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Dragons in Mythology
| Dragons in Mythology |
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Dragons are a part of Western (Celtic, Slavic, Baltic, Greek and Roman) Mythology, Eastern Mythology and of Babylonian Mythology but also of religions. Mythology often has many religious aspects as have creatures in mythology. While in western mythology, dragons mostly were creatures to fear, in eastern mythology they were seen as good and helpful creatures.
In many old religions dragons were symbolic to the sun or the sun God. The sun (while the sun itself was the symbol of the highest God) in some religions is replaced by the moon and dragons then are symbolic to the moon-God. The old Phoenicians, for instance, imagined the sun by the image of a dragon. Those symbolic dragons are also sometimes referred to as snakes, for snakes are symbols of immortality, the earth and great wisdom and so is the dragon. The dragon has a huge snake-like body but has also wings (most Chinese dragons however do not have wings) and the are most likely symbols of the sky.
Below you will find an ever growing section on dragons in mythology. [*]
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Dragons in Mythology:
Interested in dragons in myths?
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| Dragons in Mythology |
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Apep |
Apep (or Apophis or Apopis), a dragon of Chaos was an Egyptian dragon and can be seen as the opposite of the sun god Re (or Ra). Every day Apep fought with Re, in order to turn the world into darkness. Apep wanted to prevent Re in travelling from east to west across the sky each day. He fought with, storms and darkness and rain against Re. At the end of the day, Apep succeeded and Re made went into the Underworld. This is the moment when darkness (night) covered the earth instead of daylight. Re, however, was reborn the next day, as a matter of fact, he was reborn every day, so Apep had to fight the same battle with Re over and over. This battle can be seen as symbol of the cycle of life and death.
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Cetus |
In Joppa, in the old Greece, the dragon Cetus lived. Cetus called Poseidon, an ancient god of the sea, to destroy the land of Queen Cassiopeia with water. An oracle told Cepheus, Cassiopeia's husband, that the dragon could be stopped if Cepheus would sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to the dragon. Cepheus obeyed the oracle and offered his daughter to Cetus. Perseus, who was able to fly on winged sandals, freed the girl, who was chained to a rock near Cetus, by killing the dragon, after he landed on his back
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Drakon |
Drakons were guardians of treasures in the ancient Greece. They have a sharp eye-sight, are highly alert and posess the wisdom of all ages.
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Fafnir |
Fafnir, a Wyrm ( also called a Wurm) lived in Germany, where he guarded the Ring der Nebelungen (Ring of the Hazes). He was killed by Siegfried (Sigurd) who, after killing the dragon, ate some of his blood. It is said that from that moment on, Siegfried could understand the language of the birds. |
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Jormungandr |
Jormundgandr (also named Jormungand, Iormungand, Midgardsorm, or Midgard Serpent) is the World Serpent in the German and Norse mythology. Jormundgandr lived at the Earth's core. When he moved, a storm would shake up the Earth. The god of thunder, Thor, was sent by his father, Odin, to kill the evil serpent. Thor killed the dragon with his weapon Mjollnir, a hammer, by crushing his skull. Thor also died while killing the dragon, because he had breathed in the poison of the dragon's last breath. |
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Gorynich |
Zmey Gorynich (1) is a dragon present in many bylinas (2) and other tales. In the early bylina „Dobrinya and the Zmey“, the bogatyr (3) Dobrinya Nikitich was told by his mother not to go in the open field because, not to go the nearby mountain and stomp the dragonlings there and not to bathe in the nearby river, becuase the current is strong.
However, Dobrinya was of heroic heart, and he didn't listen. He took his horse Burko, and went to the river. While bathing in the river, he suddenly saw Gorynich in the sky.
Gorynich yelled that he would drown him and bring him to his cave. Gorynich grabbed his lance and hit the gliding dragon. The dragon fell in the river, and Dobrinya jumped to stab him in the chest.
But Gorynich begged for mercy and promised that he would never steal people form the lands of the Rus' (4) again, if Dobrinya never went to the mountain again. However, one day the dragon was flying over Kiev and kidnapped Zabava, the daughter of the grand prince (5).
The prince wanted to gather all his bogatyrs, but he was advised to give the task of returning her to Dobrinya, because the dragon broke his promise to Dobrinya, so Dobrinya would retrieve her „without combat, without dragon blood spilled“.
