Ouroboros

: For other uses: see Oroborus (disambiguation).

Throughout history

The name ouroboros (or, in Latinized form, uroborus) is Greek ("ουροβóρος") and means "tail-devourer".

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Antiquity

The serpent or dragon eating its own tail has survived from antiquity and can be traced back to Ancient Egypt, circa 1600 BC. However the pig dragons of the Hongshan culture (4700–2200 BC) are older and may have been transmitted in one way along the Silk Road. From ancient Egypt it passed to Phoenicia and then to the Greek philosophers, who gave it the name Ouroboros ("the tail-devourer").

Related Topics:
Ancient Egypt - 1600 BC - Pig dragon - Hongshan culture - 4700 - 2200 BC - Silk Road - Phoenicia - Greek philosophers

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Norse mythology

In Norse mythology it appears as the serpent Jormungand, one of the 3 children of Loki, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindorm as a gift to his daughter Þora Town-Heart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þora. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake-Eye.

Related Topics:
Norse mythology - Serpent - Jormungand - Loki - Teeth - Ragnar Lodbrok - Ragnarssona þáttr - Geatish king - Herraud - Lindorm - Þora Town-Heart - Kráka - Sigurd Snake-Eye

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Other mythologies

It is also present in Hindu mythology, as the dragon circling the tortoise which supports the four elephants that carry the world. The serpent or dragon also appears in Aztec, Chinese, and Native American mythology.

Related Topics:
Hindu - Aztec

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Christianity

Christians adopted the Ouroboros as a symbol of the limited confines of this world (that there is an "outside" being implied by the demarcation of an inside), and the self-consuming transitory nature of a mere this-worldly existence (following in the footsteps of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes).

Related Topics:
Christians - Ecclesiastes

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The Ouroboros is prominently displayed on the symbol of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church with the crown of John Sigismund and the powerful looking proud peace dove standing on the top of the Globe.

Related Topics:
John Sigismund - Peace dove - Globe

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It could very well be used to symbolize the closed-system model of the universe of some physicists even today.

Related Topics:
Universe - Physicists

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