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    Lizard: Dragon, Legendary Monster Usually Conceived As A Huge, Bat-Winged

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    Alexadner
    The document discusses the history and mythology of dragons. Dragons were originally conceived as huge, fire-breathing, winged reptiles or snakes based on ancient people's knowledge of prehistoric dragon-like reptiles. In ancient Greece, the word "dragon" referred broadly to serpents. In Middle Eastern myths, dragons often symbolized evil, while Greeks and Romans sometimes viewed them as beneficial guardians of the earth. In Christian tradition, dragons came to symbolize sin and paganism. The form of dragons varied in different cultures, from winged creatures to many-headed serpents. Dragons were used as symbols of power in war due to their protective and fearsome qualities, appearing

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    Lizard: Dragon, Legendary Monster Usually Conceived As A Huge, Bat-Winged

    Uploaded by

    Alexadner
    37 views1 page
    The document discusses the history and mythology of dragons. Dragons were originally conceived as huge, fire-breathing, winged reptiles or snakes based on ancient people's knowledge of prehistoric dragon-like reptiles. In ancient Greece, the word "dragon" referred broadly to serpents. In Middle Eastern myths, dragons often symbolized evil, while Greeks and Romans sometimes viewed them as beneficial guardians of the earth. In Christian tradition, dragons came to symbolize sin and paganism. The form of dragons varied in different cultures, from winged creatures to many-headed serpents. Dragons were used as symbols of power in war due to their protective and fearsome qualities, appearing

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    The document discusses the history and mythology of dragons. Dragons were originally conceived as huge, fire-breathing, winged reptiles or snakes based on ancient people's knowledge of prehistoric dragon-like reptiles. In ancient Greece, the word "dragon" referred broadly to serpents. In Middle Eastern myths, dragons often symbolized evil, while Greeks and Romans sometimes viewed them as beneficial guardians of the earth. In Christian tradition, dragons came to symbolize sin and paganism. The form of dragons varied in different cultures, from winged creatures to many-headed serpents. Dragons were used as symbols of power in war due to their protective and fearsome qualities, appearing

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    37 views1 page

    Lizard: Dragon, Legendary Monster Usually Conceived As A Huge, Bat-Winged

    Uploaded by

    Alexadner
    The document discusses the history and mythology of dragons. Dragons were originally conceived as huge, fire-breathing, winged reptiles or snakes based on ancient people's knowledge of prehistoric dragon-like reptiles. In ancient Greece, the word "dragon" referred broadly to serpents. In Middle Eastern myths, dragons often symbolized evil, while Greeks and Romans sometimes viewed them as beneficial guardians of the earth. In Christian tradition, dragons came to symbolize sin and paganism. The form of dragons varied in different cultures, from winged creatures to many-headed serpents. Dragons were used as symbols of power in war due to their protective and fearsome qualities, appearing

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Dragon, legendary monster usually conceived as a huge, bat-winged,

    fire-breathing, scaly lizard or snake with a barbed tail. The belief in


    these creatures apparently arose without the slightest knowledge on
    the part of the ancients of the gigantic, prehistoric, dragon-like
    reptiles. In Greece the word drakōn, from which the English word was
    derived, was used originally for any large serpent (see sea serpent),
    and the dragon of mythology, whatever shape it later assumed,
    remained essentially a snake.
    In general, in the Middle Eastern world, where snakes are large and
    deadly, the serpent or dragon was symbolic of the principle of evil.
    Thus, the Egyptian god Apepi, for example, was the great serpent of
    the world of darkness. But the Greeks and Romans, though accepting
    the Middle Eastern idea of the serpent as an evil power, also at times
    conceived the drakontes as beneficent powers—sharp-eyed dwellers in
    the inner parts of the Earth. On the whole, however, the evil
    reputation of dragons was the stronger, and in Europe it outlived the
    other. Christianity confused the ancient benevolent and malevolent
    serpent deities in a common condemnation. In Christian art the
    dragon came to be symbolic of sin and paganism and, as such, was
    depicted prostrate beneath the heels of saints and martyrs.

    The dragon’s form varied from the earliest times. The Chaldean
    dragon Tiamat had four legs, a scaly body, and wings, whereas the
    biblical dragon of Revelation, “the old serpent,” was many-headed like
    the Greek Hydra. Because they not only possessed both protective and
    terror-inspiring qualities but also had decorative effigies, dragons
    were early used as warlike emblems. Thus, in the Iliad,
    King Agamemnon had on his shield a blue three-headed snake, just as
    the Norse warriors in later times painted dragons on their shields and
    carved dragons’ heads on the prows of their ships. In England before
    the Norman Conquest, the dragon was chief among the royal ensigns
    in war, having been instituted as such by Uther Pendragon, father
    of King Arthur. In the 20th century the dragon was officially
    incorporated in the armorial bearings of the prince of Wales.

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