He appointed Dobrinya to the task.
Dobrinya, riding on his horse, went to the mountain, stomped the dragonlings, which provoked Gorynich. He asked Gorynich to hand Zabava over, but the dragon refused to do so without combat. They fought, and with divine aid (later Christian influence on the epic), Dobrinya outstands the entire battle and slays Gorynich.
Then Dobrinya went to the cave, freed the people he found there, took Zabava and brought her back to Kiev.
This story became a template for all later Russian epics, and it shares many common features with Western tales. However, the romantic element is absent, because the Rus' society had a different ideal of love than the court love of the medieval West.
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) 'Mountain dragon' in Russian
(2) Medieval Russian and Ukrainian epic songs
(3) A medieval Russian heroic warrior, similar to the Western knight-errant.
(4) A medieval realm that included territories of present-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The inhabitants of the Rus' were called Rus' too.
(5) The Rus' was divided into principalities, each ruled by a prince and named after its capital. Principalities were Novgorod, Kiev, Vladimir- Suzhdal... Kiev was the most powerful, and its ruler had the title of grand prince.
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Hala |
In Serbia, Macedonia nad Bulgaria, a multi-headed, multi-winged (numbers differ amongst regions), mostly female dragon of tremendous size and immense strength. It brings hailstorms, dark clouds and strong wind. It can have the form of fog or an eagle. It destroys the crops. The hala battle with St. Elijah (1) and the zmey (2), who guard the fields and crops. They can cause whirlwinds which drive people mad. If they cover the sun or moon with their wings, they will cause an eclipse. Alternatively, if a hala bites the sun it will turn red. They are related to the lamiya (3).
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) Christian saint prophet, in Slavic lands successor of the thunder god Perun.
(2) The Bulgarian Zmey, see Zmey for further information.
(3) See Lamiya for further information.
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Ladon |
Greek legends mention the multi-headed dragon Ladon, killed by Hercules (also known as Herakles) or, in an other version of the myth, killed by Atlas.
Hercules was the son of the god Zeus and Alkmene. Zeus was married to Hera and hated Alkmene. Hercules destiny was to grew up to become a great ruler because he was a grandchild of Perseus and Zeus wanted that grandchild to be that ruler. Hera did not want that child to become the ruler so she gave birth to an other grandchild, Eurystheus (Orysthos).
Eurystheus was born a bit earlier than Hercules so he became king and Hercules started to work for him.
Eurystheus gave Hercules ten tasks to forfeit for which he would get immortality in return (two forfeited tasks were not recognized by Eurystheus, so Hercules had to forfeit two more, which makes twelve). He hoped that Hercules would fail so he for sure would be the only ruler.
One of those tasks was stealing the golden apples of Gaia (earth). The apples were guarded by four Hesperids, daughters of the night and a multi-headed (hundred) dragon Ladon, son of Phorkys and Keto.
Ladon never slept and he was very loud. Eurystheus told Hercules to get the apples form that dragon. After many adventures and long travelling, Hercules found the apples. They were in the land were Atlas held the earth on his shoulder. Hercules offered to hold the earth on his own shoulder for a while if Atlas would kill Ladon. Atlas agreed and killed Ladon and the four daughters of the night. Hercules took the apples after returning the earth to Atlas and presented them to Eurystheus.
In a different version of the myth Hercules versus Ladon, Hercules killed Ladon himself.
The garden where the apple tree was found was in Hades, the underworld. Hercules, who in that version is symbol of the power of the sun (male-sun-god-like) cuts the apples of life and returned them to the world above, after having defeated the blind earth-chaos-dust (the dragon Ladon).
The dragon in that version is presented as a bad demon, hiding the apples of life from the world above.
The myth on Ladon, as well as the one on Tiamat, can be compared with the story of Christ going into hell and his victory on Satan or even more modern, the battle between the sexes. We do have two dragons here, Tiamat and Ladon. Both are presented as being symbolic to the earth, a female symbol. Both have been killed by men, Tiamat by Bel (or Baal) and Ladon by Hercules (or Atlas). The dragon slayers both stole life or created life with that action. We should have learned better by now but who am I to tell you so, I'm only an other dragon.........
