Dragon

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47:29

Dragon

by Benjamin Boster

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In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about dragons. I'll admit, this one is a little more fascinating than others, but don't worry, it's still low enough in the boring spectrum to put you out in a short amount of time. Happy sleeping!

Sleep Mythical Creatures Etymology Mythology

Meet your Teacher

Benjamin Boster

Pleasant Grove, UT, USA

Meet your Teacher

Benjamin Boster

Pleasant Grove, UT, USA

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled, Dragon. A dragon is a large serpentine legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Deliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, But dragons in western cultures, Since the high middle ages, Have often been depicted as winged, Horned, Four-legged, And capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, Four-legged, Serpentine creatures with above average intelligence. The earliest attested reports of draconic creatures resemble giant snakes. Draconic creatures are first described in the mythologies of the ancient Near East, And appear in ancient Mesopotamian art and literature. Mythologies about storm gods slaying giant serpents occur throughout nearly all Indo-European and Near Eastern mythologies. Famous prototypical draconic creatures include the Mushu of ancient Mesopotamia, Apep in Egyptian mythology, Vertra in the Rigveda, The Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible, Grand Ghoul in the Poitou region in France, Python, Leiden, Weverm, And the Lernan Hydra in Greek mythology, Jermungandur, Nidhugur, And Fafnir in Norse mythology, And the dragon from Beowulf. The popular western image of a dragon is based on a conflation of earlier dragons from different traditions and of inaccurate scribbled drawings of snakes. In western cultures dragons are portrayed as monsters to be tamed or overcome, Usually by saints or culture heroes, As in the popular legend of St. George and the Dragon. They are often said to have ravenous appetites and to live in caves where they hoard treasure. These dragons appear frequently in western fantasy literature, Including The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling, And A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. The word dragon has also come to be applied to the legendary creature in Chinese mythology, The dragon's lung, Which is associated with good fortune and is thought to have power over rain. Dragons and their associations with rain are the source of the Chinese customs of dragon dancing and dragon boat racing. Many East Asian deities and demigods have dragons as their personal mounts or companions. Dragons were also identified with the Emperor of China, Who during later Chinese imperial history was the only one permitted to have dragons in his house, Clothing, Or personal articles. Commonalities between dragons' traits are often a hybridization of feline, Avian, And reptilian features, And may include snake-like features, Reptilian scaly skin, Four legs with three or four toes on each, Spinal nodes running down the back, A tail, And a serrated jaw with rows of teeth. Several modern scholars believe huge extinct or migrating crocodiles bear the closest resemblance, Especially when encountered in forested or swampy areas, And are most likely the template of modern dragon imagery. Etymology The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragoon, Which in turn comes from Latin draconum, Meaning huge serpent dragon, From Ancient Greek dracon, Serpent giant sea fish. The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, Not necessarily mythological. The Greek word dracon is most likely derived from the Greek verb derkomai, Meaning I see, The errist form of which is edracon. This is thought to have referred to something with a deadly glance or unusually bright or sharp eyes. Or because a snake's eyes appear to be always open, Each eye actually sees through a big transparent scale in its eyelids, Which are permanently shut. Myth origins Draconic creatures appear in virtually all cultures around the globe. Nonetheless, Scholars dispute where the idea of a dragon originates from, And a wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed. In his book An Instinct for Dragons, 2000, Anthropologist David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans, Like monkeys, Have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, Large cats, And birds of prey. He cites a study which found that approximately 39 people in a