Editing Dragon (section)

==Egypt==
[[File:Set speared Apep.jpg|thumb|Illustration from an ancient Egyptian papyrus manuscript showing the god [[Set (deity)|Set]] spearing the serpent [[Apep]] as he attacks the [[Matet boat|sun boat]] of [[Ra]]]]
In [[Egyptian mythology]], [[Apep]] or Apophis is a giant serpentine creature who resides in the [[Duat]], the Egyptian underworld.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=11}}{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=35}} The Bremner-Rhind papyrus, written around 310 BC, preserves an account of a much older Egyptian tradition that the setting of the sun is caused by [[Ra]] descending to the Duat to battle Apep.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=11}}{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=35}} In some accounts, Apep is as long as the height of eight men with a head made of [[flint]].{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=35}} Thunderstorms and earthquakes were thought to be caused by Apep's roar{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=36}} and [[solar eclipse]]s were thought to be the result of Apep attacking Ra during the daytime.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=36}} In some myths, Apep is slain by the god [[Set (deity)|Set]].{{sfn|Niles|2013|pages=35–36}} [[Nehebkau]] is another giant serpent who guards the Duat and aided Ra in his battle against Apep.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=36}} Nehebkau was so massive in some stories that the entire earth was believed to rest atop his coils.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=36}} 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.{{sfn|Niles|2013|pages=36–37}} He was ultimately defeated by the [[Pharaoh]], a victory which affirmed the Pharaoh's divine right to rule.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=37}}

The [[ouroboros]] was a well-known Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=13}} The precursor to the ouroboros was the "Many-Faced",{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=13}} a serpent with five heads, who, according to the [[Amduat]], the oldest surviving [[Book of the Dead|Book of the Afterlife]], was said to coil around the corpse of the sun god Ra protectively.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=13}} The earliest surviving depiction of a "true" ouroboros comes from the gilded shrines in [[KV62|the tomb]] of [[Tutankhamun]].{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=13}} In the early centuries AD, the ouroboros was adopted as a symbol by [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] Christians{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=44}} and chapter 136 of the ''[[Pistis Sophia]]'', an early Gnostic text, describes "a great dragon whose tail is in its mouth".{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=44}} In medieval alchemy, the ouroboros became a typical western dragon with wings, legs, and a tail.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=13}} A famous image of the dragon gnawing on its tail from the eleventh-century [[Codex Marcianus CCXXVIII (406)|Codex Marcianus]] was copied in numerous works on alchemy.{{sfn|Hornung|2001|page=13}}