Friday, November 12, 2010

Contest: Post a Photo of the Oldest Ouroboros

The Ouroboros (Alternately: Oroborus, Uroboros, Uroborus) is an ancient symbol depicting a snake or dragon swallowing its tail, constantly creating itself and forming a circle ... It represents the cyclical nature of things, eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end. In some representations the serpent is shown as half light and half dark, echoing symbols such as the Yin Yang, which illustrates the dual nature of all things, but more importantly, that these opposites are not in conflict. The ouroboros is an example of tail recursion and self-reference ... It is believed to have been inspired by the Milky Way, as some ancient texts refer to a serpent of light residing in the heavens. ...

The name ouroboros (or, in Latinized form, uroborus) is Greek and means "tail-devourer". The serpent or dragon eating its own tail has survived from antiquity and can be traced back to Ancient Egypt, circa 1600 B.C.E.

It can be "traced back" is what I keep reading, but where is a photo of the actual 3,610 year old Egyptian ouroboros? Can anyone find this? Or something older from Sumeria, perhaps?

What do you win? Checking the prize cabinet, a two headed lucky quarter seems most appropriate for this one.

Post a link to the photo as a comment and include your email address. Contest ends November 20th, 11:59 PM.

3 comments:

arjay001 said...

Not sure if this will work....seems pretty common on the web.

Papyrus of Dama Heroub Egypt, 21st Dynasty 1600 years BC

Here is one site (a lot to pick from) see pic down the page a ways.

http://www.knowbiblefactsfromfiction.com/pictures-of-the-ouroboros-quetzalcoatl-sagittarius-and-more.html

Take care

RJ

Xeno said...

Neat! We'll see if anyone can dig up anything earlier.

arjay001 said...

Interesting it seems to change into something simalar as you go back from here.....still looking