In medieval times, most people who heard anything about dragons knew them from the Bible, and it's likely that most Christians at the time believed in the literal existence of dragons. After all, Leviathan — the massive monster described in detail in the Book of Job, chapter 41 —describe a structure of them
Many dragons
Though most people can easily picture a dragon, people's ideas and descriptions of dragons vary dramatically. Some dragons have wings; others don't. Some dragons can speak or breathe fire; others can't. Some are only a few feet long; others span miles. Some dragons live in palaces under the ocean, while others can only be found in caves and inside mountains.
A Chinese dragon statue at Nakornsawan Park in Thailand.
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As folklorist Carol Rose discusses in her book "Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth," dragons "have composite features from many other beasts, such as the head of an elephant in India, that of a lion or bird of prey in the Middle East, or numerous heads of reptiles such as serpents. Their body color may range from green, red, and black to unusually yellow, blue or white dragons." Zoologist Karl Shuker describes a wide variety of dragons in his book "Dragons: A Natural History," including giant snakes, hydras, gargoyles and dragon-gods, as well as more obscure variants such as basilisks, wyverns, and cockatrices. The dragon, whatever else it might be, is clearly a shape-shifter.
The popular role-playing game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons describes more than a dozen varieties of dragons, each with unique personalities, powers, and other characteristics (Black dragons, for example, are fond of eels — who knew?).
Guarding treasures
The word "dragon" comes from the ancient Greek word "draconta," meaning "to watch," suggesting that the beast guards valuables. Dragons typically guard treasure such as mountains of gold coins or gems, though this makes little logical sense: a creature as powerful as a dragon surely doesn't need to pay for anything. It is instead a symbolic treasure, not for the hoarding dragon but instead booty for the brave knights who would vanquish it.
Dragons are one of the few monsters cast in mythology primarily as a powerful and fearsome opponent to be slain. They don't simply exist for their own sake; they exist largely as a foil for bold adventurers. Other mythical beasts such as trolls, elves and fairies interact with people (sometimes mischievously, sometimes helpfully) but their main role is not as combatant.
St. George and the Dragon, by Paolo Uccello, 1470.
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Dragon slayers
For much of history, dragons were thought of as being like any other exotic animal: sometimes useful and protective, other times harmful and dangerous. That changed when Christianity spread across the world; dragons took on a decidedly sinister interpretation and came to represent Satan.
The church created legends of righteous and godly saints battling and vanquishing Satan in the form of dragons. The most celebrated of these was St. George the Dragon Slayer, who in legend comes upon a town threatened by a terrible dragon. He rescues a fair maiden, protects himself with the sign of the cross, and slays the beast. The town's citizens, impressed by St. George's feat of faith and bravery, immediately convert to Christianity. (Interestingly, a similar feat is mentioned in the legend of St. Columba, who in A.D. 565 defeated a giant beast — perhaps a dragon, perhaps the Loch Ness monster — terrorizing a man in Scotland's Ness River.)
Scholars believe that the fire-breathing element of dragons came from medieval depictions of the mouth of hell, for example art by Hieronymus Bosch and others. The entrance to hell was often depicted as a monster's literal mouth, with the flames and smoke characteristic of Hades belching out. If one believes not only in the literal existence of hell, but also the literal existence of dragons as Satanic, the association is quite logical.
Dragons, in one form or another (sometimes godly and beneficent, other times the embodiment of evil) have been around for millennia. Through epic fantasy fiction by J.R.R. Tolkien and others, dragons have continued to spark our collective imagination and — unlike the dinosaurs that helped inspire stories about them — show no sign of dying out.
Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of "Skeptical Inquirer" science magazine and author of six books, including "Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore" and "Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries." His website is www.BenjaminRadford.com.