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A History of Dragons
Chris McNeely
copyright June 2008

Dragon: 1.a mythical monster generally represented as a huge, winged reptile with crested head and enormous claws and teeth, and often spouting fire. 2.Archaic. a huge serpent or snake. 3.Bible. a large animal, possibly a large snake or crocodile

For thousands of years, tales of dragons (also called drakes, draco, serpents and such) have been passed down from generation to generation. Depending on the group telling the story, the dragon is considered either a demon, a god, or a magical creature as old as the earth.

Some of the earliest tales of the dragon began in ancient China. To the Chinese, the dragon is a symbol of valor and honor and good fortune and to see a dragon was a great honor. The Emperors of old China were thought to be dragons bound into a human form and the greatest compliment anyone could give the Emperor would be to call him “Dragon Face.”

In many early mythologies from Asia we find Dragons as either Gods or messengers to the Gods. Unlike the Mideast and later European stories we find little to no fighting and killing of or between Dragons & Gods or normal people and Dragons.

There are many different tales that involve dragons, most of which involve them being fierce, devilish beasts that wreaked havoc wherever it went. Although the tales have different tellings, they can all be divided into two categories; Gods versus monsters before creation, and heroes versus monsters after creation. Later versions of the stories often change the names of the parties about but maintain the basic story line. It is possible that all these stories came from a single source and was later simply adapted, adopted, and some elements changed to suit the civilization telling it. The earlier myths often have a god, usually a storm god or a god armed with thunder and lightning bolts, chasing a dragon that has something to do with water. Examples are almost all of the Mesopotamian stories, the Indian god Indra, both Chinese and Japanese myths, the Mayan Rain Gods, the Egyptian sea dragon/serpent Apophis and pursuer Re, and even many early Semitic stories.

From the very start Dragons were seen as guarding treasures, holding back the floods, and dispensing knowledge. They also are battled by gods or heroes from the very beginning. In many cases stories from the Sumerians were borrowed and slightly changed by the preceding civilizations. These same stories were very similar in content but with the actual names of the participants changed.

Besides the usual tales of dragon’s being God-like and magical, there have also been books written that tell of dragons as any normal animal. The book “The Flight of Dragons” by Peter Dickenson is a wonderful example of this kind of book. Peter Dickenson wrote his book to give a scientific explanation about how dragons could have breathed fire, flew, and even why there aren’t any remains of them today. Of course, this is all scientific guesswork, but all in all Mr. Dickenson makes sense of putting a reasonable explanation to a magical creature.

There are many tales and theories surrounding dragons these days, but there is no real evidence to support any claims made. Are dragons magical beings with the powers of gods? Or are they giant lizards that had more intelligence than man?

That’s up to how you see them.