The word "dragon" comes from the ancient Greek word "draconta," meaning "to watch," suggesting that the beast guards treasure, such as mountains of gold coins or gems, according to Dean Miller in " Legendary Creatures and Monsters" (Cavendish Square Publishing, 2014). Medieval Painting titled 'Saint George and the Dragon,' by Paolo Uccello (Image credit: Getty/ Universal History Archive ) Origins of dragons (Black dragons, for example, are fond of eels - who knew?) The popular role-playing game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons describes more than a dozen varieties of dragons, each with unique personalities, powers and other characteristics. At its root, the is a chameleon - its features adapting to the cultural and literary expectations of the era.ĭragons continue to capture the public's imagination in fantasy books and films, appearing in everything from the kid-friendly 2010 film "How to Train Your Dragon," to the more adult-oriented "Game of Thrones" books and TV series and "The Hobbit" book and movies. Zoologist Karl Shuker describes a wide variety of dragons in his book " Dragons: A Natural History" (Simon & Schuster, 1995), including giant snakes, hydras, gargoyles and dragon-gods, and the more obscure variants such as basilisks, wyverns and cockatrices. Their body color may range from green, red, and black to unusually yellow, blue or white dragons." Some dragons live in palaces under the ocean, while others can only be found in caves and inside mountains, such as Smaug in JRR Tolkein's " The Hobbit."Īs folklorist Carol Rose's book " Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth" (Norton, 2001), dragons "have composite features from many other beasts, such as the head of an elephant in India, that of a lion or bird of prey in the Middle East, or numerous heads of reptiles such as serpents. Some are only a few feet long others span miles. Some dragons can speak or breathe fire others can't. Though most people can easily picture a dragon, people's ideas and descriptions of dragons vary dramatically, according to Grunge. (Image credit: Getty/ Forrest Anderson) Different types of dragons Dancers dress as traditional Chinese dragons at an annual temple festival.
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