hundred are afraid of snakes, And notes that fear of snakes is especially prominent in children, Even in areas where snakes are rare. The earliest attested dragons all resemble snakes, Or have snake-like attributes. Jones therefore concludes that dragons appear in nearly all cultures because humans have an innate fear of snakes, And other animals that were major predators of humans' primate ancestors. Dragons are usually said to reside in dank caves, Deep pools, Wild mountain reaches, Sea bottoms, Haunted forests, All places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors. In her book The First Fossil Hunters, Dinosaurs, Mammoths, And Myths in Greek and Roman Times, Adrian Mayer argues that some stories of dragons may have been inspired by ancient discoveries of fossils belonging to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. She argues that the dragon lore of northern India may have been inspired by observations of oversized, Extraordinary bones in the fossil beds of the Sawalik Hills below the Himalayas, And that ancient Greek artistic depictions of the monster of Troy may have been influenced by fossils of Samatherium, An extinct species of giraffe, Whose fossils are common in the Mediterranean region. In China, A region where fossils of large prehistoric animals are common, These remains are frequently identified as dragon bones, And are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. Mayer however is careful to point out that not all stories of dragons and giants are inspired by fossils, And notes that Scandinavia has many stories of dragons and sea monsters, But has long been considered barren of large fossils. In one of her later books, She states that many dragon images around the world were based on folk knowledge, Or exaggerations of living reptiles, Such as Komodo dragons, Gila monsters, Iguanas, Alligators, Or in California, Alligator lizards. Robert Blust in The Origin of Dragons 2000 argues that, Like many other creatures of traditional cultures, Dragons are largely explicable as products of a convergence of rational pre-scientific speculation about the world of real events. In this case, The event is the natural mechanism governing rainfall and drought, With particular attention paid to the phenomenon of the rainbow. Africa, Egypt In Egyptian mythology, Apep is a giant serpentine creature who resides in the Duat, The Egyptian underworld. The Bremner Rind Papyrus, Written in around 310 BC, Preserves in account of much older Egyptian tradition that the setting of the sun is caused by Ra descending to the Duat to battle Apep. In some accounts, Apep is as long as the height of eight men, With a head made of flint. Thunderstorms and earthquakes were thought to be caused by Apep's roar, And solar eclipses were thought to be the result of Apep attacking Ra during the daytime. In some myths, Apep is slain by the god Set. Nehebkau is another giant serpent who guards the Duat and aided Ra in his battle against Apep. Nehebkau was so massive in some stories that the entire earth was believed to rest atop his coils. Denwen is a giant serpent mentioned in the pyramid texts, Whose body was made of fire and who ignited a conflagration that nearly destroyed all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was ultimately defeated by the pharaoh, A victory which affirmed the pharaoh's divine right to rule. The Ouroboros was a well-known Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. The precursor to the Ouroboros was the Many-Faced, A serpent with five heads, Who according to the Amduat, The oldest surviving book of the afterlife, Was said to coil around the corpse of the sun god Ra protectively. The earliest surviving depiction of a true Ouroboros comes from the gilded shrines in the tomb of Tutankhamun. In the early centuries AD, The Ouroboros was adopted as a symbol by Gnostic Christians and Chapter 136 of Pistus Sophia, An early Gnostic text, Describes a great dragon whose tail is in its mouth. In medieval alchemy, The Ouroboros became a typical western dragon with wings, Legs, And a tail. A famous image of the dragon gnawing on its tail from the 11th century codex Marcianus was copied in numerous works on alchemy. China Archaeologist Zhou Chengfa believes that the Chinese word for dragon is an onomatopoeia of the sound of thunder, Or lung in Cantonese. The Chinese dragon is the highest ranking creature in the Chinese animal hierarchy. Its origins are vague, But its ancestors can be found in Neolithic pottery as well as bronze age ritual vessels. A number of popular stories deal with the rearing of dragons. The