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Lamiya |
In Bulgaria and Macedonia, a three-headed, winged, bloodthirsty, mostly female dragon associated with drought and hailstorms. Similar to the hala (1). It guards springs of water and doesn't let humans near them. They ruin the harvest and threaten the fertility of the land. As such they are being pursued by St. Elijah (2) and the zmey (3). The battle between the lamiya and hala on one side and St.Elijah and the zmey on the other causes storms and thunder.
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) See Hala for further information.
(2) Christian saint prophet, in Slavic lands successor of the thunder god Perun.
(3) The Bulgarian Zmey, see Zmey for further information.
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Melusine |
Melusine (France) was married to Raymond of Lusignan. Every Saturday night Melusine turned into a serpent and she did not want her husband to know this so she made him promise never to come to her on a Saturday night. On one Saturday night, her husband broke his promise and came near her, only to see her transformation. Hurt because of his betrayal, Melusine left her husband. |
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Midgard |
The Midgard is also known as Jormungand, Iormungand, Midgardsorm, or Midgard Serpent. See Jormungandr for further information. |
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Nidhoggr |
Nidhoggr, a serpent, lived in the depths of Niflein (or Nifleheim) at the roots of the world tree (or the comic tree), the Yggdrasil (pronounced egg-draw-sill), also known as the Ash Tree. Nidhoggr tried to destroy the foundations of Earth by constantly eating from the third and largest root, but with no result because each morning the Norns, the three sisters who control all things' fate, heal the roots, with the mystic waters from Urdarbrunn, the Well of Fate.
(Scandinavia, Norway)
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Python |
Python, a female Drakon (one of the old greece guardians of treasures), was born our of the mud and slime that remained after Deukalion had been overfloeaded. Python lived peacefully near a well on the hill of Parnassus, until the god Apollo killed it with an arrow. It is said that the oracle of Delphi has been build on the spot where Python was killed.
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Sarkany |
In Hungary a sarkany is a weather demon with many heads which brings hailstorms and bad weather in general. In Croatia a sarkany is a dragon which serves as a mount to St.Elijah.
St.Elijah riding, thus enslaving a dragon is probably an association to Perun defeating Veles (1), or the connection of their roles as rulers of weather.
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) Perun and Veles are Slavic gods, See Veles for further information.
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Smok Wawelski |
Smok Wawelski, or the Wawel dragon lived in a cave under Wawel Hill, near the Polish city of Krakow, on the bank of the Vistula river. He terrorized the city population, stealing their cattle, destroying their homes and killing people. He could only be pleased if a girl was left in front of his cave each month.
However, the city of Krakow after some time sacrificed all of its girls, except for the king's daughter Wanda. The desperate king promised the hand oh his daughter to anyone who could defeat the dragon.
Many knights form Poland and neighboring countries came to slay the dragon, but with no success.
One day, a shoemaker's apprentice named Skuba Dratewka accepted the challenge. He stuffed a lamb with sulphur and set it in front of the dragon cave. The dragon ate the lamb, but the sulphur caused incredible thirst. Then he fled to the Vistula river, and kept drinking and drinking until he exploded.
Dratewka married the king's daughter, and you know the end...[*]
[*] This article has been written by albvan.
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Tiamat
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In the Babylonian Eden-Myth, Tiamat is presented as a wise dragon-like reptile and as a god.
Tiamat was married to Aspu.
While the gods were discussing whether or not to create men, Tiamat opposed against that idea.
The god Bel, a son of Tiamat (Enlil or Bel Marduk, who is called Baal by Christians) fought against Tiamat to make the creation possible.
Aspu was killed first and Tiamat lost the fight and men were created.
Tiamat also is presented as the great mother, the mother of Chaos, bearer of the earth and the sky, after she had been killed. Before that, she was the salt-water while her husband Aspu was the fresh-water.
Tiamat and Aspu had children, human-like gods. One of those gods was called Marduk, the great stone god, (also called Merodach). While those gods wanted to create order by creating men, Tiamat opposed and she lost: it was a heavy fight because Tiamat created lots of other dragon-like creatures and other beings but she was overran by a trick. After killing Aspu, Marduk split Tiamat in half after opening her mouth with wind. Her upper half was then made into the sky and the lower half into the earth. From that moment on she is the bearer of the sky and of the earth. This is one of the ways Pagans explain the world's creation.
