Are Dragons Real? Facts About Dragons Dragons are among the most popular and enduring of the worlds mythological creatures. Dragon tales are known in many cultures, from the Americas to Europe to India to China. Some have suggested that because dragons are known around the world, they really existed at some point in the distant past — otherwise how could different cultures on different continents describe the same thing? Evidence of dragons? Its not clear when or where stories of dragons first emerged, but the huge, flying serpents were described by the ancient Greeks and Sumerians. The belief in dragons was based not just in legend but also in hard evidence — or so it seemed. For millennia no one knew what to make of the giant bones that were occasionally unearthed around the globe, and dragons seemed a logical choice for people who had no knowledge of dinosaurs. There were also the occasional eyewitness accounts from sailors returning from Indonesia who reported encountering dragons — Komodo dragons, a type of monitor lizard — which can be aggressive, deadly, and reach 10 feet in length. Western scientists verified their existence around 1910, but rumors and stories of these fearsome beasts circulated long before that. [Countdown: Top 10 Beasts and Dragons: How Reality Made Myth] In medieval times, most people who heard anything about dragons knew them from the Bible, and its likely that most Christians at the time believed in the literal existence of dragons. After all, Leviathan — the massive monster described in detail in the Book of Job, chapter 41 — seems to describe a dragon in detail: I will not fail to speak of Leviathans limbs, its strength and its graceful form.Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth (NIV). Many dragons Though most people can easily picture a dragon, peoples ideas and descriptions of dragons vary dramatically. Some dragons have wings; others dont. Some dragons can speak or breathe fire; others cant. Some are only a few feet long; others span miles. Some dragons live in palaces under the ocean, while others can only be found in caves and inside mountains. As folklorist Carol Rose discusses in her book Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth, dragons have composite features from many other beasts, such as the head of an elephant in India, that of a lion or bird of prey in the Middle East, or numerous heads of reptiles such as serpents. Their body color may range from green, red, and black to unusually yellow, blue or white dragons. Zoologist Karl Shuker describes a wide variety of dragons in his book Dragons: A Natural History, including giant snakes, hydras, gargoyles and dragon-gods, as well as more obscure variants such as basilisks, wyverns, and cockatrices. The dragon, whatever else it might be, is clearly a shape-shifter. The popular role-playing game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons describes more than a dozen varieties of dragons, each with unique personalities, powers, and other characteristics (Black dragons, for example, are fond of eels — who knew?). Guarding treasures The word dragon comes from the ancient Greek word draconta, meaning to watch, suggesting that the beast guards valuables. Dragons typically guard treasure such as mountains of gold coins or gems, though this makes little logical sense: a creature as powerful as a dragon surely doesnt need to pay for anything. It is instead a symbolic treasure, not for the hoarding dragon but instead booty for the brave knights who would vanquish it. Dragons are one of the few monsters cast in mythology primarily as a powerful and fearsome opponent to be slain. They dont simply exist for their own sake; they exist largely as a foil for bold adventurers. Other mythical beasts such as trolls, elves and fairies interact with people (sometimes mischievously, sometimes helpfully) but their main role is not as combatant. Dragon slayers For much of history, dragons were thought of as being like any other exotic animal: sometimes useful and protective, other times harmful and dangerous. That changed when Christianity spread across the world; dragons took on a decidedly sinister interpretation and came to represent Satan. The church created legends of righteous and godly saints battling and vanquishing Satan in the form of dragons. The most celebrated of these was St. George the Dragon Slayer, who in legend comes upon a town threatened by a terrible dragon. He rescues a fair maiden, protects himself with the sign of the cross, and slays the beast. The towns citizens, impressed by St. Georges feat of faith and bravery, immediately convert to Christianity. (Interestingly, a similar feat is mentioned in the legend of St. Columba, who in A.D. 565 defeated a giant beast — perhaps a dragon, perhaps the Loch Ness monster — terrorizing a man in Scotlands Ness River.) Scholars believe that the fire-breathing element of dragons came from medieval depictions of the mouth of hell, for example art by Hieronymus Bosch and others. The entrance to hell was often depicted as a monsters literal mouth, with the flames and smoke characteristic of Hades belching out. If one believes not only in the literal existence of hell, but also the literal existence of dragons as Satanic, the association is quite logical. Dragons, in one form or another (sometimes godly and beneficent, other times the embodiment of evil) have been around for millennia. Through epic fantasy fiction by J.R.R. Tolkien and others, dragons have continued to spark our collective imagination and — unlike the dinosaurs that helped inspire stories about them — show no sign of dying out. ( Hope this helps with understanding. )
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:06:15 +0000
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