The meaning of python in ancient times
The meaning of pythons in ancient times
The meanings of pythons in ancient times. Snakes in ancient China symbolized gods, dragons, wealth and good fortune. They were a very auspicious symbol. Related to snakes There are also many kinds of legends. It can be seen from them that the ancients worshiped snakes very much. So do you know the meaning of pythons in ancient times? The meaning of the python in ancient times 1
The symbolic meaning of the snake is the new art movement, witchcraft of life and death, reproductive worship, lustful temptation, wisdom and wealth creation, royal power protector, and ancestor totem
1 , In ancient times, people divided snakes into domestic snakes and wild snakes. In some places, it was considered a good omen to have a domestic snake in the home. Abroad, ancient Egyptians believed that snakes were the protectors of monarchs. The pharaoh used gold and precious stones to shape the image of the cobra and decorated it into the crown as a symbol of imperial power. European envoys in BC carved the image of two snakes on their walking sticks.
2. Snakes were once a sacred object that was praised and worshiped in ancient times. China's largest "gods" - the dragon, is the totem of the snake. The earliest dragon was the image of a big snake. This is the word "dragon" seen in oracle bone inscriptions. Fuxi and Nuwa, who are "made of loess", are both "gods with snake bodies" in the beliefs of ancient people.
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The most giant snake
Indonesia captured a 14.85-meter-long giant python, which belongs to the Southeast Asian Native Species Network Tattooed python. This python is by far the largest python in the world. This big snake was named "Osmanthus". Although the name sounds gentle, it is said that once the "osmanthus" mouth is opened, it is very scary and can easily swallow a whole person.
Previously, the longest snake in the world recorded and recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records was a 10.23-meter-long python with net-like patterns on its body. It was shot and killed in Indonesia in 1912.
Anacondas that live in the jungles of South America can grow to more than 9 meters, big enough to swallow an adult! So it is a more dangerous animal. Turning to the world records, there is still a lively debate about who holds the title of the world's largest snake. What earns the Amazon anaconda the nickname "King of Snakes" is its overall body size and weight. Competing with this snake king is the Asian reticulated python, the longest one reaching 14.85 meters, which is the one captured in Indonesia. The meaning of pythons in ancient times 2
What do snakes represent in China
Gods
In ancient times, the Chinese attached great importance to snakes and even worshiped them as animals. For gods, when making statues of gods, they will be set with human bodies and snake tails, such as Nuwa, Fuxi, etc. Therefore, many elderly people think that having snakes in their homes is a good thing, and some even keep snakes as pets.
Dragon
The dragon is an animal that does not exist in the world, but its image is very close to that of a snake. This is because the dragon itself is derived from the snake. In ancient times, people worshiped snakes and perfected the dragon on the basis of the image of the snake. Over time, the snake became the representative of the dragon. Many people would call the snake a dragon.
Wealth and Auspiciousness
Snakes were regarded as animals of wealth and auspiciousness in ancient Feng Shui. As the saying goes, snakes cannot enter a land without blessing. When we are building When you are in a Yang or Yin house, if you see snakes on the ground, it means that the feng shui here is very good and it is very suitable for building a house. You will be rich and lucky in the future.
What does the snake mean in the West?
In Western myths and legends, the snake is not an auspicious animal. On the contrary, it symbolizes cunning and evil. In the Bible, the snake, a representative of cunning and evil, tricked Ya and Xia into eating the forbidden fruit, which ultimately caused them to be punished by God. Therefore, Westerners do not like snakes very much. Few people feel happy after seeing a snake, because they think it is evil and means that they may encounter unfortunate things today and they will be unlucky in terms of wealth and other aspects.
The ancient meaning of python 3
Snakes were regarded as symbols of harvest or the reproduction of descendants in ancient China. Especially in the ancient cultures of the southwest or southern regions, cultural relics with snakes as the motif are common.
The earliest one is equivalent to the round-shaped stone snake unearthed from the site of the ancient Shu people in the late Shang Dynasty. At least 4 pieces have been found at the Jinsha site in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The stone snake has a triangular head, round eyes and an open mouth, and its lips are painted in red. It is red in color and its body is curved in an "S" shape. It is considered to be a prop used for sacrifice or related to primitive religion.
Bronze vessels in the southern region are often decorated with snake patterns. For example, a bronze statue from the Spring and Autumn Period unearthed in Gongcheng, Guangxi has a vivid continuous pattern of two snakes fighting a frog. Later ancient peoples living in the southwest often used snakes as symbols of harvest or the earth. For example, in the tombs of ancient Yunnan people excavated in Jinning Shizhai Mountain, Jiangchuan Lijiashan and other places in Yunnan Province, snake-shaped snakes were often unearthed. cultural relics.
There are bronze shovels with a snake head as the shaft, and bronze swords with a snake body as the handle. The head of the handle is a snake head with an open mouth, and the shape is extremely vivid. As for the large number of unearthed bronze buckles with themes of birds and animals, they are often decorated with entangled long snakes. Snakes are also indispensable among the three-dimensional group sculptures on the covers of bronze shell storage vessels that represent scenes of sacrifice, praying for good luck, etc.
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Snakes in Egypt and India: symbols of divinity and eternity
In ancient Egyptian and Indian mythology, snakes are not all like those in the Bible That is the embodiment of evil, which is often a symbol of divinity.
In Egyptian mythology, the patron saint of Upper Egypt is the vulture goddess Nekhbet, and the patron saint of Lower Egypt is the cobra goddess Wadgit. Vultures and cobras often appear on the crowns or turbans of Egyptian pharaohs. The symbol symbolizes the royal power that unified Upper and Lower Egypt. The golden mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun is decorated with the symbols of cobra and vulture on its forehead.
The cobra symbol is also common on the headdresses of Egyptian male and female gods. Snakes are the first animals to reappear after the Nile flood recedes. They are endowed with great magical powers and are also considered to be the creatures of Hades and the force of creation. In the Egyptian creation myth of the Eight Gods, the four goddesses are all snake-headed and human-like, while the four male gods are frog-headed and human-like. Their pairing with each other represents the reproductive nature of the original ocean.
The cosmic form of the sun god Amon is in the shape of a snake, eating and regenerating itself. The snake body coils around the universe, biting its own tail, constantly devouring itself from day to night every day, and constantly regenerating itself at dawn. It symbolizes the continuous death and resurrection of all things in the universe and the cycle of renewal. The Indian snake supernatural power is called Naga (snake), and the Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures is mistranslated as "dragon". Naga is also listed as one of the "Eight Dragons" that protect the Buddha.
In ancient Indian Buddhist and Hindu sculptures, the image of Naga is usually a human head and a snake body, with 5 or 7 cobra head pockets on the head, shaped like a halo or canopy. The giant rock relief "Descent of the Ganges" (circa 670 AD) in Mahabalipuram, South India, depicts the image of a male and female snake god swimming in a waterfall representing the Ganges River, is a typical example.
Coincidentally, snakes also play an important role in Indian creation myths. Before the creation of the universe, the Hindu god Vishnu slept on the great serpent Ananta (Infinity). The big snake represents the vast state of the original material of creation. It is coiled like a bed and uses its body as a raft to carry Vishnu floating on the primordial ocean. The multi-headed cobra hood forms a canopy above the great god.
The serpent is also a symbol of eternity in Hindu mythology, especially when it carries its tail in its mouth. Vishnu wakes up to create the world, falls asleep again after the world is destroyed, and re-creates the universe after waking up. The universe is constantly updated and cycled, and the serpent has always been his partner in creation.