Snakes have fascinated humankind since the earliest days. Their legless bodies, sneaky movements, venomous bites, and ability to swallow prey whole both frighten and mesmerize us. A common mythological motif involves a gigantic snake or serpent as the mother of all other snakes on earth.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: There is no one literal mother of all snakes according to science, but many mythologies and religions have stories of giant mother serpents or snakelike creatures from which all others emerged or descended.
In this around 3000 word article, we will explore myths about snake mother figures from several world cultures and religions. We’ll also look at what zoology and evolutionary biology reveal about the ancestry and diversity of real-world snakes.
Serpentine Figures in Mythology
The Primordial Giant Snake
In many ancient mythologies, the serpent symbolizes primordial chaos and the forces of disorder. The most famous example is Jörmungandr, the giant sea serpent in Norse mythology that encircles the entire world. When Jörmungandr releases its tail, Ragnarök – the end of the world – will begin.
Other mythologies also have giant snakes that threaten cosmic order, like the multi-headed hydra in Greek myths and the cosmic serpent Apep in Egyptian mythology that tries to swallow the sun god Ra as he passes through the underworld each night.
The World-Encircling Serpent
The image of a giant serpent encircling the world symbolizes cycles of destruction and rebirth in many cultures. In Norse myths, Jörmungandr not only signals Ragnarök but will rise from the sea after the world’s destruction to usher in a new cycle of life on Earth.
Similarly, the rainbow serpent in Aboriginal Australian mythology is responsible for life, fertility, andcycles of regeneration. Ancient Mesoamerican cultures like the Aztec and Mayaalso depicted cosmic snakes encircling the world or devouring gods, representing endless cycles of creation and destruction.
The Underworld Snake Goddess
Across cultures, serpentine goddesses are associated with death and the underworld, but also with wisdom and rebirth. Examples include:
- Kaliya – A poisonous snake subdued by Krishna in Hindu mythology who represents ego and evil.
- The Greek monster Medusa with snake hair who turns people to stone.
- Mami Wata – A water spirit depicted as a mermaid with snakes in her hair in West African Vodun.
- The Aztec mother goddess Coatlicue depicted wearing a skirt of snakes.
These powerful snake goddesses symbolize the shadow side of life – death, darkness and unseen spiritual forces. But they also represent wisdom, intuition, and the cycle of life, death and reincarnation.
Symbolic Meanings of the Snake Mother
Fertility and Rebirth
The snake has long been seen as a symbol of fertility and rebirth in mythology around the world. This connects to the snake’s ability to shed its skin and emerge with a shiny new exterior – a metaphor for rebirth and renewal.
Goddesses linked to snakes often oversee fertility, childbirth, and the cycle of life and death. For example, the Aztec mother goddess Coatlicue was depicted wearing a skirt of snakes and gave birth to the god of war Huitzilopochtli.
In Greek myth, Persephone’s return from the underworld each spring brought fertility back to the land.
Snakes’ connection to fertility may come from their phallic shape or observations of their mating rituals. And eggs laid by female snakes in the springtime represent the promise of new life. Cultures from ancient Crete to modern-day Nigeria have performed snake dances and rituals to encourage crop growth and human fertility.
Chaos and Destruction
While the snake can mean birth and renewal, it also embodies danger and uncontrolled wildness. Poisonous snakes bring disease or death with a single bite, upending harmony. And the snake’s flexibility to enter unexpected places recalls chaos and tricky, cunning energy.
These attributes connect the snake to powerful goddesses of chaos. The Greek goddess Echidna, “Mother of All Monsters,” had the upper body of a beautiful woman with snakes for hair and the lower body of an enormous serpent.
She gave birth to fierce creatures like the Chimera, Cerberus, and Hydra that challenged gods and terrorized humans.
The Sumerian goddess Tiamat, defeated by the hero god Marduk, took the form of a giant sea serpent and spawned an army of dragons and monstrous animals to wage war against the other gods before she was killed, bringing order out of chaos.
Guardian of the Underworld
Since snakes live a mysterious life underground, ancient cultures associated serpents with the underworld of the dead as well as with fertility and rebirth. Goddesses like the Greek Medusa featured live snakes for hair and could turn a mortal to stone with a glance.