Zuozhuan, Which was probably written during the Warring States period, Describes a man named Dongfu, A descendant of Yongxuan, Who loved dragons, And because he could understand a dragon's will, He was able to tame them and raise them well. He served Emperor Shun who gave him the family name Huanlong, Meaning dragon-raiser. In another story, Kangja, The 14th emperor of the Zhai dynasty, Was given a male and a female dragon as a reward for his obedience to the god of heaven, But could not train them, So he hired a dragon trainer named Liu Lei, Who had learned how to train dragons from Huanlong. One day the female dragon died unexpectedly, So Liu Lei secretly chopped her up, Cooked her meat, And served it to the king, Who loved it so much that he demanded Liu Lei to serve him the same meal again. Since Liu Lei had no means of procuring more dragon meat, He fled the palace. One of the most famous dragon stories is about the lord Yi Gao, Who loved dragons obsessively even though he had never seen one. He decorated his whole house with dragon motifs, And seeing this display of admiration, A real dragon came and visited Yi Gao, But the lord was so terrified at the sight of the creature that he ran away. In Chinese legend, The culture hero Fu Xi is said to have been crossing the Lo River when he saw the Lung Ma, A Chinese horse dragon, With seven dots on its face, Six on its back, Eight on its left flank, And nine on its right flank. He was so moved by this apparition that when he arrived home he drew a picture of it, Including the dots. He later used these dots as letters and invented Chinese writing, Which he used to write his book I Ching. In another Chinese legend, The physician Ma Shi Huang is said to have healed a sick dragon. Another legend reports that a man once came to the healer Luo Xinjian, Telling him that he was a dragon and that he needed to be healed. After Luo Xinjian healed the man, A dragon appeared to him and carried him to heaven. In the Shenhai Jing, A classic misography probably compiled mostly during the Han dynasty, Various deities and demigods are associated with dragons. One of the most famous Chinese dragons is Ying Long, Responding dragon, Who helped the Huang Di, The yellow emperor, Defeat the tyrant Qi Yu. The dragon Zhu Long, Torch Dragon, Is a god who composed the universe with his body. In the Shenhai Jing, Many mythic heroes are said to have been conceived after their mothers copulated with divine dragons, Including Huang Di, Shen Nong, Emperor Yao, And Emperor Xun. The god Zhu Rong and the emperor Qi are both described as being carried by two dragons, As are Huang Di, Zhang Zhu, Yu Quang, And Ruo Xu, And various other texts. According to Huang Zi, An evil black dragon once caused destructive deluge, Which was ended by the mother goddess Niuwa by slaying the dragon. A large number of ethnic myths about dragons are told throughout China. The Hao Hanshu compiled in the 5th century by Fan Yi, Reports a story belonging to the Ai Lao Yi people, Which holds that a woman named Xia Yi, Who lived in the region around Mount Lao, Became pregnant with ten sons after being touched by a tree trunk floating in the water while fishing. She gave birth to the sons and the tree trunk turned into a dragon, Who asked to see his sons. The woman showed them to him, But all of them ran away except for the youngest, Who the dragon licked on the back and named Zhu Long, Meaning sitting back. The sons later elected him king, And the descendants of the ten sons became the Ai Lao Yi people, Who tattooed dragons on their backs in honor of their ancestor. The Miao people of southwest China have a story that a divine dragon created the first humans by breathing on monkeys that came to play in his cave. The Han people have many stories about the short-tailed Old Li, A black dragon who was born to a poor family in Xiangdong. When his mother saw him for the first time, She fainted, And when his father came home from the field and saw him, He hit him with a spade and cut off part of his tail. Li burst through the ceiling and flew away to the Black Dragon River in northeast China, Where he became the god of that river. On the anniversary of his mother's death on the Chinese lunar calendar, Old Li returns home, Causing it to rain. He is still worshiped as a rain god. In China, Dragons are closely associated with rain, And drought is thought to be caused by a dragon's laziness. Prayers invoking dragons to bring rain are common in Chinese texts. The luxuriant dew of the springs and autumn annals, A tribute to the Han dynasty scholar Dong Zhengxu, Prescribes making clay