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Ladon:
(Greek mythology). This Dagon was the guardian of
Hera's golden apples, which grew in the Garden of
Hesperides. Herakles killed Ladon in order to steal
the apples of the goddess Hera - Read more in-
"The Golden
Apples"
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Yogune-Nushi:
(Japanese mythology). An evil Japanese dragon who
fed on human flesh and demanded a maiden sacrifice
every year. |
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Rahu y
Ketu: (Indian mythology ). In Vedic
Astrology, it was believed to be forces that
affected present life as well as past and future.
Rahu is considered the dragon’s head and is also
known as the north node of the moon while Ketu is
considered the dragon’s tail, also known as the
south node of the moon. According to the
astrological position of these two points in the day
of your birth, it is possible to know your karmic
and spiritual influences. |
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Kumbaba or Humbaba:
(Babylonia mythology). dragon who guards the Cedar
Forest, where the gods lived. Gilgamesh, hero of a
Babylonian epic poem, along with his friend Enkidu,
embark on an adventure , challenging the dragon.
Defeated,. Humbaba appeals to a receptive Gilgamesh
for mercy but Enkidu convinces Gilgamesh to slay
Humbaba. Gods go mad when they learn about this
unnecessary death, and send illness to Enkidu.
After the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh sets out on the
search of immortality, in order to reclaim his
friend from Hell. |
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Belua: (Celtic
mythology ) During Morvidus reign, legendary king
of the Britons from 341 to 336 B.C.
a dragon called Belua appeared from the Irish Sea
and began devouring the inhabitants of the western
shores. In an attempt to stop this savagery,
Morvidus met the beast in single-combat and used
every weapon he could against her, but to no avail.
The monster lunged at Morvidus and consumed him. |
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Grendel:
(Norse mythology) the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf,
tell us how Beowulf came to slay Grendel, Grendel's
Mother, and many other reptiles. He was finally
killed by a firedrake at the age of 88.
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Abraxas:
(Persian mythology) term used by the Basilideans,
a Gnostic sect of the second century, designating
the Supreme Being. They believed the name contained
great mysteries because it contained the seven Greek
letters when computed numerically equaled the number
365, which is the number of days in the year. It was
further believed that Abraxas commanded 365 gods,
each possessing a virtue, so there was a virtue for
each day of the year. It is believed that the mystic
word abracadabra was derived from his name. |
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Aido Hwedo:
(Dahomey
mythology- West Africa). Dragon who helped to create
the universe by transporting Mawu, a god, through
the cosmos. Aido Hwedo also created the mountains of
the earth as well, which were said to be its
excrement. However, the Earth became far too heavy,
so the god Mawu ordered the Rainbow Serpent to coil
underneath the world to hold it up. In order to help
Aido Hwedo, the oceans were created to comfort the
dragon while it held up the world. However, the
oceans would sometimes not help, and therefore this
dragon would tremble and thus make the Earth quake. |
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Azhi
Dahaki: (Persian mythology) Angra Mainyu,
the Father of Lies, created Azhi Dahaki to rid the
world of righteousness by extinguishing the light of
a sacred flame known as The Divine Glory. When Atar,
the god of fire, tried to save the flame, the dragon
threatened to destroy the light of his fire forever,
but Atar swore he would send his flames throughout
the dragon's body. Azhi Dahaki drew back, but the
divine hero Thraetaona bound and imprisoned the
dragon on Mount Demavend near the Caspian Sea for
the damage he had done to humankind on his evil
quest.
It is believed that at the end of the world the
dragon will be freed and, in his long repressed fury,
will devour one third of all men and animals before
the hero Keresaspa destroys him. |
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Nidhogg:
(Norse mythology) (also Nidhoggr). Dragon who lived
at the foot of the world tree, Yggdrasil, constantly
gnawing at its roots. During Ragnarok, Nidhoggr will
meet Thor in battle where both will be mortally
wounded.
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil , also called the
World Tree, is the giant ash tree that links and
shelters all the worlds. Three wells lie at its
base: the Well of Wisdom, guarded by Mimir; the Well
of Fate , guarded by the Norns; and the Hvergelmir (Roaring
Kettle), the source of many rivers.
