I Can’t Sleep - Dragons | Relaxing Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Ease into rest with this calm bedtime reading on dragons, a peaceful way to help with insomnia and sleepless nights. Benjamin’s soothing cadence explores the myths, legends, and cultural significance of dragons across the world, from ancient stories in Asia and Europe to their presence in modern tales. His gentle voice turns epic lore into soft, fact-filled narration that quiets the mind. This is not whispering or hypnosis—just calm storytelling and education to reduce stress and support restful sleep. Press play, close your eyes, and let dragons guide you into dreams. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Dragons, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Dragons. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch. I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause.

With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled, Dragon. A Dragon is a large, serpentine, legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide.

Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures, since the high Middle Ages, have often been depicted as winged, horned, forelegged, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. The earliest attested reports of draconic creatures resembled giant snakes. Draconic creatures are first described in the mythologies of the ancient Near East and appear in ancient Mesopotamian art and literature. Stories about storm gods slain giant serpents occur throughout

nearly all Indo-European and near-eastern mythologies. Famous prototypical draconic creatures include the Musho of ancient Mesopotamia, Apep in Egyptian mythology, Vertra in the Rigida, the Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible, Grand Goul in the Poitou region in France, Python, Leiden, Weaverm, and the Learine-Hydra in Greek mythology. Germungendur, Niedherger, and Fafnir in Norse mythology, and the dragon from Beowulf. The popular Western image of a dragon is based on a conflation of earlier dragons from different traditions and of inaccurate scribble drawings of snakes. In Western cultures, dragons are portrayed as monsters to be tamed or overcome,

usually by saints or culture heroes, as in the popular legend of St. George and the dragon. They are often said to have ravenous appetites and to live in caves where they hoard treasure. These dragons appear frequently in Western fantasy literature, including The Hobbit by J. R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. The word dragon has also come to be applied to the legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Luong, which is associated with good fortune and is thought to have power over rain.

Dragons and their associations with rain are the source of the Chinese customs of dragon dancing and dragon boat racing. Many East Asian deities and demigods have dragons as their personal mounts or companions. Dragons were also identified with the Emperor of China, who during later Chinese imperial history was the only one permitted to have dragons in his house, clothing, or personal articles. commonalities between dragons traits are often a hybridization of feline, avian, and reptilian features and may include snake-like features, reptilian scaly skin, four legs with three or four toes on each,

spinal nodes running down the back, a tail, and a serrated jaw with rows of teeth. Several modern scholars believe huge extinct or migrating crocodiles bear the closest resemblance, especially when encountered in forested or swampy areas, and are most likely the template of modern dragon imagery. Etymology The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French Dragoon, which in turn comes from Latin, draconum, meaning huge serpent, dragon, from ancient Greek tracon, serpent giant sea fish.

The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological. The Greek word dracon is most likely derived from the Greek verb dercomai, meaning I see, the errorist form of which is Edrakon. This is thought to have referred to something with a deadly glance or unusually bright or sharp eyes. Or because a snake's eyes appear to be always open, each eye actually sees through a big transparent scale in its eyelids, which are permanently shut. Myth origins. Dracconic creatures appear in virtually all cultures around the globe.

Nonetheless, scholars dispute where the idea of a dragon originates from, and a wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed. In his book, An Instinct for Dragons 2000, anthropologist David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans, like monkeys, have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, large cats, and birds of prey. He cites a study which found that approximately 39 people and 100 are afraid of snakes, and notes that fear of snakes is especially prominent in children, even in areas where snakes are rare.

The earliest detested dragons all resemble snakes. or have snake-like attributes. Jones therefore concludes that dragons appear in nearly all cultures because humans have an innate fear of snakes and other animals that were major predators of humans' primate ancestors. Dragons are usually said to reside in dank caves, deep pools, wild mountain reaches, sea bottoms, haunted forests, all places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors.