figurines of dragons during a time of drought and having young men and boys pace and dance among the figurines in order to encourage the dragons to bring rain. Texts from the Qing dynasty advise hurling the bone of a tiger or dirty objects into the pool where the dragon lives. Since dragons cannot stand tigers or dirt, The dragon of the pool will cause heavy rain to drive the object out. Rain-making rituals invoking dragons are still very common in many Chinese villages, Where each village has its own god said to bring rain, And many of these gods are dragons. Although stories of the dragon kings are among the most popular dragon stories in China today, These stories did not begin to emerge until the eastern Han, When Buddhist stories of the serpent rain god Nega became popular. Taoists began to invent their own dragon kings, And eventually such stories developed in every major Chinese religion. According to these stories, Every body of water is ruled by a dragon king, Each with a different power, Rank, And ability. So people began establishing temples across the countryside dedicated to these figures. Many traditional Chinese customs revolve around dragons. During various holidays, Including the spring festival and lantern festival, Villagers would construct an approximately 16-foot long dragon from grass, Cloth, Bamboo strips, And paper, Which they will parade through the city as part of a dragon dance. The original purpose of this ritual was to bring good weather and a strong harvest, But now it is done mostly only for entertainment. During the Duanwu festival, Several villages or even a whole province will provide a dragon boat race in which people race across a body of water and boats carved to look like dragons, While a large audience watches on the banks. The custom is traditionally said to have originated after the poet Kuo Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Malou River, And people raced out in boats hoping to save him. But most historians agree that the custom actually originated much earlier as a ritual to avert ill fortune. Starting during the Han dynasty and continuing until the Qing dynasty, The Chinese emperor gradually became closely identified with dragons, And emperors themselves claimed to be the incarnations of a divine dragon. Eventually, Dragons were only allowed to appear on clothing, Houses, And articles of everyday use belonging to the emperor, And any commoner who possessed everyday items bearing the image of the dragon were ordered to be executed. After the last Chinese emperor was overthrown in 1911, The situation changed and how many ordinary Chinese people identify themselves as descendants of dragons. Korea The Korean dragon is in many ways similar in appearance to other East Asian dragons, Such as the Chinese and Japanese dragons. It differs from the Chinese dragon in that it developed a longer beard. Very occasionally a dragon may be depicted as carrying an orb known as the yeoju, The Korean name for the mythical sin-ta-mani, In its claws or its mouth. It was said that whoever could wield the yeoju was blessed with the abilities of omnipotence and creation at will, And that only four-toed dragons who had thumbs with which to hold the orbs were both wise and powerful enough to wield these orbs as opposed to the lesser three-toed dragons. As with China, The number nine is significant and auspicious in Korea, And dragons were said to have 81, 9 times 9, Scales on their backs, Representing yang essence. Dragons in Korea mythology are primarily benevolent beings related to water and agriculture, Often considered bringers of rain and clouds. Hence many Korean dragons are said to have resided in rivers, Lakes, Oceans, Or even deep mountain ponds, And human journeys to undersea realms and especially the undersea palace of the dragon king are common in Korean folklore. In Korean myths, Some kings who found kingdoms were described as descendants of dragons because the dragon was a symbol of the monarch. The Aaryong, Who was the first queen of Silla, Is said to have been born from a cockatrice, While the grandmother of Taijo of Goryeo, Founder of Goryeo, Was reportedly the daughter of the dragon king of the West Sea, And King Munmu of Silla, Who on his deathbed wished to become a dragon of the East Sea in order to protect the kingdom. Dragon patterns were used exclusively by the royal family. The royal robe was also called the dragon robe. In Joseon dynasty, The royal insignia featuring embroidered dragons were attached to the robe's shoulder, The chest, And back. The king wore five-talend dragon insignia, While the