TYPHON

 Typhon was the largest monster ever born. Instead of legs his bottom portion was a mass of coiled snakes as were his hands. His outstretched arms would reach hundreds of leagues in either direction. "His vast wings darkened the sun, fire flashed from his eyes, and flaming rocks hurtled from his mouth." (Graves, Robert The Greek Myths) He frightened the gods on Olympus and they fled to Egypt. Only when Zeus was taunted for his cowardice did he return to do battle with the mighty Typhon.

 The area around the Mediterranean Sea is still pockmarked with evidence of this tremendous struggle. The two beings first grappled on Mount Casius, Zeus was here defeated and the sinews that gave him movement in his hands and feet were severed. It was only through devious trickery that Hermes and Pan were able to reassemble the immortal Zeus.

 The battle continued in mountainous Thrace where Typhon hurtled whole mountains at Zeus and tremendous thunderbolts electrified the sky. Typhon was here wounded and bleeding. It was due to these streams of blood that Mount Haemus got its name. In his pained rage Typhon fled towards Sicily where Zeus was able to end the battle by throwing Mount Aetna on top of Typhon. This is why the mountain still belches fire and flame even today.

NAGA

 Udyana, in modern Pakistan, was famous for its water dragons. This is a story of one of those dragons.

 The Naga are thought to be semi-divine snakes with human faces and serpents tales. It is in the Patala, a watery region under the earth that they reside.

 It was by his subtle but powerful charms that the Naga Apalala was able to keep the wicked dragons in check. He prevented them from scourging the countryside with violent rainstorms. Asian dragons are quite often associated with the life-giving waters. Thanks to the Naga Apalala this countryside prospered and the grain grew thickly. In gratitude each family offered him a bit of grain as tribute. After some time several of the inhabitants of the place began to forego the yearly offering. The Naga became angry and prayed that he might become a poisonous dragon so that he could drench the countryside in rain and wind. So it is that at the end of his life he became the dragon of that country. To this day Rajas (local princes) in the Hindu Kush are said to be able to control the elements as their influence over local dragons provides.

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

 ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON There are several conflicting stories behind St. George and his awful fight with a dragon. One speaks of St. George as one who was endowed at birth with three marks on his body. One was that of a dragon which was inscribed on his chest. This was undoubtedly taken as an omen, and so it proved to be.

 St. George grew older and took the time to learn the art of fighting. After several battles against the Saracens of Syria, he traveled into Libya where a dragon was known to live near the town of Sylene. This particular dragon required the sacrifice of a virgin every single day. On the day of St. George's arrival the kings daughter, Sabra, was to be the next victim. St. George, with all appropriate pomp and valor accompanied the princess to the dragons home. It is here that many stories deviate, but one tells of how St. George captures the huge dragon as it rises out of the mire and attaches its head to Sabra's girdle. The princess then brings the living dragon back into the town where all the inhabitants exact their vengeance upon him. St. George is truly the princess Sabra's knight in shining armor.

CHINESE DRAGONS

 There are many ways to organize all of the Chinese dragons. In the oriental tradition of opposites, the dragon is correlated with the masculine yang power while the phoenix, the bird of rebirth, is associated with the feminine yin force.

 The Chinese dragon like the Indian Naga's, are often associated with water and rain and lakes and rivers. And so dragons are not as the European model of destruction but are instead life-giving, honored and very powerful.

 Most often these dragons are associated with royalty and the emperors are closely aligned with the image of dragon. Before history began, China's first emperor, Fu Hsi was said to have a dragons tail and his successor, Shen Nung, was said to have a dragon as father. The Imperial Dragon or lung has five claws instead of four. The ordinary dragon or mang depicts temporal power instead of spiritual prowess. The lung, or Dragon King issued orders for the Emperor by moving in four directions simultaneously. The fifth direction (in connection with the fifth claw) is the center where he remains.

