The serpent is one of the oldest and most common mythological symbols. For thousands of years, the image of the serpent has been used in art and mythology all over the world, in almost every civilization, culture, and period.
Most often, the snake symbolizes wisdom, vitality, immortality, healing powers, fertility, and domesticity. However, this image has a downside, because the snake is also associated with evil, guile, and even death.
In many mythological traditions, the snake is a participant in the creation of peace, and this is one of the reasons why this animal was often depicted on historical coats of arms and flags. This heraldic tradition has been preserved in our days, so today we see numerous logos of modern companies, which are built around traditional coats of arms and emblems in the form of a shield.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the most interesting, in our opinion, logos, which contain the image of a snake in one form or another, and try to understand where this cold-blooded creature symbolizes positive moments, and where, on the contrary, it represents something dark and dramatic.
Alfa Romeo
One of the most famous logos with a depiction of a snake is, definitely the badge of the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo. The first version of the logo with a man-eating snake appeared back in 1910, right after the company was founded. The image is inspired by the coat of arms of the Visconti family and the city of Milan. The serpent appeared on the Visconti coat of arms as early as 1100.
American Cancer Society
The image of a snake coiled around a staff has been used as a medical symbol since ancient times. Many companies related to medicine and pharmacology use this symbol for their logos. The American Cancer Society is no exception, having chosen a bright blue-red color scheme for its logo. The emblem is accompanied by a Lange three-leveled lettering in a classy sans-serif font.
Bushmaster
The Bushmaster firearms company uses a solid red image of a dangerous venomous snake drawn against a composition background with its mouth open and tongue ready to deliver a deadly bite. The drawing is overlapped by two-leveled lettering, with the top line set in a bold slightly slanted, and narrowed sans-serif font, in dark yellow with a black outline, and a delicate black tagline.
Florida A&M Rattlers
The only element, depicted on the logo of the Florida A&M Rattlers Club, is the fierce and dangerous rattler, drawing in orange and black, with the poisonous green tongue and dents. The serpent looks super strong and sharp, representing the fighting spirit of the team and its players.
Hogwarts
One of the elements on the ornate and sleek logo of Hogwarts is a serpent. It is placed in the fancy crest as a symbol of the Slytherin faculty, along with three more animals, symbolizing other departments of the school of magic. The grey serpent is placed in the upper right segment of the coat of arms, the one with the solid green background.
IFR Aspid
Apsid or asp is a genus of venomous snakes related to the cobra. The IFR Aspid logo is a schematic and stylish representation of this snake, drawn in smooth black lines against a gradient orange circular medallion with a thick silver frame. The image is accompanied by a stylized mixed case wordmark, which is also written in black strokes, and features sharp flared ends of the bars.
Odontologia
Odontology is the science of teeth and their treatment, a part of dentistry. And since dentistry is a huge and important part of medicine in general, it is logical to see the main symbol of medicine on this logo – a snake wrapped around a staff. The staff with a snake coiling around it was a symbol of Asclepius, the god of medicine in the ancient Greeks.
Philadelphia Union
The sleek golden medallion with a thick black frame and a wide sky-blue vertical stripe coming through its center looks super elegant and strong at the same time. In the very middle of this Philadelphia Union medallion, you can see a solid black shield with an image of a golden snake and an elegant sand-serif “Union” wordmark. The composition is completely by the bold serif “Philadelphia” inscription, written around the frame of the badge.
Shelby
The contoured black and white cobra image from the iconic Shelby logo is a representation of power and fearlessness. The snake has been a part of the brand’s identity for decades, and today the luxury sports car label can not be imagined without this masculine and dangerous badge, which is accompanied by a stable geometric lettering in black.
Slytherin
Slytherin’s crest features the faculty’s symbol, the serpent. The founder of the faculty, Slytherin, possessed the rare gift of the serpent-being able to speak and understand the serpent language. The voluminous snake in metallic silver is located on a dense green von and is enclosed in a massive patterned frame in the same silver shade. The composition is complemented by a bright yellow ribbon with the name of the faculty written on it.
