Little History of Dragons

Joyce Hargreaves

Description

Why are dragons recognised in almost all cultures on Earth? What is the mysterious geomantic gold they secretly guard? Could dragons be a folk memory of something which once hunted us? In this beautiful little book Joyce Hargreaves tells the story of these extraordinary animals through examples drawn from all over the world. Richly illustrated, and with detailed appendices of noteable dragon sites around the United Kingdom, this is an essential and timeless book. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST. "Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.

Sujets

• Mysteries

Informations

• Publié par: Wooden Books
• Date de parution: 20 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912706112
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

T o s av e a Ma y d St.Geor g e t he dr a g on s lew , A pr et t y t ale if all is t o ld be true. Mo st s a y t her e ar e no dr a g ons, and tis s a y d Ther e w as no Geor g e; pr a y God t her e w as a ma y d.
First published 20 06 R e vised and upda ted edition 20 1 4 eBook edition © W ooden Books Ltd 202 1 Published b y W ooden Books Ltd. Glastonbury , Somerset. British Libr ary Ca taloguing in Publica tion Da ta Hargr ea v es, J. A Lit t le Hist ory o f D r a g ons A CIP ca talogue r ecor d f or this book ma y be obtained fr om the British Libr ary . eBook ISBN: 978-1-9 1 2706-1 1-2 Ph y sical ISBN : 978-1-90426 3-48-7 All rig hts r eserv ed. For permission to r epr oduce an y p art of this f er ocious lit tle book please contact the publishers. Designed and typeset in Glastonbury , UK . Con v erted and optimised f or digital displa y b y the eBook P artnership, UK.
Joyce Har
gr
eaves
D
r
ago
ns
A lit
tle h
ist
o
r
y o
f
“His horns r es emb le t ho s e o f a st a g, his he a d t hat o f a came l, his ey es t ho s e o f a d emon, his nec k t hat o f a snak e, his be lly t hat o f a c lam, his s cales t ho s e o f a carp, his c law s t ho s e o f an e a gle, his s o les t ho s e o f a tig er and his e ar s t ho s e o f a cow . ” W ang Fu, Han dynasty , describing the nine f ea tur es of the Lung Dr ag on
Cont ent s Intr oduction 1 Wha t is a Dr ag on? 2 T iama t 4 Y gg dr asil ’ s Dr ag ons 6 The Sign of the Goddess 8 The N ag a 1 0 Chinese and J ap anese Dr ag ons 1 2 Feng Shui and The Azur e Dr ag on 1 4 Dr ag ons of the Americas 1 6 The H y dr a 1 8 The Constella tion Dr aco 20 The Fir edr ak e 22 T yphon 24 The Dr aconiopides 26 The W orm 28 The W yv ern 30 La W ouivr e 3 2 The Basilisk 3 4 The Amphisb aena 3 6 Holy Dr ag on-Sla y ers 3 8 Her aldic and W ar Dr ag ons 40 Dr ag ons in Alchem y 42 The Serpent P o w er 44 Dr ag on Lines 46 The Rainbo w Serpent 48 Monsters of Another Ag e 50 The Earth Dr ag on 52 Gazet teer of Inter esting Dr ag on Sites 54 Appendix of Chinese Dr ag ons 58
A b o ve : W i n ge d S e a D r ago n . Pl a te e n t i t l e d ‘ e C r e a t i o n of F i sh a nd Bi d s ’ , A b o ve : W i n ge d S e a D r ago n . Pl a te e n t i t l e d ‘ e C r e a t i o n of F i sh a nd Bi d s ’ , b y G u s ta e D o r é. E n g r a i n g f r o m t he i u s tr a te d e d i t i o n of b y G u s ta e D o r é. E n g r a i n g f r o m t he i u s tr a te d e d i t i o n of P ar a d i s e L o s t P ar a d i s e L o s t , 1 8 6 8. , 1 8 6 8.
1
T D is the most nebulous, complex and ambiv alent of all the animals tha t inhabit the jung le of the imagina tion. This f abulous cr ea tur e has been the subject of m yth and tr a v eller ’ s tales f or the last 4,0 0 0 y ears and, althoug h it has ne v er been seen ap art fr om its snak e incarna tions, its imag e has been used in r eligion, alchem y , her aldry and medicine (to name but a f e w of its aspects), thr oug hout all cultur es and histories of the w orld, primitiv e, classical, medie v al and oriental. A dr ag on can primarily be consider ed to be a s ymbol of the man y diff er ent aspects of the po w ers of the earth, both g ood and b ad. When associa ted with w a ter , it ma y r epr esent the f ertility of the soil, or her ald floods and dr oug ht. It can also be seen as a sign of the hea t within the earth — appearing in m ythology as T yphon, the son of mother Earth, the fir e-br ea thing dr ag on r epr esenting the v olcano. T oda y sites of dr ag on leg ends, hills, ca v es, mounds and lak es can of ten be link ed to pr e-Christian r eligions, and depictions of the dr ag on appear in places wher e the y ar e least expected, lik e Christian chur ches. A p ag an dr ag on can be f ound in a number of chur ches with f oliag e spr outing fr om its mouth, denoting f ertility . P erhaps too the dr ag on- sla y er is equally p ag an in concept, and descends fr om the Gr een Man and other f ertility deities, pr essuring the dr ag on via the spear into r eleasing its g ener a tiv e f or ces of na tur e. T h i s l i t t le b oo k w i l l p r o b a b l y n o t an s w e r a l l y o u r q u e s t i o n s a b o ut dr ag ons, but will, I hope, intr oduce y ou to some of the mor e amazing ideas tha t surr ound them.
I ntr o duc t I o n
2 Early na tur alists belie v ed tha t the dr ag on w as a r eal animal — of ten maps of f or eign countries w er e inscribed with the w or ds “her e be dr ag ons ” , usually on ar eas of unexplor ed wilderness, and books lik e the 1 7th century Hist orie o f f our e-f oot e d B e ast es b y Edw ar d T opsell sho w ed depictions of dr ag ons next to r eptiles such as lizar ds and snak es. T oda y , with our ability to visit nearly e v ery p art of the w orld, w e can be almost certain tha t the dr ag on, in the g ener al f orm tha t w e visualise it, does not ph y sically exist an ywher e on Earth. A modern description of a dr ag on mig ht be tha t it has f our legs, a long s n a k e l i k e b o d y w i t h a b a r b e d ta i l , a fi e r c e w y v e r n ’ s h e a d , b a t ’ s w i n g s , s h a r p cla w s and teeth, and emits fir e fr om its mouth. Ho w e v er , in earlier times the dr ag on and serpent shapes w er e completely inter chang eable. The w or ds D r ak on and D ra c o w er e used thr oug hout the Gr eek and R oman Empir es to describe a larg e snak e, and the w or d ‘Dr ag on ’ is deriv ed fr om both of these names. D r ak on not only r ef err ed to a larg e snak e but also to a flying cr ea tur e (althoug h, lik e most Chinese dr ag ons, it m y steriously did not need wings to achie v e flig ht). Classical and earlier texts mak e lit tle distinction betw een leg less serpents and dr ag ons.
W ha t
I s
a

d r ago n
?