T. Beran, ZA , 52 (1957), figs. 6, 13, 101, hi; O. Weber, Alt-
orientalische Siegelbilder , Leipzig 1920, pp. 22-23, 36-37; A. MOORTGAT, Die bil-
dende Kunst des alten Orients und die Bergvölker, Berlin 1932, pl. XXIII, no. 2; etc.
3 For the most recent discussion, cf. P. Matth IAE, Ars Syra. Contributi alla
storia dell'arte figurativa siriana nella età del medio e tardo bronzo , Rome 1962, pp. 87-
89, pl. XXV.
4 Examples on cylinder seals are too numerous to need documentation here.
On stone reliefs: E. Strommenger, Fünf Jahrtausend Mesopotamien , Munich 1962,
pl. 226; M. von Oppenheim, Der Tell Halaf, Leipzig 1931, pls. 95b, 114; P. Matthiae,
Studi sui rilievi di Karatepe , Rome 1963, pl. XIX; E. Akurgal, S pae the thitis che Bild-
kunst, Ankara 1949, pp. 125-27; A. MOORTGAT, op. cit., pl. XXVII; etc. On Syro-
Phoenician bowls and other objects: H. Frankfort, Art and Architecture of the Ancient
Orient , Harmondsworth, Middlesex 1958, fig. 98, pl. 173; K. Galling, op. cit., nos.
89-94; Y. Yadin, et al., Hazor I, Jerusalem 1958, pls. CL-CLI; etc.
5 The motive occurs rarely in Luristan: R. Ghirshman, Perse. Pr oto-ir aniens ,
Mèdes, Achémênides, Paris 1963, fig. 96 and no. 528. A unique example from mainland
Greece is shown in G. RODENWALDT, Die Kunst der Antike, Berlin 1927, p. 163.
6 N. Davies, Seven Private Tombs at Kurneh, London 1948, pl. XXVI; W. S.
Smith, Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, Harmondsworth, Middlesex 1965, p. 227,
pl. 1 66b.

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1 40 W. A. Ward [6]

the form of four-winged beetles from the eighth century tomb of Queen
Tabiry, wife of Piankhi of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty1. During the
Saïte Period, only two four-winged beetles 2 and one four-winged uraeus 3
are known. In Ptolemaic and Roman times, such figures are still extre-
mely rare: four-winged uraei among the mythological creatures of the
Zodiac of Athribis 4, a four-winged serpent on a stone lintel 5, and figures
of Horsiese in a mythological papyrus and goddesses on Nubian jewel-
lery 6. Other than these, from Saïte times onward four-winged figures
are exclusively those of composite, or " pantheistic ", deities which
should perhaps be considered an indigenous artistic development, unre-
lated to the monogenic figures listed above 7 .
We may conclude from this survey that the four-winged uraeus
was a specifically Hebrew variant of an originally Egyptian motive.
There is an exact contemporary analogy for this. Another very common
Egyptian motive was the winged beetle, of " flying scarab ", which,
with the three exceptions noted above, appears universally with only
two wings in Egyptian art. The writer has recently shown that this
motive occurs in Syro-Palestinian art of the early first millennium B.C.
with four wings and that this is a western Asiatic adaptation of the
Egyptian original 8. Like the four-winged uraeus, the four-winged
beetle was used as a symbol on Hebrew stamps of this period 9. The
borrowing of these symbols and their alteration to four-winged types

