The serpent has a complex symbolism. It has been both worshipped and reviled. The ancient Greeks regarded it as a symbol of life and health, because of the way snakes renew themselves by periodically shedding their skins. The Hebrews made the serpent into a creature of the Devil, when it comes to Eve in the Garden and tempts her to defy the will of God; but the Gnostics looked upon the serpent as a symbol of Christ, who liberated Adam from the prison of the Garden by giving mankind the gift of knowledge. In Voodoo, the greatest of the loas is Damballa, the serpent god, who is so ancient it doesn't even speak, implying that it existed and was worshipped before the creation of language. You have fire serpents, water serpents, flying serpents, chaos serpents. Dragons are just a variety of great serpent, and you find them in ancient China, in the culture of the Mayans and Aztecs of Mexico, in North America among the Indians, and in Europe -- every culture has its dragons or great serpents who existed before the coming of the gods.