Why the Universal Appearance of Dragons Across Time and Religions


In many different religions and at different times in history, people have been preoccupied with dragons. The Old Testament refers specifically to a dragon, In that day the Lord with his sore and freat and stron sward shall punish Leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. [Isaiah 27:1] In the New Testament the more ancient dragon became Satan. Satan is portrayed in art as a cross between the old dragon image and and a human-like being. The horns and tail of the old dragon are always there. In China there is an entire genre of dragon ballet. There are scholars who study this and try to figure out why it has been the dragon and not some other creature. 

We can speculate early humans saw skeletons. When you think about it, they look somewhat like today's version of dragons. Snakes seem to be a version of the dragon--the Bible puts them together. Snakes and dragons, animals that to the human with some kind of spiritual frame of mind, are evil. The crocodile seems like a candidate.   

The innovation of making Satan into something dragon like was genius. Something that looks evil just has to be evil. 

I heard through the grapevine while I was a Mayor that I possessed the traits of Satan and may well be him. Had been born with horns coming out of my head I would have qualified. I could have earned big bucks by appearing at sporting events where the mascots are the Dragons, Devils or the Demons.

How could it be in 2022 a Pope still talks about the dragon, Satan, as if he is a real being? It is beyond the pale. 

But, for whatever reason, the dragon also remains a loveable creation. There was a likeable dragon in them movie Shreck. Every Halloween, scores of kids dress a demons or dragons. Dragons live on in our heads and do whatever it is that they do.

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