Page 406 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

400 History and Science of Knots

On statues from the Vestal Temple we can see how the Hercules Knot
looked. Fig.1 clearly shows that the belt harbours a Reef Knot [22].
Another source is provided by Macrobius Saturnalia, Book I, chapter xix,
sections 16-18. In his description of the caduceus he states that it represents
the union of a male and a female serpent as an offering to Mercury, and that
they are united by a Herculean Knot (Fig.2) [8]:

Another clear proof that it is the sun that we worship under the
name of Mercury is the caduceus, which the Egyptians have de-
signed as the sacred staff of Mercury. It shows a pair of serpents,
male and female, intertwined; the middle parts of the serpents' coils
are joined together as in a knot, called the knot of Hercules; their
upper parts are bent into a circle and complete the circle as they
meet in a kiss; below the knot their tails rejoin the staff at the point
at which it is held, and at that point appear the wings with which
they are provided.

Fig. 2. The Caduceus
Athenogoras says that the wand of Mercury is a symbol of the union of
Jupiter and Rhea, whom Jupiter disguised as a dragon, bound to him in the
form of a Herculean Knot [13].
As the Roman Empire initially pursued an expansionist policy and came
to occupy parts of Europe, including the North, we may assume that they
propagated their Hercules-Love Knot culture during that process.