The Origins of Dragon Folklore: Tracing the Connection to Ancient Fossils
Historian Adrienne Mayor advanced a theory that dragon folklore can be traced back to ancient discoveries of dinosaur fossils and those of huge extinct mammals. Take how the ancient Greeks depicted the Monster of Troy in vases and other artwork. The monster resembles a Samotherium, an extinct giraffe whose fossils are quite common in the Mediterranean. In parts of China were fossils of large extinct creatures are common, they are described as “dragon bones”. Similarly, dragons in the mythology of northern Indian closely resemble the extinct animals that left giant fossils strewn across the foothills of the Himalayas.
It is possible that the origins of dragon folklore are baked into us. They are traceable to before we had even evolved into humans. Anthropologist David E. Jones contends that humans have an instinctive fear of snakes, that originated with our ape ancestors millions of years ago. Snakes posed an especially high danger, and the peril was greatest for children. Evolution instilled in us a healthy fear of snakes. Children today, even in places that have no snakes at all, instinctively fear them. Such primal fears of snakes, might have given rise to dragon stories. Indeed, the earliest known dragon tales depict them as snake-like.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Atlas Obscura – When Tomatoes Were Blamed For Witchcraft and Werewolves
Bulfinch, Thomas – Bulfinch’s Mythology (1998)
Daily Beast – The Giant Space Rock That Wiped Out Biblical Sodom
Daily Beast – Was Santa Actually a Badass Who Beat Up a Priest?
Encyclopedia Britannica – Cronus
Encyclopedia Britannica – Sodom and Gomorrah
English Heritage – Dragons and Their Origins
Evslin, Bernard – Gods, Demigods and Demons: A Handbook of Greek Mythology (2006)
Fry, Stephen – Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined (2018)
Fry, Stephen – Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece (2019)
Gizmodo – “Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass” Used to be Literal
Greek Mythology – Hercules: The Life of the Greek Hero
Heritage Daily – The Origins of Dragon Mythology
History Collection – 10 of the Creepiest Stories From English Folklore
Jones, David E. – An Instinct for Dragons (2000)
Live Science – Dragons: A Brief History of the Mythical, Fire-Breathing Beasts
Live Science – Santa Claus: The Real Man Behind the Myth
Mayor, Adrienne – The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World (2014)
Nilsson, Martin P. – Greek Folk Religion (1972)
NPR – When the Supreme Court Decided Tomatoes Were Vegetables
Orthodox Church in America – Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
Patrol Craft Fast – The Wandering Soul Psyop Tape of Vietnam
Smithsonian Magazine, January 23rd, 2012 – Where Did Dragons Come From?
St. Nicholas Center – Who is St. Nicholas?
Washington Post, February 24th, 1987 – Edward Lansdale, Prototype For Ugly American, Dies