Dragons are among the most popular and enduring of the world's 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?
It's 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 it's 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 Leviathan's 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, people's ideas and descriptions of dragons vary
dramatically. Some dragons have wings; others don't. Some dragons can speak or breathe fire; others can't.
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 doesn't 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 don't 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 town's citizens, impressed by St. George's 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
Scotland's 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
monster's 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.
Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of "Skeptical Inquirer" science magazine and author of six books, including
"Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore" and "Scientific Paranormal
Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries." His website is www.BenjaminRadford.com.