>there's no necessarily mutually exclusive relationship. wasn't the
>caduceus an egyptian symbol of healing? one (obviously heretical) reading
>of the mosaic tale is that moses regressed to egyptian idol-worship at
>this point (which was why he wasn't allowed in the promised land).
>
>as for the serpent as a symbol of xt's passion -- other than hanging on a
>pole, what's the connection?
>
>rlandes
On the back of the Cloisters Cross, ie. opposite where Jesus's body would be
if it hadn't been lost, is an image of Moses with the brazen serpent, hung
over a forked pole. Parker and Little in _The Cloisters Cross: Its Art and
Meaning_ describe this image as "long established as a type of Crucifixion"
and note that Bede says that when Benedict Biscop brought back pairs of
typological pictures from Rome to Wearmouth and Jarrow, this pair was among
them: "Item serpenti in heremo a Moyse exaltato, Filium hominis in cruce
exaltatum comparauit". They also note a number of other iconographic
pairings of the serpent with the crucifixion.
Lucy Pick
******************************************
Lucy K. Pick
John Nuveen Instructor
Divinity School
University of Chicago
1025 East 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
773-702-8278
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