The snake had a prominent role in Archaic and Classical Greece. The snake’s alien biological traits make it especially suitable as a symbolic expression for multiple ideas, from the exploration of the very concept of life and death to the investigation of questions of identity, ancestry, and “otherness”.
Αncient Greeks perceived the existence of a primordial force living within, emanating from, or symbolized by the snake; a force which is pure life, with all its paradoxes and complexities. The snake serves as a powerful gateway for exploring Greek concepts of divinity, anthropomorphism, and ancestry, as well as the interconnectedness between humans, nature, and the supernatural.
The snake totem embodied "mystical" characteristics: the Earth was the Mother, and the snake was her child par excellence. It knew everything about her, crawling on her with his whole body, so it embodied divination and wisdom. The Earth gives life and accepts death within its soil so the serpent becomes a confidante of these secrets, a bearer of death and mystery, while its ability to change its skin was linked with concepts of immortality and regeneration.
In ancient Greek material culture and literary sources, the snake makes recurring appearances, in particular in narratives that emphasise its protective role. Ancient Greek mythology is rich in accounts of serpents as adversaries of heroes or gods. They watch over whole cities, as in the case of the sacred snake of the Athenian Acropolis. Snakes are also depicted beside tombs and fountain houses on Athenian vases. They safeguard the good health of the devotees of different gods.
Although there was no snake god in ancient Greece, most gods were accompanied by snakes, used or incarnated in them, or even gave birth to them, such as Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Ares, Ammon, Dionysus, Pluto, Serapis, Asclepius, Hera, Demeter, etc. However, the snake belongs to a different and older status quo, the pre-Olympian order, and mediates a sacredness of life in its crudest aspect, the power to create and to destroy and the transformative power of the earth.
The serpent as an archetypal symbol appears in almost all cultures, nations and religions, from Zoroastrianism and Egypt, to the Celts, Native Americans and Hinduism. The ouroboros serpent, an age-old symbol, is interpreted as a reference to rebirth and the perpetual cycle of existence through time. It is later referenced in occult and alchemical texts.
In the exhibition below you can explore archaeological objects with depictions of snakes, snake-shaped jewellery, illustrations and works of art.
The exhibition contains items from the following institutions:
