What do you think the fascination of dragons comes from

[Sagebee]

Besides mythical beings associated with religions like Angel's and demons. Dragons are probably the most universally popular mythical beings in all cultures. Seems the earliest recorded reference to dragons is in Mesopotamia where there storm god slays dragons which this mythology has been adopted by many other cultures.

Like in Japan susanoo slaying the 8 headed snake.

What do you think makes dragons so popular compared to all mythical creatures?

I think maybe it partly relates to the negative connotation snakes share in most cultures. Also how fearsome reptiles are so to imagine a winged or flying reptile would be incredibly fearsome to ancient people.

 

[Avani]

Besides mythical beings associated with religions like Angel's and demons. Dragons are probably the most universally popular mythical beings in all cultures. Seems the earliest recorded reference to dragons is in Mesopotamia where there storm god slays dragons which this mythology has been adopted by many other cultures.

Like in Japan susanoo slaying the 8 headed snake.

What do you think makes dragons so popular compared to all mythical creatures?

I think maybe it partly relates to the negative connotation snakes share in most cultures. Also how fearsome reptiles are so to imagine a winged or flying reptile would be incredibly fearsome to ancient people.

I agree about a fascination with snakes... They control population of rats and important for eco system, so they are very useful and yet at the same time they are poisons and some are big enough that can eat you alive... Some of them swim , some of them are on land , some of them can fly/glide quite expertly.

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Combine it with some other fancy reptiles like some lizards. On top of it there are fossils of prehistoric animals - 40 feet long snakes or birds resembling reptiles. If we find them today, some of those fossils would have been found by people in last 40,000 years too. Finding even a partial skull or teeth or vertebra of some extinct snake would generate a lot of stories and humans have migrated from time unknown.

But no snakes/dragons are not always completely negative. Sometimes they are depicted as evil but snakes also have been worshiped. (You can call it appeasement to avoid their wrath, depending upon your disposition). The symbolism, the worship as water spirit/healers/fertility and myths have too much in common

In India, Rain & Storm god Indra killed the asura named Vritra which is described as snake/dragon.. Indra's bow, Indra's net .... they found their way in to Buddhist literature... (Vritra is seen as personification of drought/obstacles). Then Naga people have been (probably used the snake totem and were known as Naga because of that) mentioned many times. There is still Naga tribes in North East and in some nearby eastern Himalayan tribes it's also worshiped as water spirit.
There is goddess of snakes, Manasa which is probably older tribal deity but, found her way in mainstream. There are a handful of different versions how she became prominent. There are lot of fancy legend related with snakes in general. We have stories of immortal snakes or legends that if a snake survives for 1000 years he learns to fly, and can change in to a human on wish. That they change in to human now and then and may spend years as a family person for some years etc.. Just too many. You can find them in carved on temple walls.

In Australian myths I read there is some rainbow snake deity as creator spirit etc. Similar stories in Africa too-- I don't remember the details of those right now but yea....

Look up such stories and you will find it almost all older civilizations around the globe.

 

[Sagebee]

I agree about a fascination with snakes... They control population of rats and important for eco system, so they are very useful and yet at the same time they are poisons and some are big enough that can eat you alive... Some of them swim , some of them are on land , some of them can fly/glide quite expertly.

Spoiler

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Combine it with some other fancy reptiles like some lizards. On top of it there are fossils of prehistoric animals - 40 feet long snakes or birds resembling reptiles. If we find them today, some of those fossils would have been found by people in last 40,000 years too. Finding even a partial skull or teeth or vertebra of some extinct snake would generate a lot of stories and humans have migrated from time unknown.

But no snakes/dragons are not always completely negative. Sometimes they are depcited as evil but snakes also have been worshiped. The symbolism, the worship as water spirit/healers/fertility and myths have too much in common

In India.,Rain & Storm god Indra killed the asura named Vritra which is described as snake/dragon.. Indra's bow, Indra's net .... they found their way in to Buddhist literature... (Vritra is seen as personification of drought/obstacles). Then Naga people have been (probably used the snake totem and were known as Naga because of that) mentioned many times. There is still Naga tribes in North East and in some nearby eastern Himalyan tribes it's also worshipped as water spirit.
There is goddess of snakes, Manasa which is probably older tribal deity but, found her way in mainstream. There are a handful of different versions how she became prominent. There are lot of fancy legend related with snakes in general. We have stories of snakes immortal snakes or legends that if a snake survives for 100 years he learns to fly, and change in to human on wish. That they change in to human now and then and may spend years as a family person for some years and all that jazz..

In Australian myths I read there is some rainbow snake deity as creator spirit etc. Similar stories in Africa too-- I don't remember the details of those right now but yea....

Look up such stories and you will find it almost all older civilizations around the globe.

I think probably the mythology that's most common between all these cultures is the myth of the storm god versus the dragon or snakes. Interestingly in china and Japan they are the same entity called dragon gods where the dragon is the storm god. Also snakes playing key antagonistic entities in all religions and cultures.

Something also thought of is I wonder if any ancient civilizations could of stumbled upon dinosaur remains and potentially contributed to the dragon mythology.

The phoenix mythology is another popular one in most cultures with snake and bird rivalry I've seen highlighted in occassion. Snakes probably been the key symbol since the beginning for evil.

 

[Avani]

I think probably the mythology that's most common between all these cultures is the myth of the storm god versus the dragon or snakes. Interestingly in china and Japan they are the same entity called dragon gods where the dragon is the storm god. Also snakes playing key antagonistic entities in all religions and cultures.

Something also thought of is I wonder if any ancient civilizations could of stumbled upon dinosaur remains and potentially contributed to the dragon mythology.

