Snake symbolism in Mythology - protection / creation / immortality

very interesting. did not know about the Ophion myth. snakes and eggs seems to fit this new mythology nicely. not to forget that in the text of the bible the snake is referred to as the giver of knowledge ( genesis), and as the devil (revelations). and this from good old wikipedia.. The Rod of Asclepius takes its name from the god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicinal arts in Greek mythology. Asclepius's attributes, the snake and the staff, sometimes depicted separately in antiquity, are combined in this symbol.[2] The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult.[3] The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways; sometimes the shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation,[4] while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and expresses the dual nature of the work of the physician, who deals with life and death, sickness and health.[5] The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs,[6] which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon, which meant "drug", "medicine" and "poison" in ancient Greek.[7] Products deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties in ancient times, and in ancient Greece, at least some were aware that snake venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed. Snake venom appears to have been 'prescribed' in some cases as a form of therapy.[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius

I love how there has actually been a lot of research and effort on the part of the production team to make this as real as possible and tie it into a lot of the ancient mythology we have here on Earth. It's awesome and makes me want to go and start studying more cultures I haven't looked into yet! :-D

Something you'd like to know Apollo, God of light prophecy and healing killed the earth dragon Python of Delphi; when Apollo slew the dragon he took the python rock which the dragon guarded, giving birth to the sacred cult of the Pythia, Greek priestess and sears. That's where from you get the word Python, the snake and python the rocky peak.

The word "python" (both the serpent or rocky peak) comes from the Greek dragon Apollo slew, and it's also the place at Delphi were the spring and mountain peak was supposedly guarded by the dragon. It's strange that the aliens were called "xenomorphic" (that is a chthonic formation) and that they used the same artist for both the Alien landscape and the alien itself, like if both creatures belonged to the same environment. It's without surprise the, that somehow that the "snake creature" we have seen in the trailer, is somehow related to the sacred relative to our religious spheres. -ref .^ Walter Burkert, "Kynaithos, Polycrates and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo" in Arktouros: Hellenic studies presented to B. M. W. Knox ed. G. W. Bowersock, W. Burkert, M. C. J. Putnam (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1979) pp. 53-62.