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Serpent is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) that is normally substituted for "snake" in a specifically mythic context especially, in order to distinguish such creatures from the world of biology.
Serpent: mythology
The serpent is an ancient Near Eastern and Aegean god of wisdom, who is always, quite naturally, an earth symbol. In Egypt, Ra and Atum ("he who completes or perfects") were the same god, Atum, the "counter-Ra," was associated with earth animals, including the serpent: Nehebkau ("he who harnesses the souls") was the serpent god who guarded the entrance to the underworld. As far away as Polynesia (specifically: Fiji), Ratu-mai-mbula is a serpent god who rules the underworld (and makes the sap run).
Under another Tree of Enlightenment, the Buddha sat in ecstatic mediation. When a storm arose, the might serpent king rose up from his place beneath the earth and enveloped the Buddha in seven coils for seven days, not to break his ecstatic state.
The speaking Serpent in the Garden of Eden brought forbidden knowledge, but is not identified with Satan in the Book of Genesis. Nor is there any indication there that the Serpent was a deity in his own right. In the Louvre, there is a famous green steatite vase carved for king Gudea of Lagash (dated variously 2200 - 2025 BCE), dedicated by its inscription to Ningizzida, "Lord of the Tree of Truth which bears a relief of serpents twined round a staff, exactly like the caduceus of Hermes. A connection of the Serpent with Satan is strongly made in the New Testament. In Matthew, 23:33, Jesus observes, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Gehenna?" ("Hell" is the usual translation of Jesus' word Gehenna''.) The snake is considered a symbol of evil in Christianity.
The Minoan Great Goddess may brandish a serpent in either hand, perhaps evoking her role as source of wisdom, rather than her role as Mistress of the Animals (Potnia theron), with a leopard under each arm. It is not by accident that later the infant Heracles, a liminal hero on the threshhold between the old ways and the new Olympian world, also brandishes the two serpents that "threatened" him in his cradle.
Serpents figure prominently in archaic Greek myths too: Laocoon, (more links to serpents in Greek myths coming here).
The image of the serpent as the embodiment of the wisdom transmitted by Sophia is an emblem used by gnosticism, especially those sects that the more orthodox characterized as "Ophites", ("Serpent People"). The chthonic serpent is one of the earth-animals associated with the cult of Mithras. The Basilisk, the venomous "king of serpents" with the glance that kills, was hatched by a serpent, Pliny and others thought, from the egg of a cock. Such fantasies filled the medieval bestiary.
In Norse mythology, Jormungand, the Midgard serpent, encircles the world in the ocean's abyss. In Dahomey mythology of West Africa, the serpent that supports everything on its many coils is named Dan. Vishnu is said to sleep in Yoga Nidra, floating on the cosmic waters on the serpent Shesha.
Because a snake sheds its skin and comes forth from the lifeless husk glistening and fresh, it is a universal symbol of renewal, and the regeneration that may lead to immortality. Outside Europe, in Yoruba mythology, Oshunmare is such a mythic regenerating serpent. The Vision Serpent is also a symbol of rebirth in Mayan mythology, fuelling some cross-Atlantic cultural contexts favored in pseudoarchaeology. Mayan Gukumatz, the Feathered Serpent is most familiar under his Aztec name, Quetzalcoatl.
Sea Serpents are giant cryptozoology creatures once believed to live in water, such as sea monsters such as the Leviathan or lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster. If they are referred to as "Sea snakes", they are understood to be the actual snakes that live in Indo-Pacific waters (Family Hydrophiidae).
Serpent: symbol
Aside from its universal use as a symbol of regeneration and Immortality, the serpent, when forming a ring with its tail in its mouth, is also a clear and widespread symbol of the All-in-All, the totality of existence. See Amphisbaena, Ouroboros.
Snakes entwine the staffs both of Hermes and Asclepius. A similar conversion was experienced by Moses' brother Aaron.
Serpens constellations
Some of the constellations of the sky are symbolised by serpents. Serpens represents a snake being tamed by the snake-handler Ophiuchus. Hydra is the many-headed serpent killed by Heracles. Hydrus, the water snake, is a minor southern constellation.
The Snake is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. It is thought that each animal in the Chinese zodiac is associated with certain personality traits. See: Snake (Zodiac).
Serpent: cryptography
The Serpent cipher is a symmetric key block cipher developed by Ross Anderson and colleagues for the AES competition. It was one of the finalists.
Serpent: musical instrument
A serpent is a wind instrument with a mouthpiece like a brass instrument but side holes like a woodwind instrument. It is a long cone bent into a snakelike shape, hence the name. The serpent is closely related to the cornett. It is generally made out of wood, with walnut being a particularly popular choice. Despite this and the fact that it has fingerholes rather than valves, it is usually classed as a brass, rather than a woodwind, instrument. The Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification places it alongside trumpets.
On early models, the fingerholes were keyless, like on a recorder. Later models, however, add keys, as on a clarinet. The range varies according to the instrument and the player, but typically covers an octave either side of middle C. Some documents from the 18th century, however, state that the instrument can reach notes over two octaves above middle C.
It is thought that the instrument was first used to strengthen the sound of choirs in plainchant. Around the middle of the 18th century, it began to be used in military bands, but was replaced in the 19th century by valved brass instruments. Since then, it has hardly been used at all, although many original models still survive, and it is sometimes played as part of historically authentic performances.
A variation on the serpent was the bass horn, which is essentially the same, but is simpler in shape, consisting of a tube folded back on itself (rather like the modern bassoon), rather than the curvy shape of the original instrument.
A later variation was the ophimonocleide, a sort of cross between the bass horn and the ophicleide. It was never common, and today only a few examples of it exist.
See also Euphonium
External link
Reference
[[Joseph Campbell, Occidental Mythology: the masks of god,, 1964: Ch. 1, "The Serpent's Bride"
