Ouroboros is an ancient symbol used in cultures from around the world.
It depicts a snake swallowing its own tail and forms a circle. The Ouroboros
image appears in the cultures of ancient Egypt, China, Mesoamerica,
and well as in European and West African cultures. The Ouroboros is seen as early as
1600 years BC in Egypt. From there the ancient Phoenicians and Greeks adopted the
symbol and called it the Ouroboros, which literally translates to “devouring ones tail.”
The serpent biting its tail is found in other mythos as well, including Norse myth,
dubbing the serpent Jörmungandr one of three children of Loki and Angrboda, was
so large that it encircles the Earth. It guarded the Tree of Life, and is often depicted as an
Ouroboros.. In Mesoamerican culture as the serpent god Quetzalcoatl is sometimes
portrayed biting his tail on Aztec and Toltec ruins. Quetzalcoatl is carved into the base of
the Pyramid of The Feathered Serpent, at Xochicalco, Mexico, dated 700-900 AD. In
Hindu culture, Ouroboros is shown as the dragon that circles the tortoise
which supports four elephants carrying the Earth. Christianity also adopted the symbol as
a representation of the material nature of our world, the self –consuming transitory nature
of existence. physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his A Letter to a Friend c.
1657 linked the Ouroboros symbol with the idea of eternal return thus –
“That the first day should make the last, that the Tail of the Snake should return into its
Mouth precisely at that time, and they should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, is indeed a remarkable Coincidence, which though Astrology hath taken witty pains to salve, yet hath it been very wary in making Predictions of i...
... middle of paper ...
...bodiment of the parthenogenesis or self-fertilization. As a cyclical representation of an already powerful symbol, the Ourboros depicts time, specifically eternity, and is a form of infinity. As a symbol of the circular nature of all things, which begin and end with chaos. Ouroboros presents us with the element of order and peace in between this chaos. Another view is that the Ouroboros is a representation of eternal return, the falling of the spirit into what we call the physical world and its return to the spirit world. Nature constantly revisits with its cyclical patterns of the seasons back to its own rebirth; thus, each ending holds the seed of a new beginning. It is understood, the Ouroboros includes all recurrent systems in nature; unity, multiplicity, and a return to unity; evolution and devolution; birth, growth, increase, decrease, life, and death.
In ancient time, slaves were a big thing. Almost every white people own one. Slaves were treated as animals and were never deemed as to ever able to have the same equality as the others. But then slaves were abolished. However, there is still a line that exists separating black and white. In spite of this segregation, not all are racist. Not all black hate the white and not all white hate the black. There are situations out there that cause some of these different beliefs. Similarly, in the book, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, she mentions both belief of good and evil human nature. But, she leans on one side in the book more. Hillenbrand expresses a positive human nature by placing environmental factors in a way to portray the fact that these factors are what change the
Moctezuma’s headdress is nearly 500 year old, and remarkably well preserved. It is 46 inches high and 69 inches wide. The headdress’s outermost layer, and most predominant layer, is made up of 400 iridescent green tail feathers from the male Resplendent Quetzal, a bird from the montane cloud forests of Central America. “The Aztecs venerated the Resplendent Quetzal as the god of
“The more you know, the less you need.” The attitude from White Australians towards Indigenous Australians was extremely unfriendly, and due to the fact that Aboriginal Australians had knowledge about things the European settlers believed did not matter they treated as if they were uneducated nuisances. The aboriginal people believed that the land they had lived on for generations belonged to them; however the White Australians came and took the land. This also means that the Europeans took what the Indigenous people valued most, and that was their land. Authors and directors convey different attitudes, values and beliefs in different ways, however it still has the same impact.
Themistocles contribution to the defence of Greece was more significant than any other Greek individual. To what extent do you agree?
the period of limbo that is said to await the souls of the unburied after death.
