The Penguin Book of Dragons

by The Penguin Book of Dragons (retail) (epub)

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  It is a well-known fact that during the Punic war, at the river Bagrada, a serpent 120 feet in length was taken by the Roman army under Regulus, being besieged, like a fortress, by means of ballistae and other engines of war. Its skin and jaws were preserved in a temple at Rome down to the time of the Numantine war.

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  Draconitis or dracontia is a stone produced from the brain of the dragon; but unless the head of the animal is cut off while it is alive, the stone will not assume the form of a gem, through spite on the part of the serpent, when finding itself on the point of death. Hence it is that, for this purpose, the head is cut off when it is asleep. Sotacus, who tells us that he once saw a stone of this kind in the possession of a king, says that persons go in search of it in a chariot drawn by two horses and that, the moment they see the serpent, they strew narcotic drugs in its way and then cut off its head when asleep. According to him, this stone is white and clear, and admits no polishing or engraving.

  SATANIC SERPENTS

  Dragons and Saints in Early Christianity

  Since the dawn of literature, the gods have waged war against gigantic serpents in epic stories that articulated the triumph of divine order over primordial chaos. Accounts of these ancient conflicts anchored many of the foundation myths of Near Eastern and Asian cultures. In Egypt, the sun god Ra battled Apep, the enemy of light, who took the form of a giant snake or crocodile. In Mesopotamia, the storm god Marduk fought against the goddess Tiamat, a sea dragon who gave birth to a host of serpentine offspring, whose bodies she filled with venom instead of blood. In South Asia, the celestial deity Indra wielded a thunderbolt to free the rivers of the world from the dragon Vrtra, who held them captive in a mountain (see pp. 203–205). While these stories speak to the important role of dragons in many ancient cultures, none of them could rival the impact and influence of the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament on the depiction and understanding of dragons in the western tradition. Ancient Jewish and early Christian renderings of monstrous reptiles typically underscored their role in the exile of human beings from the Garden of Eden, their affinity with the Devil and their activity as agents of his will, and their adversarial role in the cosmic conflicts that herald the end of time. As servants of Satan, dragons were the natural adversaries of holy men and women in early Christian literature, with the result that late antique and early medieval accounts of the virtues and miracles of the saints often featured the conquest or taming of dragons as proof of their God-given power. From the northern coast of Africa to the highlands of Scotland, in the visions of martyrs and the deeds of missionaries, dragons were a menacing obstacle to the advancement of the Christian faith.

  BIBLICAL BEASTS

  The translation of the Pentateuch and writings of the Jewish prophets from Hebrew into Greek (in the third and second centuries BCE) and from Greek into Latin (before the fourth century CE) introduced the Greco-Roman world to the beguiling serpent of the Garden of Eden, the colossal sea monster known as Leviathan, and the dragon worshipped by the ancient Babylonians in the time of Daniel. These sacred tales also informed the depiction of the “great red dragon” of the Book of Revelation, an apocalyptic Christian text written around 95 CE. Taken together, the dragons of the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament offered a powerful, multivalent image for later readers: as a monster of imposing size and unmatched strength, the dragon evoked fear; as an agent of the Devil, it represented the lure of false religion and the enticement of sin; and as an enemy of God, it made war against the forces of righteousness until the archangel Michael cast it into the pit of fire to suffer for all eternity.

  (A) THE SERPENT IN THE GARDEN1

  But the serpent was more subtle than all the other animals of the earth, which the Lord God had made. To the woman it said, “Why has God commanded you not to eat from every tree in Paradise?” To him the woman responded, “We can eat from the fruit of the trees which are in Paradise, but God has commanded us not to eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of Paradise nor to even touch it lest perhaps we die.” And the serpent said to the woman, “No, you will not die. For God knows that on whatever day you will eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be just like gods, knowing good and evils.” And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat and beautiful to her eyes and a delight to see and she took some of its fruit and ate it and gave some to her man, who also ate it. And the eyes of both of them were opened and when they realized that they were naked, they sewed together the leaves of figs and made for themselves loincloths. And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in Paradise in the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God in the midst of the tree of Paradise. The Lord God called for Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” And Adam replied, “I heard your voice in Paradise and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.” And the Lord said to him, “And who has told you that you are naked, unless you have eaten from the tree from which I commanded you that you should not eat.” And Adam said, “The woman whom you have given to me as a companion gave to me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “Why have you done this?” She answered, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed among all animals and beasts of the earth. You will go upon your chest and you will eat earth for all the days of your life. I will put hostilities between you and the woman, between your seed and hers. She will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel.”