In her book, The First Fossil Hunters, Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times 2000, Adrian Mayer argues that some stories of dragons may have been inspired by ancient discoveries of fossils, belonging to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. She argues that the dragon lore of northern India may have been inspired by observations of oversized extraordinary bones in the fossil beds of the Sawulik hills below the Himalayas. And that ancient Greek artistic depictions of the monster of Troy may have been influenced by fossils of samotherium, and extinct species of giraffe whose fossils are common in the Mediterranean region. In China, a region where fossils of large prehistoric animals are common. These remains are frequently identified as dragon bones and are commonly used in traditional

Chinese medicine. Mayor, however, is careful to point out that not all stories of dragons and giants are inspired by fossils and notes that Scandinavia has many stories of dragons and sea monsters, but has long been considered barren of large fossils. In one of her later books, she states that many dragon images around the world were based on folk knowledge or exaggerations of living reptiles, such as Komodo dragons, gila monsters, iguanas, alligators, or in California, alligator lizards. Robert Blast in The Origin of Dragons 2000 argues that

Like many other creatures of traditional cultures, dragons are largely explicable as products of a convergence of rational pre-scientific speculation about the world of real events. In this case, the event is the natural mechanism governing rainfall and drought, with particular attention paid to the phenomenon of the rainbow. Africa. Egypt In Egyptian mythology Apep is a giant serpentine creature who resides in the duat, the Egyptian underworld. The Bremner-rind papyrus, written in around 310 BC,

preserves an account of much older Egyptian tradition that the setting of the sun is caused by Ra descending to the duat to battle Apep. In some accounts, Apep is a pep is a pep as long as the height of eight men with a head made of flint. Thunderstorms and earthquakes were thought to be

caused by Apep's roar, and solar eclipses were thought to be the result of Apep attacking Ra during the daytime. In some myths, Apep is slain by the god said. Nehibkau is another giant serpent who guards the duat and aided Ra in his battle against Apeb.

Nehbkow was so massive in some stories that the entire earth was believed to rest atop his coils. Denwin is a giant serpent mentioned in the pyramid texts, whose body was made of fire and who ignited a conflagration that nearly destroyed all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was ultimately defeated by the pharaoh, a victory which affirmed the pharaoh's divine right to rule. The Oroboros was a well-known Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. The precursor to the Orboros was the many-faced, a serpent with five heads, who, according to the Amdwa, the oldest surviving book of the afterlife, was said to coil around the corpse of the

sun god Ra protectively. The earliest surviving depiction of a true Oroboris comes from the Gets. gilded shrines in the tomb of Tutankhamun. In the early centuries AD, the Oraborus was adopted as a symbol by Gnostic Christians, and Chapter 136 of Pistos Sophia, an early Gnostic text, describes a great dragon whose tail is in its mouth. In medieval alchemy, the Oroboros became a typical Western dragon with wings, legs, and a tail. A famous image of the dragon 9 on its tail from the 11th century Codex Mark Yanus was copied in numerous works on alchemy.

China Archaeologist Jo Chongfa believes that the Chinese word for dragon is an animatopoeia of the sound of thunder, or Lung in Cantonese. The Chinese dragon is the highest ranking creature in the Chinese animal hierarchy. Its origins are vague, but its ancestors can be found in Neolithic pottery, as well as Bronze Age ritual vessels. A number of popular stories deal with the rearing of dragons. The Zuo-Zuan, which was probably written during the warring states period, describes a man named Dong Fu, a descendant of Yongshuan who loved dragons,

and because he could understand a dragon's will, he was able to tame them and raise them well. He served Emperor Shun who gave him the family name, Guanlong, meaning dragon raiser. In another story, Kangja, the 14th emperor of the Jai dynasty, was given a male and a few, female dragon as a reward for his obedience to the God of heaven, but could not train them, so he hired a dragon trainer named Liu Lei, who had learned how to train dragons from Juan Long. One day the female dragon died unexpectedly, so Liu Lei secretly chopped her up, cooked her meat, and served it to the king, who loved it so much that he demanded Lu Lei to serve him the same meal again.

Since Lule had no means of procuring more dragon meat, he fled the palace. One of the most famous dragon stories is about the Lord Yigau, who loved dragons obsessively even though he had never seen one. He decorated his whole house with dragon motifs, and seen this display of admiration, a real dragon came and visited Yigau. but the Lord was so terrified at the sight of the creature that he ran away. In Chinese legend, the culture hero Fuxi is said to have been crossing the Lowe River when he saw the Lung Ma, a Chinese horse dragon,

with seven dots on its face, six on its back, eight on its left flank, and nine on its right flank. He was so moved by this apparition that when he arrived home he drew a picture of it, including the dots. He later used these dots as letters and invented Chinese writing, which he used to write his book, Ai Ching. In another Chinese legend, the physician Ma Shi Huang is said to have healed a sick dragon. Another legend reports that a man once came to,