crown prince wore four-talend dragon insignia. Korean folk mythology states that most dragons were originally emojis, Or lesser dragons, Which were said to resemble gigantic serpents. There are a few different versions of Korean folklore that describe both what emojis are and how they aspire to become full-fledged dragons. Some thought that an emoji could become a true dragon, Yong or Miura, If it caught a yoju which had fallen from heaven. Another explanation states they are hornless creatures resembling dragons, Who have been cursed and thus were unable to become dragons. By other accounts, An emoji is a proto-dragon, Which must survive one thousand years in order to become a fully-fledged dragon. In either case, They are said to be large, Benevolent, Python-like creatures that live in water or caves, And their sighting is associated with good luck. Japan Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China. Like those 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, The Japanese dragon is invariably figured as possessing three claws. A story about the samurai Minamoto no Mitsu Naka tells that while he was hunting in his own territory of Setsu, He fell asleep under a tree and had a dream in which a beautiful woman appeared to him and begged him to save her land from a giant serpent which was defiling it. Mitsu Naka agreed to help and the maiden gave him a magnificent horse. When he woke up, The horse was standing before him. He rode it to the Simuyoshi temple where he prayed for eight days. Then he confronted the serpent and slew it with an arrow. It was believed that dragons could be appeased or exorcised with metal. Mita Yoshisara is said to have hurled a famous sword into the sea at Sagami to appease the dragon god of the sea, And Ki no Tsurayuki threw a metal mirror into the sea at Sumiyoshi for the same purpose. Japanese Buddhism has also adapted dragons by subjecting them to Buddhist law. The Japanese Buddhist deities Benten and Kuanon are often shown sitting or standing on the back of a dragon. Several Japanese sin and immortals have taken dragons as their mounts. Bomo is said to have hurled his staff into a puddle of water, Causing a dragon to come forth and let him ride it to heaven. The Rakan Handaka is said to have been able to conjure a dragon out of a bowl, Which he is often shown playing with on Kagemibuta. The Shashikoko is a creature with the head of a dragon, A bushy tail, Fish-like scales, And sometimes fire emerging from its armpits. The Shifun has the head of a dragon, Feathered wings, And the tail and claws of a bird. A white dragon was believed to reside in a pool in Yamashiro province, And every fifty years it would turn into a bird called the Ogancho, Which had a call like the howling of a wild dog. This event was believed to herald terrible famine. In the Japanese village of Okumura near Edo, During times of drought, The villagers would make a dragon effigy out of straw, Magnolia leaves, And bamboo and parade it through the village to attract rainfall. Southeast The Vietnamese dragon was a mythical creature that was often used as a deity symbol and associated with royalty. Similar to other cultures, Dragons in Vietnamese culture represent yang and godly being associated with creation and life. West Ancient Mesopotamia Ancient peoples across the Near East believed in creatures similar to what modern people call dragons. These ancient peoples were unaware of the existence of dinosaurs or similar creatures in the distant past. References to dragons of both benevolent and malevolent characters occur throughout ancient Mesopotamian literature. In Sumerian poetry, Great kings are often compared to the Usungal, A gigantic serpentine monster. A draconic creature with the four parts of a lion and the hind legs, Tail, And wings of a bird appear in Mesopotamian artwork from the Akkadian period until the Neo-Babylonian period. The dragon is usually shown with its mouth open. It may have been known as the Umunaiiru, Which means roaring weather beast, And may have been associated with the god Ishkur, Adad. A slightly different lion dragon with two horns and the tail of a scorpion appears in art from the Neo-Assyrian period. A relief probably commissioned by Senecareb shows the god Asher, Sin, And Adad standing on its back. Another draconic creature with horns, The body and neck of a snake, The forelegs of a lion, And the hind legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian period until the Hellenistic period. This creature, Known in Akkadian as the Mushusu, Meaning furious serpent, Was used as a symbol for particular