1 D. Dunham, The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, Vol. I, El Kurru , Cambridge, Mass.

1950, pl. XLIXa. Note also a four-winged beetle on a gnostic gem: C. Bonner, Stu -
dies in Magical Amulets , Ann Arbor 1950, pl. I, no. 12.
2 S. Gabra, ASAE, 28 (1928), p. 69 (sarcophagus); F. PETRIE, Buttons and
Design Scarabs , London 1925, pl. XI, no. 595 (scarab).
3 G. Maspero, ASAE , 3 (1902), pl. VI, no. 7.
4 F. Petrie, Athribis , London 1908, pls. XXXVII-XXXVIII.
5 M. G. Daressy, ASAE, 21 (1921), p. 5, no. VI, with plate after p. 88.
6 J. Vandier, Le papyrus Jumilhac , Paris 1956, p. 252, pl. II; H. Ranke, The
Art of Ancient Egypt, Vienna 1936, fig. 332.
7 Such figures are numerous enough by Ptolemaic times to be considered a stan-
dard motive; they appear on sarcophagi, statues, cippi, lintels and as bronzes, and
frequently on gnostic gems. However, in the writer's opinion, they derive their multi-
ple-winged form from the fact that two or more of the deities represented in the com-
posite figures can normally be portrayed with wings when shown alone. This is quite
a different concept than a single figure with four wings. Another basic difference bet-
ween multiple-winged figures in western Asia and Egypt is the position of the wings.
In western Asia, the two pairs are normally arranged to form a large cross; in Egypt,
both pairs normally are straight, and perpendicular to the body.
8 W. A. Ward, JE A , 53 (1967), pp. 70-71.
9 D. Diringer, PEQ, 1941, pp. 91 ff.; W. F. Albright, AASOR, 21-22 (1943),
PP- 74-75-

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[7] The Four-winged Serpent on Hebrew Seals 141

took place in the ninth or eighth century B.C. While both the winged
uraeus and beetle are among the most common artistic motives in Egypt,
they are not found with four wings until the late eighth century, and
then only in unique examples. It seems probable that these sporadic
occurences were the result of a reverse borrowing whereby Egyptian
motives first went to Canaan where they were given an additional pair
of wings, and then returned on rare occasions to their homeland in
this foreign multiple-winged form '
While it is simple enough to trace the origin of the four-winged
uraeus motive, defining its meaning is somewhat more difficult. The
only attempt to identify the symbol is that of I. Ben Dor who suggests
that the symbol on seal no. 4 " may represent the Egyptian goddess
Buto " 2. His reasons are: 1) the uraeus is shown over a papyrus blossom
and 2) it wears the white crown of Upper Egypt. But in Egyptian art,
many deities are portrayed above papyrus blossoms, and we should
rather expect Buto to wear the red crown of Lower Egypt since she was
a titular goddess of this area. The other Hebrew seals are of little help.
Only no. 3 wears a recognizable crown, the double crown of Upper
and Lower Egypt. No. 5 has a symbol which may have been intended
to represent a red crown, but is not recognizable as such in the published
drawing3. On no. 1, a sun-disc stands over the head of the uraeus.
There is thus no standard iconography and it is far more likely that
the representation on Hebrew seals is the uraeus-snake itself rather
than a particular deity 4.
But it is not necessary to depend on Egyptian iconography for
an explanation of this motive. It seems to the writer more reasonable
to attempt an explanation on the basis of Hebrew thought. One imme-
diately thinks of the " flying serpent " ( šaraph mei õphêpK) of the Old
Testament which appears only in the book of Isaiah 5. Not only does

1 For the context of Egypto-Asiatic relations in which this borrowing took place,
see now the detailed study with admirable documentation by J. Leclant, in W. A.
Ward (ed.), The Role of the Phoenicians in the Interaction of Mediterranean Civilization.
Papers Presented to the Archaeology Symposium at the American University of Beirut,
March 1967, Beirut 1968.
2 I. Ben Dor, op. cit ., p. 65.
3 M. Lidzbarski, op. cit., p. 12.
4 The uraeus-snake appears variously with the white, red or double crowns,
or sun-disc, 011 scarabs and other objects from Egypt. Such uraei have no wings or
one pair, but never two pairs.
5 Septuagint: exyovoc oígkíSov ttstojí. ¿vcov; Vulgate: regulus volans' translated as
hîwê muphrêt , " deadly serpent ", in the Targum of the Prophets of the fifth century
B.C.; cf. J. F. Stenning, The Targum of Isaiah, Oxford I949> PP- 50-5r> 96-97-

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1 42 W. A. Ward [8]

the description of Isaiah fit the motive on the seals, but Isaiah lived
during the period when this motive was in use among the Hebrews.
In Isaiah 14 : 29, the flying serpent is symbolic for the Assyrians who
will eventually destroy the Philistines. In Isaiah 30 : 6, it is listed with
the viper as a beast of the Negev desert1. In both cases it was consi-
dered dangerous and the root (srp, " to burn ") shows it was thought
to be poisonous 2.
Any attempt to identify biologically the flying serpent of Isaiah
on the basis of its description there would be fruitless 3. Bodenheimer's
suggestion that this creature " seems to represent an old Semitic legend " 4
is plausible, but unnecessary if we accept an ultimate identification with
the Egyptian uraeus-snake. In reality, the description given in Isaiah
corresponds to both the Egyptian winged uraeus and the winged serpent
on Hebrew seals 5. It is therefore logical to suggest that the Egyptian
motive is the prototype of both the flying serpent of Isaiah and that

1 On the historical background of these two passages, see H. DONNER, Israel

unter den Völkern , Leiden 1964, pp. no ff., N. K. Gottwald, All the Kingdoms of
the Earth, New York 1964, pp. 178-79, O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament. An Intro-
duction, Transi, by P. R. Ackroyd, New York 1965, pp. 313, 316, and the literature
quoted in these works.
2 That is, the poison causes fever. It is interesting to note that this root is Egypto-
Semitic - cf. Egyptian šrf " to be warm, hot " - and that a srf.t- snake, also considered
to be dangerous, appears in the London Medical Papyrus; cf. H. VON Deines and
W. Westendorf, Wörterbuch der medizinischen Texte ( Grundriss der Medizin der
alten Ägypter VII), Berlin 1962, p. 782. The relationship here is a linguistic one only
in that both Egyptian šrf.t and Hebrew saraph are derived from the same Egypto-
Semitic root. There is no question of a biological relationship.
3 For example, W. S. McCullough, in Interpreter" s Dictionary of the Bible , II,
p. 289, suggests a connection with the desert viper ( Echis carinatd). F. S. Bodenhei-
MER, Animal and Man in Bible Lands , Leiden i960, p. 200, equates the flying serpent
with the Hebrew "eptteh, commonly taken to be the cerastes , or horned viper. But
the Arabic cognate, ' afah , is used today of poisonous snakes of all kinds, not just the
viper. It is most likely that such terms were similarly used in antiquity so that unless
we have pictoral evidence, as in the case of the Egyptian uraeus-snake, an absolute
biological identification is impossible.
4 b. b. Bodenheimer, op. cit ., p. 67.
5 The flying serpent should not be confused with the seraphim of Isaiah 6 which
are different creatures altogether. From their description, these six- winged beings
could well be a reflection of the six-winged demons on stone orthostats from Tell Halaf,
as already suggested by M. VON OPPENHEIM, op. cit., p. 152. Nor should the four-
winged serpent of Hebrew seals be identified with the " brazen serpent " worshipped
by the Israelites in the wilderness, and in Jerusalem as late as the reign of Hezekiah
(Numbers 31 : 4-6, II Kings 18). This may be the two-winged uraeus found frequently
in Asiatic art, apparently as a deity; cf. R. D. Barnett, A Catalogue of the Nimrud
Ivories, London 1957, p. 97, note 11.

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[9] The Four-winged Serpent on Hebrew Seals 143

on the seals. The chronological synchronism between the seals and

Isaiah is especially significant. In the whole of western Asiatic art,
the four-winged uraeus appears only on Hebrew seals of the ninth to
seventh centuries; the only Hebrew reference to " flying serpents "
appears in the eighth century book of Isaiah.
Within its Hebrew context, the flying serpent was both a protector
and a destroyer. Isaiah speaks of a fabulous creature of the desert,
dangerous and harmful r. This was a common concept in the ancient
world where the deserts were thought to be inhabited by strange beasts 2.
Secondly, the use of such a motive on private seals can only have been
for the protection of the owner. This dual role conforms to that of the
Egyptian uraeus which was considered both a protective symbol and
a destroyer of enemies.
William A. Ward

1 Commentators on Isaiah 14 : 28-32 have generally been troubled by the sym-

bolic use of serpents with reference to Assyria; cf. K. Fullerton, A JSL, 42 (1925-26),
pp. 87-88, and W. A. Irwin, A JSL, 44 (1927-28), pp. 86-87. But there is no diffi-
culty if we assume, as argued here, that the flying serpent of Isaiah is that shown picto-
rally on Hebrew seals of Isaiah's time. The four-winged serpent was a specifically
Hebrew motive which need not have meaning in an Assyrian context at all.
2 For example, the stories told by Herodotus of flying serpents which came out
of the Arabian desert; Herodotus II, 75 and III, 109 (TrrspcûToùç &piç).

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