Dragon My four moods I need coffee I need a nap shirt
In addition to the medieval dragons of Europe, fabulous dragon-like monsters show up in folklore of the American Indians of the North American plains, and the Maya and Aztecs, most famously as the plumed serpent god Quetzalcoatl.Flag Of BhutanPixabayThe thunder dragon on the flag of Bhutan, a small nation in the Himalayas.India and its South Asian neighbors also have ancient dragon traditions. One even appears on the flag of the small Himalayan nation of Bhutan. Those who stretch the definition of a dragon a bit can even find one in the legends of the Inuit in Canada’s Arctic regionso where did everyone get this idea?Dragon Origin StoriesMesopotamian stories of monster battles are the best candidates for the earliest writings about dragons.In the Babylonian version, a serpentine deity-monster called Tiamat emerged from the sea to threaten all of creation with a return to primordial chaos. The heroic young god Marduk takes up the challenge, slaying Tiamat and rescuing the cosmos.Tiamat The Babylonian Sea DragonWikimedia CommonsThe ancient Babylonian creation myth of Tiamat (left) dates to at least the second millennium B.C.As with other Mesopotamian myths, the Bible contains echoes of this battle. Among other references, the Psalms and the Book of Job tell how the God of Israel vanquished the Leviathan, which is something like a cross between a whale and a snake
Dragon My four moods I need coffee I need a nap shirt
Variations on the story of Tiamat will show up many times in the Mediterranean and European traditions. The opposition of a dragon or similar monster and a heroic savior forms one of the key aspects of Western dragon myths. In many cases, the dragon exists only so that the hero has something to slay.Greek mythology includes several battles with serpent-monsters as well. Zeus secures his rule over the heavens and Earth by using his thunderbolts to kill Typhon, the fire-breathing dragon creature with snakes for legs. The Greeks’ Typhon myth follows an earlier storyline borrowed from neighboring civilizations, including the Hittites.That the Greek word drakōn gives us the English word “dragon.” But the ancient Greeks seemed to use their word to mean something more like a big snake, so it isn’t a perfect translation.
