Dragon''s some of the oldest Mythological Creatures

Dragon''s some of the oldest Mythological Creatures

Dragons are some of the oldest of mythological creatures, they appear in the cultures of almost all ancient societies. In the earliest times, they were shown with the Great Mother or the water god or the warrior sun god. They had the power to be either bad or good and were considered to be the most powerful creatures in the world.

Tales from many cultures, have created these great beasts giving them many different attributes. The images that we see from history, are made up of different parts of many animals. Most seem to have a lot of alligator and snakelike characteristics. Most have a lion's head plus maybe lion's front legs and eagle's feet. Some have wings and can breath fire.

Chinese Dragons occupy a very important position in Chinese mythology. These Ancient China Creatures show up in arts, literature, poetry, architecture, and many other aspects of the Chinese conscience.

Medieval Dragons images from the Middle Ages history, tend to date the mythical creature from a later period than the ancient China dragons. Unlike the Chinese dragons, these dragon images show this creature to be destructive and evil. Also, dragon artwork from this time almost always show evil dragons. (See Picture)

Dragon Images from this time period seem to have a lot of alligator and snakelike characteristics. Most have an alligator's head plus maybe lion's front legs and eagle's feet. Some have wings and can breath fire. (See Dragon Definitions)

These Ancient Dragons are sometimes known as European dragons or Draco. They are portrayed as evil, and fierce man-eating reptiles that have a tail and wings. They have the magical ability to fly and breath fire. These characteristics tend to be very dangerous and can literally destroy many of the Middle Age villages.

According to Western folk tales from the renaissance, these dragons have some strong magical abilities. They collect treasure and gem stones from the villages they sack and guard it very ferociously usually in a cave.

A lot of the dragon fables and dragon tales are about Knights finding the draconian lair and slaying the dragon so as to take its treasure. There are also a lot of dragon fables about rescuing a princess or fair maiden from the dragons lair.

From the ancient most sacred writings of the Hebrews, the dragon represented evil and death. Early Christianity adopted this belief which shows up in many parts of the Bible. Christian art often depicts the dragon as representing sin. Within this art you will find the dragon being destroyed by saints and martyrs to demonstrate winning the battle between Christianity and the Pagans.(See Picture on left.)

Posted by Cynthia