Editing Serpens (section)

==History==
[[File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Taurus Poniatowski, Serpentarius, Scutum Sobiesky, and Serpens.jpg|thumb|left|Serpens held by Ophiuchus, as depicted in ''[[Urania's Mirror]]'', a set of constellation cards published in [[London]] c. 1825. Above the tail of the serpent is the now-obsolete constellation [[Taurus Poniatovii]] while below it is [[Scutum (constellation)|Scutum]]|alt=Serpens shown as a snake being held by Ophiuchus in Urania's Mirror.]]
In [[Greek mythology]], Serpens represents a [[snake]] held by the healer [[Asclepius]]. Represented in the sky by the constellation Ophiuchus, Asclepius once killed a snake, but the animal was subsequently resurrected after a second snake placed a revival herb on it before its death. As snakes shed their skin every year, they were known as the symbol of rebirth in ancient Greek society, and legend says Asclepius would revive dead humans using the same technique he witnessed. Although this is likely the logic for Serpens' presence with Ophiuchus, the true reason is still not fully known. Sometimes, Serpens was depicted as coiling around Ophiuchus, but the majority of atlases showed Serpens passing either behind Ophiuchus' body or between his legs.<ref name="Ridpath"/>

In some ancient atlases, the constellations Serpens and Ophiuchus were depicted as two separate constellations, although more often they were shown as a single constellation. One notable figure to depict Serpens separately was [[Johann Bayer]]; thus, Serpens' stars are cataloged with separate [[Bayer designation]]s from those of Ophiuchus. When [[Eugène Delporte]] established modern constellation boundaries in the 1920s, he elected to depict the two separately. However, this posed the problem of how to disentangle the two constellations, with Deporte deciding to split Serpens into two areas—the head and the tail—separated by the continuous Ophiuchus. These two areas became known as Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda,<ref name="Ridpath"/> ''caput'' being the Latin word for head and ''cauda'' the Latin word for tail.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Arnold|first1=Maurice (Toby)|title=Arnold's Glossary of Anatomy|url=http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/glossary/glossary.cgi?page=c|website=Anatomy & Histology - Online Learning|publisher=The University of Sydney|access-date=8 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150902033440/http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/glossary/glossary.cgi?page=c|archive-date=2015-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In [[Chinese astronomy]], most of the stars of Serpens represented part of a wall surrounding a marketplace, known as [[Tianshi]], which was in Ophiuchus and part of [[Hercules]]. Serpens also contains a few [[Chinese constellations]]. Two stars in the tail represented part of [[Shilou]], the tower with the market office. Another star in the tail represented [[Liesi]], jewel shops. One star in the head ([[Mu Serpentis]]) marked [[Tianru]], the [[crown prince]]'s wet nurse, or sometimes [[rain]].<ref name="Ridpath"/>

There were two "serpent" constellations in [[Babylonian astronomy]], known as Mušḫuššu and Bašmu. It appears that Mušḫuššu was depicted as a hybrid of a dragon, a lion and a bird, and loosely corresponded to [[Hydra (constellation)|Hydra]]. Bašmu was a [[horned serpent]] (cf. [[Ningishzida]]) and roughly corresponds to the Ὄφις constellation of [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]] on which the  Ὄφις (''Serpens'') of Ptolemy is based.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Gavin|last1=White|title=Babylonian Star-Lore: An Illustrated Guide to the Star-lore and Constellations of Ancient Babylonia|publisher=Solaria Publications|isbn=978-0-9559037-0-0|date=2007|page=180}}</ref>