to the healer Lo Shenjin, telling him that he was a dragon and that he needed to be healed. After Lo Shanjin healed the man, a dragon appeared to him and carried him to heaven. In the Shanhai Jing, a classic mythography probably compiled mostly during the Han Dynasty. Various deities and demigods are associated with dragons. One of the most famous Chinese dragons is Ying Long, responding dragon, who helped the Huangdi, the yellow emperor, defeat the tyrant Chi Yu. The dragon, Zhulang, Torch Dragon, is a god who compose the universe with his body. In the Shanghai Jing, many mythic heroes are said to have been conceived after their mothers

populated with divine dragons. including Huang Di, Shenong, Emperor Yao, and Emperor Shun. The god Zhurong and the Emperor Qi are both described as being carried by two dragons, as are Huang Di, Zhongju, Yukwang, and Roshu, and various other texts. According to Huaynzi, an evil black dragon once caused, destructive deluge, which was ended by the mother goddess Niuwa by slaying the dragon. A large number of ethnic myths about dragons are told throughout China. The Hau-Hanshu compiled in the 5th century by Faniyi reports a story belonging to the

Ailaui people, which holds that a woman named Shai Yi, who lived in the region around Mount Lao became pregnant with ten sons after being touched by a tree trunk floating in the water while fishing. She gave birth to the sons and the tree trunk turned into a dragon who asked to see his sons. The woman showed them to him, but all of them ran away except for the youngest, who the dragon licked on the back and named Julong, meaning sitting back. The sons later elected him king, and the descendants of the ten sons became the Ailaue people, who tattooed dragons on their backs in honor of their ancestor. The Miao people of southwest China have a story that a divine dragon created the first humans

by breathing on monkeys that came to play in his cave. The Han people have many stories about the short-tailed old Lee, a black dragon who was born to a poor family in Shangdong. When his mother saw him for the first time, she fainted. And when his father came home from the field and saw him, he hit him with a spade and cut off part of his tail. Lee burst through the ceiling and flew away to the Black Dragon River in northeast China, when he became the god of that river.

On the anniversary of his mother's death on the Chinese Lunar, calendar, Old Lee returns home, causing it to rain. He is still worshipped as a rain god. In China, dragons are closely associated with rain, and drought is thought to be caused by a dragon's laziness. Prayers invoking dragons to bring rain are common in Chinese texts. The luxuriant dew of the springs and autumn annals, a tribute to the Han Dynasty's scholar Dong Zhongshu prescribes making clay figurines of dragons during a time of drought and having young men and boys pace and dance among the figurines in order to encourage the dragons to bring rain. Texts from the king dynasty advise hurling the bone of a tiger or dirty objects into the pool where the dragon

lives. Since dragons cannot stand tigers or dirt, the dragon, dragon of the pool will cause heavy rain to drive the object out. Rain making rituals invoking dragons are still very common in many Chinese villages, where each village has its own gods said to bring rain, and many of these gods are dragons. Although stories of the dragon kings are among the most popular dragon stories in China today, these stories did not begin to emerge until the eastern Han, when Buddhist stories of the serpent rain god Negah became popular. Taoists began to invent their own dragon kings,

and eventually such stories developed in every major Chinese religion. According to these stories, every body of water is ruled by a dragon king. Each was a different power, rank, and ability, so people began establishing temples across the countryside dedicated. to these figures. Many traditional Chinese customs revolve around dragons. During various holidays, including the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, villagers would construct an approximately 16-foot-long dragon from grass, cloth, bamboo strips, and paper, which they will parade through the city as part of a dragon dance. The original purpose of this ritual was to bring good weather,

and a strong harvest, but now it is done mostly only for entertainment. During the Duanwu Festival, several villages or even a whole province, will provide a dragon boat race in which people race across a body of water and boats carved to look like dragons, while a large audience watches on the banks. The custom is traditionally said to have originated after the poet Ku Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Malou River, and people raced out in boats, hoping to save him. But most historians agree that the custom actually originated much earlier as a ritual to avert ill fortune. Starting during the Han Dynasty and continuing until the King dynasty,

the Chinese Emperor gradually became closely identified with dragons, and emperors themselves claimed to be the incarnations of a divine dragon. Eventually, dragons were only allowed to appear on clothing, houses, and articles of everyday use belonging to the emperor, and any commoner who possessed everyday items bearing the image of the dragon were ordered to be executed. After the last Chinese emperor was overthrown in 1911, this situation changed and how many or other,

