Dragons are legendary creatures A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature, typically with serpentine Serpentine refers to the curved shape of an object or design which resembles the letter s, a sine wave or a snake; the latter is the derivation of the term or otherwise reptilian traits, that feature in the myths The term mythology can refer to either the study of myths or a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story; however, the academic of many cultures.

The two most familiar interpretations of dragons are European dragons European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe, derived from various European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies, and the unrelated Chinese dragon Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs. In contrast to European dragons that are considered evil, Chinese dragons traditionally. The English word "dragon" derives from Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of δράκων (drákōn), "dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake", which probably comes from the verb δρακεῖν (drakeîn) "to see clearly".^[1]

Overview

Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The European dragon European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe has bat-type wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with no front legs is known as a wyvern A wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, the hindquarters of a snake or lizard with two legs or none, and a barbed tail. The wyvern was often found in mediaeval heraldry. The word is derived from Middle English wyvere, from Old North French wivre "viper". Wyverns are mentioned in Dante's Inferno (. Following discovery of how pterosaurs Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period (220 to 65.5 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the legs walked on the ground, some dragons have been portrayed without front legs and using the wings as front legs pterosaur-fashion when on the ground.

Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label. Some dragons are said to breathe fire or to be poisonous. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs In most birds, reptiles, insects, fish, and two types of mammals an egg (Latin, ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo. When the embryo is adequately developed it breaks out of the egg in the and possessing typically scaly or feathered bodies. They are sometimes portrayed as having especially large eyes or watching treasure very diligently, a feature that is the origin of the word dragon (Greek drakeîn meaning "to see clearly").^[2] Some myths portray them with a row of dorsal spines. European dragons European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe are more often winged, while Chinese dragons Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs. In contrast to European dragons that are considered evil, Chinese dragons traditionally resemble large snakes. Dragons can have a variable number of legs: none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature.

Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many Asian Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic, religion and the universe The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all physical matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space, although this usage may differ with the context . The term Universe may be used in slightly different contextual senses, denoting such concepts as the cosmos,. They are associated with wisdom Wisdom is a deep understanding and realizing of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results with a minimum of time and energy. Wisdom is the ability to optimally apply perceptions and knowledge and so produce the desired results. Wisdom is comprehension of what is true—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity. They are commonly said to possess some form of magic Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is the practice of consciousness manipulation and/or autosuggestion to achieve a desired result, usually by techniques described in various conceptual systems. The practice is often influenced by ideas of religion, mysticism, occultism, science, and psychology.[citation needed] or other supernatural power, and are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers. In some cultures, they are also said to be capable of human speech Speech is the vocalized form of human communication. It is based upon the syntactic combination of lexicals and names that are drawn from very large vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units. These vocabularies, the syntax which structures them, and their. In some traditions dragons are said to have taught humans to talk.

The term dragoon The word Dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel. Dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the late 17th and early 18th, for infantry that moved around on horseback The horse is a hooved (ungulate) mammal, a subspecies of the family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BCE, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Although yet still fought as foot soldiers, is derived from their early firearm A firearm is a device which projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing occurs by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. This process of rapid burning is technically known as deflagration. In older firearms, this propellant was typically black powder, but, the "dragon", a wide-bore musket that spat flame when it fired, and was thus named for the mythical creature.

Origin and etymology

The word dragon derives from Greek δρακων, via Latin draco. It is attested in Middle English Middle English is the name given by historical linguists to the diverse forms of the English language in use between the late 11th century and about 1470, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William Caxton in the late 1470s from the 13th century, in the context of medieval bestiaries A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God, and legends.

The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century. Today the great komodo lizard Varanus komodoensis is also known in English as the Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2 to 3 metres (6.6 to 9.8 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (150 lb). Their unusual size has been. The King James Bible The Authorized King James Version is an English translation of the Christian Holy Bible begun in 1604 and completed in 1611 by the Church of England. Printed by the King's Printer, Robert Barker, the first edition included schedules unique to the Church of England; for example, a lectionary for morning and evening prayer. This was the third such uses the words "serpent", "dragon" and "Devil" in a fairly interchangeable manner.

