Dragons appear in the mythologies, legends, and folklore of cultures around the world since time immemorial! Pliny the Elder, who wrote the world’s first encyclopedia, noted dragons.
Defining Dragons
Dragons in all their variations fascinate children and adults alike. Physically, the dragon can have the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a demon/devil, the neck/body of a snake, the abdomen of a cockle, the scales of a carp, the claws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and the ears of an ox.
Generally, dragons are large lizard- or serpent-like creatures, considered evil in some cultures and beneficial in others.
Among reputed dragon qualities is that they have no fixed gender differentiation in some mythologies. According to Maester Aemon (Game of Thrones), dragons are “but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame” presumably meaning that they are able to change from one sex to the other and back for whatever reason.
Baby dragons are called hatchlings. A dragonet is a small breed of dragon. A Dracotaur is half-human, half-dragon.
In many traditions, dragons hoard wealth, gold, or simply shiny objects. In other traditions, dragons aren’t materialistic by nature, though they are attracted to beauty, wealth, prestige, and power. Dragons know how to live the good life, and their generosity towards others, especially their admirers, knows no bounds.
Dragon Slaying
In medieval European literature, the ichneumon or echinemon was the enemy of the dragon. When it sees a dragon, the ichneumon covers itself with mud, and closing its nostrils with its tail, attacks and kills the dragon.
The more popular/common view is that the only creatures known to be able to defeat dragons are humans, particularly those with religious protection or calling. Lancing a dragon is probably the best-known method, as popularized by St. George (though he is sometimes confused with other dragon slaying saints such as St Theodore).
Even divinely-ordained humans didn’t have an easy time of it. The best way to kill them, according to Western belief, was to throw a lance into its mouth or underbelly, because that was the only part without heavy scale protection.
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, has a dragon on its coat of arms because, according to lore, when the Greek hero Jason was returning from his quest to capture the golden fleece, he slew a dragon there.
Modern Dragon Slayers
Their size and perceived ferocity makes dragons an ideal foe for video-games and role-playing games. Games like Skyrim, Minecraft, Dragon’s Dogma, Monster Hunter, and Dragon Age all pit players against dragons. In deference to the typical size difference, these are often “boss” fights, meaning the final or most difficult encounter a player will face in a particular stage.
Dungeons and Dragons, one of the most popular tabletop role-playing games, includes many types of dragons with varying sizes and attack styles. They range from a relatively weak metallic Brass dragon to Tiamat, based on a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. She is the queen and mother of evil dragons and a member of the default pantheon of Dungeons & Dragons gods. Her symbol is a five-headed dragon.
There is also a popular reversal of this trope, particularly in media for children. The Dealing with Dragons books and How to Train Your Dragon movies feature human protagonists initially expected to slay a dragon instead looking past society’s terror and their own initial fear. Ultimately, the helpful dragons work with humans to defeat other enemies.
Dragon Varieties
Just about every culture around the world includes dragon-like creatures in its mythology. Anthropologists have many ways of classifying and categorizing dragons, some of which are below:
- Wyvern – two legs and two wings
- Amphiptere – two wings and no legs
- Dragon – four legs and two wings
- Drake – four legs and no wings
- Drac – two legs, wings, cow’s face, breathes fire and poison
- Naga – half human/ half dragon beings that can shift to either shape
Mesoamerican
Ancient Incans in Peru called dragons amaru. According to legend, they had two heads, one a llama and one a puma. They had supernatural powers and symbolized great change, bringing rains, or winds, or revolution.
Rainbow dragons (Draco arcus) are elegant, beautiful dragons that are close relatives of the light dragons. Quetzalcoatl prizes them as one of his most colorful and wonderful creations.
Qʼuqʼumatz, a Mayan god of wind and rain, carried the sun across the sky every day and served as a mediator among other gods. Qʼuqʼumatz could take the form of a jaguar or eagle but most often appeared as a two-headed serpentine sky monster with feathers, scales, and a human face emerging from a bird’s beak.
Greco-Roman
In ancient Greek myth, a dracaina was a female dragon or serpent. She sometimes had human features or even a human torso. In some depictions, Medusa was a dracaina.
In Roman and medieval literature, dragons couldn’t fly. Instead they dropped out of trees onto people’s heads. According to Pliny the Elder, “The jaculus darts from the branches of trees; and it is not only to our feet that the serpent is formidable, for these fly through the air even, just as though they were hurled from an engine.”
East Asia
In East Asian mythologies, the dragon is a positive creature, retaining its prestige. The dragon came to Japan with many other elements of Chinese culture, and there it became capable of changing its size at will, even to the point of becoming invisible.
Both Chinese and Japanese dragons, though regarded as powers of the air, are usually wingless. They are among the deified forces of nature in Daoism. Dragons also figure in the ancient mythologies of other Asian cultures, including those of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
According to Chinese lore, dragons are auspicious, symbols of wealth, power, and leadership. Official belief held that emperors were the children of dragons.