deities and also as a general protective emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the underworld god Ninatsu, But later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm god Tishpak, As well as later Ninazu's son Ningish-Zida, The Babylonian national god Marduk, The scribal god Nabu, And the Assyrian national god Ashur. Scholars disagree regarding the appearance of Tiamat, The Babylonian goddess personifying primeval chaos slain by Marduk, In the Babylonian creation epic Enuma-Eles. She was traditionally regarded by scholars as having had the form of a giant serpent, But several scholars have pointed out that this shape cannot be imputed to Tiamat with certainty and she seems to have at least sometimes been regarded as anthropomorphic. Nonetheless, In some texts, She seems to be described with horns, A tail, And a hide that no weapon can penetrate, All features which suggest she was conceived as some form of dragoness. Levant In the Ugaritic Baal cycle, The sea dragon Lotanu is described as the twisting serpent, The powerful one with seven heads. Lotanu is slain by the storm god Baal, But in K2U 1. 5 2-3, Lotanu is slain by the storm god Baal, But in K2U 1. 3 41-42, He is instead slain by the virgin warrior goddess Anat. In the book of Psalms, Psalms 74, Psalm 74 13-14, The sea dragon Leviathan, Whose name is cognate of Lotanu, Is slain by Yahweh, The national god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, As part of the creation of the world. In Isaiah 27-1, Yahweh's destruction of Leviathan is foretold as part of Yahweh's impending overhaul of the universal order. On that day, Yahweh shall punish with his sharp, Great, And strong sword Leviathan, The fleeing serpent, Leviathan, The twisting serpent. He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Job 41 1-34 contains a detailed description of the Leviathan, Who is described as being so powerful that only Yahweh can overcome it. Job 41 verses 19-21 states that the Leviathan exhales fire and smoke, Making its identification as a mythical dragon clearly apparent. In some parts of the Old Testament, The Leviathan is historicized as a symbol for the nations that stand against Yahweh. Rehab, A synonym for Leviathan, Is used in several biblical passages in reference to Egypt. Isaiah 30 verse 7 declares, For Egypt's help is worthless and empty, Therefore I have called her the silenced Rahab. Similarly, Psalm 87 verse 3 reads, I reckon Rahab and Babylon as those that know me. In Ezekiel 29 verses 3-5 and Ezekiel 32 verses 2-8, The Pharaoh of Egypt is described as a dragon, Tanin. In the story of Bel and the dragon, From the apocryphal additions to Daniel, The prophet Daniel sees a dragon being worshipped by the Babylonians. Daniel makes cakes of pitch, Fat, And hair. The dragon eats them and bursts open. Post-classical In Sufi literature, Rumi writes in his Maznavi that the dragon symbolizes the sensual soul, Greed, And lust that need to be mortified in a spiritual battle. In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, The Iranian hero Rostam must slay an 80 meter long dragon, Which renders itself invisible to human sight, With the aid of his legendary horse, Rakhsh. As Rostam is sleeping, The dragon approaches. Rakhsh attempts to wake Rostam, But fails to alert him to the danger until Rostam sees the dragon. Rakhsh bites the dragon while Rostam decapitates it. This is the third trial of Rostam's seven labors. Rostam is also credited with the slaughter of other dragons in the Shahnameh and in other Iranian oral traditions, Notably in the myth of Babra-e-Bayan. In this tale, Rostam is still an adolescent and kills a dragon in the Orient, Either India or China, Depending on the source, By forcing it to swallow either ox hides filled with quick lime and stones or poison blades. The dragon swallows these foreign objects and its stomach bursts, After which Rostam flays the dragon and fashions a coat from its hide called the Babra-e-Bayan. In some variants of the story, Rostam then remains unconscious for two days and nights, But is guarded by his steed, Rakhsh. Unreviving, He washes himself in a spring. In the Mandean tradition of the story, Rostam hides in a box, Is swallowed by the dragon and kills it from inside its belly. The King of China then gives Rostam his daughter and marriage as a reward. South In the Rigveda, The oldest of the four Vedas, Indra, The Vedic god of storms, Battles Vrtra, A giant serpent who represents drought. Indra kills Vrtra using his Vajra thunderbolt and clears the path for rain, Which is described in the form of cattle. You won the