Here There Be Dragons
by Lady Scholastica Joycors
Just the mention of the word dragon elicits images of winged serpent like creatures. Dragons have been recorded in both religious and scientific documents, in legends, folklore, medicine, literature, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts and history. There have always been dragons in fact you can find the words “Here Be Dragons” found on the map Magnus Carta (1539) showing where to avoid dragons and sea serpents. Whether they are real or imagined they are part of our past and seen even today in anthropology, literature, movies, and art. Dragons depending on where you are in the world are considered, magical, mystical, powerful creatures who should be both feared and respected. (Neal)
No one knows exactly where these myths of dragons originated, but we can find references to them in the book of Job in the Bible (Job) as the Leviathan (believed to be the sea-monster Cetus, the same mythological whale sent by Poseidon to attack Ethiopia) is described like a dragon in fantastic detail:
“I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor? Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?...
Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn. Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth…
When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing. The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood…
Nothing on earth is its equal—a creature without fear. It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”
Many archaeologists believe that the myths of dragons originated from ancient peoples’ discovery of unfathomably large, long-necked dinosaur fossils. For instance, the Qijianglong was a dinosaur that lived 160 million years ago and measured approximately 49 feet (15 m) long. Its fossil was discovered by construction workers in China. One by one, they uncovered the massive vertebrae stretched out in a row in the earth. Is it then hard to imagine that people in ancient China finding these skeletons and creating stories to explain their origin, it has been suggested that the Chinese have been finding and studying dinosaur fossils at least as far back as the 4th century B.C. (Sullivan)
The Chinese seem to have embraced the dragon as part of their culture more than any other. They believe the dragon to be a just and benevolent creature. It is for this reason dragons became associated with rulership and especially the emperors of China who, in their capacity as the holders of the Mandate of Heaven as God's representative on earth, must always rule in a just and impartial manner for the good of all their subjects, for this reason you will find the dragon motif found not only on their robes but on all royal furnishings and architecture.
It is also believed that Chinese rulers should emulate dragons because they are considered one of the four most intelligent animals (along with the phoenix, unicorn, and tortoise) It is also believed that Chinese rulers should emulate dragons because they are considered one of the four most intelligent animals (along with the phoenix, unicorn, and tortoise) in creation. One famous myth tells of a dragon actively helping a ruler, Yu the Great (c. 2070
BCE), the legendary founder of the Xia dynasty, who was helped by a dragon (or actually was a dragon) and a turtle to manage the floodwaters which were devastating his kingdom and so control them into a better irrigation system. (Cartwright)
While the Chinese may have found dragons to be benevolent, not everyone felt the same way you can find tales of heroic dragon slayers in folklore which was passed down for generations. In medieval Europe, depictions of dragons showed up in flags, coat of arms, and across the pages of history books. (Neal) You can find places across the world where what people supposed to “real” dragons are preserved and on display, or immortalized by statues, sculptures, or painting. Here are a few places which display their dragons:
Brno Czech Republic: The most popular legend tells of a large beast, which the people called a dragon, which came to Brno and ate all the livestock, the people were terrified and
merchants stopped coming to the city and women not go to the market. One day a visiting butcher had a brilliant idea. The butcher took an ox hide and filled it with a large amount of caustic limes and sewed it up to make it look like a juicy meal for the dragon. As predicted the beast came and ate the ox and this made the dragon very thirsty and so it drank a large amount of water at the river which caused its stomach to expand and it burst. The citizens celebrated by preserving the dragon hide (which looks like an enormous alligator) and hung it in the Old Town Hall, where it hangs to this day. Truth or legend you decide. (Old Town Hall of Brno and the legends of the Dragon and the wheel)
Krakow, Poland: Poland’s Wawel Cathedral holds the remains of a number of Polish royals as well as some of the country’s most famous religious art, but the real attraction is the hanging bundle of bones which are rumored to have belonged to a local dragon. Legends of the Wawel dragon have similarities with the biblical story about Daniel and the Babylonian dragon. Similar stories are told about Alexander the Great the Krakow story has its own pre-Christian origins. It seems that King Krakus ordered his men to stuff the flesh of a calf skin with sulfur and placed it outside the dragon’s lair. The dragon ate it and became so thirsty, it turned to the Vistual River and drank until it burst.
Hanging next to the cathedral’s entrance are the “real” bones of Smok Waweleski, the local dragon, who before the city was founded was said to live in a cave under one of Wawel’s rolling hills. The bones are chained together in a random jumble, hanging high above the main doors, legend has it that the end of the world will come when the bones fall to the ground.
