Serpens Constellation Meaning

Serpens Constellation [Stellarium]

Constellation Serpens the Serpent is located above the constellation Scorpio, in the arms of Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Serpens spans 60 degrees of the zodiac in the Signs of Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn.

This constellation is split into two non-contiguous parts, Serpens Caput (Serpent’s Head) to the west and Serpens Cauda (Serpent’s Tail) to the east. Between these two halves lies Ophiuchus.

Serpens Constellation Stars

2000	2050	Star	Name	Sp. Class	Mag.	Orb
17♏10	17♏53	ι Ser		A1	4.51	1°10′
18♏20	29♏02	δ Ser	Nasak Yamani I	F0	3.80	1°30′
19♏46	20♏29	κ Ser	Gudja	M1	4.09	1°20′
19♏57	20♏39	β Ser	Chow	A3	3.65	1°40′
22♏04	22♏47	α Ser	Unukalhai	K2	2.63	2°00′
22♏47	23♏30	γ Ser	Nasak Shamiya II	F6	3.85	1°00′
24♏20	25♏02	ε Ser	Nasak Yamani II	A2	3.71	1°30′
25♏56	26♏38	μ Ser	Tiānrǔ	A0	3.54	1°40′
03♐24	04♐06	σ Ser	Lee Sze	F0	4.82	1°00′
20♐18	21♐00	ν Ser	She Low	A0	4.32	1°10′
24♐32	25♐15	ξ Ser	Nanhai	F0	3.54	1°40′
25♐23	26♐05	ο Ser		A2	4.24	1°20′
00♑07	00♑50	ζ Ser	Tung Hae	F3	4.62	1°00′
05♑40	06♑22	η Ser	Alava	K0	3.23	1°50′
15♑45	16♑27	θ¹ Ser	Alya	A5	4.62	1°00′

Serpens Astrology

Manilius

One called Ophiuchus holds apart the serpent which with its mighty spirals and twisted body encircles his own, that so he may untie its knots and back that winds in loops. But, bending its supple neck, the serpent looks back and returns; and the other’s hands slide over the loosened coils. The struggle will last for ever, since they wage it on level terms with equal powers. ^[1]

Robson

Legend. When Glaucus, son of Minos, King of Crete, was drowned in a barrel of red honey, Æsculapius was sent for to restore him to life and was shut in a secret chamber with the body. While he stood wondering what to do a serpent entered, which he slew. Thereupon another serpent came in bearing a herb which it placed on the head of the dead serpent, thereby restoring it to life, and Æasculapius, using the same herb, succeeded in restoring Glaucus. The serpent was placed in heaven and for this reason certain writers have identified Ophiuchus with Æsculapius. According to other accounts the serpent is one of those that would have slain Hercules in his cradle (see OPHIUCHUS).

Influences. According to Ptolemy, Serpens is like Saturn and Mars. It is said to give wisdom, craft, deceit, malice, a feeble will and danger of poison. ^[2]

Serpens Constellation [Urania’s Mirror]

Allen

Serpens, probably is very ancient, and always has been shown as grasped by the hands of Ophiuchus at its pair of stars δ, ε, and at ν, τ Ophiuchi. The head is marked by the noticeable group ι, κ, γ, φ, υ, ρ, and the eight little stars all lettered τ, and consecutively numbered, 10° south from the Crown and 20° due east from Arcturus; the figure line thence winding southwards 15° to Libra, and turning to the southeast and northeast along the western edge of the Milky Way, terminating at its star θ, 8° south of the tail of the Eagle and west of that constellation’s δ.

Of the four stellar Snakes this preëminently is the Serpent, its stars originally being combined with those of Ophiuchus, but it now is catalogued separately, and occasionally divided into Caput and Cauda on either side of the Serpent-holder.

In the astronomy of Arabia it was Al Ḥayyah, the Snake; but before that country was influenced by Greece there was a very different constellation here, Al Rauḍah, the Pasture; the stars β and γ, p375 with γ and β Herculis, forming the Nasaḳ Shāmiyy, the Northern Boundary; while δ, α, and ε Serpentis, with δ, ε, ζ, and η Ophiuchi, were the Nasaḳ Yamāniyy, the Southern Boundary. The enclosed sheep were shown by the stars now in the Club of Hercules, guarded on the west by the Shepherd and his Dog, the stars α in Ophiuchus and Hercules.

Serpens shared with Ophiuchus the Euphratean title of Nu‑tsir‑da, the Image of the Serpent; and is supposed to have been one of the representatives of divinity to the Ophites, the Hivites of Old Testament times.

The comparatively void space between ν and ε was the Chinese Tien Shi Yuen, the Enclosure of the Heavenly Market.

Argelander counts 51 stars within the constellation boundaries, and Heis 82. In its cluster NGC 5904, 5 M., Bailey has discovered 85 variables. ^[3]

Serpens Constellation [Bullinger]

Bullinger

Here, Serpens, the serpent, is seen struggling vainly in the powerful grasp of the man who is named O-phi-u-chus. In Latin he is called Serpentarius. He is at one and the same moment shown to be seizing the serpent with his two hands, and treading on the very heart of the scorpion, marked by the deep red star Antares (wounding).

Just as we read the first constellation of the woman and child Coma, as expounding the first sign VIRGO, so we have to read this first constellation as expounding the second sign LIBRA. Hence, we have here a further picture, showing the object of this conflict on the part of the scorpion.

In Scorpio we see merely the effort to wound Ophiuchus in the heel; but here we see the effort of the serpent to seize THE CROWN, which is situated immediately over the serpent’s head, and to which he is looking up and reaching forth. The contest is for Dominion! It was the Devil, in the form of a serpent, that robbed the first man of his crown; but in vain he struggled to wrest it from the sure possession of the Second Man. Not only does he fail in the attempt, but is himself utterly defeated and trodden under foot. ^[4]