Snakes on a Page: Visual Receptions of the Eden Serpent through the History of Western Art and Their Survivals in Modern Children’s Bibles

Abstract

Visual receptions of the Eden serpent throughout the history of Western art have reflected various interpretive attempts to understand the nature of this creature. In the investigation of these receptions, five iconographic categories emerge: the female-headed serpent, the demonic serpent, the dragon-like serpent, the etiological serpent, and the zoological serpent. Of these categories, all but the female-headed serpent survives in modern children’s Bible illustration. Due to the cultural prevalence of children’s Bibles and the tendency of images to inform later readings of texts, these visual receptions of the Eden serpent hold significant interpretive power for the child. Survivals of demonic, dragon-like, and etiological iconographic categories in modern children’s Bibles limit the interpretive possibilities of the child’s subsequent reading of the biblical text. The child is predisposed to regard the serpent as a demonic figure or a fantastical creature, or to regard Genesis 3 as a purely etiological tale, proscribing other interpretive possibilities. In contrast, the survival of the zoological serpent in modern children’s Bibles highlights the interpretive tensions within the Hebrew text of Genesis 3. Rather than proscribing certain interpretations of the Eden serpent, the survival of the zoological serpent in modern children’s Bibles invites the child to interact with the interpretive gaps and ambiguities in both text and image.