ouroboros ring 3D print model

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Ancient Egypt The very first depiction of the ouroboros can be seen on one of the shrines enclosing the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. This image dates back to around the 14th century BC. It is featured in the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, an ancient Egyptian funerary text in KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun. The text explains that it portrays the god Ra and his union with Osiris in the underworld. On the figure, two ouroboros motifs are displayed: holding their tails in their mouths, one surrounding the head and upper chest, and the other circling the feet of a large figure representing the unified Ra-Osiris (Osiris reborn as Ra). Both serpents embody the deity Mehen, who protects Ra during his underworld journey. The entire divine image signifies the start and finish of time. The ouroboros appears in various other Egyptian sources, where it is represented as formless disorder surrounding the orderly world and playing a part in its periodic renewal. In ancient times, it remained an important symbol, persisting even into Roman times when it frequently appeared on magical talismans, often paired with other symbolic emblems. The 4th-century AD Latin commentator Servius acknowledged its use by ancient Egyptians, pointing out that the image of a snake biting its tail represents the cyclical nature of time. Alchemy and Gnosticism An early alchemical illustration depicting the ouroboros along with the words ἓν τὸ πᾶν (The All is One) originates from Cleopatra the Alchemist in MS Marciana gr. Z. 299, dating back to the 10th Century AD. A famous drawing of the ouroboros in the alchemical text, The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra, likely from the third century but first appearing in a 10th-century copy, contains the words hen to pan (ἓν τὸ πᾶν), which translate as 'the all is one.' This alchemical ouroboros possibly represents Gnostic duality of existence, equivalent to the Taoist yin and yang symbol. The Chrysopoeia's black and white halves are suggestive of an opposition between light and darkness or good and evil. Gnosticism A goal pursued by alchemists was the achievement of self-perfection through physical transmutation and spiritual transcendence. Alchemy involved an emphasis on eternal unity, encompassing both the cycle of birth and death (a cycle from which the alchemist sought liberation). This aim of the philosopher's stone can be observed in Sir Thomas Browne's writings about the snake biting its tail returning to its own head as a remarkable event. A symbol for eternity, the soul of the world, and eternal existence is found within Gnosticism. The serpent that bites its tail is depicted twelve times on an ouroboros drawing from the text Pistis Sophia, where it describes itself as being surrounded by a 12-part dragon, with his tail biting into his own mouth. An ancient manuscript from the 15th Century AD named Aurora Consurgens highlights several symbols: sun, moon, mercury and, indeed, also an ouroboros. This illustrates its enduring role in representing cyclical renewal.