The phoenix mythology is another popular one in most cultures with snake and bird rivalry I've seen highlighted in occassion. Snakes probably been the key symbol since the beginning for evil.

Not necessarily evil.- You are probably making that link due to story of Adam but it's not the oldest mythology.
Didn't I mention it's associated with water, wisdom and fertility too. The Rod of Asclepius , a Greek symbol, is associated with medicine, consisting of a serpent coiled around a rod. And a medical symbol even today.
Goddess manasa is also associated with snakes and healing both. Snake Vasuki helped Gods in churning of the sea to get amrit among other things. Lord Vishnu from Hindu trinity rests on top of a coiled multiheaded great serpent named Sheshnaga which floats in Ksheer sagar ( a sea).

Snakes temples or snakes on temple walls, as some kind of elemental spirit or demigods are quite common.

Garuna/Garuda (replaced by phoenix in some other myths) and snake rivalry is part of Indian mythology. Here is the tale of how Garuda and Snake fight sgtarted:

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A lot of these stories in Japan etc come from Buddhism which in turn borrowed from existing ancient Indian tales. There are some common names in Vedic civlization and Persian ones too.

 

[HowDidIGetPrem]

Now that you mention it, it is kinda weird that it seems everywhere has its own dragon. The concept of flying snakes is as weird as flying turtles or rats, yet you see neither of the latter. Imo, I think it may possible that dragons aren't actually over-represented in mythology, but that we simply know of them more so than the other mythic creatures because of how they've rooted themselves into pop culture. Many "dragons" aren't even based on snakes but other reptiles too. So not every "dragon" is actually alike one another, and grouping them is a bit similar to grouping a bunch of flying mammals(regardless if horse or dog) under a single category.

 

[Chikombo]

I read on wikipedia someone had a theory a dragon is a summary of natural predators for our ape ancestors.
Maybe that's true.

 

[Sagebee]

Not necessarily evil.- You are probably making that link due to story of Adam but it's not the oldest mythology.
Didn't I mention it's associated with water, wisdom and fertility too. The Rod of Asclepius , a Greek symbol, is associated with medicine, consisting of a serpent coiled around a rod. And a medical symbol even today.
Goddess manasa is also associated with snakes and healing both. Snake Vasuki helped Gods in churning of the sea to get amrit among other things. Lord Vishnu from Hindu trinity rests on top of a coiled multiheaded great serpent named Sheshnaga which floats in Ksheer sagar ( a sea).

Snakes temples or snakes on temple walls, as some kind of elemental spirit or demigods are quite common.

Garuna/Garuda (replaced by phoenix in some other myths) and snake rivalry is part of Indian mythology. Here is the tale of how Garuda and Snake fight sgtarted:

You must be registered for see links

A lot of these stories in Japan etc come from Buddhism which in turn borrowed from existing ancient Indian tales. There are some common names in Vedic civlization and Persian ones too.

Well not evil in all cultures but isnt Naga an antagonistic entity in hinduism?

 

[Avani]

Well not evil in all cultures but isnt Naga an antagonistic entity in hinduism?

Why do you think so?

 

[Sagebee]

Why do you think so?

All I know about them is the indra fights them right so I assume they are antagonists am I wrong in this?

 

[Avani]

All I know about them is the indra fights them right so I assume they are antagonists am I wrong in this?

Not always. Many a times they get beneficial protagonist roles in Hindu mythology. But yea, they are feared and revered at the same time and usually too easy to anger. Snake are probably the second most revered creatures. We still celebrate Naga Panchami in month of Shravan aka monsoon season. Got to keep them happy and less inclined to bite when they are out and about during heavy rains.

Indra's initial fight with Vritra was kind of his personal fault.
Vishwaroopa was Indra's guru after Brihaspati left. Indra suspected Vishwaroopa of double crossing him and helping Asuras, so he killed him. Even other Devas didn't support him on this and told him he had made a blunder. Vishwaroopa's father created Vritra to get back at Indra. But as it happens when you create something like that, Vritra didn't target only Indra. Indra made a treaty with him and promised to not use any weapon made of metal, stone or wood or to attack him anything solid or wet and withdrew along with other devas.

Vritra now started attacking others. He swallowed the whole river, and turned the earth in to wasteland without water- affecting all the creatures, humans, animals birds there. Thus Deva and Indra had to come out again. Now Indra had promised not to use any weapon made of metal wood or stone. That lead to sage Dadhichi sacrificing his life so that Indra could get a weapon Vajra made with his bones to kill Vritra. Vishnu made Indra go to Dadhichi by himself and to figure out how to approach Vritra. The sage gave up his life readily saying he was glad that even dead, he was useful for others. But to a guilty Indra that was not much of a comfort. He then went to Vritra and apologized and befriended him before challenging him to fight. (Vrtitra was elated that Indra had surrendered but now he had no plans of stopping) . After the fight Indra left the seat of the king and went to meditate as a penance for his actions/the sins on his part and killing of Vritra. Deva had chosen another king. Later they brought him back only because the new king got corrupted by power, too fast.

( Note that Indra is a more like a title & not a single entity. There are different Indras in different eras and they can be replaced with another during one cycle too.)

"The term naga in Hinduism describes a powerful, splendid, wonderful and proud semi-divine race that can assume their physical form either as human, partial human-serpent or the whole serpent. Their domain is in the enchanted underworld, the underground realm filled with gems, gold and other earthly treasures called Naga-loka or Patala-loka. They are also often associated with bodies of waters — including rivers, lakes, seas, and wells — and are guardians of treasure"

In a story in Mahabharata, Bheema was poisoned by his cousins and thrown in a river. Naga found him, took him to their realm, treated him and then returned to surface. Even today sometimes people do not cremate snake bitten dead body, but put to float in water hoping that someone out there will cure the person and they will live again.