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According to the popular urban legend, it was a terrifying creature, described as a rooster, snake or turkey, with a snake's tail and the eyes of a frog. [10] [11] It guarded hidden treasures in the Warsaw's Old Town underground and killed intruders with its eyes. It died outwitted by a young journeyman who went underground carrying a mirror in ...
The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind [1] [2] and represent dual expression [3] of good and evil. [4] In some cultures, snakes were fertility symbols.
Hydra (constellation), the many-headed serpent killed by Heracles; Hydrus, the water snake, is a minor southern constellation; Serpens, which represents a snake being tamed by the snake-handler Ophiuchus
The word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old English næddre was the general word for snake. [12] The other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp-'to creep', [13] which also gave Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō) 'I crawl' and Sanskrit sarpá ‘snake’. [14]
Hence the snake eating its tail is an accepted image or metaphor in the autopoietic calculus for self-reference, [30] or self-indication, the logical processual notation for analysing and explaining self-producing autonomous systems and "the riddle of the living", developed by Francisco Varela. Reichel describes this as:
[7] [10] Another cure for the sting is water in which the head of another snake has been placed. [7] The beithir is considered one of the fuath, a general term for various monsters and spirits associated with water. [1] It is said that if a normal snake is killed then the head must be separated a proper distance from its body and destroyed.
The constellation Hydra was known in Babylonian astronomical texts as Bašmu, 'the Serpent' (𒀯 𒈲, MUL.d MUŠ). It was depicted as having the torso of a fish, the tail of a snake, the forepaws of a lion, the hind legs of an eagle, wings, and a head comparable to the mušḫuššu. [9] [10]
The symbol of a serpent or snake played important roles in the religious traditions and cultural life of ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan. [1] The serpent was a symbol of evil power and chaos from the underworld as well as a symbol of fertility, life, healing, and rebirth. [2]