History
Serpentine shape is a beautiful geometry that has historically been used in many fields such as art, architecture, anatomy and topography etc. However, the earliest origin of the word derived from the shape of a snake and a similar stone. Same as other commonly used stones, serpentine stone has been used throughout history for various kinds of objects: seals, magic amulets, personal adornment and funerary equipment etc.
Italian witches in Roman period well into the Middle Ages believed that small pieces of serpentine stone can protect people from venomous creatures such as snakes or spiders. The reason is that the dark green color streaked with white color resembles the appearance of the snakeskin. Therefore serpentine is believed to be a tool to draw out the toxins whenever a person got bitten by a venomous creature.
A poem attributed to the mythical Greek poet Orpheus and said to have been written in the fourth century AD, shows how far back the association between the mineral and snakes was made:
"No more the trailing serpent's tooth to fear. Let him who by the dragon's fang hath bled, On the dire wound Serpentine powdered spread, And in the stone his sure reliance place, For wounds inflicted by the reptile race."
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“History ... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)