The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end

@ Inannamute, i'm glad i'm not the only one that see's that similarity between those two depictions. As you pointed out its not only the swallowing of the man but also the crown on the Biscione figure and the feathers on the Quetzacoatl figure could easily be seen as symbolising a regal figure.
Now are the Serpents/Snakes swallowing the man or are they giving birth to man!! Remember the snake is seen as a symbol of rebirth!
I'd be interested to read what you have researched Inannamute.


@ AmmonSeth, you are probably thinking of Ningizzida or Zu, the examples of Ningizzida/Zu coiling around a rod are the oldest such depictions of dual snakes entwined around a rod found to date. Here's an example.

I'm sure there are older depictions of Serpent or Snake deity's found as Petroglyphs or Pictographs but probably not as twin snakes. So did the Sumerians invent the twin snake mythology or was that borrowed from the Ubaidian culture?

According to one theory, all primordial serpents of myth are derived from a Sumerian arch-serpent in subterranean waters, whose name was Zu. This old Sumerian serpent-god, whose other name is Ningizzida, is the ultimate archetype of the lord of the watery abyss from which mortal life arises and to which it returns. We might note that among the Celts the underworld serpent, Sucellos, represented the same dark power. Later, we meet the great serpent by the name of Tiamat, also named Papohis [ later to be found as the Biblical Leviathan]. In the beginning there were only the mingled waters of Abzu, the abyss of sweet water and Tiamat, the serpent of salt water oceans.Abzu and Tiamat were the parents of the first Babylonian gods, Lahmu and Lahamu, who were the grandparents of the great gods Anu and Ea.

Originally posted by mojo4sale
reply to post by MurderCityDevil

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i certainly dont mean its connected because theres a race of Reptilians.

I think its connected because there was interaction between the Old and the New world long before modern scholars believe.
Dont get me wrong i think that nearly all cultures around the world had their own Serpent/Snake mythology, but examples of how similar some of the depictions of these deity's are lead me to believe that there has been some cross cultural tainting.

Chalcatzingo is estimated to have been settled as early as 1500 BCE. The inhabitants began to produce and display Olmec-style art and architecture around 900 BCE.[1] At its height between 700 BCE and 500 BCE, Chalcatzingo's population is estimated at between five hundred and a thousand individuals. By 500 BCE it had gone into decline.

The House of Visconti was an Italian noble family of the High and Late Middle Ages. Their origins are found in the Republic of Pisa in the mid twelfth century.

The Biscione (‘large snake’), also known as the Vipera (‘viper’ or in Milanese as the Bissa), is a heraldic charge showing in Argent an Azure serpent in the act of giving birth to a human: usually a child and sometimes described as a Moor. It has been the emblem of the Italian Visconti family for around a thousand years. Its origins are unknown.
However it has been claimed that it was taken from the coat of arms of a Saracen killed by Ottone Visconti during the crusades.

Although the Moors came to be associated with Muslims, the name Moor pre-dates Islam. It derives from the small Numidian Kingdom of Maure of the third century BC in what is now Morocco.[1] Yet the origins of the word Moor remain unclear (see the Etymology section below).[2] The name came to be applied to people of the entire region. "They were called Maurisi by the Greeks," wrote Strabo, "and Mauri by the Romans."[3] During that age, the Maure or Moors were trading partners of Carthage, the independent city state founded by Phoenicians.

Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean during the first millennium BC, between the period of 1200 BC to 900 BC.