Ouroboros
The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol, depicted as a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. It represents the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, embodying eternity and the interconnectedness of all things, a visual mantra for the endless flow of time and the continuity of existence.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Egyptian mythologyAlchemical tradition
- Region
- Egypt (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Swallowers
- Symbols
- Dragon
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol, depicted as a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Self-forming wheel locomotion tail in mouth
why
The Ouroboros, an ancient and powerful symbol found across various cultures, depicts a serpent or dragon consuming its own tail in an eternal cycle.
- Serpentine elongated body
why
depicted as a serpent or dragon eating its own tail
Omens
- Eternal return cycle
why
The circular nature of the Ouroboros symbolizes the cyclical essence of existence, where endings seamlessly flow into new beginnings, and death gives way to rebirth.
Defensive powers
- Regeneration
why
The image later became a central emblem of Greek alchemy in Egypt — the Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra draws the tail-devouring serpent around the motto "the all is one" — and from the alchemists it passed into Gnostic, Hermetic, and Renaissance symbolism as a figure of eternal return, self-renewal, and the unity of all things.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Circle carries both readings
3 citations
- Ad de Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Serpent carries both readings
3 citations
- Ad de Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Threshold carries both readings
3 citations
- Ad de Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Water carries
3 citations
- Ad de Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Death meets
3 citations
- Ad de Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ouroboros."
- J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, s.v. "Ouroboros."