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Recommended readings
| Mythology books |
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Below you will find a list of recommended mythology books, to deepen your study on dragons in mythology.
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| Recommended Mythology Books |
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The Encyclopedia of eastern Mythology by Rachel Storm
The Encyclopedia of eastern Mythology, written by Rachel Storm, 1999 Anness Publishing Limited, London, contains myths of Egypt and West Asia, of South and Central Asia and of East Asia in a very pleasant writing style: the book did never bore me and I never felt to tired to read, so to me it is an amusing book also.
The book discusses the mid-Eastern deluge myths and the dragon feasts. It presents war-gods, demons and many legends. You'll also meet Krishna and Shiva, Ganesha and Kali and dragons like Leviathan and Tiamat.
The book contains pages with topics, for instance snakes and dragons, are discussed but it also contains an alphabetic description of all-important mythological and religious beings, from Apsis and Aspu till Zhu Rong, including their roles in mythology and in religion.
The Encyclopedia not only contains lots of written information but also lots of beautiful pictures, including dragon pictures, drawings and paintings. You see an example of one of one those pictures to the left. It is a drawing of the water dragon Leviathan, made by Arthur Rackham in 1908. I'll quote the text that accompanies the picture.
"Leviathan, the great sea monster, arised on the fifth world-creation day and was symbolic to the power of Chaos, vanquished by Yahweh. Later Jewish traditions tell that Leviathan has been defeated by the angel Gabriel."
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Putnam's Concise Mythological Dictionary by Joseph Kaster
A small but helpful book is Joseph Kaster's Putnam's Concise Mythological Dictionary, published by the Putnam Publishing Group in New York in 1990.
It is a chronological encyclopedia, a who is who from the long last past. It contains persons, names and objects and definitions from all the classics.
In this book, for instance, you'll find that Lotan is an other name for the dragon Leviathan (in Hebrew writing works Lotan was called Leviathan) and that Baal killed Lothan.
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Isis Unveiled by H. P. Blavatsky
Isis Unveiled - a Master-key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology by Helena Blavatsky, is a very complete work of literature (two volumes of 800pages each) and was first published in 1877 and is referred to as the opening blast of Theosophy. It is a great study book for a person interested in religions. I liked to read it during my Wicca study.
Why would I mention such a book in this mythology books section? Because, dragons play major roles in many religions and to understand those roles some understanding of the variety of religions is very useful. Besides of that, Madame Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled is a great eye-opener to those who are stuck in their own thought and believes.
I have to warn you, the books contain no pictures, except the one from the author herself. It is serious reading material but I think you will enjoy every line of it.
If you want to read the book online, go to Theosophical University Press where you can read an online version of both volumes. A quote will be given in the next paragraph (page 138, volume I).
"Eliphas Levi, the modern magician, describes the astral light in the following sentence: "We have said that to acquire magical power, two things are necessary: to disengage the will from all servitude, and to exercise it in control." "The sovereign will is represented in our symbols by the woman who crushes the serpent's head, and by the resplendent angel who represses the dragon, and holds him under his foot and spear; the great magical agent, the dual current of light, the living and astral fire of the earth, has been represented in the ancient theogonies by the serpent with the head of a bull, a ram, or a dog. It is the double serpent of the caduceus, it is the Old Serpent of the Genesis, but it is also the brazen serpent of Moses entwined around the tau, that is to say, the generative lingha. It is also the goat of the witch-Sabbath, and the Baphomet of the Templars; it is the Hyle of the Gnostics; it is the double-tail of serpent that forms the legs of the solar cock of the Abraxas; finally, it is the Devil of M. Eudes de Mirville. But in very fact it is the blind force which souls have to conquer to liberate themselves from the bonds of the earth; for if their will does not free "them from this fatal attraction, they will be absorbed in the current by the force which has produced them, and will return to the central and eternal fire."
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The Book of the Dragon - Ciruelo
I his book "The book of the Dragon" (DAC editions, 2000) Ciruelo not only presents us his paintings of fabulous dragons but also gives his comments and opinion on dragons in general. He describes the dagon's habits and customs while he tries to enter the secret of the dragon, so perhaps even those who do not appreciate the dragon but still see him as an creature worthy of slaying him, will learn to appreciate the grace and beauty of the dragon. |
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Myth and Magic - John Howe
John Howes "Myth and Magic" (full title: Myth and Magic, the art of John Howe), published by HarpersCollins Publishers, 2001, shows an enormous collection of the art of John Howe. Howe, famous for giving visual faces, images and lands to the world of Tolkien's Middle Earth with his paintings for the Tolkien calenders, is also a wonderful painter of dragons and other magical creatures. In his book he not only shares his motivations with his readers but he also and gives an insight in many myths.
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The book of dragons - Joseph Nigg
Joseph Nigg's describes in "The book of dragons" not only dragons but also other creatures. He calls those creatures mythical creatures, creatures out of our imagination. A nice aspect of his book is that he modelled the book according to the Medieval Bestiary books, in which all creatures were presented, real and mythical. In that way he presents all the creatures as if they actually are alive. Besides of that it is easy to read and nice to look at because of all the images. I'm sure children will like this book too. |
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Land of the Dragon: Chinese Myth - Tony Allan, Charles Phillips
"Land of the Dragon: Chinese Myth" by Tony Allan, Charles Phillips (Time Life books, 1998) is a well documented book on the land of the dragon, China. It describes the ancient Chinese Dynasties, rules, religion and Chinese culture and many beautiful images of artifacts and art go along with the text.
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Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt - R. T. Rundle Clark
"Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt" by R. T. Rundle Clark (1991) give one the opportunity to deepen one's knowledge on Egyptian myths, symbols and the old relogion. I wouldn't advice it to a beginner because it assumes the reader already has some relevant knowledge on the topic and the writer tends to end a topic rather abrupt, but for those who are really interested, it is great reading. Reading it before I went on an excursion trip to Egypt surely helped me in understanding all the gods and symbols much better and made them more "alive".
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Gods and Myths of Northern Europe - H.R. Ellis Davidson
"Gods and Myths of Northern Europe" by H.R. Ellis Davidson (Penguin Books 1964) helps you to understand Beowulf, the Valkyries, the Walhalla, Wodan who battled with the underworld dragon of selfishness and false believes (my mother used to tell me that is was Wodan (also known as Odin) who riding his wagon when thunder and storm was ouside and that I would be better to stay inside the house) and is great and catching reading for the beginner and for the more advanced reader.
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