In the top of the tree was perched an eagle named
Vidofnir, and sitting upon its forehead was a hawk
named Vedrfolnir. There are other inhabitants of the
tree, such as the squirrel Ratatosk ("swift teeth"),
a notorious gossip scurried up and down the tree
between Níðhöggr and the eagle, forwarding insults
between them., Níðhöggr , the dragon who gnawed the
roots of Yggdrasil and four deer run across the
branches of the tree and eat the buds.
Along Nidhogg, there are many other dragons such as
Grafvolluth, Graback, Grafvolluth, Goin and Moin. |
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Tiamat:
(Babylonian mythology). In Babylonian Legends of
earth's at the beginning there were no lands, gods
or people, just Apsu and Tiamat. Apsu and Tiamat had
many offspring and these became the first gods.
However, Apsu grew displeased with the children
because they disturbed the peace and quiet that
ruled the universe so he set out to destroy them.
Tiamat did not want him to kill their children and
begged for him not to do so. One of their children
heard this and killed Apsu, angering Tiamat and she
spawned a brood of fearsome creatures (giant
serpents, lion-dragons, roaring dragons, scorpion-men).
The young gods became frightened and realized they
were no match for the powerful Tiamat. They
persuaded the god Marduk to champion them by
promising him many things, including making him
their supreme god and ruler of the universe.
Marduk kills his ancestor Tiamat by filling her with
the winds and striking her vulnerable body,
splitting her in two. With her upper half he
constructed the arc of the sky and with her lower
limbs he created the Earth. |
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Smok
Wawelski: (polish mythology). Smok Wawelski,
, famous polish dragon who terrified the city of
Kraków during the reign of King Krak. He laired in a
cave under Wawel Hill on the banks of the Vistula
river. The dragon could only be appeased if the
townfolk would leave a young girl in front of its
cave once a month. The King certainly wanted to put
a stop to the dragon, but his bravest knights fell
to its fiery breathe.
every girl in the city was eventually sacrificed
except one, the King's daughter Wanda. In
desperation, the King promised his beautiful
daughter's hand in marriage to anybody who could
defeat the dragon. Great warriors from near and far
fought for the prize and failed. One day, a poor
cobbler's apprentice named Szewczyk Dratewka
accepted the challenge. He stuffed a lamb with
sulphur and set it outside the dragon's cave. The
dragon ate it and soon became incredibly thirsty. No
amount of drinking could quell his stomachache, and
after swelling up from drinking half of the Vistula
River, he exploded. Dratewka married the King's
daughter as promised and they lived happily ever
after. |
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Quetzalcoatl: (aztec mythology). Also known
as the "Feathered Snake", he was one of the major
deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle
American peoples. Quetzalcoatl would be considered
the originator of the arts, poetry and all knowledge.
He brought fertility to the land and light to his
people. He taught them the art of agriculture,
including the cultivation of the maize plant, how to
dig into the earth to mine gold and precious stones,
the secrets of the zodiac, and the movements of the
planets and the stellar system. He was the
inspiration behind poetry, learning and all works of
art from the simplest sketch to the most elaborate
piece of jewellery.
The Maya of Mexico knew him as Kukulkán; the
Quiché-Maya of Guatemala, as Gukumatz, and sometimes
was known as Ehecatl, the wind god.
According to the leyend, Quetzalcoatl and
Tezcatlipoca had originally created the world out of
the goddess Tlalteutli by ripping her apart and
fashioning the world from her pieces. She had to be
appeased by human sacrifice in order to continue
giving the corn that sustained life. |
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Scylla:
(greek
mythology)
a sea dragon
who lived underneath a dangerous rock at one side of
the Strait of Messia. She threatened passing ships
and in the Odyssey ate six of Odysseus' companions.
According to
the leyend, Scylla was a
gorgeous daughter of Phorcys, who loved to swim
naked in the sea. One day, Poseidon saw her and fall
madly in love. When Amphitrite learned about
Poseidon's infatuation with Scylla, she became
Understandably jealous, and decided to punish her
husband's lovers. Amphitrite threw magical herbs
into Scylla's bathing pool, and when the woman took
her bath, at once she transformed into a barking
monster with six heads and twelve feet. |
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Fafnir:
(Norse mythology)
A dragon that began life as a giant. In his youth he
killed his father to gain the Nibelung treasure.
