The myth of DRAGONS
Dragons have appeared independently in the art, mythology and folklore of many cultures and civilisations throughout history.
The word ‘dragon’, first entered the English language in the 13th century, derived from the Latin ‘dracōnis’ and the Greek ‘drakōns’.
One of the earliest depictions portray dragons as giant snakes in the mythologies of the ancient Near East, particularly in Mesopotamian art and literature, where dragon-like creatures are described in the Epic of Creation, the Enuma Elish, from the late 2nd millennium BC.
Other draconic creatures, the Bašmu and ušumgal also appear in text from the Akkadian Period, with the most recognised being the Mušmaḫḫū, meaning ‘reddish snake’ or ‘fierce snake, depicted on the Ishtar Gate at the city of Babylon.
In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Apep or Apophis is a giant serpentine creature who resides in the realm of the dead or below the horizon. First mentioned during the 8th Dynasty (2181 BC to 2160 BC), Apep was born from Ra’s umbilical cord and was the opponent of light and Ma’at, locked in epic duels through the ages with Ra.
Nehebkau is another giant serpent who guards the Duat and aided Ra in his battle against Apep. Although originally considered an evil spirit, he later functions as a funerary god associated with the afterlife and one of the forty-two assessors of Ma’at.
The Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, an ancient Egyptian funerary text found in the tomb of Tutankhamun depicts the ouroboros, an ancient symbol showing a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The symbol persisted in Egypt into Roman times, when it frequently appeared on magical talismans, sometimes in combination with other magical emblems.
In Zoroastrian literature from Iran and Persia, dragons such as Aži Dahāka, meaning ‘Avestan Great Snake’, were seen as the personification of sin and greed. In Persian Sufi literature, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī also suggests that dragons symbolise the sensual soul, greed and lust, that needs to be mortified in a spiritual battle.
Dragons (Ancient Greek: drakōns) played a significant role in Ancient Greek mythology, often appearing with a poisonous spit, although fiery breath is attested in several myths. Some depictions also show the drakaina, a female serpent with several features of a human woman.
Many Greek heroes fought or encountered draconic creatures. Heracles slayed the Lernaean Hydra, Jason drugged a sleepless dragon guarding the Golden Fleece, Zeus battled the monster Typhon, and Cadmus fought the dragon of Ares.
The Romans had little interest in developing new dragon (Latin: dracōnis) traditions of their own, mainly adapting the mythology of the Ancient Greeks to suit their needs. During the 2nd century AD after the Dacian wars, the Roman military used the draco as their military standard of the cohort, as the eagle (aquila) was that of the legion.
In Asia, notably China, dragons (Chinese: lóng) were associated with good fortune and would traditionally symbolise potent and auspicious powers. Dragons would often accompany gods and demigods as their personal mounts or companions, while Chinese Emperors would use a dragon symbol to project his imperial strength.
The earliest draconic zoomorphic depictions date from the Xinglongwa culture between 6200–5400 BC, while the Hongshan culture may have introduced the Chinese character for ‘dragon’ between 4700 to 2900 BC.
The traditional image of the Chinese dragon appeared during the Shang (1766 to 1122 BC) and Zhou (1046 BC – 256 BC) dynasties, evolving into the Yinglong, a winged dragon that the scholar, Chen Zheng, proposes is the origin of the ‘image of the real dragon’.
Artistic creations would evolve Yinglong to have flame or cloud patterns instead of wings, eventually replacing Yinglong with the image of a wingless Yellow Dragon in Chinese art forms.
A cosmological diagram of the Dragon God presents the concept of dragons in Chinese culture and the cosmological Sihai Longwang ‘Dragon King of the Four Seas’. Each Dragon King is associated to a colour and a body of water, with the Azure Dragon or Blue-Green Dragon representing the east and the essence of spring, the Red Dragon the south and the essence of summer, the Black Dragon the north and the essence of winter, the White Dragon the west and the essence of autumn, and then there’s the yellow dragon, who is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Yellow Emperor.
It is most likely that the Chinese dragon influenced many Asian countries, with Korea dragons being depicted with longer beards and sometimes shown carrying a giant orb known as the yeouiju. Korean mythology describes dragons originating from serpent like proto-dragons called imugis, that aspired to become a true dragon if it caught a Yeouiju which had fallen from heaven.
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