Greek Gods

There were many dragons named in the mythology of many different countries in ancient times. The dragons were made up of different structure. Some were just dragons with bodies and heads as we usually see them in books. Others had many heads, or other unique features which made them stand out from the rest. Dragons are a myth so they were only in the minds of the people. It is written that the gods fought the dragons and defeated them for different reasons. Some had to rescue those who had been taken captive by the dragons or the dragons may have been guarding something that the hero wanted. For whatever reason, the dragons have been the center of many fairy tales and stories throughout the years.

There were dragons mentioned in Ancient Greek mythology as well as Chinese, Japanese, Hittite, Norse, Wendish, Slavic, Albania, Dahomey, Egyptian, Avestan, Herefordshire, Northrubrian, Yorkshire, Vietnam, Sussex, Polish, Germanic, Hungarian, Levantine, and many more.

Some of the dragons in the myths were: The sleeping dragon of Albanian mythology, the dragon in the Apocalypse of Abraham, Azhi Dahaka in Avestan mythology, and Qinglong was one of the four Chinese Constellations. The water dragon from the Vietnam mythology, the Dragon Kings from the Chinese myths, the dragons of St. Leonard’s Forest in Sussex folklore, Gorynch was a famous Russian dragon, and the Germanic dragon known as Fafnir, the transformed dragon. Others includes The Hydra of Greek mythology, the Babylonian dragon from the Ishtar Gate, Seiryo, the Japanese azure dragon, Typhon was also sometimes considered a dragon in Greek myths.

Zirnitra was the dragon god in Wendish mythology and was later used in the Royal Danish rites as a representative of Wendland. The Zmey Gorynch was a dragon from Slavic mythology. The name means “Snake son of mountain because it lived in the mountains. The dragon had three heads, wings, and it also spit fire. According to Japanese mythology, there was a five headed dragon with no name in 552 A. D. And it was subdued by the Buddhist goddess Benzaiten, at Enoshima, Japan.

Python was the earth dragon of Delphi, in Greek mythology and it is said that the dragon was slain by Apollo. There are many vase paintings and sculptures of the dragon. The dragon was an enemy of Apollo’s. There are several versions of the dragon’s birth and death. There was not much detail about Apollo slaying the dragon. As the story went, it seems that Zeus lay with the goddess Leto and his wife Hera was jealous of all of his mistresses so she tried to kill all of his offspring which were not hers. She sent Python throughout the land to find and kill the infant when it was born. When the infant (Apollo) was grown, he pursued the dragon and went to Mountain Parnassus where he lived. He then chased the dragon to the oracle of Gaia at Delphi and killed the dragon with his arrows.