ordinary Chinese people identify themselves as descendants of dragons. Korea. The Korean dragon is in many ways similar in appearance to other East Asian dragons, such as the Chinese and Japanese dragons. It differs from the Chinese dragon in that it developed a longer beard. Very occasionally a dragon may be depicted as carrying an orb known as the Yiu-Korean name for the mythical Sintamani in its claws or its mouth. It was said that whoever could wield the Yiuju was blessed with the abilities of omnipotence and creation at will, and that only four-toed dragons who had thumbs with which to hold the orbs were both wise and powerful enough to wield these orbs as opposed to the lesser three-todd

dragons. As with China, the number nine is significant and auspicious in Korea, and dragons were said to have 81, 9 times 9 scales on their backs, representing Yang essence. Dragons in Korea mythology are primarily benevolent beings related to water and agriculture, often considered bringers of rain and clouds. Hence, many Koreans dragons are said to have resided in rivers, lakes, oceans, or even deep mountain ponds, and human journeys to undersea realms and especially the undersea palace of the dragon king are common in Korean folklore. In Korean myths, some kings who found kingdoms were described as descendants of dragons because the dragon was a symbol of the monarch.

Lady Ariong, who was the first queen of Silla, is said to have been born from a cockatrice, while the grandmother of Taijo of Goryo, founder of Goryo, was reportedly the daughter of the dragon king of the West Sea, and King Munmo of Silla, who on his deathbed wished to become a dragon of the East Sea in order to protect the kingdom. Dragon patterns were used exclusively by the royal family. The royal robe was also called the dragon robe. In Joshon Dynasty, the royal insignia featuring embroidered dragons were attached to the robe's shoulder, the chest, and back.

The king wore five-taloned dragon insignia, while the crown prince wore four-talent dragon insignia. Korean folk mythology states that most dragons were originally Imujis, or lesser dragons, which were said to resemble gigantic serpents. There are a few different versions of Korean folklore that describe both what Imujis are and how they aspire to become full-fledged dragons. Koreans thought that an emoji could become a true dragon, young or Muir if it caught a Yoju which had fallen from heaven.

Another explanation states they are hornless creatures resembling dragons, who have been cursed and thus were unable to become dragons. By other accounts, an emoji is a proto-dragon, which must survive 1,000 years in order to become a fully-fledged dragon. In either case, they are said to be large, benevolent python-like creatures that live in water or caves, and their sighting is associated with good luck. Japan Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China. Like those other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water.

and are typically depicted as large, wingless serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes, The Japanese dragon is invariably figured as possessing three claws. A story about the samurai Minamoto no Mitsunaka tells that while he was hunting in his own territory of Setzu, he fell asleep under a tree and had a dream in which a beautiful, woman appeared to him and begged him to save her land from a giant serpent which was defiling it. Mitsunaka agreed to help and the maiden gave him a magnificent horse. When he woke up, the horse was standing before him.

He wrote it to the Simoyoshi Temple where he prayed for eight days. Then he confronted the serpent and slew it with an arrow. It was believed that dragons could be appeased or exercised with metal. Nita Yoshisara is said to have hurled a famous sword into the sea at Sagami to appease the dragon god of the sea. And Kno Tsouroyuki threw a metal mirror into the sea at Sumiyoshi for the same purpose. Japanese Buddhism has also adapted dragons by subjecting them to the sea. to Buddhist law, the Japanese Buddhist deities, Benton, and Kwanon are often shown sitting or standing on the back of a dragon. Several Japanese Sennon immortals have taken dragons as their mounts.

Bomo is said to have hurled his staff into a puddle of water, causing a dragon to come forth and let him write it to heaven. The Rakhun Handaka is said to have been able to conjure a dragon out of a bowl, which he is often shown playing with on Kagamibuta. The Shashi Koko is a creature with the head of a dragon, a bushy tail, fish-like scales, and sometimes fire emerging from its armpits. The Shifun has the head of a dragon, feathered wings, and the tail and claws of a bird. A white dragon was believed to reside in a pool in Yamashiro, province, and every 50 years it would turn into a bird called the Ogancho, which had a call

like the howling of a wild dog. This event was believed to herald terrible famine. In the Japanese village of Okumura, near Ido, during times of drought, the villagers would make a dragon effigy out of straw, magnolia leaves, and bamboo, and paraded through the village. to attract rainfall. Southeast, the Vietnamese dragon was a mythical creature that was often used as a deity symbol and associated with royalty. Similar to other cultures,

dragons in Vietnamese culture represent Yang and godly being associated with creation and life. West Ancient, Mesopotamia. Ancient peoples across the the near east believed in creatures similar to what modern people call dragons. His ancient peoples were unaware of the existence of dinosaurs or similar creatures in the distant past. References to dragons of both benevolent and malevolent characters occur throughout

