The Ouroboros

The ouroboros, from the Greek for ‘tail-devourer’, is an ancient symbol. The serpent circling around on itself to swallow its own tail represents the cyclical nature of existence. Birth gives way to death which leads to rebirth. Summer becomes winter, day becomes night in an endless cycle which, even though each turn of the circle is identical, paradoxically it can never be the same. Every day and every year creates a different manifestation of the rules that everything in existence has to follow. Complexity in simplicity.

Jormungand and Thor

The ouroboros symbol originated in Egypt and is found in Greek cosmology as Oceanus, the ocean-serpent which encircles the world, both physically according to the Greek world view and metaphorically as cyclical rules which govern the world’s existence. It is also found in Scandinavian mythology as Jörmungand, an ocean-serpent of the same nature as Oceanus. 

It became a common symbol in alchemy and magical philosophy until the present day, where it represents the cyclical nature of human existence both as individuals and as a population. Cultures including the Greeks, the Norse and the Mayans and Aztecs of Central America believed that a civilisation grows, flourishes, and then decays or is destroyed by cosmic influences far beyond the control of people or even of the Gods. And from the ashes, a new civilisation grows. History illustrates how often this happens. But as the past vanishes into the present as it is swallowed, in truth it is still there and will always be there and it forms the template for the present and the future.

  

The Romans were the greatest civilisation in the Known World, yet still they fell to the greater powers of time and fate. Their ruins were used as an illustration of that truth for a thousand years.

This is why I’ve chosen the ouroboros as the name of this series, which will ultimately explore the rise and fall of human civilisation from its distant origins in the Middle East, 12,000 years ago, as it gradually draws towards who we are today. We all live and we all die, and we all change the world in our own way, and perhaps ultimately everything will end as it began as the serpent swallows its tail yet again.

The ouroboros in Tutankhamun’s tomb, c1325BC.