  (B) THE LEVIATHAN OF THE DEEP2

  Can you reel in Leviathan with a hook or bind his tongue with a cord? Can you put a ring through his nostrils or pierce his jaw with a band of metal? . . . Will you fill trawling nets with his hide and fishing huts with his head? Place your hand upon him with battle in mind and you will speak no more. Behold, his adversary’s hope will deceive him and for all to see, he will be cast down . . . Who has discovered the surface of his hide and who will enter into his mouth? Who can open the gates of his face through the circuit of his teeth, a horror? His body is like molten shields and enclosed with overlapping scales, one joined to another and not a breath of air passes through them. They will adhere, one to another, and holding fast, they will never be separated. His snuffling is like the brightness of fire and his eyes like the eyelids of dawn. From his mouth proceed lamps like torches of burning flame. From his nostrils proceeds smoke like a pot heated and on the boil. His breath sets coals on fire and a flame emits from his mouth. In his neck strength abides and want precedes his face. The folds of his flesh cleave together. He will send lightning against him and they will not be carried off to another place. His heart will be as hard as stone and as unyielding as a smith’s anvil. When he has risen up, the angels will be afraid and, terrified, they will be purged. When a sword reaches him, it will have no effect, nor a spear nor a coat of mail. For he will treat iron like straw and brass like rotten wood. The archer cannot make him flee. For him sling stones are turned into stubble. Likewise will he esteem the hammer and he will deride the one shaking his spear. The rays of the sun will be beneath him and he will scatter gold like dirt. He will cause the deep sea to seethe like a pot and will make it just like when ointments boil. After him his wake will shine. He will consider the deep as though it grows old. There is no power upon the earth compared to him, who was made to fear no one. He will see everything that is high. He is the king over all the children of pride.

  (C) THE DRAGON OF BABYLON3

  And there was a great dragon in that place and the Babylonians worshipped it. And the king said to Daniel, “Behold, now you cannot say that this creature is not a living god, so worship it.” And Daniel said, “I worship the Lord, my God because he is the living God. But give me your permission, O king, and I will slay the dragon without sword or staff.” And the king said, “I give you leave.” Therefore, Daniel took pi
tch and fat and hair and cooked them together and formed them into loaves and put them into the monster’s mouth and the dragon burst apart. And Daniel said, “Behold what you worship.” And when the Babylonians heard this, they became very angry.

  (D) THE SEVEN-HEADED HORROR OF THE END TIMES4

  And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman cloaked with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was pregnant and cried out as she gave birth, for she was in pain to deliver the baby. And a second sign was seen in heaven: behold, there was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on its heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept down a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to deliver her child so that, when she gave birth, he might devour her son. And she gave birth to a male child, who was destined to rule all nations with an iron rod and her son was taken up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there they would feed her for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

  And a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon fought his angels. And they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast forth, that great old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who seduced the whole world. And he was cast forth to the earth and his angels were sent away with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, “Now let there be salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ because the accuser of our brothers has been cast forth, who accused them before the sight of our God day and night. And they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of his testimony, for they did not love their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and to the sea because the Devil descends to you, harboring a great wrath, knowing that his time is short.” And when the dragon saw that he was cast forth to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly into the desert, to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, away from the face of the serpent. And the serpent sent forth from its mouth after the woman a rush of water like a river to cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth came to her aid, opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had sent forth from its mouth. And the dragon was angry at the woman and went out to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

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  And I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he captured the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the abyss and closed it and put his seal upon it so that he could not seduce the nations any more until one thousand years had passed. After that, it is necessary for him to be released for a little while.

  THE GUARDIAN OF HEAVEN’S LADDER1

  The voices of early Christian women are vanishingly rare in the historical record, so the survival of a prison diary written by a Roman Christian named Perpetua is nothing short of miraculous. Imprisoned by the Roman government in 203 CE for her subversive faith and doomed to die in the colosseum in Carthage, Perpetua recorded in her diary the final days of her life in captivity, including the visions she received directly from God. Among them was a dream about a ladder to Heaven guarded by a dragon who lay in wait to attack anyone who dared to ascend it. Perpetua’s taming of this monster provides us with the earliest example of a saint subduing the Devil in the guise of an ancient serpent as proof of God’s power over evil and favor to the faithful.

  What a difficult time that was! Stiflingly hot because of the huge crowds; soldiers extorting money; and during the whole time I was there I was tormented by worries about my baby. Then Tertius and Pomponius, those kind deacons who were looking after us, bribed someone to allow us to be moved to a better part of the prison for a few hours so that we could recover a bit. Everyone then left the prison cell and we had a rest. I fed my baby who was weak with hunger. In my anxiety about him I spoke to my mother, tried to comfort my brother, and entrusted my son to them, but I suffered because I saw them suffering on my account.

