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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 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.
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] Nāḥāš (נחש ), Hebrew for "snake", is also associated with divination, including the verb form meaning "to practice divination or fortune-telling".
The ouroboros is often interpreted as a symbol for eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death and rebirth; the snake's skin-sloughing symbolises the transmigration of souls. The snake biting its own tail is a fertility symbol in some religions: the tail is a phallic symbol and the mouth is a yonic or womb-like symbol.
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]
In the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, the Naga are a race of human-headed serpents that can transform between fully human and serpent forms, including any species and size of snake. In The God in the Bowl , one of the original Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard , the titular God is possibly a Naga-like creature.
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 ...
Serpent (roller coaster), a steel roller coaster at Six Flags AstroWorld; Serpent, a 1990 Game Boy action video game; The Serpent, a play created by The Open Theater "The Serpent" (Da Vinci's Demons), second episode of the American TV series Da Vinci's Demons; The Serpent, a 1963 novel by Jane Gaskell