(illustration in Gilgamesh,
made by Zabelle C. Boyajian)
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Veles |
Veles or Volos was the Slavic (1) god of earth, waters and the underworld, associated with dragons, cattle, wealth, magic, musicians and trickery. One of the most popular Slavic deities, remembered in many costums, folk songs and medieval chronicles (2).
One of the official gods of Kievan Rus' (3).
A versatile god, with many atributtes that one would expect to be distributed among several gods. He had great power, second only to the power of Perun, the god of thunder and storm , the supreme Slavic god.
Perun and Veles were rivals, who engaged in battle because Veles stole Perun's cattle, son or wife. The battle goes this way: Perun pursues Veles and strikes him with bolts of thunder, while Veles flees and attempts to hide by transforming into trees, people and animals.
Eventually Perun hunts down Veles, kills him and banishes him to the Underworld. Whatever Veles stole is released from his body in a form of rain falling from the sky. However, Veles gets a new body and the battle starts all over again.
Periods of drought were seen as chaos caused by Veles' theft, the following thunder and storm were seen as the divine battle between Perun and Veles, and finally the rain was seen as Perun's victory.
In Slavic mythology, like in some others, the world was represented by the world tree. Veles, in a form of a gigantic serpent, climbs the tree from the roots (the Underworld) to the tree-top (Heaven), where Perun confronts him.
This is one of the most important myths of Slavic mythology, and also a reflection of the ancient Indo-European myth about a thunder god killing a dragon, with parallels in Norse, Baltic (4), Hittite and Hindu mythology. However, the Perun-Veles duality shouldn't be seen as battle between good and evil, because Veles was the protector of sheperds, merchants and travelling musicians, sometimes protecting them from Perun himself.
It should rather be seen as a conflict of natural principles, Veles being associated with water and earth and Perun associated with fire and the sky.
Veles had many other roles in the world of an ordinary Slav. He was the master of the dead, and his home, the underworld, was thought to be on the other side of the ocean.
The Slavs living near the sea burned their dead and placed them on a boat and set it to sail towards the sea, while the continental Slavs burned their dead and placed them in a boat, sending them on the journey symbolically. People swore upon Veles and Perun when making great oaths, for example in state affairs.
Veles punished oath-breakers by sending diseases upon them, and Perun punished by death in battle. It was believed that the sorceror's powers come from him. People tied the first ear of wheat into a „Volos' beard“ to invoke the god's protection of the harvest from evil spirits.
And finally, his name is remembered in names of many places all over Slavic lands, making him probably the most famous and important dragon of Slavic culture in general. [*]
[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) Related to Slavs, the largest family of peoples in central and eastern Europe, and central and northern Asia, related by similar language and culture. The Slavs are divided in three groups: West, South and East. Western Slavs are Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Kashubs and Sorbs. Southern Slavs are Slovenes, Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, Macedonians and Bulgarians. And Eastern Slavs are Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians.
(2) The Slavs began converting to Christianity and writting in the 9th and 10th century AD. During their pre-Christian history they were illiterates and had no writting system, so all information of their old religion was written down in the medieval period.
(3) Kievan Rus' was a large medieval East Slavic state which covered the territories of modern Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Before the arrival of Christianity in the 10th century, it had an offical pantheon of 7 gods: Perun, Veles, Mokosh, Semargl, Khors, Dazhbog and Stribog.
(4) Baltic mythology reffers to Lithuanian and Latvian mythology. It is closely related to Slavic mythology.
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Wawel Dragon |
Also known as Smok Wawelski. See Smok Wawelski for further information.
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Xiuhcoatl |
Xiuhcoatl (the fire-snake or Turquoise Serpent) was an Aztec fire serpent and can be seen as the personification of drought and scorched earth. Xiuhcoatl is often portrayed with a head at each end, as a jade figurine, figurines that are often used as an artifact in ceremonies honoring the gods of fire.
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Zaltys |
A harmless green snake from the Baltic region, whom the Balts (1) held sacred and kept as a guardian of their homes. It brought prosperity to the family and fertility of the soil. It usually had a privileged place under the bed of a married couple or at the table.
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) Balts are Lithuanians and Latvians.
