on the same day,97 and the sound of its hiss is
descended in turn At the bottom he saw a large
equally deadly to the hearer Any animal more-
coiled serpent with one central eye lying dead
over that tastes the flesh of a person killed in such
Iskandar had it dragged from the pit When he
a way will immediately die in its turn 98 The
learned of all this, Aristotle explained to Iskandar
physicians Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān
that the serpent’s eye was the source of its venom,
ibn Mandawayh (d 410/1019) from Iṣfahān and
which was why all those who looked at it died
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā who
immediately When the giant serpent saw its own
came from a village near Bukhara (whose name
reflection in the mirror it was bound to perish as
was latinised as Avicenna; d 428/1037) both
well 102 These references show that in particular
mention that the “Basiliskos” serpent exists in
the eyes of the creature are considered to be the
the land of the Turks 99 In his text on poisons Ibn
seat of a specific fear-inspiring power which is
Waḥshiyya also mentions serpents which exist in
believed to be potentially fatal
the valley of the Khazluj in the land of the Turks
Further evidence of the persistence in Islamic
noting that “if a man sees these snakes, he dies;
times of a tradition relating to the legendary
also if the snake looks at him, he dies immedi-
power of the serpent’s sharp-sightedness and pen-
ately ”100
etrating gaze can be found in the saying that vipers
Al-Damīrī similarly records in his Ḥayāt
and related snakes (afʿā) live to an age of a thou-
al-Ḥayawān that the gaze of some serpents exerts
sand years, and that when they become blind,
a baleful influence and can indeed be mortal 101
regain their sight by rubbing their eyes against
The same phenomenon is also described in the
the fennel plant (rāziyānaj) 103 The tradition is
traditional tale of Alexander There is said to have
probably distantly associated with the Greek
been a deep pit (biʾr) at a cemetery near Hamadān
drakōn, synonymous with ophis, serpens and other
Everybody who looked into it died at once When
words for serpents104 which were used for living
Iskandar could not find a solution, he wrote to
(real) as well as mythical serpents, said to derive
Aristotle who recommended him to place an iron
its name from the root derk, meaning “to see ”105
mirror at the mouth of the pit and only to look
Macrobius clearly derives the name draco from
into the pit when the mirror was blank Iskandar
this root “for they say that this serpent has the
followed this advice and for seven days the mirror
keenest vision and counterfeits the nature of the
was obscure, only appearing blank on the eighth
star that is ever watchful; for this reason, further-
day He then ordered that someone should
more, the protection of shrines, holy places, ora-
descend into the cavity, but his people refused
cles, and treasures is entrusted to serpents ”106
Eventually an animal was sent down and when
In this context it is interesting to note the belief
it was clear that no harm had come to it, a slave
in the special property of the dhubābī type of
97 The fatal look of the basilisk is also noted by Eznik of
101 Tr Jayakar, 1906, vol 1, p 633 Cf Ruska, “Al-ḥaiya,”
Koghb ( Elc alandocʿ, tr and ed Mariès and Mercier, 1959,
EI 1
p 594, ch 140)
102 Al-Zuhrī, Kitāb al-Jaʿrāfiyya, pp 598–600, as cited in
98 Ullmann, 1994, pp 30 87–8, pp 101–15 87–8 When
Ullmann, 1994, pp 56–7
dis cussing the basilisk’s noxious influence, Pliny records that
103 Al-Damīrī, Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā, tr Jayakar,
when struck with a spear the force of its poison was such that
1906, vol 1, p 57 According to the Egyptian encyclopaedist
it could run up the spear and would kill not only the rider
and historian al-Nuwayrī ( Nihāya, XI, p 82), this happens
but also the horse ( Naturalis Historia VIII 33) A reflection of
when the reptiles leave their holes in spring The same is
this ancient belief may be found in Ibn Waḥshiyya’s text on
noted repeatedly in al-Qazwīnī (ed Wüstenfeld, 1849, repr
poisons which states that:
1967, pp 284 and 428; Wiedemann, 1970, vol 2, pp 336,
386) The sympathy between the serpent and the fennel plant
There is a kind of snake cal ed mādhyānā at the bound-
is also mentioned by the early medieval alchemical author
ary of the countries of the Bājarmā [in the Arabian
Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Kraus, 1942, p 67) A decoction of the
peninsula], between it and Media toward the side of
fennel flower stalk mixed with wine was used as remedy
Armenia Its temper is that it bites the stone thrown
against snake bites (Dietrich, “Basbās,” EI² supplement
at it If this happens, then the man who threw the
Cf Kopf, “Afʿā,” EI² I, 214b; Ruska, “Ḥayyā,” EI² III, 334b)
stone dies on the spot This is when the thrower does
The assertion that snakes use fennel for skin and sight is
not shoot at it; if he does, then he dies more quickly
already mentioned in antiquity (cf Pliny, Naturalis Historia
than the one who does not shoot
XX 23 95)
104 Merkelbach, “Drache,” RAC IV, 1959, p 226
Tr Levey, 1966, p 27
105 See p 173, n 52
99 Ullmann, 1994, pp 105–6, p 141 169 On Ibn
106 Saturnalia 1 XX 1–4 Cf Schlüter, 1982, pp 14–5; Van
