Mythical Snake Image Research

Myths are a way which carrying the ancient cultural information, and the snake often appears in these myths. As the product of the belief in primitive times, the myth contains much of information such as world outlook, aesthetic standard, belief of ancients, and so on. In the description of myths, there is no animal properties on snake and snake has been a symbol or a sign of one culture. It is beyond the restriction of races and territory. It also has been a worldwide collective imagery. The identity of original civilizations is tried to be sought from the view of myths in this paper, and the further meaning of snake imagery is interpreted on this base.The study of prototype is seen as the most effective method which can clarify the theory of myths. The narrative structure of myths is full of symbol and imagination. But ancients do not create the myth out of the social and cultural background in which they live. They often directly seek references in the nature, and then collective memories, beliefs and consciousnesses are assigned to references under the premise that references having something to do with these memories, beliefs and consciousnesses. The prototype that we pursued is not a specific image in space and time, but it is a internal imagery. And it is a eternal and structural concept.The prototype imagery of snake have something to do with reproduction worship and goddess religion. Both of them are result from the belief of The Great Mother. The worship of The Great Mother is the core value of a matriarchal society. So snake imagery is involved in the symbolic system of Goddess Great Mother. And it becomes a symbol sign of Goddess Great Mother. In the specific expression in myth, it is introduced into the image of the creator God and represents death and the origin of life. In the most of myths around the world, the ancestor of God is described as a female. The god creates the human via asexual reproduction. The snake imagery in their images just represents the male reproductive capacity, and it has nothing to do with the male. It is just seen as a power which makes the goddess become pregnant and enhances the fertility of the ancestor of God. In the snake worship culture of matriarchal society, the relation between snake, land and the Great Mother is the basic reason which causes the snake worship.With the matriarchal society replaced by patriarchal society. The Great Mother adoration is modified and re-processing by patriarchal culture. And the Gods begin to turn up in the description of myths and replace the status of the Goddess. The status of the Goddess gradually declines. There is no status of the Goddess even in the five major religious system produced by civilized society. The snake which is worshiping object in the matriarchal society begins to be the symbol of negative, evil and sensuality in the patriarchal culture. The snake imagery is used to describe horror properties of the Goddess. With development of the patriarchal culture, snake begins to conquered by men as the symbol thing of matriarchal right, and it represents the vector of patriarchal society to matriarchal society. The imagery of killing snake so becomes to be a collective image and represents the gain of throne and power. It also represents the precursor of the emperor ascending the throne. On the other hand, the snake begins to be symbol of lascivious females. In the western and eastern latter-period myths, lascivious females always are described to be snake demons or basilisks. So vicious beauties become a classic proposition in literary creation. Via spreading by the christian culture,the snake is finally defined as the culprit of human suffering. It begins to become the symbol of temptation, foxiness and evil females.With the changes in the development of human society, snake imagery experienced two ideologies. It becomes to be evil symbol of patriarchal society from worship object of matriarchal society. Via the research of snake imagery in myths, then a systematic and clear change context is gotten. It can be seen as the theoretical basis for the existence of matriarchal society and the worship of The Great Mother. The origin of modern people's psychological fear of snakes maybe influenced by the cultural continuity.