Facts about Dragons in World Mythology
- 08
European dragons in medieval Christian tradition were frequently depicted as symbols of Satan and evil, appearing in hagiographies of saints such as George, Margaret, and Martha who defeat them.
- 07
Ancient Hindu texts describe Vritra, a serpentine dragon demon slain by the storm god Indra around 1500 BCE, whose death released the seven rivers in Rigvedic cosmology.
- 06
Mesopotamian Tiamat, the primordial dragon goddess documented in the Enuma Elish creation myth around 1200 BCE, was slain by the god Marduk who then fashioned the sky from her corpse.
- 05
Smaug from Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit represents a direct literary evolution of European medieval dragon mythology, particularly the fire-breathing, gold-hoarding archetype established in texts like Beowulf written around 750 CE.
- 04
In Japanese mythology, the dragon king Ryūjin dwells in an ocean palace and controls tides through a magical tide jewel called the Magatama, influencing maritime fortune across Shinto traditions.
- 03
Norse mythology's Jörmungandr, the serpent son of Loki, was prophesied to grow so large its body would encircle Midgard and touch its own tail during Ragnarök.
- 02
Chinese dragons in texts like the I Ching traditionally control water and weather across 9 distinct regional variations throughout imperial dynasties spanning over 3000 years.
- 01
The Mesoamerican feathered serpent deity Quetzalcoatl, depicted in Aztec codices from the 14th-16th centuries, combined dragon and bird characteristics in Mesoamerican mythology.