ancient Mesopotamian literature. In Sumerian poetry, great kings are often compared to the Usumgal, a gigantic serpentine monster. A draconic creature with the four parts of a lion and the hind legs, tail, and wings of a bird appear in Mesopotamian artwork from the Acadian period until the Neo-Babolian period. The dragon is usually shown with its mouth open. It may have been known as the Umu Na'iru, which means roaring weather beast, and may have been associated with the god Ishkur, Adad. A slightly different lion dragon with two horns

and the tail of a scorpion appears in art from the Neo-Assyrian period. A relief probably commissioned by Senechereb shows the god Asher, sin, and Adad standing on its back. Another draconic creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art, from the Acadian period until the Hellenistic period. This creature, known in Acadian as the Mushu Su, meaning furious serpent, was used as a symbol for particular deities, and also as a general protective.

emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the underworld god Ninnatsu, but later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm god Tishpak, as well as later Ninazu's son Nenghis Tzida, the Babylonian national god Marduk, the scribal god Nabu, and the Assyrian National Guard Ashur. Scholars disagree regarding the appearance of Tiamat, the Babylonian goddess personifying primeval chaos, slain by Marduk, in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Ellis. She was traditionally regarded by scholars as having had the form of a giant serpent, but several scholars have pointed out that this shape cannot be imputed to Tiamad with certainty. She seems to have at least sometimes been regarded as anthropomorphic.

nonetheless in some texts she seems to be described with horns a tail and a hide that no weapon can penetrate all features which suggest she was conceived as some form of dragoness levant in the ugaritic baal cycle the sea dragon lotanu is described as the twisting serpent the powerful one with seven heads Lutano is slain by the storm god Bael, but in K2U 1.5, 2 to 3, Lutano is slain by the storm god Baal, but in K2U 1.3, 41 to 42, he is instead slain by the virgin warrior goddess Anad.

In the book of Psalms, Psalm 74, 13 through 14, the sea dragon Leviathan whose name is cognate of Lothanu is slain by Yahweh, the national god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as part of the creation of the world. In Isaiah 271, Yahweh's destruction of Leviathan is foretold as part of Yahweh's impending overhaul of the universal order. On that day, Yahweh shall punish with his sharp, great, and strong sword Leviathan. the fleeing serpent. Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Job 41, 1 through 34, contains a detailed description of the Leviathan, who is described as being so powerful that only Yahweh can overcome it. Job 41 versus 19 through 21 states that the Leviathan exhales fire and smoke, making its identification as a mythical dragon clearly apparent.

In some parts of the Old Testament, the Leviathan is historicized as a symbol for the nations that stand against Yahweh. Rehab, a synonym for Leviathan, is used in several biblical passages in reference to Egypt. Isaiah 30, verse 7, declares, for Egypt's help is worthless and empty. Therefore, I have called her the silenced Rehab. Similarly, Psalm 87, verse 3 reads, I reckon Rehab and Babylon as those that know me. In Ezekiel 29 verses 3 through 5, and Ezekiel 32 versus 2 through 8, the Pharaoh of Egypt is described as a dragon, Tanin.

In the story of Bell and the dragon from the apocryphal additions to Daniel, the prophet Daniel sees a dragon being worshipped by the Babylonians. Daniel makes cakes of pitch, fat, and hair, the dragon eats them and bursts open. Post-classical In Sufi literature, Rumi writes in his Maznavi that the dragon symbolizes the sensual soul, greed, and lust, that need to be mortified in a spiritual battle.

In Ferdowsy's Shannameh, the Iranian hero Rostam must slay an 80-meter-long dragon, which renders itself invisible to human side, with the aid of his legendary horse Rakhsh. As Rostom is sleeping, the dragon approaches. Rachs attempts to wake Rostom, but fails to alert him to the danger until Rostom sees the dragon.

Rakhs bites the dragon while Rostom decapitates it. This is the third trial of Rostom's seven labors. Rostom is also credited with the slaughter of other dragons in the Shannameh, and in other Iranian oral traditions, notably in the myth of Babra Ebayon. In this tale, Rostom is still an adolescent and kills a dragon in the Orient, either India or China, depending on the source. by forcing it to swallow either ox hides filled with quick lime and stones or poison blades.

The dragon swallows these foreign objects and its stomach bursts, after which Rossum flays the dragon and fashions a coat from its hide called the Babra E. Bayean. In some variants of the story, Rostom then remains unconscious for two days and nights, but is guarded by his steed, Rakhsh. On reviving, he washes himself in a spring. In the Mandian tradition of the story Rostom hides in a box, is swallowed by the dragon and kills it from inside its belly. The king of China then gives Rostom his daughter in marriage as a reward.