The Aztec earth and underworld goddess Coatlicue wore a skirt of writhing snakes as she oversaw life, death, and reincarnation. And the Greek goddess Hecate, known as a guardian of crossroads and the afterlife, sometimes appeared with twin serpents wrapped around her torches as she protected souls’ journeys between realms.
These dangerous yet maternal snake deities vividly embodied the sacred liminal space between life and death – the ultimate chaos wildcard and the portal to a new cycle of existence.
Evolutionary Origins of Snakes
Reptilian Ancestry
Snakes evolved from lizards, which are reptiles. Genetic studies indicate that snakes share a common ancestor with monitor lizards and iguanas. This ancestral lineage likely lived in the Cretaceous period 145-66 million years ago.
These primitive snakes still had small legs and would have looked quite similar to lizards in their overall body shape and appearance. Over the course of evolution, the legs became smaller and eventually disappeared, the body elongated, and other adaptations for a fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle evolved.
When and Where Snakes Evolved
The oldest fossil snake, Eophis underwoodi, lived in southern England about 167 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic period. This small, legged fossil had the sacrum (fused vertebrae) that is unique to snakes.
The oldest known marine snakes date back to around 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period.[1] These primitive aquatic snakes likely evolved from terrestrial burrowing ancestors.[2] By comparing fossils of ancient snakes, scientists found that snakes seem to have originated on the ancient supercontinent Laurasia around 100-120 million years ago in the mid-Cretaceous period.[3] This was a time of warm, humid climates when dense forests covered much of the land.
These tropical forests provided an ideal habitat for small, burrowing lizards to evolve into the first snakes.
Diversification and Spread
After arising in Laurasia, snakes began dispersing to other landmasses approximately 94 million years ago in the mid-Cretaceous period.[3] Snakes spread from Asia to North America, South America, Africa, and Australia over many millions of years.
As snakes colonized new regions, they diversified and filled ecological niches, evolving adaptations suited to various environments and lifestyles like living underground, in trees, in water, constricting prey, delivering venomous bites, and so on.
Today there are over 3,400 described snake species occupying habitats nearly worldwide except in extreme cold climates.
Snake Reproduction and Motherhood
Oviparity vs Viviparity
When it comes to reproduction, snakes fall into one of two categories: oviparous (egg-laying) or viviparous (live-bearing). Oviparous snake species, like pythons and most colubrids, lay eggs that hatch later.
Viviparous snakes, on the other hand, give birth to live young that have developed inside the mother’s body.
According to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, around 70% of snake species are oviparous. This includes snakes like king cobras, rattlesnakes, and garter snakes. The eggs may be laid in warm, hidden areas or buried in rotting vegetation.
Once laid, the female snake provides no further care.
Viviparous snake species make up the remaining 30% and tend to inhabit colder regions like North America and Europe. Instead of laying eggs, the young develop within the mother’s body with nutrients provided by the yolk sac. Common examples are water snakes, rat snakes, and gartersnakes.
Giving birth to live young better protects the developing embryos from cold temperatures.
Maternal Snake Behaviors
We often think of snakes as solitary, unfeeling creatures. But interestingly, some maternal behaviors have been observed in mother snakes, both oviparous and viviparous:
- Guarding or “brooding” eggs to protect developing offspring
- Regurgitating food to feed newly born snakelets if resources are scarce
- Allowing newborns to stay with the mother for safety in numbers
According to herpetologist Dr. Gordon Burghardt in an interview, emotional attachment between mother and offspring snakes may exist, but more research is needed.
Unique Snake Birthing Methods
Snakes display some truly astounding and bizarre birthing methods as live-bearing species. Here are two examples:
| Species | Unique Method |
|---|---|
| Rinkhals | Newborns bite into the inside of the mother’s esophagus. She then throws up the 2-foot babies. |
| Green Anaconda | Females retain fertilized eggs then give birth to 2-foot neonates. Litters can exceed 40 snakelets! |
While shocking, these tactics demonstrate the incredible resilience of snakes to extreme environments. Truly the mothers of snakes have adapted in astonishing ways to bring new generations into the world!
Conclusion
While no literal mother snake exists in biology, mythic serpent mother figures embody both creative and destructive aspects of nature. They represent deep human fascination with these creepy yet magnificent reptiles.
Understanding the true evolution and reproductive biology of snakes helps shed light on their diversity and adaptations for survival.
In the end, both myth and science reveal our age-old curiosity about the mothers of these slithering, often feared yet compelling creatures.