 Even into recent times dragons pervade within the body and movements of the emperor. There is the Dragon Throne, Dragons pace (the Emperors stately stride), Dragon face (his visage), and Dragons Pearl (the Emperors words). When an Emperor died it was said that he had ascended to heaven on the back of a Dragon.

 The T'ien Lung, or Celestial Dragon lives in the sky and guards the gods to keep them from falling out of the clouds. The Fu-tsang guards hidden treasure.

TIAMAT AND MARDUK

 (From Enuma Elish, the Babylonian story of creation. Dated at around 1700 BCE, but aspects of the story could go back to about 2000 BCE.)

 In this story it is said that before the time of the gods and the world there was nothing but a waste of chaotic waters ruled by Apsu and Tiamat, a dragon-like creature. As time passed gods were created in hopes of bringing order to this chaos. One of the gods, Ea, slay Apsu, thus making Tiamat and her brood of monsters mad at the gods. Tiamat waged war against Ea and the other gods and was successful in stifling their efforts until Marduk was born. Marduk was the strongest and the wisest of the gods and was elected to deal with Tiamat once and for all. Upon summoning the powers of all of the other gods, Marduk went to war with Tiamat. Tiamat was no match for Marduk and all of his powers. Marduk caught her in his net and when she opened her mouth to breath fire at him, he let loose the four winds which filled her up rendering her defenseless . Marduk then speared her with a lightning bolt, split her in two and raised half of her body to create the sky and with the other half created the earth.

 This is a classic example of a male deity slaying a female dragon or serpent-like monster in an attempt to replace a cooperative, "chaotic" natural order with a hierarchical, paternal, and often monotheistic system.

SAINT MARGARET AND THE DRAGON

 (From Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. Developed around 1480 CE in Antioch.)

 Saint Margaret was the daughter of the Chief Priest of the Pagans in Antioch. Her nurse was a Christian and brought her up in the faith. This angered her father who subsequently sent her to live as a shepherdess. One day the Roman Governor Olybrius saw her and fell in love with her. He was going marry her until he found out that she was a Christian. In characteristic Roman treatment of Christians at the time Olybrius tortured Margaret and flung her into prison. While in prison she prayed to Our Lord to make visible to her the fiend that had fought with her. POOF, a horrible dragon appeared and assailed her! The dragon swallowed her whole and while in its stomach she made the sign of the cross which caused the dragon to burst and she came out of his body unharmed!

This story is one of many that draws a connection between Pagans and the image of a dragon or serpent and there are several other dragon stories that come out of the Christian/Pagan conflict. It also is an example of the ever-common, Christian, dragon-slaying tactic of simply making the sign of the Cross. In several stories the sign of the Cross destroys an evil serpent or dragon. (Check out the British Isles for a couple of other Dragon/Pagan vs. Christian stories.)

MELUSINE

 (From Voeux du Paon. A 14th century, French dragon story) Once upon a time there was a Count of Anjou who was successful in all of his ventures, traveled far and wide, and had a healthy life. But he didn't have a Countess and this bummed him out. One fine day he came back from one of his adventures with a beautiful woman by his side and they were soon married.

 Museline of Anjou was a perfect wife for him. She was charming and beautiful and gave birth to four children to carry on his line. She had the manners of someone from great wealth and noble lineage, but nobody knew where she came from. At every banquet and every tournament, no one knew who she was or where she came from, no matter how broad the audience. The only strange thing about the Countess was that she didn't go to church all that often, and when she did go, she always left before the priest showed the consecrated chalice to the congregation. This troubled the Count and everyone else in the town. So one Sunday the Count had four knights stand at the door of the church to make sure that the Countess stuck around for the whole show. At the crucial moment the Countess got up to leave, but the knights kept her in the church. Hereupon with a dreadful shriek she burst the fastenings, left her dress behind her, turned into a dragon, and flew out the window dragging two of her children behind her. Centuries later she is still seen flying around the Castle of Lusignan.

 From Melusine's surviving children derives the House of Plantagenet, whose descendants eventually married into almost every royal family from St. Petersburg to Lisbon.