  Such were the worries that tormented me for many days. Then I managed to get permission for my baby to stay with me in prison and as a result I immediately felt better, relieved as I was of my discomfort and of worry for the child. Suddenly the prison had become a palace, and I preferred to be there rather than anywhere else.

  Then my brother said to me, “My dear sister, you are already greatly privileged—so much so that you can surely ask for a vision to find out whether you will be condemned or set free?” I faithfully promised that I would, for I knew I could talk with the Lord, whose great blessings I had experienced. I told my brother I would give him an answer the following day. I then asked for a vision and this is what I saw. I saw an amazingly tall ladder, made of bronze, reaching right up to Heaven. It was so narrow that only one person could climb it at a time. All kinds of metal objects had been fixed into the sides of the ladder: there were swords, spears, hooks, daggers, and spikes, so that if the person climbing up were not careful or if he failed to look where he was going, he would be gashed and his flesh would stick to the metal spikes. Under the ladder lay an enormous dragon, waiting to attack those who climbed it and to frighten off any attempt to climb. Saturus was the first to climb up—he who later surrendered voluntarily out of consideration for us (for it was he who had been our spiritual teacher), and so he had not been with us when we were arrested. When he got to the top of the ladder, he turned round and said to me, “Perpetua, I will help you up. But be careful that the dragon does not bite you.” I replied, “He will not hurt me, in the name of Jesus Christ.” Then hesitantly, as if it were afraid of me, the dragon stuck its head out from under the ladder and I trod on its head as if it were the first rung and began to climb up.

  DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS

  On the eve of the Ascension, Jesus commanded his apostles to go forth and “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Throughout late antiquity, stories circulated about the missionary adventures of the apostles, as they preached the Christian faith in hostile environments throughout the Mediterranean world and as far afield as Armenia and India. While their authenticity has been called into doubt by modern scholars, these stories proved to be immensely popular with Christian readers throughout the Middle Ages. As recounted in the fourth-century Acts of Philip, the mission of the apostle Philip and his companions to the Greek city of Ophiorhyme (ancient Hierapolis, near modern Pamukkale in Turkey) brought them into conflict with the giant reptiles worshipped by the local pagans. During Philip’s confrontation with his serpentine adversaries, their leader—a great dragon covered with soot and spewing fire—revealed that he and his kin were the demonic descendants of the serpents conjured by the magicians of Pharaoh when they sparred unsuccessfully with Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:8–13). Like those great patriarchs, Philip overcame his enemies with miraculous manifestations of God’s power.

  (A) AGAINST THE SNAKE CULT1

  It came to pass when the Savior divided the apostles and each went forth according to his lot, that it fell to Philip to go to the country of the Greeks; and he thought it hard, and wept. And Mariamne his sister (it was she who made ready the bread and salt at the breaking of the bread, but Martha was she who ministered to the multitudes and labored much) seeing it, went to Jesus and said, “Lord, do you not see how my brother is troubled?” And he said, “I know, you chosen among women, but go with him and encourage him, for I know that he is a wrathful and rash man, and if we let him go alone he will bring many retributions on men. But lo, I will send Bartholomew and John to suffer hardships in the same city [Ophiorhyme] because of the
great wickedness of those who dwell there, for they worship the Viper, the mother of snakes.” . . . They journeyed for five days, and one morning after the midnight prayers a sudden wind arose, great and dark, and out of it ran a great smoky dragon, with a black back, and a belly like coals of brass in sparkles of fire, and a body over one hundred cubits long, and a multitude of snakes and their young followed it, and the desert quaked for a long distance.2 And Philip said, “Now is the time to remember the Lord’s words: ‘Fear nothing, neither persecution, nor the serpents of the land, nor the dark dragon.’ Let us stand fast and his power will fail and pray and sprinkle the air from the cup and the smoke will scatter.” So they took the cup and prayed, “You who spreads dew on all pyres and bridles darkness, putting a bit into the dragon’s mouth, bringing to nothing his anger, turning back the wickedness of the enemy and plunging him into his own fire, shutting his doors and stopping the exits and buffeting his pride, come and be with us in this desert, for we run by your will and at your bidding.” And he said, “Now stand and raise your hands, with the cup you hold, and sprinkle the air in the form of a cross.” And there was as a flash of lightning that blinded the dragon and its brood, and they were withered up, and the rays of the sun entered their holes and broke their eggs. But the apostles closed their eyes, unable to face the lightning, and remained unhurt.