Editing Dragon (section)

===Ancient Greece===
{{Main|Dragons in Greek mythology}}
[[File:Fragmentary jar with scene of Herakles slaying the Hydra of Lerna, South Italy, 375-340 BC, ceramic - Fitchburg Art Museum - DSC08671.JPG|thumb|right|Greek [[red-figure]] vase painting depicting [[Heracles]] slaying the [[Lernaean Hydra]], {{circa}} 375–340 BC]]

The ancient Greek word usually translated as "dragon" ({{lang|grc|δράκων}} ''drákōn'', [[genitive]] {{lang|grc|δράκοντοϛ}} ''drákontos'') could also mean "snake",<ref>Chad Hartsock, ''Sight and Blindness in Luke-Acts: The Use of Physical Features in Characterization'', Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2008, [https://archive.org/details/sightblindnessin00chad/page/193 pp. 193–4].</ref>{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=2–4}} but it usually refers to a kind of giant serpent that either possesses supernatural characteristics or is otherwise controlled by some supernatural power.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=2–3}} 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 breast plate.<ref>Drury, Nevill, ''The Dictionary of the Esoteric'', Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2003 {{ISBN|81-208-1989-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=k-tVr09oq3IC&dq=earliest+mention+of+dragon&pg=PA79 p.79] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227000311/https://books.google.com/books?id=k-tVr09oq3IC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=earliest+mention+of+dragon&source=web&ots=fxq_n3SLTa&sig=zKfmIXx1BT3nQAZq3I0vkx9akhM&hl=en |date=27 December 2016 }}.</ref> In lines 820–880 of the ''[[Theogony]]'', a Greek poem written in the seventh century BC by the [[Boeotia]]n 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.{{sfn|West|2007|page=257}} Zeus scorches all of Typhon's heads with his lightning bolts and then hurls Typhon into [[Tartarus]]. In other Greek sources, Typhon is often depicted as a winged, fire-breathing serpent-like dragon.{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}} In the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Apollo]]'', the god [[Apollo]] uses his [[Arrow poison|poisoned arrows]] to slay the serpent [[Python (mythology)|Python]], who has been causing death and pestilence in the area around [[Delphi]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=47–48}}{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hesiod |title=Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1914 |publication-date=2005 |pages=122–134 |translator-last=Hine |translator-first=Daryl |chapter=To Pythian Apollo}}</ref> Apollo then sets up his shrine there.{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}}

The Roman poet [[Virgil]] in his poem [[Appendix Vergiliana#Culex ("The Gnat")|''Culex'']], lines 163–201 [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/appvergculex.html Appendix Vergiliana: Culex], describing a shepherd having a fight with a big [[constriction|constricting snake]], calls it "[[wikt:serpent|serpens]]" and also "[[wikt:draco|draco]]", showing that in his time the two words were probably interchangeable.

[[File:Douris cup Jason Vatican 16545.jpg|thumb|left|Attic red-figure kylix painting from {{circa}} 480–470 BC showing Athena observing as the [[Colchis|Colchian]] dragon disgorges the hero [[Jason]]{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=59}}{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=62}}]]
Hesiod also mentions that the hero [[Heracles]] slew the [[Lernaean Hydra]], a multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of [[Lerna]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=28–29}} The name "Hydra" means "water snake" in Greek.{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}}{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=28}} According to the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheka]]'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus, the slaying of the Hydra was the second of the [[Labors of Hercules|Twelve Labors of Heracles]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=26–27}}{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}} Accounts disagree on which weapon Heracles used to slay the Hydra,{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}} but, by the end of the sixth century BC, it was agreed that the clubbed or severed heads needed to be [[Cauterization|cauterized]] to prevent them from growing back.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=26}}{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}} Heracles was aided in this task by his nephew [[Iolaus]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=26}} During the battle, a giant crab crawled out of the marsh and pinched Heracles's foot,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=26–27}} but he crushed it under his heel.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=27}} [[Hera]] placed the crab in the sky as the constellation [[Cancer (constellation)|Cancer]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=27}} One of the Hydra's heads was immortal, so Heracles buried it under a heavy rock after cutting it off.{{sfn|West|2007|page=258}}{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=27}} For his Eleventh Labor, Heracles must procure a [[golden apple]] from the tree in the [[Hesperides|Garden of the Hesperides]], which is guarded by an enormous serpent that never sleeps,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=33}} which Pseudo-Apollodorus calls "[[Ladon (mythology)|Ladon]]".{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=33–34}} In earlier depictions, Ladon is often shown with many heads.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=37}} In Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, Ladon is immortal,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=37}} but [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]] both describe Heracles as killing him, although neither of them specifies how.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=37}} Some suggest that the golden apple was not claimed through battle with Ladon at all but through Heracles charming the Hesperides.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hesperia {{!}} American School of Classical Studies at Athens |url=https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/publications/hesperia/article/33/1/76-82 |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=ascsa.edu.gr |archive-date=19 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219205908/https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/publications/hesperia/article/33/1/76-82 |url-status=live }}</ref> The mythographer [[Herodorus]] is the first to state that Heracles slew him using his famous club.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=37}} [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], in his epic poem, the ''[[Argonautica]]'', describes Ladon as having been shot full of poisoned arrows dipped in the blood of the Hydra.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=38}}