The association of the serpent with a monstrous opponent overcome by a heroic deity has its roots in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, including Canaanite (Hebrew, Ugaritic The Ugaritic language, discovered by French archaeologists in 1928, is known only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit, near the modern village of Ras Shamra, Syria. It has been used by scholars of the Old Testament to clarify Biblical Hebrew texts and has revealed ways in which ancient Israelite culture finds parallels in the), Hittite and Mesopotamian Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies from parts of the fertile crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq. The Chaoskampf Chaos refers to the formless or void state of primordial matter preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in creation myths, particularly Greek but also in related religions of the Ancient Near East. The motif of chaoskampf is ubiquitous in these myths, depicting a battle of a culture hero deity with a chaos monster, often in the shape of a motif entered Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to the myths and study them in an attempt to throw light on the and ultimately Christian Christian mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Christianity from a mythographical perspective. Many Christians believe that these narratives are sacred and that they communicate profound truths. These traditional narratives include, but are not necessarily limited to, the stories contained in the Christian Bible mythology, although the serpent motif may already be part of prehistoric Indo-European mythology The existence of similarities among the deities and religious practices of the Indo-European peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) religion and mythology as well, based on comparative evidence of Indic Indra, a heroic god, slayer of Vrtra and destroyer of the Vala, liberator of the cows and the rivers; Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods; and Soma the ritual drink dedicated to Indra are the most prominent deities and Germanic Norse mythology has its roots in Proto-Norse Nordic prehistory. It flourished during the Viking Age and following the Christianization of Scandinavia during the High Middle Ages passed into Nordic folklore, some aspects surviving to the modern day material.

The "European dragon European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe" (and its Near Eastern and Indic cognates) myth has quite different characteristics and origins from those of the Chinese dragon Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs. In contrast to European dragons that are considered evil, Chinese dragons traditionally.

Dinosaur and mammalian fossils were occasionally mistaken for the bones of dragons and other mythological creature; for example, a discovery in 300 BC in Wucheng, Sichuan Sichuan (Chinese: 四川; pinyin: Sìchuān; Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province (shěng) in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 (Sìchuān), is an abbreviation of 四川路 (Sì Chuānlù), or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四�, China China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity, was labeled as such by Chang Qu Chang Qu (c.291-c.361 CE) was a 4th century Chinese historian who wrote the Chronicles of Huayang (華陽國志) or Records of the States South of Mount Hua, the oldest extant regional history of China.^[3] Adrienne Mayor has written on the subject of fossils as the inspiration for myths in her book The First Fossil Hunters, and in an entry in the Encyclopedia of Geology she wrote: "Fossil remains generated a variety of geomyths speculating on the creatures' identity and cause of their destruction. Many ancient cultures, from China and India to Greece, America, and Australia, told tales of dragons, monsters, and giant heroes to account for fossils of animals they had never seen alive."^[4] In Australia, stories of such creatures may have referred to the land crocodiles, Quinkana sp., a terrestrial crocodile which grew from 5 to possibly 7 metres in length, or the 4 tonne monitor lizard Varanus priscus (formerly Megalania prisca) a giant, carnivorous goanna Goanna is the name used to refer to any number of Australian monitor lizards of the genus Varanus, as well as to certain species from Southeast Asia that might have grown to as long as 7 metres, and weighed up to 1,940 kilograms, or rainbow serpents (possibly Wonambi naracoortensis) that were part of the extinct megafauna In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. Their original and most common definition is 100 lb, often rounded in the metric system to 40 or 45 kg. This thus includes many species not popularly thought of as overly large, such as white-tailed deer and red kangaroo, as well as humans of that continent.^[5].

In the book An Instinct for Dragons An Instinct for Dragons is a book by University of Central Florida anthropologist David E. Jones, which seeks to explain the alleged universality of dragon images in the folklore of human societies. In the introduction, Jones conducts a survey of dragon myths from cultures around the world and argues that certain aspects of dragons or dragon-like^[6] anthropologist Anthropology is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, the humanities, and social sciences. The term "anthropology", pronounced /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/, is from the Greek ἄνθρωπος, anthrōpos, "human", and -λογία, -logia, "discourse" or "study", and was first David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans just like monkeys have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, large cats and birds of prey. Dragons have features that are combinations of these three. Our instinctive fear for these three would explain why dragons with similar features occur in stories from independent cultures on all continents. Other authors have suggested that especially under the influence of drugs or in dreams, this instinct may give raise to fantasies about dragons, snakes, spiders, etc., which would explain why these symbols are popular in drug culture. The traditional mainstream explanation to the folklore dragons does however not rely on human instinct, but on the assumption that fossil remains of dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous period (about 65 million years ago), when the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event caused the extinction of most dinosaur species, except for some birds. The fossil gave rise to similar speculations all over the world.

