# Where the hell did "dragons" come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167 "2004-07-02T03:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/1 "2004-07-02T03:39:02Z")
I’ve noticed that most world cultures seem to have the concept of “dragons.” To name a few, English mythology involves dragons, they feature prominently in Chinese art, I’ve seen African wood carvings of dragons, and the Welsh flag even depicts a dragon. The physical appearance of the dragon even seems rather consistent across cultures. The logical explanation appears to be that dragons must have been real. As of yet, remains of such a creature have not been discovered (or at least not made public.) So the remaining possibility is that the dragon is a fictional creation. But why is the concept so widespread? Part of me wants to think that there were at one time real dragons running or flying around. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/2 "2004-07-02T03:45:55Z")
From [here](http://www.data-wales.co.uk/dragon.htm): > [@](#): > > The dragon has long been a symbol of Wales. It features (in its proper red colour) on the national flag and is often to be found marking goods of Welsh origin. How did this exotic oriental beast find its way to Wales? The dragon was perhaps first seen in Wales in Roman times. The Romans were thought to have gained knowledge of the dragon from their Parthian enemies (in lands later to become part of the great Persian Empire) and it is to be seen carved on Trajan’s column. It is probable that the dragon had been seen in the West much earlier than this, as a result of Alexander the Great’s epic journey which commenced it 334 B.C. Alexander marched as far as northern India and after his death, the break up of his mighty empire saw an increase in trade with Africa and India and for the first time commerce with China. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/3 "2004-07-02T03:47:51Z")
Eggs. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/4 "2004-07-02T03:48:40Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Eggs. Hah! This is karma, Paul, for your Uctopus reply in the Animals that start with U thread. ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/5 "2004-07-02T04:09:25Z")
The myths probably arose as pre-historic peoples occasionally stumbled upon fossilized dinosaur bones. Surely such finds happened at least once or twice in history, and it’s an easy extrapolation to dragon legends. Without museums, or even a culture that was interested at all in preserving things, the fragile bones would not have lasted long. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/6 "2004-07-02T04:15:35Z")
Actually, there are very few similarities among the world’s “dragons.” As Europeans went out and began collecting tales from other lands, filtered through their own experiences, they tended to wedge mythological characters into boxes shaped by their own preconceptions. Any large, vaguely serpentine critter, thus became a dragon. The Chinese “dragons,” for example, are not actually saurian as European dragons are. They would be much better matched to European _elementals_, possessing powers over the physical world, flying without wings, and demonstrating great wisdom. The Central American Quetzlcoatl was similar in a few ways to the Chinese creature that _Europeans_ called “dragon,” but it was more physical, being covered in feathers. Even the European dragon is actually a conflation of two separate critters, the winged _drakon_ of Greece (and whatever similar critter the Greeks found in or borrowed from Mesopotamia) and the Northern European _wurm_ that had no wings, crawled on the ground, and hoarded gold. There are a few cases of _wurms_ spitting venom. The “fire breathing” characteristic was either attached to the Greek _drakon_ or was a development from the venom spitting after the _drakon_ and _wurm_ were mixed together. Chinese “dragons” and Central American feathered reptiles spit neither fire nor venom. The older tales of European dragons (both _drakon_ and _wurm_) portray them as mindless brutes of terror. They only develop intelligence when Christian mythology begins portraying them as either a form of or the minion of the devil. Any _wisdom_ displayed by European dragons only shows up after Chinese tales have been introduced to Europe. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/7 "2004-07-02T04:17:03Z")
I’m thinking the dinosour fossils also. I know I’ve read somewhere that the chinese ground up large fossils and sold the resulting, “dragon bone dust,” as medicine. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/8 "2004-07-02T04:27:41Z")
Previous thread(s) [Where did the idea of dragons originate?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?&threadid=109091) [Appearances of Dragons](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=158210) [Why do dragons appear in cultures all over the world?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=11914) [Dragons in Norse, Chinese, and European mythologies. How?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50342) [When and Where did the word “Dragon” first start showing up?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=239176&highlight=dragons) (With thanks to **tomndebb** ). ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-the-hell-did-dragons-come-from/253167/9 "2004-07-02T05:50:39Z")
And another one: [Are Dragons Real?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=94479&page=1&pp=50) And I will go on record yet again as stating that I don’t buy the idea that dragons were initially inspired by dinosaur fossils. It’s late, and I am in desperate need of sleep (or something like it) so I will simply state that my reasons why are in the above linked thread, as well as the “When and Where did the word ‘Dragon’ first start showing up?” thread.