cows, Hero. You won the Soma. You feed the seven streams to flow. In another Rigvedic legend, A three-headed serpent Visvarupa, The son of Tvastr, Guards a wealth of cows and horses. Indra delivers Visvarupa to a god named Trita-abdya, Who fights and kills him and sets his cattle free. Indra cuts off Visvarupa's head and drives the cattle home for Trita. The same story is alluded to in the younger Avesta, In which the hero Athratona, The son of Athbya, Slays the three-headed dragon Azhidahaka and slays his two beautiful wives as spoils. Trita-abdya's name, Meaning third grandson of the waters, Indicates that Azhidahaka, Like Vrtra, Was seen as a blocker of waters and cause of drought. The Druk, Also known as Thunder Dragon, Is one of the national symbols of Bhutan. In the Janka language, Bhutan is known as the Druk Yule, Land of Druk, And Bhutanese leaders are called Druk Gyalpo, Thunder Dragon Kings. The Druk was adopted as an emblem by the Drukpa lineage, Which originated in Tibet and later spread to Bhutan. Europe Proto-Indo-European The story of a hero slaying a giant serpent occurs in nearly every Indo-European mythology. In most stories, The hero is some kind of thunder god. In nearly every iteration of the story, The serpent is either multi-headed or multiple in some other way. Furthermore, In nearly every story, The serpent is always somehow associated with water. Bruce Lincoln has proposed that the Proto-Indo-European dragon slaying myth can be reconstructed as follows. First, The sky gods give cattle to a man named Tritos, The third, Who is so named because he is the third man on earth. But a three-headed serpent named Ingwi steals them. Tritos pursues the serpent and is accompanied by Hainer, Whose name means man. Together, The two heroes slay the serpent and rescue the cattle. Ancient Greek and Roman The ancient Greek word usually translated as dragon, Drakon, Could also mean snake, But it usually refers to a kind of giant serpent that either possesses supernatural characteristics or is otherwise controlled by some supernatural power. The first mention of a dragon in ancient Greek literature occurs in the Iliad, In which Agamemnon is described as having a blue dragon motif on his sword belt and an emblem of a three-headed dragon on his breastplate. In lines 820 to 880 of the Theogony, A Greek poem written in the 7th century BC by the Boeotian poet Hesiod, The Greek god Zeus battles the monster Typhon, Who has one hundred serpent heads that breathe fire and make many frightening animal noises. Zeus scorches all of Typhon's heads with his lightning bolts and then hurls Typhon into Tartarus. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, The god Apollo uses his poisoned arrows to slay the serpent Python, Who has been causing death and pestilence in the area around Delphi. The Roman poet Virgil in his poem Cullex, Lines 163 through 201, Describing a shepherd having a fight with a big constricting snake, Calls it serpens and also drako, Showing that in his time the two words were probably interchangeable. Hesiod also mentions that the hero Heracles slew the Lernaean Hydra, A multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of Lerna. The name Hydra means water snake in Greek. According to the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, The slaying of the Hydra was the second of the twelve labors of Heracles. Scientists disagree in which weapon Heracles used to slay the Hydra, But by the end of the sixth century BC it was agreed that the clubbed or severed heads needed to be cauterized to prevent them from growing back. Heracles was aided in this task by his nephew Aeolus. During the battle a giant crab crawled out of the marsh and pinched Heracles' foot, But he crushed it under his heel. Heracles replaced the crab in the sky as the constellation Cancer. One of the Hydra's heads was immortal, So Heracles buried it under the heavy rock after cutting it off. For his eleventh labor, Heracles must procure a golden apple from the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides, Which is guarded by an enormous serpent that never sleeps, Which Pseudo-Apollodorus calls Leden. In earlier depictions, Leden is often shown with many heads. In Pseudo-Apollodorus' account, Leden is immortal, But Sophocles and Euripides both describe Heracles as killing him, Although neither of them specifies how. The mythographer Herodorus is the first to state that Heracles slew him using his famous club. Apollonius of Rhodes, In his epic poem The Argonautica, Describes Leden as having been shot full of poisoned arrows dipped in the blood of the Hydra.