Serpent mounds – a worldwide phenomenon

Further references to serpent mounds can be found across the world. In the Persian holy book Zend Avesta one of the story’s heroes takes a rest on what he thinks is a bank – only to find out that it was a green snake. In Mauritania, Iphicrates says that “there were dragons of such extent that grass grew up on their backs.” In Strabo (Lib xv. P.1022) two dragons are said to have resided in the mountains of India, one eighty cubits long and the other one hundred and forty.

From Syria Posidonius tells of a dragon which was so large that horse riders on either side could not see each other. Each ‘scale’ was as big as a shield, so that a man “might ride into his mouth.” It is thought that these must be ruins of Ophite (serpent worshiping) temples. In some parts of Syria serpent worshippers were known as Hivites (linked with the root word hivvah which from which came the biblical name of Eve which could then be equated with "female serpent"). In India serpent deities are known as the Naga.

From South America text said to have been written by Votan (Quetzalcoatl), in the language of the Quiches says he left Valum Chivim [5] and came to the New World to apportion land among seven families who came with him and were said to be of serpent origin or culebra. Passing the “land of thirteen snakes” he arrived in Valum Votan, founding the city of Nachan (City of Snakes), thought to be Palenque, possibly around 15 BC or even earlier.

In reference to Serpent Mounds there is the description of a subterranean passage, that terminated at the ‘root of heaven’ – referred to as a ‘snake’s hole’ while snake heaven was Patala. Votan was only allowed entry because he was ‘the son of a snake’ from which we can infer he was an initiate in the serpent cult.