Dragons are one of the most popular myths or legends in the history of the earth.

Not only in China or in areas where Han culture is popular, but in foreign countries, dragons can also be said to be a kind of "existence" at the highest level.

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In Western mythology, dragons are called dragons.

Dragon originated in the ancient cultures of Western Europe as a symbol of strength and sacredness, while in Christian culture, it was described as synonymous with evil and demons.

Dragon, often described as having a body similar to that of a cougar, two large bat wings or wings, four legs, and a somewhat horse-like head. The colors most commonly mentioned in the story are green, red, or gold. It has a long, sinuous tail with spines at the ends, possibly barbed. At the end of each leg are huge claws, similar to those of carnivorous birds. Dragons have several rows of fangs and often have dorsal spines. In the late to modern times, this creature usually breathed fire or poison, or poisoned blood. Possess great strength and magical abilities.

It is said that in the earliest legends that gave rise to Western traditions, it was a divine being, not a monster that human adventurers encountered and fought. However, the organized myths of agricultural or urban cultures generally do not worship such creatures; rather, the image of the dragon is the enemy of the primordial chaos, the creator, the order of the gods.

The word "dragon" has a similar root in all European languages, whether it's Italian, Spanish, and French, which belong to the Latin language family, or German, Danish, etc., which belong to the Germanic language family.

The use of the word "dragon" in English dates back to the 13th century AD and is derived from the Old French word "dragon", as is the French word for "dragon". The latter is derived from the Latin word "draconem", while the word "draco" is derived from the ancient Greek word "drakōn".

In Latin, "draconem" can also refer to a huge serpent, while in ancient Greek, "drakon" means a giant sea serpent or sea monster. The root word "drakon" means "to gaze", so "drakon" may literally mean "one who has an eye on".

Ancient Mesopotamian mythology has a more akin to the present-day dragon. A representative example is Diamat in Babylonian mythology. Diamat, the goddess of the sea, is not only the creator of all things, but also the embodiment of primordial chaos. You can see the concepts of the sea, the mother goddess and destruction inherited from Babylonian mythology in ancient Egyptian mythology. Diamat's battle with the main god Marduk was an early prototype of the motif of the warrior fighting the monster of the sea.

Diamat's descendant, the Raging Serpent, is believed to have a closer relationship with dragons. According to the reliefs on the gates of the Neo-Babylonian city of Ishtar, the image of the angry serpent is close to that of a unicorn, with its head, neck, and torso covered with snake scales, lion's feet on its forefeet, eagle's claws on its hind feet, and long horns on its head and a scorpion's tail pin.

In ancient Greek mythology, dragons often appeared as fierce monsters and keepers of treasures.

Homer's epic poem The Iliad mentions Agamemnon's attire with a blue dragon on his sword belt and a three-headed dragon on his breastplate. Among the twelve exploits of Hercules, the eleventh "Stealing the Golden Apple" is also guarded by a dragon.

According to the second volume of Apollodorus' Library, the golden apple is "guarded by a huge dragon that lives forever." This massive dragon was the offspring of Typhon and Achedna, and had a hundred heads and a hundred different sounds coming out of a hundred mouths. ”

In the Tales of Hycinus, the dragon Radon, who guards the golden apple, is mentioned as one of the children of Typhon and Achedna. It also has a brother, a dragon who guards the Golden Fleece.

In ancient Greek, "dragon" and "giant sea serpent" are the same word, and it can be seen that the image of the dragon in ancient Greek culture is similar to the image of the snake, mainly manifested as great strength and the ability to live forever, which is related to the image of Diamat in Babylonian mythology.

And the more intuitive understanding is that the most typical image of the European "big lizard" comes from "Beowulf":

Legend describes the dragon as having a hovering serpentine body, hoarding and guarding treasures, being curious, vindictive, flying, breathing fire, and containing lethal venom in its teeth.

The dragon in Beowulf is irrational, and its behavior is governed by its own desires. The poem focuses on its emphasis on treasure. It could not speak, could not understand human language, and even looked shocked and frightened when it met Beowulf. In appearance, the dragon has a slender body and sharp teeth, allowing it to fly. The dragon in Beowulf inherits the negative image of Christianity and is the embodiment of Christian ideas in the poem.

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In the Arthurian legend that began circling in the 12th century, King Fotigang wanted to build a castle, but when it was built, the craftsmen found that the walls that were halfway built during the day always collapsed at night. So the king summoned astrologers and sorcerers to solve his doubts. The sorcerer told the king that the blood of the virgin's son needed to be sprinkled on the ground in order for the castle to be built. The king finally found such a child, and that was Merlin.