Then, through magical means, Fafnir transformed
himself into a dragon so that he could better guard
the new, ill-gotten treasures. As Fafnir grew older
he became more vicious. Finally the Norse hero
Siegfried (also called sigurd) arrived and defeated
Fafnir by plunging his sword Balmung (also known as
Gram) into the beast's neck.- Read more in -
Siegfried and Fafnir.
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Vritra: (Indian
mythology), He was a naga-dragon who was said to be
so huge that his coils surrounded mountains, and his
head touched the sky. He was the bringer of drought,
and his chief enemy was Indra. Vritra gathered all
the waters of the world into himself and cause a
drought to cover the whole earth. The world became a
wasteland. In a distant land, he hid in his fortress,
hording his treasure so that the world drew ever
more parched. Finally, Indra, who would become the
king of the gods, challenged the dragon. The two
fought a terrible battle, and in the end, Vritra was
destroyed by Indra's thunderbolt. Indra then
released the waters to flow back to the world. |
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Herensuge:
(Basque mithology) Also called Iransuge or Sugaar,
it was a dreadful dragon-snake that, according to
some tales, had seven heads and can fly, although in
most legends it is deprived of wings. it ate cattle,
herds, and sometimes, humans, that's why heroes were
often given the task to slain it, and there are many
legends where this is accomplished. One of the most
famous, is the one referring to Teodosio.
This legend
tells us about the time when Teodosio de Goñi came
back from fighting the Muslims and he had a vision
of a pilgrim, who in fact was the devil, who told
him his wife was unfaithful to him. He went into a
tantrum, came into the house and killed his parents
who were lying on the nupcial bed, thinking they
were his wife and her lover. As penance for the for
double parricide , he had to wander about in the
mountains burdened with chains until the chains
broke.
Wandering about in Aralar, he got another vision.
This time was the appearance of the Devil as a
dragon. Teodosio commended his
soul to Saint Michael who came in his help, beat the
dragon and made it flee to hell through a deep hole.
The chains Teodosio was bearing finally broke. He
built a sanctuary in honor of the Archangel: this is
San Miguel de Aralar Sanctuary, where you can still
see the chams through which the dragon fled. |
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Ollipeist: (irish
mithology). The story goes that when St. Patrick
came to Ireland the first thing he did was rid the
island of snakes. But then he turned his attention
to the dragons and started imprisoning them. Knowing
his fate if he stayed Ollipeist fled the country and
in so doing left his mark with his tail in what is
now called the Shannon Valley |
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Zu:
(sumeria mythology) He was a clever and sneaky
dragon that stole the Tablets of Law, the Tupsimati,
from the god Enlil. Enlil wore these tablets on him,
and they held the universal laws upon them. Zu took
them up to the top of the Sabu Mountains where she
kept them in her nest. Enlil sent his son Ninurta
after Zu to retrieve the tablets. Ninurta killed Zu
and returned to Enlil the Tablets of Law, thus
preventing the universe from returning to the
primordial chaos |
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Bida:
(Africa) Bida is a dragon from a West African epic
poem called the Dausi.
Knowing
his death was near, the dying King Dinga summoned
his eldest son to him to pass on the secret of
kingship. The eldest would not come, but his
youngest son, Lagarre, did. King Dinga told Lagarre
to find nine jars of water as whoever washed in them
would become king. He also told Lagarre to take the
Tabele drum out into the northern desert and beat
it.
Lagarre
washed in the water from the nine jars and became
king before heading off into the desert. When he
struck the drum, the city of Wagadoo rose from the
sand. He tried to enter the city but found himself
encircled by the dragon Bida. Lagarre made a deal
with Bida, he would sacrifice a girl to the dragon
each year if Bida would allow him to enter the city
and would shower the city with gold, as Bida was
able to spew gold from his mouth.
Bida
agreed and the annual sacrifice and the prosperity
of the city went on for three generations. It was
brought to an end, however, when one of the lovers
of the annual sacrifice objected to it and went off
to kill Bida. Mamadi Sefe Dekote succeeded in
cutting off Bida's head, killing the dragon. Bida's
head was knocked to the Gold Coast, which is why
gold is plentiful there. |
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Isa
Bere:
(Africa) Isa Bere lived in the mountains and drank
the water of the Niger River, causing a major
drought downstream. The peasants were starving and
pleaded to King Samba for relief. The king and his
bard Tarafe, battled the beast for eight years, ,
using up 800 spears. Eventually the dragon was
killed by a long sword in the heart. The waters of
the Niger flowed again. |
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Leviatan:
Originally cited as a “great sea monster” the
wriggling, twisting dragon, he is often associated
in the Old Testament, with Satan or the Devil.