Mandawayh, see Sezgin, 1970, p 328
Henten, “Dragon,” DDD, p 265
100 Tr Levey, 1966, p 27
the dragon and the magico-medical sphere
179
emerald (zumurrud) It was said that when this
tion of a poison with a snake as main ingredient
stone was brought close to the serpent’s eyes they
and its symptoms reads as follows:
would bulge from their sockets and burst 107
According to Ibn Waḥshiyya’s ninth-century text
There is a snake found in the desert called the
black snake It is one of the strong snakes called
on poisons, it is the acorn-headed viper who
“the black which strips” because all snakes shed
responds in such a manner to the sight of the
their skins once a year except the black which
green emerald 108 The phenomenon was tested by
sheds four times every season of the year It is
the thirteenth-century Arabian mineralogist
so cal ed because of the frequency of its shedding
Aḥmad al-Tifāshī (580/1184–651/1253) and still
This snake is taken and put into a wide, glass or
found to be true 109 That the belief was wide -
clay vessel It is cut into four pieces so that all
spread in the medieval Islamic world is shown
its blood flows in the vessel Its head is cut as
by its figurative use in philosophical arguments,
one piece, and four fingers [width] below its head
for instance by the ninth-century Muʿtazilite
for every piece This is carried out until the four
or five pieces are finished and the blood comes
theologian Ibn al-Rāwandī in his book against
together in the vessel Set the pieces aside in
prophecy, which he entitled Kitāb al-Zumurrud
something else so that the blood only will be in
(“Book of the Emerald”) because as he informs
its vessel Pay attention to the amount of its weight
the reader:
for the same amount of yellow sulfur is taken
One of the properties of the emerald is that the
This must be pure and good; it is pulverized finely
eyes of snakes dissolve and melt away if they
and then sprinkled on the blood as long as the
look at it, and similarly, if an adversary peruses
blood is fluid and mixes well with it The head
this book, he melts away [i e , his arguments are
and tail [of the snake] are set aside but the pieces
silenced]
of its body are cremated with wood of mezereon
110
until all becomes ash This is then added to the
The notion of the potency of the image, exempli-
blood and sulfur and mixed well by pulverization
fied in the biblical story of the invasion of poison-
in the vessel until it needs moisture for its exces-
ous snakes which so devastated the people of
sive dryness It is moistened either with the blood
Israel that Moses intervened on their behalf, set-
of an animal or with the urine of a little boy until
ting a miraculous bronze image of a serpent on
it is wet Then the head and tail are thrown on
it, side by side, and pulverized with it until all
a pole (Numbers 21:4–9),111 is related to the mag-
are mixed It is gathered into a black lead vessel
ical principal of effecting a cure for snake venom
and covered with a well-fitting lid [i e , of black
by looking at the image of the serpent In other
lead], then buried in ass manure for twenty-one
words, it is a case of correspondence magic pred-
days At the time of the hunting of the black
icated on the principle that similia similibus
[snake], its cutting, pulverizing, and mixing and
curantur where a representation of the danger or
at the time of its bleeding, the Moon must be
of the disease helps in some way to exorcise it 112
adjoined to Mars or associated with it When it
In medieval Islamic toxicological treatises the
is taken out after twenty-one days, it is found
section on the preparation of poisons was as
that it has become deeply black and has a very
prominent as that devoted to their prophylaxis
bad odor with a strong sharpness Whoever car-
ries out this work must fortify the atmosphere
and treatments In Ibn Waḥshiyya’s text the prep-
with two pieces of cotton soaked in violet oil
aration of poisons and their antidotes often also
which is so pure that there is nothing dearer than
involves a mixture of magical rites, incantations
it or oil of nenuphar together with oil of pump-
and astrology 113 The description of the prepara-
kin He also smells sandalwood upon which
107 Al-Masʿūdī, Kitāb murūj al-dhahab, tr and ed Barbier
112 Jeffers, 1996, p 234 Cf Wakeman, 1973, p 86
de Meynard and de Courteille, 1917, vol 3, p 46
113 For instance, while treatment for a viper bite is
108 Levey, 1966, p 27
administered an incantation of Dābāth, a charm master, is
109 Kitāb Azhār al-afkār fī jawāhir al-aḥjār, tr and ed
to be recited while a hand-held rod is made to pass over the
Abul Huda, 1998, p 84 Cf Kunz, 1913, p 158
entire body of the victim Levey, 1966, p 14, see also idem,
110 Al-ʿAbbāsī, Maʿāhid al-Tanṣīṣ, vol 1, p 156, cited after
p 69, for an unintelligible charm attributed to the same
McKinney, 2004, p 270
charm master Ibn Waḥshiyya’s exposition of poisons (see
111 See also the the well-known copper alloy serpent
p 177, n 87) gives an important insight into the medieval
column, the triple-headed serpent tripod of Delphi, in the
perception that harmful properties can be combatted by
Hippodrome of Constantinople, as an example of apotropaic
antidotes See Levey, 1966, p 24
sculpture against poisonous creatures including serpents Cf
p 23, n 13
180