The dragon lung represents yang, the principle of heaven, activity, and maleness in the yin/yang of Chinese cosmology. From ancient times it was the emblem of the imperial family, and until the founding of the Republic (1911) the Chinese flag had a dragon.
Africa
Loa, benevolent spirits in Voudu and Vudu beliefs, often take the form of dragons. Damballa and Ayida-Weddo are the most ancient and powerful loa in West Africa and the Caribbean, primordial creators responsible for fertility, water, fire, and wealth.
Several mythologies in Sub-Saharan Africa feature stories of a woman who marries a serpent or dragon, Monyohe. The bridegroom was often a water deity or able to influence rain. In the Sotho and Zhosa variations of this story, the dragon took all the water away when the marriage broke up, leaving the region in a drought.
Evil Dragons
In European lore, dragons were portrayed as evil monsters. They terrorized human settlements, raided cattle, demanded impossible tributes, and kidnapped innocents.
Much of this stems from the dragon’s association with the serpent that enticed Eve in the Garden of Eden, according to Christian myth. Many Christian scholars portrayed Satan and other demons as large serpents or dragons.
“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.” (Encyclopedia Britannica)
In Christian folklore, St. Margaret of Antioch was imprisoned for her Christian beliefs and was swallowed by Satan in the guise of a dragon. (However, his stomach rejected her, and she emerged unharmed.)
The opposite of the sun god Re in Egyptian mythology was Apep or Apophis, the dragon of darkness and chaos. He caused thunderstorms and earthquakes and, according to New Kingdom priests, battled Re every night in an attempt to prevent the follow day’s sun rise.
Many stories in West African folklore blame ecological disasters on huge serpents or reptiles. According to legend, the Ninki Nanka dragon of Gambia causes droughts, floods, plagues, and fires if not approached carefully. Bida, once the dragon protecting the Soninka people of Mali, began oppressing the people, leading to the kingdom’s downfall.
German immigrants in Maryland reported fearing the predations of the Schneller Geist (“quick ghost”) in the early 18th century. A century later, sensationalist newspaper articles mixed with anti-abolitionist rhetoric to create the Snallygaster, a half-bird, half-reptile monster with tentacles that hunted and ate escaping slaves.
The Dragon of the Zodiac
Pretty much everyone associates dragons with Chinese New Year. In the Chinese zodiac, this is the Year of the Dragon. People born in 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, and 2024 should be having a very good year!
The Chinese lunisolar calendar determines the specific animal and element associated with a particular year. The Year of the Dragon in 2024 is associated with the element wood. The combination of the animal sign (Dragon) and the element (Wood) designates the year as the Year of the Wood Dragon. The Dragon represents strength and success.
Many couples try to plan for their children to be born in the Year of the Dragon. “Dragon is powerful, endlessly energetic and full of vitality, goal-oriented yet idealistic and romantic, and a visionary leader. They know exactly who they are and possess the keenest sense of self among the 12 zodiacs of Chinese astrology.”
Lucky colors for 2024 are golden, yellow, green, gold, and silver. They are most compatible with Rats, Monkeys, and Roosters.
Bruce Lee, John Lennon, and Charles Darwin were all born in the Year of the Dragon.
Dragons in the Zoo
Fact: winged, fire-breathing dragons are a complete fantasy, a creature of myth and legend only.
The term dragon has no zoological meaning, but biologists have applied it in the Latin generic name Draco to a number of species of small lizards found in the Indo-Malayan region. Many people also apply “dragon” to the giant monitor, Varanus komodoensis, discovered on Komodo Island and a few neighboring islands of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, the Komodo Dragon.
Beyond the Komodo dragon, many animals and insects with the word ‘dragon’ in their name. For example
- Bearded Dragon
- Dragonfly
- Blue Dragon Sea Slug
- Chinese Water Dragon
- Draco Lizard
- Leafy seadragon
- Common seadragon
- Chinese water dragon
- Black dragonfish
- Dragonet
- Jacky dragon
- Dragon moray eel
Although dragons are unique and special creatures rooted in a remote and obscure past, the tuatara (Sphendon punctatus) may well be their visibly closest relative in the real world. Due to their reptilian nature, they are likely close relatives to crocodiles, dinosaurs, and birds, and probably had their origins in the Permian, when the major lineage between the mammals and the reptiles split.
Dracorex is a pachycephalosaur from the end of the Cretaceous Period, which paleontologists identified after the discovery of a spectacular skull. The skull lacks the dome characteristic of this group and instead has spikes and frills reminiscent of a mythical dragon.
Bottom Line: Although dragons do not and never have lived, they have had a strong and pervasive influence across time and cultures.