In [[Pindar]]'s ''Fourth Pythian Ode'', [[Aeëtes]] of [[Colchis]] tells the hero [[Jason]] that the [[Golden Fleece]] he is seeking is in a [[Coppicing|copse]] guarded by a dragon, "which surpassed in breadth and length a fifty-oared ship".{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=59–60}} Jason slays the dragon and makes off with the Golden Fleece together with his co-conspirator, Aeëtes's daughter, [[Medea]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=60}} The earliest artistic representation of this story is an Attic red-figure ''[[kylix]]'' dated to {{circa}} 480–470 BC,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=58–59}} showing a bedraggled Jason being disgorged from the dragon's open mouth as the Golden Fleece hangs in a tree behind him and [[Athena]], the goddess of wisdom, stands watching.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=58–59}}{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=62}} A fragment from [[Pherecydes of Athens]] states that Jason killed the dragon,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=60}} but fragments from the ''Naupactica'' and from Herodorus state that he merely stole the Fleece and escaped.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=60}} In Euripides's ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'', Medea boasts that she killed the Colchian dragon herself.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=60}} In the final scene of the play, Medea also flies away on a chariot pulled by two dragons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Euripides. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1039113695 |title=Medea |date=1993 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=0-486-27548-5 |oclc=1039113695 |access-date=6 December 2022 |archive-date=19 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219205835/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1039113695 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the most famous retelling of the story from Apollonius of Rhodes's ''Argonautica'', Medea drugs the dragon to sleep, allowing Jason to steal the Fleece.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=60–61}} Greek vase paintings show her feeding the dragon the sleeping drug in a liquid form from a ''phialē'', or shallow cup.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=61}}

[[File:Kadmos dragon Louvre N3157.jpg|thumb|[[Paestum|Paestan]] red-figure kylix-krater ({{circa}} 350–340 BC) showing Cadmus fighting the dragon of [[Ares]]{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=49}}]]
In the [[founding myth]] of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], [[Cadmus]], a [[Phoenicia]]n prince, was instructed by Apollo to follow a heifer and found a city wherever it laid down.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} Cadmus and his men followed the heifer and, when it laid down, Cadmus ordered his men to find a spring so he could sacrifice the heifer to Athena.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} His men found a spring, but it was guarded by a dragon, which had been placed there by the god [[Ares]], and the dragon killed them.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} Cadmus killed the dragon in revenge,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}}{{sfn|Mayor|2000|page=266}} either by smashing its head with a rock or using his sword.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} Following the advice of Athena, Cadmus tore out the dragon's teeth and planted them in the earth.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}}{{sfn|Mayor|2000|page=266}} An army of giant warriors (known as ''[[spartoi]]'', which means "sown men") grew from the teeth like plants.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}}{{sfn|Mayor|2000|page=266}} Cadmus hurled stones into their midst, causing them to kill each other until only five were left.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} To make restitution for having killed Ares's dragon, Cadmus was forced to serve Ares as a slave for eight years.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} At the end of this period, Cadmus married [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]], the daughter of Ares and [[Aphrodite]].{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=48}} Cadmus and Harmonia moved to [[Illyria]], where they ruled as king and queen, before eventually being transformed into dragons themselves.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=48–49}}

In the fifth century BC, the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] reported in Book IV of his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' that western Libya was inhabited by monstrous serpents{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|page=169}} and, in Book III, he states that [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|Arabia]] was home to many small, winged serpents,{{sfn|Jones|2000|page=168}}{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|pages=169–170}} which came in a variety of colors and enjoyed the trees that produced [[frankincense]].{{sfn|Jones|2000|page=168}}{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|page=169}} Herodotus remarks that the serpent's wings were like those of bats{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|page=170}} and that, unlike vipers, which are found in every land, winged serpents are only found in Arabia.{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|page=170}} The second-century BC Greek astronomer [[Hipparchus]] ({{circa}} 190 BC – {{circa}} 120 BC) listed the constellation [[Draco (constellation)|Draco]] ("the dragon") as one of forty-six constellations.{{sfn|Grasshoff|1990|pages=35–36}} Hipparchus described the constellation as containing fifteen stars,{{sfn|Grasshoff|1990|page=36}} but the later astronomer [[Ptolemy]] ({{circa}} 100 – {{circa}} 170 AD) increased this number to thirty-one in his ''[[Almagest]]''.{{sfn|Grasshoff|1990|page=36}}

In the [[New Testament]], Revelation 12:3, written by [[John of Patmos]], describes a vision of a [[Serpents in the Bible#Ancient serpent|Great Red Dragon]] with seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns, and a massive tail,{{sfn|Kelly|2006|pages=149–150}} an image which is clearly inspired by the vision of the [[Four kingdoms of Daniel|four beasts from the sea]] in the [[Book of Daniel]]{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=150}} and the [[Leviathan]] described in various Old Testament passages.{{sfn|Kelly|2006|pages=150–151}} The Great Red Dragon knocks "a third of the sun&nbsp;... a third of the moon, and a third of the stars" out of the sky{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=151}} and pursues the [[Woman of the Apocalypse]].{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=151}} Revelation 12:7–9 declares: "[[War in Heaven|And war broke out in Heaven]]. Michael and his angels fought against Dragon. Dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. Dragon the Great was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called Devil and Satan, the one deceiving the whole inhabited World – he was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him."{{sfn|Kelly|2006|pages=151–152}} Then a voice booms down from Heaven heralding the defeat of "the Accuser" (''ho Kantegor'').{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=152}}

In {{nobr|217 AD}}, [[Philostratus|Flavius 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 a collection of books by [[Claudius Aelianus]] called ''On Animals'', [[Aethiopia|Ethiopia]] was inhabited by a species of dragon that hunted elephants and could grow to a length of 180 feet (55 m) with a lifespan rivaling that of the most enduring of animals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/DrakonesAithiopikoi.html|title=ETHIOPIAN DRAGON (Drakon Aithiopikos) – Giant Serpent of Greek & Roman Legend|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818141410/http://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/DrakonesAithiopikoi.html|archive-date=18 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 4th century, [[Basil of Caesarea]], on chapter IX of his [[Address to Young Men on Greek Literature]], mentions mythological dragons as guarding treasures and riches.