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Zilvinas |
In Lithuanian mythology, Zilvinas, the Serpent King, is a zaltys (1) that fell in love with Egle, the Queen of Serpents. One day Egle bathed in a river, and when she got out she found a serpent in her robe. The serpent didn't want to leave until Egle promises to be his bride. Egle did as he said to get rid of him.
After three days, many serpents came to the family's house with a wagon to claim Egle for the Serpent King. The parents tricked the serpents three times by giving them a white goose, sheep and cow, but in the end they had to give their daughter away.
They went to a nearby island, where the Serpent King greeted her in human form, and from there they descended under the sea to the Serpent King's palace.
Egle gave birth to three sons Azuolas, Uosis and Berzas and a daughter, Drebule. One day the eldest son asked about Egle's parents. Suddenly Egle remembered her old home. Then she asked Zilvinas if she and the children could visit her parents.
He allowed her to visit them, but only if she could solve three tasks: spin out an infinite spindle of silk, ware out iron shoes and bake a pie without pots. She was advised by an old woman to throw the spindle in fire.
When Egle threw the spindle, a toad came out who had been making new silk all the time. Then the old woman told her to bring the shoes to the blacksmith to weaken the shoes with heat and a great hammer. The shoes fell apart after a few days.
Finally, the old woman teached Egle how to make pots from clay. Egle made a pot and baked the pie. Saddened, Zilvinas told her she could leave and how she could summon him:
„Zilvine, Zilvineli!
If alive, foam of milk,
If not, foam of blood.“
If the sea brings out a foam of milk, then Zilvinas is still alive. If it brings out a foam of blood, then Zilvinas is no more. He told Egle not to reveal anyone how he was called.
Egle and her children went to her parent's home, where all her relatives gathered to see her. Secretely, her brothers pondered how to make Egle stay with them, so they questioned the children how the Serpent was called and how could he be summoned.
The three boys said nothing, but the young daughter, Drebule, told them everything after they threatened her with a rod. So the twelve borthers grabbed their scythes, went to the sea shore, summoned the Serpent King and killed him. When Egle went to the sea and summoned Zilvinas, the sea foamed with blood and the voice of her beloved Serpent King told her that her brothers murdered him and their daughter betrayed them.
After this Egle turned her sons Azuolas, Uosis and Berzas into an oak, ash and birch, Drebule turned into a weak willow, and herself into a fir.
Besides the fact that this is a story about loyalty and treatchery, it has a firm mythological backround. Lithuania was a very conservative European nation (for example, it converted to Christianity in the 16th century), so its myths still preserve the ancient idea of dragons as symbols of sexuality and fertility, which was lost in most dragon myths and legends of medieval Europe.
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
(1) See Zaltys for further information.
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Zmey |
Although the word „zmey“ and its variations „zmiy“ and „zmaj“ generally mean „dragon“ in all Slavic languages, this article is about the Bulgarian zmey or dragon, because of its special nature.
It is a complex being, sometimes bad, but often good. It has power over nature and is associated with fertility and sexuality. It had great strength, and by eating its heart one could gain that strength.
The zmey are usually male, but there are female zmey, and they are called zmeyitsas. The zmey could transform into dogs, while the zmeyitsas could transform into bears.
They could fall in love with humans and attempt to seduce them by playing instruments and singing. However, zmey love can be deadly, and it can make humans sick or even die.
That's why humans must drink potions with gentian, tansy or wormwood to heal themselves. But sometimes humans would marry the zmey, and have offsprings, which would have a completely human appearance(except for the tiny wings on the back), and have a dragon nature. Each village had a guardian zmey that protected the harvest and fought the evil forces of drought and hail storms, the lamiya and hala.
These battles caused storms and thunder, which linked the zmey with St. Elijah, or Perun in earlier traditions.
The complex nature of the zmey could be attributed to mixing of Slavic culture with ancient Greek and Thracian culture in Bulgaria in the 7th century, and the dissolution of the dragon-like deity Veles into two opposing characters, passing on its harvest-protecting characteristics to the zmey, and its drought-bringing characteristics to the lamiya and hala.
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[*] This article has been written by albvan.
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[*]The sources that have been consulted for the content of this section can be found in Recommended books and in Credits.
The SDB-(staff)member's name is mentioned in case an article on a specific dragon has been written by a member.
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