‘The first known use of the
#ouroboros is in ancient Egypt, specifically as a decoration in the tomb of Tutankhamun in the 14th century BCE within the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld. The symbol appeared twice in the funerary text, on a figure representing the unified deity Ra-Osiris, and symbolised the cyclical nature of time and rebirth’.
The symbol was a particular favourite with the architect Sir John Soane who used the self-eating snake symbol most famously around the drum of his mausoleum in the graveyard of St Pancras Old Church. He used variations of the Ouroboros on several other funerary designs, including several coiled snakes in the ceiling of the tomb at Dulwich Picture Gallery (last photo).
The snake sheds its skin to be born anew, whilst the circle represents the never changing cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
To make it clear, Soane knew exactly what the symbolism of the ancient ouroboros represented. As Soane noted, ‘The serpent... was an emblem of the sun, of time and of eternity, and by the Egyptians worshipped as a divinity’.
As architectural historian John Watkin writes, ‘Soane incorporated the ouroboros, or serpent swallowing its own tail as a symbol of eternity, in his own work, and may have been one of the first since antiquity to do so’.
Soane’s use of the ouroboros ties him directly to ancient Egypt as a source for architectural and decorative motifs.
@SoaneMuseum