Editing Saint George (section)

===St. George and the Dragon===
{{Main|Saint George and the Dragon}}
[[File:S.George (Novgorod, mid. 14 c, GTG).jpg|thumb|[[Russian icon]] (mid 14th century), [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]]|left|268x268px]]
The earliest known record of the legend of [[Saint George and the Dragon]] occurs in the 11th century, in a Georgian source,<ref>{{cite web|editor-last1=Thompson |editor-first1=Anne B. |editor-last2=Whatley |editor-first2=E. Gordon |editor-last3=Upchurch |editor-first3=Robert K. |url=https://metseditions.org/read/zK4gzmrPSgD6H51Rcvg4VINBMqzQbK7 |title=Saints' Lives in Middle English Collections |website=METS (Middle English Text Series) |publisher=The Rossell Hope Robbins Library |access-date=28 March 2025 }}</ref> reaching [[Latins (Middle Ages)|Latin]] Europe in the 12th century. In the ''[[Golden Legend]]'', by 13th-century [[Archbishop of Genoa]] [[Jacobus de Voragine]], George's death was at the hands of [[Dacian (prefect)|Dacian]], and around the year 287.<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Voragine |first=Jacobus |url=https://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume3.asp |title=The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints |date=1275 |publisher=Temple Classics |editor-last=Ellis |editor-first=F.S. |edition=6th |volume=3 |publication-date=1931 |pages=58–61 |language=en |chapter=The Life of S. George}}</ref>

The tradition tells that a fierce [[dragon]] was causing panic at the city of Silene, [[Libya]], at the time George arrived there. To prevent the dragon from devastating people from the city, they gave two sheep each day to the dragon, but when the sheep were not enough they were forced to sacrifice humans, elected by the city's own people. Eventually, the king's daughter was chosen to be sacrificed, and no one was willing to take her place. George saved the girl by slaying the dragon with a lance. The king was so grateful that he offered him treasures as a reward for saving his daughter's life, but George refused it and insisted he give them to the poor. The people of the city were so amazed at what they had witnessed that they all became Christians and were baptised.<ref>{{cite book|first=Paolo O.|last=Pirlo|title=My first book of saints|date=1997|chapter=St. George|publisher=Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate – Quality Catholic Publications|pages=83–85|isbn=971-91595-4-5}}</ref>

[[File:St George and the Dragon Verona ms 1853 26r.jpg|thumb|Miniature from a 13th-century ''{{Lang|la|Passio Sancti Georgii}}'' ([[Verona]])]]
Saint George's encounter with a [[dragon]], as narrated in the ''Golden Legend'', would go on to become very influential, as it remains the most familiar version in English owing to [[William Caxton]]'s 15th-century translation.<ref>{{citation | first = Jacobus | last = De Voragine | year = 1995 | title = The Golden Legend | publisher = Princeton University Press | isbn = 978-0-691-00153-1 | page = 238}}.</ref>

In the medieval romances, the lance with which George slew the dragon was named Ascalon, after the [[Levant]]ine city of [[Ashkelon]], today in Israel. The name ''Ascalon'' was used by [[Winston Churchill]] for his personal aircraft during World War II, according to records at [[Bletchley Park]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-148/getting-there-churchills-wartime-journeys/|title=Getting There: Churchill's Wartime Journeys|date=1 May 2013|website=The International Churchill Society|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref> Iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil was widespread throughout the Christian period.<ref>Charles Clermont-Ganneau, "Horus et Saint Georges, d'après un bas-relief inédit du Louvre". ''Revue archéologique'', 1876</ref>