Atessa, Italy: A preserved “dragon” rib memorializes the legend of the founding of the city of Atessa. The large bone is held behind glass in a viewing case that is itself behind iron bars. The long, curved bone is believed by skeptics to be a part of a mammoth skeleton, but this has no more been vilified than its belonging to a dragon. (Neal)
The local legend says that Atessa was once two different villages, Ate and Tixa. The two small villages were separated by a marsh or river which was nearly impossible to cross due to the dragon that lived in there. After spending years giving tribute to the dragon in the form of food and livestock, the two villages decided to seek the help of a specialist: Leucio, Bishop of Brindisi and dragon-buster, who had already supposedly already killed a dragon in his city. The man went into the lair by himself and subdued the vile creature with only his glance and willpower, chained the monster for seven days to satisfy folks’ curiosity, then killed it. The dragon’s magical blood was used to cure diseases and to turn the marsh into fertile farmland. After this epic struggle, the two villages merged together and a church was built directly over the dragon’s lair to honor Saint Leucio.
Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria: According to the legend, in the 13th century a dragon, Lindwurmbrunnen, was wreaking havoc in Klagenfurt until a brave man caught it like a fish. In 1335, the dragon’s skull (unfortunately in the 1800s zoologists realized it belonged to an Ice Age woolly rhinoceros) was found in a nearby quarry aptly known as Dragon’s Grave. For decades the skull was proudly displayed in the capital city of Carinthia’s town hall. Later, it was brought to life in a medieval sculpture and fountain still seen today. The woolly rhino’s jawless skull is still on display at the State Museum of Carinthia.
Königswinter, Germany: Nibelungenhalle, a stone temple decorated with scenes from Richard Wagner’s fantastic Opera “Ring of the Neibelung” was based on the legend of Siegfried and the dragon Fafnir. Both living and sculpted, they recall the famous giant-turned-dragon, Fafnir. The story is the centerpiece in the epic Volsunga Saga, in which Siegfried kills Fafnir, who had been transformed into a hideous dragon by a powerful curse. In the legend, Fafnir guarded a hoard of golden treasure. The dragon was so huge that the very ground shook when he walked. At Drachenfels (“Dragon Rock”), Konigswinter on the Rhine, a large statue of a typical dragon lurks near the ruins of a castle built on the summit of the hill in about 1150. A cave below was believed to be Fafnir’s lair.
In legends and folktales, dragons are magical--yet early naturalists often treated these creatures as part of the natural world. Biologists in Europe once wrote accounts of the behavior and habitat of dragons, along with lizards and snakes. Chinese scholars have classified the dragon as one of the 369 animal species with scales. It was not the live dragons that inspired all the stories, but the fossils of these extinct reptiles.
Things that have been said have been recorded in so many places, here are just a few:
"For using dragon's bones, first cook odorous plants; bathe the bones twice in hot water, pound them to powder and put this in bags of gauze. Take a couple of young swallows and, after taking out their intestines and stomach, put the bags in the swallows and hang them over a well. After one night take the bags out of the swallows, rub the powder and mix it into medicines for strengthening the kidneys. The efficacy of such a medicine is as it were divine!" --Chinese medical scholar Lei Xiao (AD 420-477)
"The dragons of the mountains have scales of a golden color, and in length excel those of the plain, and they have bushy beards, which also are of a golden hue; and their eye is sunk deep under the eyebrow, and emits a terrible and ruthless glance." --Greek scholar Philostratus (c. AD 170-245)
So yes, dragons have dotted our past but we can’t let go of the idea of dragons as they appear in so many of today’s movies, books, and more. Stories and legends are filled with the fighting of dragons from Beowulf to St. George and the Dragon even back to the Bible. What are we to do? I say dragons are real and we should let those dragons fly even if they are just dragonflies.
References:
Cartwright, Mark. The Dragon in Ancient China. 29 September 2017. August 2019. <https://www.ancient.eu/article/1125/the-dragon-in-ancient-china/>.
"Dragons in History." n.d. Genesis Park. August 2019. <https://www.genesispark.com/exhibits/evidence/historical/dragons/>.
Job. New Oxford Annotated Bible. New York: Oxford UP, 2010.
"Natural History of Dragons." n.d. American Musuem of Natural History. August 2019. <www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/dragons/natural-history-of-dragons>.
Neal, Meg. "Here Be Dragons." 13 July 2017. Atlas Obsura. August 2019. <https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/here-be-dragons>.
Old Town Hall of Brno and the legends of the Dragon and the wheel. May 2019. August 2019. <https://random-times.com/2019/06/01/old-town-hall-of-brno-and-the-legends-of-the-dragon-and-the-wheel/>.
Radford, Benjamin. "Dragons: A Brief History of the Mythical, Fire-Breathing Beasts." April 11 2019. Live Science. 15 August 2019.
Sullivan, Kerry. "Dragons: Exploring the Ancient Origins of the Mythical Beasts." 7 August 2016. Ancient Origins. August 2019. <https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/dragons-exploring-ancient-origins-mythical-beasts-006407>.
"The Surprising History of Dragons." n.d. Google Arts and Culture. 15 August 2019. https://artsandculture.google.com/theme/CgJyM6TaZ5rRJg
©MyLinda Butterworth (scholastica.ppa@gmail.com) This article first appeared in The Yeoman: September 2019.
Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy.
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