The representation of the serpent in ancient Iberia

We find a cult to the serpent in Iberian Prehistory and Protohistory. Indoeuropean and Mediterranean cultures adopted this cult which had similarities with the beliefs of an earlier people, probably autochthonous. Different ex-votos, Phoenician metal jars, the so-called "Celtic belts", Tartessian jewellery, Iberian pottery, etc., decorated with snakes prove this assertion. In the Roman period the serpent appears in objects of a very different type and, most times, though it may seem just a fashionable decoration it also has an apotropaic or fertility meaning, as in the case of the ara of Altea or Voconio's stela. This meaning is still present in the beliefs of some peasant villages.peer-reviewe