By region

Greek mythology

In Ancient Greece Ancient Greece is the civilization belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. At the center of this time period is Classical Greece, which flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC, at first under Athenian the first mention of a "dragon" is derived from the Iliad The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the where Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope; the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra; different mythological versions make him the king either of Mycenae or of Argos. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaeans in the ensuing is described as having a blue dragon motif on his sword belt and a three-headed dragon emblem on his breast plate.^[7] However, the Greek word used (δράκων drákōn, genitive In grammar, the genitive case is the case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take arguments in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses (see Adverbial genitive). Modern English does δράκοντοϛ drákontos) could also mean "snake". δράκων drákōn is a form of the aorist participle active of Greek δέρκομαι dérkomai = "I see", derkeîn = "to see", and originally likely meant "that which sees", or "that which flashes or gleams" (perhaps referring to reflective scales). This is the origin of the word "dragon". (See also Hesiod's Theogony, 322.)

In 217 A.D., Philostratus discussed dragons (δράκων, drákōn) in India in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (II,17 and III,6-8). The Loeb Classical Library translation (by F.C. Conybeare) mentions (III,7) that “In most respects the tusks resemble the largest swine’s, but they are slighter in build and twisted, and have a point as unabraded as sharks’ teeth.”

According to Aelian's On Animals, Ethiopia was inhabited by a species of dragon that hunted elephants. It could grow to a length of 180 feet and had a lifespan rivaling that of the most enduring of animals.^[8]

European

European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element. European dragons are usually depicted as malevolent though there are exceptions (such as Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon of Wales).

Chinese

Chinese dragons (simplified Chinese: 龙; traditional Chinese: 龍; pinyin: lóng) can take on human form and are usually seen as benevolent. Dragons are particularly popular in China and the five-clawed dragon was a symbol of the Chinese emperors, with the mythical bird fenghuang the symbol of the Chinese empress. Dragon costumes manipulated by several people are a common sight at Chinese festivals.

Japanese

Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes (1896:248),^[9] the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws".

Vedic

In the early Vedic religion, Vritra (Sanskrit: वृत्र (Devanāgarī) or Vṛtra (IAST)) "the enveloper", was an Asura and also a "naga" (serpent) or possibly dragon-like creature, the personification of drought and enemy of Indra. Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi ("snake"), and he is said to have had three heads.

Indian

The following detailed account comes from The Life of Apollonius of Tyana by Flavius Philostratus:^[10]

The whole of India is girt with dragons of enormous size; for not only the marshes are full of them, but the mountains as well, and there is not a single ridge without one. Now the marsh kind are sluggish in their habits and are thirty cubits long, and they have no crest standing up on their heads, but in this respect resemble the she-dragons. Their backs however are very black, with fewer scales on them than the other kinds; and Homer has described them with deeper insight than have most poets, for he says that the dragon that lived hard by the spring in Aulis had a tawny back; but other poets declare that the congener of this one in the grove of Nemea also had a crest, a feature which we could not verify in regard to the marsh dragons.

And the dragons along the foothills and the mountain crests make their way into the plains after their quarry, and prey upon all the creatures in the marshes; for indeed they reach an extreme length, and move faster than the swiftest rivers, so that nothing escapes them. These actually have a crest, of moderate extent and height when they are young; but as they reach their full size, it grows with them and extends to a considerable height, at which time also they turn red and get serrated backs. This kind also have beards, and lift their necks on high, while their scales glitter like silver; and the pupils of their eves consist of a fiery stone, and they say that this has an uncanny power for many secret purposes. The plain specimen falls the prize of the hunters whenever it draws upon itself an elephant; for the destruction of both creatures is the result, and those who capture the dragons are rewarded by getting the eyes and skin and teeth. In most respects they resemble the largest swine, but they are slighter in build and flexible, and they have teeth as sharp and indestructible as those of the largest fishes. Now the dragons of the mountains have scales of a golden colour, and in length excel those of the plain, and they have bushy beards, which also are of a golden hue; and their eyebrows are more prominent than those of the plain, and their eye is sunk deep under the eyebrow, and emits a terrible and ruthless glance. And they give off a noise like the clashing of brass whenever they are burrowing under the earth, and from their crests, which are all fiery red, there flashes a fire brighter than a torch. They also can catch the elephants, though they are themselves caught by the Indians in the following manner. They embroider golden runes on a scarlet cloak, which they lay in front of the animal's burrow after charming them to sleep with the runes; for this is the only way to overcome the eyes of the dragon, which are otherwise inflexible, and much mysterious lore is sung by them to overcome him. These runes induce the dragon to stretch his neck out of his burrow and fall asleep over them : then the Indians fall upon him as he lies there, and despatch him with blows of their axes, and having cut off the head they despoil it of its gems. And they say that in the heads of the mountain dragons there are stored away stones of flowery colour, which flash out all kinds of hues, and possess a mystical power if set in a ring, like that which they say belonged to Gyges. But often the Indian, in spite of his axe and his cunning, is caught by the dragon, who carries him off into his burrow, and almost shakes the mountains as he' disappears. These are also said to inhabit the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea, and they say that they heard them hissing terribly and that they saw them go down to the shore and swim far out into the sea.

—Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Persian

Aži Dahāka is the source of the modern Persian word azhdahā or ezhdehā اژدها (Middle Persian azdahāg) meaning "dragon", often used of a dragon depicted upon a banner of war. The Persians believed that the baby of a dragon will be the same color as the mother's eyes. In Middle Persian he is called Dahāg or Bēvar-Asp, the latter meaning "[he who has] 10,000 horses." Several other dragons and dragon-like creatures, all of them malevolent, are mentioned in Zoroastrian scripture. (See Zahhāk).

Jewish

In Jewish religious texts, the first mention of a dragon-like creature is in the Biblical works of Job (26:13), and Isaiah (27:1) where it is called Nachash Bare'ach, or a "Pole Serpent".^[11] This is identified in the Midrash Rabba to Genesis 1:21 as Leviathan from the word Taninim (תנינים) "and God created the great sea-monsters."^[12] In modern Hebrew the word Taninim is used for Crocodiles but this is a 20th century usage unconnected with the original Biblical meaning.^{[citation needed]}

In Jewish astronomy this is also identified with the North Pole, the star Thuban which, around 4,500 years ago, was the star in the Draco constellation's "tail".^[11] However this can also have been either the celestial pole or the ecliptic pole. The ancient observers noted that Draco was at the top of the celestial pole, giving the appearance that stars were "hanging" from it, and in Hebrew it is referred to as Teli, from talah (תלה) - to hang.^[13] Hebrew writers from Arabic-speaking locations identified the Teli as Al Jaz'har, which is a Persian word for a "knot" or a "node" because of the intersection of the inclination of the orbit of a planet from the elliptic that forms two such nodes. In modern astronomy these are called the ascending node and the descending node, but in medieval astronomy they were referred to as "dragon's head" and "dragon's tail".^[14]

Rahab, as described in Psalms 89:9-10 and Isaiah 51:9-10, also has "dragon-like" characteristics.^{[original research?]}

The Merthyr Synagogue features a dragon on the front gable.^[15]

Modern depictions

In the early 20th century sculpture of the Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland, inspired by Medieval art, dragons are a frequent theme--as symbols of sin but also as a nature force, fighting against man.

There are numerous examples of dragons in modern literature, especially the fantasy genre. In the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the major antagonist is a dragon named Smaug. Smaug hoards a great treasure but is ultimately shot down with an arrow by an archer who was told about a soft patch in Smaug's underbelly armor. Other dragons appearing in Tolkien's works include Glaurung, the "father of dragons" created by Morgoth, along with Ancalagon the Black and Scatha. Also, in Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham, a dragon named Chrysophylax Dives is encountered.

Dragons also appear frequently in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling, and are described in the Harry Potter related book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by the same author.

Dragonriders of Pern is an extensive science fiction series of novels and short stories created and primarily written by Anne McCaffrey. Since 2004, McCaffrey's son Todd McCaffrey has also published Pern novels, both in collaboration with Anne and on his own. The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing creatures called "dragons" who have a telepathic bond with their riders, formed by mental impressions which the dragons receive when they hatch from their eggs.

Some modern pseudo-biological accounts of dragons give them the generic name Draco, although the generic name Draco is used in real-world biology for a genus of small gliding agamid lizard. An infectious disease called Dracunculiasis, caused by infection with the Guinea worm which grows up to 3 feet long before emerging from its host, also derives its name from dragons (literally "infestation with little dragons"), based on the burning pain experienced by sufferers.

The Dragons of Probability

Stanislaw Lem, in his whimsical Cyberiad, explores the statistical notion of Dragons. His two fabled Constructors, Trurl and Klapaucius, while satisfied with the impossibility of Dragons, are not satisfied to end the discussion at this point. In line with the White Queen's assertion in Through the Looking Glass that one can "Think of hundreds of impossible things before breakfast", an entire scientific community quickly establishes itself around the study of impossible Dragons.

