Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Ouroboros

Ouroboros door knob knocker, via Ricasoli, Livorno
The Ouroboros is a symbol typical of ancient Egypt and Greece depicting a serpent eating its own tail, signifying the cyclicality of something constantly re-creating itself. As a Gnostic and alchemical symbol, it expresses the unity of all things, material and spiritual, which never disappear but perpetually change form in an eternal cycle of destruction and re-creation. You will find this door knob and knocker in Via Ricasoli.
Pagina XI de Il Tirreno del 19 dicembre 2013, Livorno
On December 19th, two days after this post was published, the above piece showed up on page XII of the local daily “Il Tirreno”: the text is copied verbatim from the Italian version of this blog. I think any further comment is unnecessary‪.
(Updated on December 22nd)
External links: Ouroboros (Wikipedia)
See also: Snakes
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14 comments:

  1. RevrunnerDecember 17, 2013 at 12:21 AM

    Yes, must have one for my door! Maybe it would cut down on the number of solicitors. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lois EvensenDecember 17, 2013 at 3:25 AM

    Very nice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. RandyDecember 17, 2013 at 3:26 AM

    Interesting post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JackDecember 17, 2013 at 4:18 AM

    Do you think the owners of this house chose the doorknocker because of its symbolism or because they liked the style?

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  5. cieldequimperDecember 17, 2013 at 8:28 AM

    I've learned something new this morning.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Duncan D. Horne - the Kuantan bloggerDecember 17, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    I'm sure this symbol popped up in a Dan Brown book too...

    Duncan In Kuantan

    ReplyDelete
  7. HalcyonDecember 17, 2013 at 10:10 AM

    I learned something today! I would have just thought this was a neat design. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. KarlDecember 17, 2013 at 7:26 PM

    Beautiful detail VP, I bet many passers-by do not even see it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. GunnDecember 18, 2013 at 6:49 AM

    Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Stefan JanssonDecember 18, 2013 at 11:54 AM

    Knock knock.

    ReplyDelete
  11. DinaDecember 19, 2013 at 11:03 AM

    It is fun to say the word.

    ReplyDelete
  12. UnknownDecember 20, 2013 at 5:34 PM

    Beautiful find!

    ReplyDelete
  13. DinaDecember 22, 2013 at 2:23 PM

    Chutspah! Can we write to them in protest?

    ReplyDelete
  14. tapirgalDecember 24, 2013 at 5:13 AM

    Plagiarism makes me so angry. And the "author" even signed it!!!

    ReplyDelete