For the ancients, snails were one the world's most mysterious and interesting creatures because so little was known at the time about their lifecycles and habits. The Egyptians and Babylonians made the snail a symbol of fertility, eternity and the infinite.
The ancient cultures of Africa and South America in particular perceived in the snail a symbol of the moon, and of fertility: Its extending and retracting horns paralleled the waxing and waning lunar crescent; its spiral shell echoed the great natural cycles of birth, death and resurrection. This explains the snail's place in Aztec iconography as a symbol of fertility.
Under Protestantism, the snail carrying its home on its back was an embodiment of modesty and prudence. Buddhism, on the other hand, ascribes qualities of patience and endurance to the snail, its shell sginifying frozen time.
Modern biological research confirms a fact that the ancients were also aware of: under conditions of drought or cold, for example, a snail will seal its shell opening by growing a calciferous cover and re-emerge when conditions become hospitable again. In Christian terms, such behaviour is a metaphor of Jesus' death and resurrection.
We at Snail GmbH view our namesake in two ways. Firstly, as a creature that carries a rucksack full of valuables wherever it goes: not only knowledge of languages, but also numerous other life skills acquired during the language learning process. And secondly, as a symbol of persistence and perseverance: having established our goals, we stick to them and nurture them to fruition in a spirit of honesty and integrity. While the spiral form of a snail shell is suggestive of a maze, for us it also represents development and constant change.