We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The "Ourobóros" as an Auroral Phenomenon.
- Authors
van der Sluijs, Marinus Anthony; Peratt, Anthony L.
- Abstract
This article traces the spread and development of the motif of the ourobóros, or circular serpent, and proposes that it originated in descriptions of an intense aurora. The earliest artistic examples of the ourobóros date to ±5000-±3000 BCE. The theme proliferated in Egypt and spread to the classical world during the Hellenistic period. In the earliest traditions, emphasis was on the ourobóros' associations with the sun god, the creation of the world, the circular ocean, darkness or underworld thought to surround the earth, and a mythical combat. From late antiquity onwards, the ourobóros acquired more sophisticated meanings, including a link with the ecliptic band or the zodiac, the lunar nodes, the alchemical process, and eternity. In China, the ourobóros largely remained a purely decorative motif, while its most common role in the equatorial regions of America, Africa and Oceania was as a form of the cosmic ocean. In reviewing hypotheses concerning the origin of the motif, we consider the antiquity of the theme, its near-universality, its geographic link with the outermost boundary of the visible world, and aspects of the dragon's prosopography—such as its precious orb, its filamentation, its twin aspect, and its radiant color scheme. It is proposed that the archetype was inspired by a surge of intense auroral phenomena including a plasma instability type known as a diocotron instability, witnessed by human beings towards the end of the Neolithic period.
- Subjects
EGYPT; GEOGRAPHICAL myths; AURORAS; SNAKES in folklore; COSMIC rotation; NEOLITHIC Period
- Publication
Journal of Folklore Research, 2009, Vol 46, Issue 1, p3
- ISSN
0737-7037
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2979/JFR.2009.46.1.3