Similar to the concept of a continuous flow or cycle of energy, circles are symbolic in Native American cultures at large. In Native American cultures that live in teepees, such as the Lakota people, the round bottom indicates a person is in touch with the world and at peace with himself (slideshare.net). In Cherokee culture rituals, magic work, and ceremonies are conducted within these sacred circles with fire placed in the middle. The fire in the center is known as the Universal Circle and serves as a reminder to seek harmony and balance. It is considered to be the path to the Great One (a supreme energy being) and the beginning for all living things. In the Cherokee’s eyes, the universe operates in a circular fashion where the period of time from birth to death is a cycle, as it ...
The creation story in Genesis refers to a serpent classically interpreted as an evil entity. If we consider God’s warning that eating fruit from a certain tree would result in death the same day and that the record indicates that the only two humans on the planet did not, we must reconsider the role of the serpent and reevaluate the roles of good and evil and how they apply to ...
Throughout several myths, monsters are described as many diverse creatures. At first glance, they all seem very distinctive. However, each monster is like a combination of several qualities and characteristics that are matched in different ways to form the monsters that appear in myths such as Hercules, Bellerophon, and Perseus. All monsters have very distinct looks that make them inferior to humans. Generally, they are a mixture of two or more different animals such as snakes, lions, or humans and they may have multiple heads. For example, Cerberus was a horrific three-headed dog that had the tail of a dragon and his back was covered with snakes. Several monsters have some part of them from a snake. Snakes symbolize an evil quality and that is why many monsters are forms of them. Cerberus had his whole back covered in snakes and a dragon tail. Both of these are snake-like parts that contribute to Cerberus looking terrifying. His tail is from a dragon which is very similar to a snake and his back is filled with snakes like fur. The Hydra of Lerna is also an im...
The speaker states that “In the end, all we may be able to do is to present our very best. And let the next take it over.” Similarly, the old men were doing their best in trying to influence the younger generations to not lose their identity. However, in the end, they could only do their part and leave the rest for the newcomers. Also, the title of the poem “The Last Drops” gave the impression that there were last drops of tradition carried by the old men. Through the metaphorical sense, endings can be a symbolic figure to the meaning of life and loss of tradition. As Yang expressed, the beginning of the word is irrelevant, but it's the ending of a word that is crucial for one to understand what’s being said. Similarly, in Hmong culture, death is an ending of this life and a symbolic beginning of the afterlife. It may even be taken as “endings determine everything” because “death is often considered the most important time for practicing rituals in the Hmong community. For that reason, without practicing the necessary rituals the soul will roam for eternity”(Nikki Tundel · ST. PAUL, Minn. · May 6,
“Circles” begins by starting small and describing the circles of the eye, then gradually moves to the circles in the universe, explaining that the circles in the universe are never ending. For example, Emerson himself explains “around every circle another can be drawn” (Emerson 123). This is the understanding portion. However, there is one caveat. Emerson explains that the circles eventually go on to reach God, who is both the circumference and the center of the circle. If God serves as both the circumference and the center of the great chain of circles, it means there is no clearly defined beginning or end. Nevertheless, like many things in nature, the presence of God as a figure of the circumference of circles symbolizes his elusively. If one circle can be drawn after the other, and God is the circumference of the circle, it symbolizes the beauty and elusively of nature. This is the reason port...
to a seed, the end to a tree; and there is just the same inviolable
... snake lived, not stopping to ponder death or the meaning of his life. The poet is referring to living life to its fullest “before he came to the road” (24).
woman, and man. The serpent’s punishment was that it had to slither the rest of its life and that serpent would be inferior to mankind. The woman’s punishment entailed becoming the
found in nature. As mentioned in the paragraph above animals and nature had a strong tie to the culture
The relationship of the human soul and physical body is a topic that has mystified philosophers, scholars, scientists, and mankind as a whole for centuries. Human beings, who are always concerned about their place as individuals in this world, have attempted to determine the precise nature or state of the physical form. They are concerned for their well-being in this earthly environment, as well as their spiritual well-being; and most have been perturbed by the suggestion that they cannot escape the wrongs they have committed while in their physical bodies.