Journey steeped in fog of myth

According to one version of the ancient Greek mythology, Hermes, the messenger god who was also the deity of commerce, travelers and boundaries, once encountered two snakes fighting. Using a staff, he separated them, and the snakes coiled around the staff in perfect balance, transforming themselves, together with the rod itself, into a symbol of harmony and peace befitting Hermes' role as a mediator.

Caduceus — that's the name of Hermes' rod, a staff with two intertwined snakes and wings, which the god, known as Mercury in Roman mythology, carried around to ward off disputes and bring about reconciliation.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York owns an 18th-century oil painting depicting Cupid, barely covered in pink drapery, holding a caduceus — the symbol of his father, Mercury.

While few may have associated snakes with the art of diplomacy, let alone with a chubby baby, many have confused the caduceus with the Rod of Asclepius, a staff entwined with a single snake that symbolizes healing and medicine.

Gliding seamlessly through ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the snake found its presence intricately woven into the literary tapestry by masters such as Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) and Virgil (70-19 BC), both Roman poets who lived during the reign of Emperor Augustus. To them, the serpent became a potent symbol, embodying divine wrath, prophetic insight, the inescapability of fate, and the complexities of human nature.

In his world-renowned narrative poem Metamorphoses, Ovid told what's perhaps the most famous serpent-related myth — the tragic story of Medusa, a beautiful mortal priestess in Athena's temple.