THE DRAGON AS SyMBOL OF TRANSFORMATION
The dragon can be said to symbolise the liminal
more clearly specifies that “ when the life of a
or transitional phase in rites of passage As such
man or a woman is prolonged, he or she is called
it evokes a dual response, perceived both as benef-
ḥayya; this is due to the long life of the ḥayya and
icent and an object of fear This results also in its
that is why the man or the woman is described
twin functions as deliverer and destroyer, roles
as ḥayya for his or her prolonged life ”6
that link it to the elemental cycle of birth and
That childbirth was associated with the dragon
death Interestingly, the Targum Onkelos, an Ara-
in its beneficent aspect seems to have been a view
maic translation of the Pentateuch, renders the
widely held in antiquity 7 Remnants of such
west Semitic root nḥš (“serpent”) as Aramaic
notions seem perhaps to resonate in texts such
ḥiwyaʾ (“serpent”) whose Arabic cognate is ḥayya
as the Kitāb Tadbīr al-ḥabālā wa ’l-aṭfāl (“Book
(“serpent”) 1 There may be, moreover, an etymo-
of Children and Pregnant Women”), written by
logical association of nḥš and the Akkadian nêsu
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Baladī (d c 380/990)
(naāšu) meaning “to live, to stay alive, to recover ”
who served as physician to the Egyptian vizier
The temptation to see this cognate as an indica-
Abu ’l-Faraj yaʿqūb ibn yūsuf ibn Killīs in the
tion of a semantic relation between the terms
tenth century There he gives the following
“serpent” and “life” has repeatedly been suc-
instruction to ease birth:
cumbed to 2 The hypothesis appears to be sub-
stantiated by the fact that the root ḥyw apparent
a snake skin wound around the hip of a
woman accelerates birth 8
in the word ḥay[w]āt, as described by Ibn Manẓūr
(d 711/1312) in his Lisān al-ʿArab (completed in
According to another tradition, a snake’s scale
689/1290), entails the concept of life as opposed
placed on a pregnant woman, presumably when
to death 3 He further states that “the plural of all
she is in labour, will ensure an easy delivery 9 In
that is alive is ḥay[w]āt (“life”) and that ḥayawān
the epic romance Wīs u Rāmīn these notions are
(“the animal kingdom”) implies a notion of life
reflected in Fakhr al-Dīn Gurgānī’s allegorical
(ḥayāt) ”4 The word ḥay[w]āt is once mentioned
imagery:
in the Qurʾān ( sūra 29, 64) where it means “the
true life” and is used of the afterlife Ibn Manẓūr
the sun is delivered from the dragon 10
adds that “ the derivation of ḥayya (“serpent”)
Serpents or dragons also play a symbolic role
from ḥayāt is well-known ”5 The same author
in the miraculous birth and apotheosis of numer-
1 Wilson, 2001, p 97
Klodones and Mimallones, and imitated in many ways
2 Idem, p 50 See also Astour, 1965, p 194
the practices of the Edonian women and the Thracian
3 Beirut, n d , vol 14, p 211 I am grateful to Layla
women about Mount Haemus, from whom, it would
al-Musāwī for elucidating this point
seem, the word thrêskeuein came to be applied to the
4 Idem, p 214
celebration of extravagant and superstitious cere mo-
5 Idem, p 240
nies
6 Idem, p 221 Cf Wallace, 1985, pp 143–72, esp pp 144,
Cited after Asirvatham, 2001, pp 96–7
148, 151 and 160; also p 108 For further etymological asso-
8 Ullmann, 1978, p 109 The notion that if attached to
ciations, see Lecerf, “Ḥayy,” EI² III, 330a
7
the loins of a woman in childbirth the sloughed off skin of
In ancient Greece women would go to the sanctuary
a snake facilitates delivery is also recorded by Pliny ( Natu-
of Asklepios where a serpent would appear in their dreams
ralis Historia XXX 44) who adds that care must be taken to
and they would then get pregnant (Plutarch, Life of Alex-
remove it immediately after the birth
ander 2 2–3 4) Cf Ferwerda, 1973, p 107 Plutarch reports
9 Donaldson, 1938, repr New york, 1973, p 169
that:
10 Tr cited after Daneshvari, 1993, p 21 The parable of
women … were addicted to Orphic rites and the
a dragon helping a doe deliver its young is recorded in a
orgies of Dionysus from very ancient times being cal ed
Talmudic passage of the Bava Batra (“The Last Gate”):
196