DRAGON (OF. dragon. Lat. dram, Ok.apcif(wv, drak4n, dragon, from tilpiacrOa(, dcrkesthai, Skt. dars. to see). In the mythical history and legendary poetry of almost every nation. the dragon appears as the emblem of the destructive and anarchic principle, as it manifests itself in the earlier stages of society—viz. as misdirected physical power and untamable animal passion striving against Inunan progress. The earliest is embodied in the Babylonian myth of Timat—the great she-dragon—who healed the Titanic hordes of Chaos, and whose de struction by the Dcmiurge .lerotlach was the necessary prerequisite to an undisturbed and orderly universe. The destruction of the lower representatives of this disorderly element was one of the tilst objects of human energy, but being unattainable by merely human means, the task was assumed by that intermediate class of beings known as heroes in classical antiquity. As the highest ideal of human strength and courage, the task properly fell to Hercules (e.g. Dragon of the Garden ot the Hesperides), but it was not confined to him, for we find both Apollo and Perseus represented as dragon-slayers. From legendary poetry, the dragon passed into art, some of the earliest efforts of which prob ably consisted in depicting it on the shield, or carving it for the crest of a conqueror's helmet. It was used in this way as a sort of Medusa, an apotropaion or ter•or-striking image. Thus it was represented on the war standards of Ger manic and Dacian tribes. The dragon does not seem to have been a native emblem with the Romans, and when they ultimately adopted it as a sort of subordinate symbol, the eagle still hold ing the first place, it seems to have been in consequence of their intercourse with other na tions. Among all the new races which over ran Europe at the termination of the classical period, the dragon seems to have occupied nearly the same place that it held in the earlier stages of Oriental and Greek life. In the Nibelungen lied we find Siegfried killing a dragon at Worms: and the contest of Beowulf (q.v.), first
with the monster Grendal, and then with the dragon, forms the principal incident in the curious epic which bears the name of the former. Even Thor himself was a slayer of dragons. Among the Teutonic tribes which settled in Eng land it was from the first depicted on their shields and banners, as it was also in Germany. Nor was the dragon peculiar to the Teutonic races. Among the Celts it was the emblem of sovereignty, and as such borne as the sovereign's crest. Tennyson's bights have made every one familiar with 'the dragon of the great pen dragonship,' blazing on Arthur's helmet, as he rode forth to his last battle, and 'making all the night a stream of fire.' Christianity inherited the Oriental idea of the dragon, which is made the emblem and embodi ment of the devil. In Saint ;John's Apocalypse, in fact, in all apocalyptic literature, it plays an important part. 'That Christ should 'tread on the lion and the dragon' was an idea handed down from the Old Testament. In later Chris tian traditions Saint Michael is the chief oppo nent of the infernal, and Saint George of the terrestrial dragon. The dragon in a cave. on Mount Socrate represented paganism, and his defeat by Pope Sylvester symbolized the triumph of Christianity under Constantine. In Christian art the dragon is the emblem of sin, the usual form given to it being that of a winged crocodile. it is often represented as crushed under the feet of saints and martyrs. Some times its prostrate attitude signifies the tri umph of Christianity over paganism, as in pie of Saint George and Saint Sylvester; or over lit re-y and stitism. a- when it adopted U. tin emblem of the knight. of the Order of the in Ilungary—an Order instituted for the purpose of contending against the litis•ites of Bohemia.
The dragon i. often employed in heraldry; and other animal., such as the lion, are sometimes represented with the hinder part- resembling dragons. Con.tilt sehlange in 41, r A inst ( Basel. 1867). See GRIFFIN.