Merlin dismissed this as a lie, and told the king that there was a lake under the foundations of the castle, and that there were two sleeping dragons at the bottom of the lake. The king excavated the lake and drained the pond, and sure enough, he found a red dragon and a white dragon. At this time, the two dragons woke up and began to fight each other. The white dragon initially gained the upper hand, and the red dragon fought back, eventually driving the white dragon away.

Merlin explained that the red dragon represented the Ingru nation, the son of King Fotigon, while the white dragon represented the Saxon nation. The English nation would be invaded by the Saxons first, then revolted in blood, and finally driven out the Saxons. This story was first recorded in the 9th-century Historical Britain, in which King Fotigang's territory was present-day Wales.

In Mabinogion, which may have been written earlier, there is another dragon story, Rudd and Lively Story.

Lourdes was the son of King Berry of Britain and inherited the Kingdom of Britain, while his fourth brother, Lively married a French princess and became King of France. During Rudd's reign, screams of terror could be heard everywhere in Britain every May, causing men to fear, women to miscarry, children to madness, animals to die, trees to wither, and rivers to dry up. Rudd asks his brother Freilly, who tells him, "It's the cry of a dragon." This dragon is fighting an alien dragon. All you have to do is measure the land of Britain, dig a pit in the center, put in a crucible filled with mead, and seal it with satin. Two battled dragons will fall into the cauldron and fall asleep after drinking the honey. You must immediately seal the pot, bury it in a sarcophagus, and then find a strong place to bury it in the ground. This will save your kingdom from external calamities."

Loude finally buried the dragon in Dinas? Emrys, which is where King Fotigang later built his castle. These two dragons are the two dragons excavated by King Fotigang.

After Henry VII of the Tudor dynasty, the red dragon became his emblem, appearing in coats of arms and flags, and slowly becoming the symbol of Wales.

In Norse mythology, which began to take shape in the twelfth century, the famous dragons are:

Nidhogg: According to ancient Scandinavian mythology, the giant ash tree Igdrasius supports the entire universe. The serpent Nidhogg coiled around its roots, gnawing at the roots of the World Tree endlessly. This malevolent soul only knows the terrible desire to uproot this tree and destroy the universe with it. He is referred to in ancient Norse poetry as a "terrifying biter".

Jormungandr: The sea serpent that surrounds the human world, also known as the world serpent.

Eumongaund is the second child of Loki and Angelboda. Odin threw it into the sea, and Yumengand grew until it ate its tail. Thor, the god of thunder, once went to Utgard, the land of the frost giants, and when the king of Utgard, Roki, made him lift a cat when he tried to compete with Thor, but Thor only lifted one of the cat's feet.

Later, Roki tells Thor that the cat is actually the world snake Yumengand. Later, while hunting with the giant Simiel, Thor tried to kill Eumongonder to get rid of the evil. Thor fished Yumengand with the head of a bull, but Simir, frightened by its massive size, cut the line, allowing Yumengande to escape. In the twilight of the gods, Yumengander struggled in the sea, breaking the cable of Nagilfa, the ship of fate. Roki and the Fire Giant sail aboard a ship to the final battlefield, Wiglid. In the final battle, Thor kills Yumongand with a hammer, but the venom spat out by the latter also poisons Thor to death.

Fafnir: It was originally the eldest son of the gwarf monarch Heridma.

In Walsungo Saga, Fafnir kills his father in order to take control of a huge treasury. To defend his loot, he transforms himself into a dragon using a tarnhelm - a magical helmet that allows his wielder to transform. He is a clever old dragon and a skilled shapeshifter who loves to play mind games with his victims before they die.

Fafnir's jealous brother Regin, tells Siegfried how to kill the beast. Siegfried dug a pit in the dragon's path, curled up in it, and impaled it from below as the dragon went to the waterhole to drink and passed above him. After accidentally tasting dragon blood, he learns the language of birds, and two birds above him are discussing Regin's plan to kill him.

Therefore, he killed Reggin before he could do it.

Another version says that Fafner's thirst for treasure and the curse of his dying father changed him. Siegfried then ate Fafnir's heart - after Rekin asked him to roast it for Reggin to eat. Other descriptions say that Siegfried bathed in dragon blood and became uninjurious, even unharmable.

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In American mythology, dragons are also one of the highest beings.

