The snake was a symbol of eternal youth: the annual change symbolized the rejuvenation of the skin. This notion was embodied in an interesting religion of the Egyptians. Change of day and night was attributed to the fact that at midnight the Sun god Ra goes with his retinue of the solar boat and enters the body of a huge serpent, from which all go in the morning "children", once again sit in the boat and continue to travel across the sky. African folk tales and legends tell of the first people who could, like snakes, to change the old skin for new and live forever. In the Sumerian myth of Gilgamesh is in the depth of water the flower of eternal youth, but while he was bathing, a serpent stole a flower and immediately became younger, dropping skin. Since then, the tradition teaches, the snake and not die, but people have remained mortal beings. Greek myth tells of the wonderful features that Zeus gave to people. It could return the young man. But people do not want themselves to carry this precious gift, and laid him on the donkey, who gave him a snake. Since then, people carry a heavy burden of old age, and snakes enjoy eternal youth.

Historical parallels: Legends of Ancient China called the great dragon - the dragon ancestor of the first emperor, give his claws, teeth, saliva and horns healing properties. On the back of a dragon could reach the country's immortals (p. 83). Dragon, according to legend, once out of the Yellow River and the first to show the emperor's famous image of Taiji, which reflects the relationship of yin and yang (p. 69).

Yoga likens the spiritual energy of a snake man - Kundalini

For a thousand years BC, the cult of the snake as a symbol of wisdom, science and knowledge came from the Greeks. It was a snake, according to Greek mythology, Asclepius turned the idea on the possibility of resurrecting the dead. Once a famous healer, was invited to the palace of the Cretan king Minos, to resurrect his dead son. At the staff of Aesculapius suddenly saw a snake and killed her. Immediately came another snake with herbs in the mouth and revived the dead. Asclepius took advantage of this grass and a dead body.

In the ancient world the serpent played the role of homemaker. During the excavations of Pompeii on the walls and home altars of many houses have been found image snake, which symbolizes peace and health of inhabitants of the house. As we know, snakes are an indispensable accessory asklepiyonov. Ancient chronicles have preserved evidence of that during the plague Asclepius symbolically moved from Epidaurus to Rome in the form of a snake. According to one of their hypotheses about the origin of the name of the god of medicine Asclepius, it comes from the name of a special kind of snakes - askalabos. Later, these snakes, harmless to humans, became known as "asklepievymi uzhami. The snake depicted on the medicine chest of the Roman military camp doctor.

However, in the history of medicine with the image of snakes and worms are often linked not only to life and health, but also illness and death. In Egypt, the personification of the god Thoth was the ibis - a bird that eats snakes and worms that cause disease. Babylonian magicians, healers often depicted with a whip for the expulsion of all the animals crawling, first of all - snakes and worms. Babylonian origin of the spell binds toothache with the penetration of the worm inside the tooth. In the Indian epics and Buddhist literature, sacred bird Garuda is often called the "snake eater". Chinese legend attributes the death of the worms of the ancient sage Yan Di, who was trying to try drugs at the example of Shen Nong, the mythical patron of doctors and pharmacists: "They say, though in Shen Nong's body was made of transparent jade and you could see all his insides, and this truth. How else would be able to deliver him from mortal danger, when he tried to poison the twelve day? But tell us, though Yang di-tried medicines and refuge from all the poisons, but swallowed a centipede, each leg which turned into a worm, worms also have also begun to proliferate and Yan Di, unable to overcome them, has died ... "

The Roman writer Pliny the Elder wrote that a snake bite at any time can set a limit to human life, that even under the earth worms do not leave people alone and devour the dead. Some researchers believe that the basis of "snake symbolism" in medicine is the man's fear of a snake, a desire to propitiate the formidable "goddess of death or disease scare, using the menacing look of a snake. Ancient legends contain many references to the mythical Serpent-likely creatures that threaten human life. At the same time part of their body and the poison is strong and universal medicine. For example, Pliny the Elder in Natural History, wrote about the medicinal properties ambisfeny (Greek "move in either direction") - a snake with two heads: one is located in the usual place, the other on the tail: "... if one's head to her little to spew your poison

The snake symbolized death and immortality, good and evil. They are personified and its forked tongue, and the toxicity of its bite, along with the healing effects of the poison, and the mysterious ability to hypnotize small animals and birds. This apparent contradiction, the connection in a single image of two different, often contradictory principles, is characteristic for the characters that come to us from antiquity. Another example embodiment of this contradiction - a bowl. The origin of this emblem of healing various hypotheses associated with the healing action of water and the tradition of making drugs in the ritual cup.

     K. Jung analyzed the libidinal character of a snake. He wrote that in art is often a sin, sin in the form of sensuality depicted in the image of a naked female body, garlanded with snakes. Libido is not only the devil, but a deity, and so the metamorphosis of snakes associated with the symbol itself of the human soul - its contradictory [29]. "Although the character - writes Jung - in terms of reality and deceptive, but psychologically it is - the truth, because he has always been a bridge leading to all the greatest achievements of the human spirit" [30]. Vyach. Ivanov is in this context pointed out that the snake because one is a myth, in another - other entities. "But then - writes Ivanov - that connects all the symbolism of the snake, all the values of a snake is a symbol of the great cosmogonic myth, in which every aspect of the serpent - a symbol finds its place in the hierarchy of plans of the divine unity" [31].

     Thus, the snake in paradise, according to K. Jung, conceived mainly in the female image, and because old artist is depicted as a snake woman [32]. The symbol of a snake with a tree - the epitome of a renewed earth flowering. The snake was the attributes of Minerva - goddess of wisdom and Asclepius - the god of medicine. Ability to change the snake skin allowed, apparently, see it as very different incarnation of envy.

     D. Norman, author of the study "The symbolism of mythology," writes that the image of a snake or a dragon wrapping around the tree, depending on the circumstances can be interpreted in different ways. "They may be related either to the movement upward to a higher state, or down to the lower. Instead of unconditionally separate serpentine forms of "good" and "evil", sometimes they are better regarded as the embodiment of both good and evil, as the elevation above or beyond the limits of both of these concepts [33].
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Gargona and Gargony
... Echidna, in Greek mythology - the woman with the body of a snake. Medusa Gargona and other unpleasant characters - all children Tachyglossidae. Brood of vipers frequently mentioned in the Bible to refer to people snake species.