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Ouroboros

The ouroboros, the serpent that swallows its own tail: its origins in ancient Egypt, its use in Greek magic and alchemy, and its meaning as a symbol of eternity and of cycles.

Also called Uroboros · Tail-devourer

In brief

  1. I.The ouroboros is a serpent or dragon biting its own tail, forming a circle.
  2. II.Its name is Greek for “tail-devourer”.
  3. III.It first appears in ancient Egypt, around the time of Tutankhamun.
  4. IV.It stands for eternity, for the cycle of destruction and renewal, and for the unity of all things.

Chapter I

What it means

A snake eating its own tail has no beginning and no end. It renews itself by consuming itself, as the year returns to its start, as nature dies and is reborn. The ouroboros therefore stands for eternity, for endless cycles and for the idea that all things are one, hen to pan, “the One is All”, as Greek alchemical texts wrote around it.

Chapter II

Where it comes from

The earliest known ouroboros appears on a gilded shrine from the tomb of Tutankhamun, 14th century BCE, in a text about the hidden journey of the sun. Egyptians imagined a serpent surrounding the world.

Greek and Roman magicians carved the tail-biting serpent on gems and amulets, and Greek alchemists of Egypt drew it in their manuscripts. Through alchemy it passed into medieval and Renaissance Europe, and later into the psychology of Carl Jung, who saw in it an image of the self.

Chapter III

Where you see it today

The ouroboros appears in jewellery, tattoos, book covers and logos as a sign of eternity and renewal, and in fantasy literature and games.

Questions people ask

Is the ouroboros a religious symbol?

It has been used in several traditions: Egyptian funerary texts, Greek and Roman magic, Gnostic writings and alchemy. It belongs to no single religion today.

Where does the Norse world serpent fit in?

Jörmungandr, the serpent of Norse myth that encircles the world and grasps its own tail, is a similar image, probably developed independently.

Sources and further reading

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ouroboros”
  2. J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols (Thames & Hudson, 1978)
  3. Geraldine Pinch, Egyptian Mythology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2004)
  4. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Religious symbolism and iconography”

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