Along with some others, the symbol known as "ouroboros" is one of the oldest sacred images known to modern mankind. The name itself has ancient Greek roots and consists of two words meaning "tail" and "food". The symbol is a coiled snake biting its own tail.
At present, it is not possible to establish even an approximate time of the appearance of this sign; the earliest images found date back to the period between 1600 and 1100 BC. These findings were found on the territory of modern Egypt, which gave reason to some scientists to argue that the symbol came to Western civilizations from these places. Drawings similar to the image of a snake (or dragon) curled up in a ring were also found in China, Scandinavia, India, Greece; this may mean that the uroboros belongs to a kind of common human sigil, characteristic of most young civilizations.
The main meaning of the symbol, adopted by modern researchers, is the personification of the cyclical nature of the processes occurring in the Universe, the eternal alternation of birth and death. It is also possible that at the dawn of the emergence of human society, this sign meant the infinity and eternity of space. In ancient Egypt, the ouroboros was perhaps perceived as a symbol of the transition between physical death and the stage of rebirth of the eternal spirit. This is indirectly indicated by the images found on the walls of the temple dedicated to the ancient Egyptian god Osiris.
Snakes ("nagas") have been revered since ancient times in India as the personification of life and fertility, as well as the patrons of the water element. According to Indian legends, all nagas are descendants of three serpent gods, one of whom, Shesha, is traditionally depicted as a coiled snake. Shesha's body, representing a vicious circle, encompasses the entire Universe, preventing it from disintegrating into elements. It is known that such an image was used as a protective talisman protecting the wearer from evil forces.
In German-Scandinavian mythology, there is also a character whose image completely coincides with the figure of the uroboros. This is the third of the descendants of the god of cunning Loki and the giantess Angrboda. By order of Odin, he was thrown into the ocean, where he grew to such a size that he girded the whole earth with his body, in the end, biting his teeth into his own tail. In this regard, the monstrous offspring of Loki received the name "World Serpent"; this nickname is often used today as a synonym for the word "ouroboros". According to Scandinavian legends, on the day of the death of the gods, Odin's son Thor and the Serpent of Midgard will converge in the last battle, in which both will die.
The uroboros mark was widely used by medieval alchemists, mainly as a tool in the search for the "philosopher's stone". In the understanding of scientists of that time, a snake biting its tail is a symbol of the transformation of the four basic elements, as well as their constant revival after death. In addition, in the Middle Ages, another interpretation of this sign was spread, according to which, the uroboros is a dragon that surrounds the entire material world and gradually, as it eats its own tail, squeezes a ring around it.
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At the beginning of the twentieth century, the famous Swiss psychiatrist, founder of analytical psychology Carl Jung put forward his own version of the interpretation of this symbol. In his opinion, the uroboros is the personification of both darkness and light, destruction and creation, death and life. Later, Jung's students and followers supplemented this theory by linking the uroboros symbol with the concepts of conscious and unconscious perception of the surrounding world by a single person.
As already mentioned, in our days the Ouroboros or the World Serpent is perceived as a symbol of eternal motion, constant circulation and interpenetration of energy flows; to put it simply - the personification of eternity in relation to time and infinity, if we are talking about space.