I don’t necessarily agree with the premise, however, the image of serpents with wings is very common in ancient Sumerian and Egyptian iconography so there does seem to be some sort of archetype of that image, and these are the closest cultures to the time of the writing so it stands to say that it meant something.
Now, this could be a common fiction archetype of the time like superheroes of our day. Without that cultural context, we really don’t know.
I have heard that every ancient culture had a dragon or flying serpent myth. Is that true or just urban-legend?