Caduceus is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1913) pointed out that the serpent as an attribute of both Hermes and Asclepius is a variant of the "pre-historic semi-chthonic serpent hero known at Delphi as Python", who in classical mythology is slain by Apollo. One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias, who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later.
Double-headed serpent only 25 Mexican turquoise mosaics in Europe from this period. Many theories suggest the symbolic significance of the serpent imagery. It has been proposed that the serpent was a symbol of rebirth because of its ability to shed its old skin and appear as a reborn snake. It may have been a representation of the earth and underworld with each head representing one. The snake features strongly in the gods that the people worshiped. The feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl was important to Mixtec religion, but other gods also had serpentine characteristics. This sculpture featured in "A History of the World