The Garden of Eden

The three actors in the drama of mankind are punished as follows. The serpent is to crawl on its belly and eat dust. There shall be enmity between the “seed” of woman and the “seed” of the serpent; the “seed” of woman shall tread on the serpent's head and the “seed” of the serpent shall bite into the heel of the seed of woman. This looks like a simple explanatory myth which shows why serpents bite people's heels and why people tread on serpent's heads. However serpents do not eat dust or earth. This is a characteristic attribute of the spirits of the dead in Babylonian-Assyrian religion and therefore means that the serpent is a chtonic being, a denizen of the underworld.86 Other Semitic data point to the serpent as healer.87 As we have already shown the serpent is the most universal of all phallic symbols. We may also mention the corresponding Persian myth quoted by Levy. According to the Bundehesh Meshia is the first man wishes to have intercourse and so he calls his wife Meshiane. “Let me see your serpent because mine rises mightily.”88 Jewish tradition itself is aware of the phallic meaning of the serpent, for it is in the shape of the serpent that Satan has intercourse with Eve thus giving rise to menstruation.89 Eating is the euphemism for coitus and earth symbolizes Mother Earth, the female; therefore the serpent crawling on its stomach and eating dust signifies coitus.90 But coitus viewed as a punishment means coitus regarded from the Super-Ego point of view and probably the additional sentence about the enmity between the serpent and the seed of woman means not only man versus the serpent, but also the serpent (phallus) versus the female. In the case of Eve