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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.
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]
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]
The Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit), and to renew fertility of Nature. During the dance, live snakes were handled and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops.
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:
From the ouroboros (a snake eating its own tail in a circle like shape) to the cosmic rainbow serpent, snake dreams can alert you to your state of consciousness and well-being, as well as the ...
The Brazen Serpent (illustration from a Bible card published 1907 by Providence Lithograph Company). Pseudo-Tertullian (probably the Latin translation of Hippolytus's lost Syntagma, written c. 220) is the earliest source to mention Ophites, and the first source to discuss the connection with serpents.