In Western culture, the "dragon" has always been a representative of evil, the object of slaughter by brave princes and knights. So, where did the Western Dragon come from, and why has it always been a villain? Let's talk about the past and present lives of Western dragons.
01
First of all, we need to define, what is a Western dragon? From the perspective of mainstream art works in Europe and the United States, Western dragons are similar in size to large lizards, have wings, and can fly; Murderous by nature, good at breathing fire; Greedy, likes to entrench on treasure, likes to imprison beautiful princesses, and kills all those who covet treasures.
Did the Western dragon originate in ancient Greek mythology?
Talking about the origin of Western history, ancient Greek mythology is naturally indispensable. Therefore, many people believe that the Western dragon originated in ancient Greek mythology. Of course, there is evidence for this, such as the Greek mythology in which Cadmus assassinated the poisonous dragon, Hercules and the golden apple, Iasong stole the Golden Fleece, etc., and dragons appeared.
So the question is, is the evil dragon in ancient Greek mythology really a Western dragon?
Cadmus on a clay pot from the 6th century BC
Let's take a brief look at the description of "dragon" in ancient Greek mythology. Cadmus's servants went to the forest to fetch water and encountered a poisonous dragon with a shining crown, crimson eyes, a huge body covered with scales, three letters spit out, and three rows of sharp teeth in its mouth.
The dragon's attack method was to coil its body, curl up and shrug forward, raise its head, and rush towards the servants. It killed some people, strangled some people, poisoned some people, and finally Cadmus killed it with a spear and a sword.
02
Why doesn't this dragon breathe fire, why doesn't it have wings, why does it look so much like a snake?
In the story of Hercules, the guardian of the golden apple is an immortal dragon with a hundred heads and a hundred different sounds from a hundred mouths. Legend has it that the dragon's parents were Typhon and Ichidena. Typhon is a titan, and Echidena is the "mother of monsters" who is half-human, half-snake.
The evil dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece is said to be the brother of the dragon above. In the story, when Iasong and Medea discover the dragon, the dragon sees someone coming, so he cranes his neck and swims towards them. Medea used her magical hypnotic singing voice to make the dragon sleepy, and at this time the dragon's arched back hung down, and its hovering body slowly stretched out...
Dragons on pottery from the 5th century BC
Obviously, the evil dragon encountered by Iasong is very similar to the poisonous dragon encountered by Cadmus, both in image and in the way of movement, it is very similar to a giant snake.
Therefore, the dragon in ancient Greek mythology is actually a giant serpent. In fact, the English "dragon" for Western dragon is originally derived from the Greek word "drakon" - the word in Greek, originally meaning giant sea serpent. This means that what Westerners now call dragon refers to a dragon, but the original meaning of "dragon" in ancient Greek mythology should be "giant snake".
In this way, it is understood that the Western dragon in the modern sense, and the dragon in ancient Greek mythology, are not a kind of monster. Western dragons in the modern sense cannot be identified as originating in ancient Greek times. If you look at the artifacts of ancient Greece and Rome, the image of the dragon on it is actually a snake.
03
Since the Western dragon did not come from ancient Greek mythology, where did it come from?
In the 8th century, the Nordic people living in Scandinavia completed the famous Beowulf. This narrative long poem, later hailed as one of the three heroic epics of European literature, was very influential.
The story told in Beowulf is simple, the ancient Danish king built a large temple, so he drank day and night to celebrate, only to be attacked by the monster Columdo. The ancient Danes could not defeat the monsters, and Beowulf, the lord of southern Sweden, led a group of soldiers to help the ancient Danes.
The evil dragon in the film and television series "Beowulf"
The monster ate one of Beowulf's soldiers and went on a rampage. Beowulf was very calm and found the right moment to fight back. The monster was injured and fled, but left an arm behind. The monster soon dies, and later Beowulf kills the monster's mother.
50 years later, a slave escapes, walks into the cave where the dragon is hiding, and steals a gold cup. It was the dragon's favorite golden cup, and it was so angry that it immediately flew out of the cave to find it, constantly breathing fire and burning the human village. Later, the dragon even burned down Beowulf's main hall. This angered Beowulf, who set out once again to fight the dragon, and both sides ended up together.
The image of the modern Western dragon is actually derived from "Beowulf". In this heroic epic, the dragon is the ultimate villain, a huge monster with wings that attacks humans by breathing fire. Moreover, the dragon guards the treasure, and because the treasure is stolen, it is a disaster to the world.
It is clear that the dragon in Beowulf fits perfectly with the image of the modern Western dragon. So, the Western dragon should have originated in Norse mythology.
04
How did a fire-breathing dragon from Northern Europe become the target of European knights?
At the time Beowulf was completed, Western Europe was suffering one of the greatest disasters in history, the Viking invasion. Vikings from Scandinavia, wielding tomahawks to kill and plunder, left early medieval Europeans living in hell.
There is reason to believe that during that era, the legend of the fire-breathing dragon also spread to most of Europe with the Vikings. It should be influenced by the ancient Greek and Roman culture, and Christianity itself calls the evil dragon the devil and is the representative of evil. Therefore, Europeans believe that the Vikings who burn and loot are the devil, and their legendary fire-breathing dragon is the biggest villain.
Therefore, it is natural that various stories of "knights slaying dragons" appeared. And the earliest version should be the story of "St. George Slaying the Dragon".
St. George Slays the Dragon
When the story of St. George slaying the dragon first originated is no longer verifiable. The earliest mention of it now appears in the Gregory texts of Asia Minor in the 11th century. In the 13th century, in the Italian Jacopo Varagine's "Legend of Gold", this story appeared again.
Legend has it that in a small country, people rely on a small lake for their drinking water. However, a dragon lived in the lake, which threatened the king that he had to sacrifice two sheep a day before he could let people fetch water. In order to drink water, the people could only sacrifice sheep every day according to the requirements of the dragon.
However, the small country was poor, and the sheep were soon sacrificed. The dragon made a new request, asking the people to provide a maiden every day and sacrifice it to it. The people had no choice, so they selected a girl every day to give to the evil dragon by drawing lots. It wasn't long before it was the king's daughter's turn.
The princess was sent to the lake to wait for the dragon to appear. Just then, St. George rode by, and after hearing about it, he successfully killed the dragon and saved the princess by wearing armor and holding a spear, and protecting himself from harm with a cross.
05
The story of St. George's dragon slaying was widely spread in medieval Europe, and if you look closely at the paintings of medieval related themes, you will find that the dragon in the painting is very similar to the "fire-breathing dragon": a lizard-like body, wings, and can breathe fire.
From the middle of the Middle Ages, the story of "knights slaying dragons" began to circulate widely. The rise of the knight class requires some legendary stories to improve their status, kill the dragon and save the princess - such a passionate and easy-to-understand story can naturally spread quickly.
Therefore, since then, various dragon slaying stories have begun to circulate in Europe, probably similar to "St. George Slaying the Dragon", all of which emphasize the horror and greed of the evil dragon and praise the bravery of the knight.
In this way, the image of the Western dragon is basically fixed. Until now, the image of the evil dragon in Western art has not changed much. In the foreseeable future, the main image of the Western dragon should still be the villain...