Statistically improbable, Dragons are the most likely impossible creature to exist, with a higher (though equally near infinite) improbability assigned to Fairies, Gnomes, Pixies, Witches, and Elves, in that order. With the development of Draconology (the Statistical science of determining and describing Dragon Implausibility in a quantifable manner), developments included determining that Dragons exist within Configurational Space, the same statistical environment in which electrons exist and move. Trurl develops the theory of the Dracotron, and uses it in a manner analogous to the Mossbauer effect to detect a Dragon's tail, which nearly costs him his life. In discovering that Dragons exist in configurational space, this explains how in the (incredibly infinitesimally likely) cases where dragons are encountered, the beast when cornered will slip back into this space-time outside of reality. The Beast, being stupid and obstinate, does so instinctively. Trurl and Klapacius have a few adventures involving their statistical science, which involve the quantum mechanical uncertainties associated with Dragons.

In a similar vein, Terry Pratchett also imagines Dragons to be a statistical type of creature, which are most prone to slip out of their imprisoning space (sandwiched in a three dimensional tesselation whose description is reminiscent of the works of Escher) when they encounter the intersection with L-space, Pratchett's description of the special conditions found within libraries, and most particularly the magical library of the Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork.

Creationists' assertions

Some creationists, including Kent Hovind and Bill Cooper, believe that dragons were a form of dinosaur and still exist albeit they are in hiding.^[16]

Cartography

There is a widespread belief that earlier cartographers used the Latin phrase hic sunt dracones, i.e., "the dragons are here", or "here be dragons", to denote dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of the infrequent medieval practice of putting sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas of maps. However the only known use of this phrase is in the Latin form "HC SVNT DRACONES" on the Lenox Globe (ca. 1503-07).^[17]

See also

• Bat (heraldry)
• Ichneumon (In medieval zoology)
• Komodo Dragon
• List of dragons in mythology and folklore
• List of dragons in literature
• Saint George and the Dragon

References

1. ^ Δράκων, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus project
2. ^ Wiktionary.org
3. ^ "Dinosaurs And Cave People". Abc.net.au. 2005-04-14. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/04/14/1334145.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
4. ^ Adrienne Mayor in Encyclopedia of Geology, ed. Richard Selley, Robin Cocks, and Ian Palmer. Elsevier:2004
5. ^ Mackness, B.S. 2009. Reconstructing Palorchestes (Marsupialia: Palorchestidae) — from Giant Kangaroo to Marsupial ‘Tapir’. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 130: 21-36.
6. ^ David E. Jones (2000). An Instinct for Dragons. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92721-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=P1uBUZupE9gC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
7. ^ p.79, Drury, Nevill, The Dictionary of the Esoteric, books.google.com
8. ^ Theoi.com
9. ^ Gould, Charles. 1896. Mythical Monsters". W. H. Allen & Co.
10. ^ Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, translated by F. C. Conybeare, volume I, book III. chapters VI, VII, VIII, 1921, pp. 243- 247.
11. ^ ^{a b} p. 233, Kaplan
12. ^ p.51, Freedman
13. ^ p. 1670, Jastrow ref to Genesis 38:14, Y.Sot.I 16d (bot.)
14. ^ p. 235, Kaplan
15. ^ Kadish, Sharman (2006) Jewish Heritage in England: an architectural guide. Swindon: English Heritage ISBN 190562428X; p. 203
16. ^ Bill Cooper, BA (1995). After The Flood, The Early Post-Flood History of Europe. New Wine Press.
17. ^ Erin C. Blake (1999). "Where Be "Here be Dragons"?". MapHist Discussion Group. Maphist.nl. http://www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html. Retrieved February 10, 2006.

Sources

• Drury, Nevill, The Dictionary of the Esoteric, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2003 ISBN 8120819896
• Freedman, Rabbi Dr. H. (translation), Simon M., editor, Midrash Rabbah: Genesis, Volume one, The Soncino Press, London, 1983
• Littleton, C. Scott. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling. Thunder Bay Press (CA). ISBN 1571458271.
• Rosanna M. Giammanco Frongia; Giorgi, Rosa; Giammanco Frongia, Rosanna M.; Zuffi, Stefano (2005). Angels and demons in art. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. ISBN 0892368306.

Further reading

• Knight, Peter. "Sacred Dorset - On the Path of the Dragon", 1998.
• Manning-Sanders, Ruth (1977). A Book of Dragons. London: Methuen. ISBN 0416581102.
• Mayor, Adrienne (2000). The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08977-9.
• Shuker, Karl (1995). Dragons: a natural history. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684814439.

External links

• Chinese Dragons in the news, BBC
• The Evolution of the Dragon, by G. Elliot Smith, 1919, from Project Gutenberg
• From Many Imaginations, One Fearsome Creature, New York Times, April 29, 2003

Categories: Dragons | Cryptids | Heraldic beasts | Mythological hybrids | Greek loanwords

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