Decoding serpentine paradox
With the Year of the Snake on the horizon, Zhao Xu takes a look at the enigmatic creature in myriad cultures.
A broken piece of clay bearing part of The Epic of Gilgamesh in cuneiform was on display at the Suzhou Museum in Suzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu province, during an exhibition from the British Museum last year.
Meanwhile, the story of Tutankhamun is being told through an ongoing exhibition at the Shanghai Museum titled On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt. The exhibition features a stone sculpture of the king, whose headdress includes a snake, largely damaged but still discernible.
It's worth noting that the Great Sphinx of Giza originally had a cobra on its forehead as part of its headdress, though it was almost entirely eroded over time. A guardian and a protector — that role of a snake was powerfully evoked by an ancient Egyptian hymn dedicated to Wadjet:
"May Wadjet, the Great Serpent, encircle you and protect you.