South. In the Rigveda, the oldest of the four Vedas, Indra, the Vedic god of storms, battles Vertra, a giant serpent who represents drought. Indra kills Vitra, using his Vadra thunderbolt, and clears the path for rain, which is described in the form of cattle. You won the cows, hero, you won the Soma.

You feed the seven streams to flow. In another Rigvedic legend, a three-headed serpent, Visvarupa, the son of Tfaster, guards a wealth of cows and horses. Idra delivers Visvarupa to a god named Trita Abtya, who fights and kills him and sets his cattle free. Idra cuts off Visvarupa's head and drives the cattle home for Trita.

This same story is alluded to in the younger Avesta, in which the hero of Thratona, the son of Athbya, slays the three-headed dragon Azi Dajaka and slays his two beautiful wives as spoils. Theretona's name, meaning third grandson of the waters, indicates that Azi Duhaka, like Vertra, was seen as a blocker of waters and cause of drought. The Druk, also known as Thunder Dragon, is one of the national symbols of Bhutan. In the Junkha language, Bhutan is known as the Druk Yul, land of Druk. And Bhutanese leaders are called Druk Gyalpo, Thunder Dragon Kings.

The Druk was adopted as an emblem by the Drukpa lineage, which originated in Tibet, and later spread to Bhutan. Europe Proto-Indo-European The story of a hero slain a giant serpent occurs in nearly every Indo-European mythology. In most stories, the hero is some kind of thunder god. In nearly every iteration of the story, the serpent is either multi-headed or multiple in some other way. Furthermore, in nearly every story, the serpent is always somehow associated with water.

Bruce Lincoln has proposed that the proto-Indo-European dragon-slaying myth can be reconstructed as follows. First, the sky gods give cattle to a man named Tretos, a third, who is so named because he is the third man on earth. But a three-headed serpent named Ingui steals them. Tritos pursues the serpent and is accompanied by Heineer, whose name means man. Together the two heroes slay the serpent and rescue the cattle. Ancient Greek and Roman The ancient Greek word usually translated as dragon, dracon, could also mean snake,

but it usually refers to a kind of giant serpent that either possesses supernatural characteristics or is otherwise controlled by some supernatural power. The first mention of a dragon in ancient Greek literature occurs in the Iliad, in which Agamemnon is described as having a blue dragon motif, on his sword belt and an emblem of a three-hitted dragon on his breastplate. In lines 820 to 880 of the Theogony, a Greek poem written in the 7th century BC by the Biotian poet Hesiod, the Greek god Zeus battles the monster Typhon,

who has 100 serpent heads that breathe fire and make many frightening animal noises. Zeus scorches all of Typhon's heads with his lightning bolts and then hurls Typhon into Tartarus. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, the god Apollo uses his poisoned arrows to slay the serpent python, who has been causing death and pestilence in the area around Delphi. The Roman poet Virgil in his poem Kulek's lines 163 through 201,

describing a shepherd having a fight with a big constricting snake, calls it serpens and also Draco, showing that in his time the two words were probably interchangeable. Hesiod also mentions that the hero Heracles slew the Lernay and Hydra, a multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of Lerna. The name Hydra means water snake in Greek. According to the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, the slaying of the hydra was the second of the 12 labors of Heracles.

Accounts disagree in which weapon Heracles used to slay the hydra, but by the end of the 6th century BC, it was agreed that the clubbed or severed heads needed to be cauterized to prevent them from growing back. Heracles was aided in this task by his nephew Ayolos, During the battle, a giant crab crawled out of the marsh and pinched Heracles' foot, but he crushed it under his heel. Hera placed the crab in the sky as the constellation cancer.

One of the Hydra's heads was immortal, so Heracles buried it under the heavy rock after cutting it off. For his 11th labor, Heracles must procure a golden apple from the tree in the garden of the Hesperities, which is guarded by an enormous serpent that never sleeps, which pseudo-apolodorus calls Latin. In earlier depictions, Latin is often shown with many heads. In pseudo-apalodorus's account, Latin is immortal. But Sophocles and Euripides both describe Heracles as killing him,

although neither of them specifies how. The mythographer Herodorus is the first to state that Heracles slew him, using his famous club. Apollonius of Rhodes in his epic poem, the Argonautica, describes Latin as having been shot full of poison arrows dipped in the blood of the hydra.