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Totemic symbolism, combined with the belief that snakes know the secrets of the earth and can see in the dark, endows snakes with wisdom or the gift of divination. “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves,” Christ told his disciples (Gospel of Matthew 10:16). The Greek word for "dragon" (which not only refers to a monster, but also means "snake with a piercing gaze") is etymologically related to vision. In art, the snake is an attribute of the goddess of wisdom Athena (Minerva) and the allegorical figure of Prudence, meaning the gift of foresight.