The History Behind … the ouroboros

New York--Snakes have been bent, twisted and bejeweled for adornment’s sake for thousands of years.

What is it about this figure--a commonly-feared reptile with scaly skin--that is so appealing to jewelry-makers?

New York jeweler Elizabeth Doyle believes the reptile’s draw lies in the fact that it has held so many different meanings. It is a very powerful symbol that has wound its way through many different cultures and religions.

To the ancient Egyptians, it represented eternal life while others equated the serpent with knowledge. In more modern times, the snake has a darker appeal, the creature that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and led to her being cast out of paradise but which many still try to charm.

The ouroboros, the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, magnifies people’s dark fascination with these creatures by what it represents-- something devouring itself in order to survive. “That’s part of the appeal of the ouroboros,” she said. “People fear snakes but they love them.” 

Doyle opened Doyle & Doyle, a New York City retail shop, with her sister Irene Pamela in 2000. The store sells vintage jewelry as well as modern collections they design in-house. Their newest collection, set to debut in September, centers on the ouroboros.

Here, Doyle talks with National Jeweler about the history behind the figure of the snake eating its own tail that’s so commonly seen in jewelry.

Where did the word “ouroboros” originate? Doyle said the word “ouroboros” is derived from the Greek terms “ouro,” meaning tail, and “boros,” which translates to eating; so literally, a tail-devouring creature. While the ouroboros is usually a snake eating its own tail, it can be a dragon as well.

When was this figure first used in jewelry? Egyptian jewelry incorporated snakes, including snakes eating their own tail.

The first reference to the ouroboros in text is traced to this time too. Doyle said that a drawing of a snake eating its own tail was discovered in the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, the ancient Egyptian funerary text discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun (King Tut), which dates to the 14th century B.C.

What was the appeal of the snake for jewelry design, and of the ouroboros specifically? Because the snake sheds its skin, ancient people believed that it was regenerating itself, being born again, so the snake came to be equated