The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols

Aeneas tells how the two fearsome snakes that emerged from the sea to eliminate the turbulent priest Laocoon subsequently sloped off to the temple of Athene, goddess of fertility and wisdom as well as war (Aeneid, Book 2). A 14‐page article on “serpent” here notes that a snake was one of the attributes of Athene, and goes on to suggest that at a symbolic level the horrible fate of Laocoon represents “the marriage of reason with the powers of Nature”.

Chevalier and Gheerbrant’s Dictionary of Symbols was evidently a bestseller in France, and this very fat paperback is a...