History Main / Ouroboros

** A similar story is told about Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon (Bava Metzia 84b). The other rabbis didn't bother to bury him for many years. Eventually, Rabbi Elazar's father appeared to them in a dream and demanded why his son wasn't buried beside him. In this case, the snake let them in when they called "Serpent, serpent! Open your mouth to allow a son to enter next to his father." A serpent also encircled the cave when Rabbi Elazar's own son was was going to be buried, but apparently couldn't be dislodged.

** A similar story is told about Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon (Bava Metzia 84b). The other rabbis didn't bother to bury him for many years. Eventually, Rabbi Elazar's father appeared to them in a dream and demanded why his son wasn't buried beside him. In this case, the snake let them in when they called "Serpent, serpent! Open your mouth to allow a son to enter next to his father."

* Literature/TheTalmud (Bava Kamma 117a-b) describes an event where Rav Kahana died, and a huge serpent encircled the hill where he was buried with its tail in its mouth. Rabbi Yochanan, who [[WhatHaveIDone felt responsible for his death]], had to ask three times before the serpent would let him pass, the final time referring to Rav Kahana as his "teacher" instead of his student or colleague. [[BackFromTheDead Then he raised him from the dead]].

* Music/TheyMightBeGiants: "[[Music/Apollo18 I Palindrome I]]" features the chorus: "And I am a snake head eating the head on the opposite side", in keeping with the song's theme of repetition and symmetry.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'': Ouroboros is one of the themes of Dr. Dedalus and Leviathan [[spoiler:and therefore of Talia al-Ghul]] in ''Batman Inc.''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'': Crom Cruach, one of the Old Gods, combines this trope with ArtInitiatesLife, as this ancient deity who apparently wiped out TheFairFolk of Ireland before people [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly stopped worshipping him]] takes the form of a Celtic Knot. Crom not only appears as an infinitely long serpent, he resembles [[http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/rss/podcasts/weirdfins/images/Gulper_Eel_Hardy_2.jpg a deep sea gulper eel.]] Brendan, the hero, has to steal the [[AllThatGlitters Eye of Crom]] using a MagicCrayon, whereupon Crom, blinded, consumes himself into nothingness.

* Music/TheMarsVolta: ''The Bedlam in Goliath'', the fourth full-length album, contains a track named "Ouroborous" that loops back onto a pair of choruses and a series of guitar riffs that WordOfGod has declared to be a reference to this motif. Also fits in with the various weirdness that permeates the album, being as it is based around sayings and events that the band encountered while using an old ouija board they found in Jerusalem, and the string of unpleasant events that they thought were due to a curse from the board.

* Carl Jung, he of Jungian Archetypes, proto-troper, included this in his writings.
* It is possible that the inspiration for the symbol is the view of the Milky Way in the night sky hence its appearances in astronomy-focused cultures.
* It's possible for real snakes to bite their own tails. Usually, the real-world ouroboros dies when this happens. It's usually a result of heat delirium, where the snake can't tell that that tasty-looking moving thing is a part of it.

%%* Music/DirEnGrey's album ''Uroboros.''
* Music/{{Gojira}}: ''The way of all flesh'', the fourth album, opens with the track "Oroborus" which describes the motif and its relationship with life and death. The album itself is about coming to terms with mortality and dying.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': Hazama has a weapon called Ouroboros which grants him long-range attack options. To further the thematic 'cycle' in Ouroboros, [[spoiler: this guy is responsible for creating the time loop that plagues the first game.]] To further the thematic 'autoconsumptive' theme in Ouroboros, [[spoiler:his weapon exacerbates emotional vulnerabilities in his enemies]].

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'':

* ''VideoGame/BroodStar}}'': The Ouroborosect is a dragon-like space bug whose serpentine body encloses the playable area of the screen during its boss fight. It doesn't bite its own tail because it's too busy spitting energy bullets and laser beams at the player's spacecraft.

The ouroboros' primary {{Motif}}, found in ancient and medieval philosophical and alchemical texts, is a representation of eternity and cycles. In particular, it is associated with themes of death, rebirth, and renewal and with interpretations of history as a repeating cycle instead of a linear progression. In modern fiction, it is also often associated with TimeTravel, and in particular with the concept of time loops, where the "final" parts of the sequence serve to set up the "starting" ones in a cycle with no beginning or end. Note the connection to ThePhoenix and also the serpent as the shedder of skin and rejuvenator which acts much like the phoenix motif.

Sometimes, the ouroboros is present as a physical being in its own right, and, in some versions, the serpent encircles the world or the TreeOfLife, and is tied to its fate. Most often, however, the ouroboros appears as a symbol or motif instead of a living creature.

%%* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' gives us Orphis, the [[PhysicalGod God of Dragons]].

* In ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'', there is a gigantic, [[SlipperyAsAnEel eel-like]] {{flying|SeafoodSpecial}} [[{{Superboss}} King Salmonid]] named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Horrorboros]]. While it never ''does'' eat its own tail, its being named after the ouroboros ties in well with [[TheHorde the Salmonids]]' worship of both [[ToServeMan eating other sapient races]] and [[LetsMeetTheMeat being eaten themselves]].

** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'',:''Chronicles of the Black Labyrinth'' discusses the Ouroboros as a symbol of the Wyrm.

* ''Series/TheHeartSheHoller'': [[RealityWarper Meemaw]] creates a RecursiveReality by telling a story to Hambrosia about herself telling a story to Hambrosia. In the appropriately-titled [[WhamEpisode "Oralboros"]] Cutter the Vet dies from a VisualPun the full effects of this RecursiveReality when he [[ADateWithRosiePalms makes an Ouroboros out of himself.]]