In American mythology, Quetzalcoatl is one of the most powerful dragons.

The name of the god Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, is the Mayan deity who brings the rainy season and is associated with sowing, harvesting, and abundant harvests. In fact, it was an exotic, a northern deity brought by the Toltecs when they ruled the Mayan city. This Quetzalcoatl god is widely worshipped by the peoples of Central America.

According to legend, Quetzalcoatl ruled over the Morning Star, invented books, legislated, and brought corn to humans. Quetzalcoatl also represents death and rebirth, and is the protector of the priests.

Quetzalcoatl's place in Mayan culture can be observed in many ways. In the classical period, the scepter held by the Mayan "real person" was a delicate and small shape at one end, with one leg of the villain in the middle turning into a snake body, and the other end being a snake head. In the post-classical period, there were various transformations, but the basic form completely changed, becoming the image of the feathered serpent god with a fan on the upper part and a snake head on the lower part of the snake body in the middle.

Quetzalcoatl comes with the rainy season. The rainy season coincided with the time when the Maya planted corn. As a result, Quetzalcoatl has become the most revered deity of the Mayannons, in Chizen-Iza, the largest surviving Mayan ancient city. There is a pyramid named after the Quetzalcoatl god Kukulkan. On the north side of the pyramid, two snake heads are carved on two bottom corners. Every year on the spring and autumn equinoxes, when the sun sets, you can see the shadow of the snake's head cast on the ground and many triangles set together, becoming a very dynamic flying snake. It symbolizes the advent and ascension of Quetzalcoatl during these two days, and it is said that this wonder can only be seen during these two days. So, it has become a famous tourist attraction in Mexico. In those days, the Mayans were able to accurately grasp the time of farming with the help of this intuitive landscape that skillfully blended astronomy with architectural craftsmanship. At the same time, the timing of worship of Quetzalcoatl was also accurately grasped.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different myths about Quetzalcoatl. It is known as a supplier of corn, and the clear picture suggests that it can control rainfall to provide water, leading some to believe that Quetzalcoatl is the god of plants. The Aztecs also believed that Quetzalcoatl could transform people into warriors with a tall crown on their heads and jade pendants. Another role played by the pendant that is said to be represented is that of the god of wind and movement. The Central American Group is not the only religion that believes in Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl coincided with the rainy season, which coincided with the time when the Mayans planted corn. As a result, Quetzalcoatl has become the most revered deity of the Mayannons, in Chizen-Iza, the largest surviving Mayan ancient city. There is a pyramid named after the Quetzalcoatl god Kukulkan. The Pyramid of Kukulkan was named after the worship of the main god Chichen Itsa. In Mayan lore, the god Kukulcan is believed to be the teacher of their ancient times, and legend has it that he taught people astronomy, mathematics, and crafts, and made and promulgated laws. When the Mayans gained knowledge and established their nation, the god Kukulkan boarded a serpent-turned-spaceship and returned to his homeland beyond the heavens.

The Pyramid of Kukulkan is the tallest building in the ancient city of Chichen Itza, covering an area of about 3,000 square meters. It is composed of two parts of the tower body and the temple, about 30 meters high, the bottom surface of the tower is square, the square is symmetrical, the bottom is large and the top is small, and the four sides are angular and distinct. The pedestal is 55.5 meters long on each side and has a total of 9 floors, which gradually shrinks upwards to a trapezoidal platform with a square temple 6 meters high. There are 91 steps on each side of the tower, and a total of 364 steps on all four sides, plus the platform on the top floor, which is exactly the number of days in a year.

Each side of the tower is lined with 52 carved stone slabs, and the number 52 corresponds to a Mayan calendar cycle. The ancient building, which was carefully geometrically designed before its construction, is amazed by the precision and drama of its expression: at sunset on the two days of the spring and autumn equinoxes each year, the side walls of a set of steps on the north side form a seven-section isosceles triangle in the sunlight, and together with the head of a snake carved at the bottom, it resembles a giant serpent swimming from the top of the tower to the earth, symbolizing the awakening of Quetzalcoatl at the spring equinox and crawling out of the temple.

Each time, the illusion lasted exactly 3 hours and 22 minutes, every minute and every second. This mystical landscape is known as the "Serpentine of Light and Shadow". The Pyramid of Kukulkan is a wonderful demonstration of the Maya's knowledge of architectural geometry, and the observatory next to the pyramid shows this superb geometric and astronomical knowledge to the fullest.