Leviathan is a symbol of the enemies of Israel, or
that he represents the climax of the destruction of
everything that threatens Israel. In these days The
Leviathan has become synonymous with any large
monster or creature. |
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Gargouille: (France).
Was a scaly, fire-breathing dragon with a long neck
and giant wings who lived in a cave near the river
Seine in France. It swallowed ships, caused
destruction with its fiery breath, and spouted so
much water that it caused flooding. The residents of
nearby Rouen attempted to placate La Gargouille with
an annual offering of a live victim. Around the year
600, the priest Romanus (or Romain) arrived in Rouen
and promised to deal with the dragon if the
townspeople agreed to be baptized and to build a
church. Romanus subdued the dragon, and burned it at
the stake. |
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Kinabalu: Dragon
who lived at the top of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo.
This dragon owned a grand pearl that the Chinese
Emperor desired. He sent his son to retrieve it. The
prince plotted a way to trick the dragon and steal
the pearl. He captured the pearl, and then replaced
it with an imitation. However, the dragon was not
fooled, and he proceeded to chase the prince. As the
dragon approached, the prince ordered for the cannon
ball to launched at the dragon. Kinabalu, thinking
it was his precious pearl, swallowed the cannon ball
and died. |
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The Lernaean hydra:
(Greek mythology)
Gigantic multi-headed dragon, with the middle one
being immortal. Its breath and blood were deadly.
She was killed by Hercules on his “Second Labor”.
According to the legend, Hercules travelled to Lerna
Lake, where the Hydra's cave was near. After finding
the hydra he forced it to come out by shooting
burning arrows at the entrance. When the creature
emerged, Hercules attempts to smash its heads with
his club but he didn’t success, for whenever he
smashed one head, two would grow where the one was
originally.
Heracles called to his nephew Iolaus for help.
Iolaus, stopped the heads from sprouting up by
cauterizing the injured with torches as they came
up. Heracles, having killed all the other heads, he
cut off the immortal head. |
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Dragon of Connacht:
(Celtic
mythology)
A dragon that guarded a magical rowan tree which
grew on an island in the center of a large lake. It was killed by a
Prince named Froech who had been sent after a branch
of the tree it was guarding. However Prince Froech
also died for the poison which the dragon spit at
him. |
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Orochi or Yamata no Orochi:
(Japanese mythology). A terrible eight-headed dragon
that demanded a maiden sacrifice every year. So when
the day of princes Kushinadas sacrifice come, hero
Susano-0, made a deal with his father. He offered to
rescue her daughter in exchange for her hand in
marriage. The king readily agreed to this and so
Susano-0 prepared eight barrels of sake. The next
day Yamata-no-Orochi and each of its heads drank
down a barrel until he become quite drunk.
Afterwards, Susano-0 approached the dragon and cut
off each head |
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Kiyo: (Japanese
folklore). Was a beautiful waitress who, according
to Japanese folklore, worked in a teahouse on the
Hidaka riverbank. A visiting priest named Anchin
fell in love with her but after a time he overcame
his passions and refrained from further meetings.
Kiyo became furious and sought revenge. She went to
the temple of Kompera to learn the art of magic.
After studying for some time she turned herself into
a dragon and flew to the monastery where the priest
lived. He saw her coming and hid himself under the
temple bell. With a great belch of fire, the dragon
melted the bell, thereby killing the priest |
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Dragon de Post Coch:
(Folklore of Wales) Dragon who lived in north Wales
and who disgusted the red colour. He used to fly
down the valley and eat the people of Llanrhaeadr.
The dragon wasn't choosey of who he ate, both young
& old, male & female alike. One day the people
decided to visit a local wise woman to find out how
to kill the dragon. She told the to weave a cloth in
red which would attract the dragon like bulls are
attracted to red cloth today. She told them to stick
iron spikes in the stone at the bottom of the valley
and then cover this with the red cloth they had
made. The people of Llanrhaeadr did this, and the
next time the dragon came to eat the villagers, it
was attracted to the stone and attacked it. The poor
dragon impaled itself in the spikes and died.
Note: Post coch means red post. |
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Aitvaras: (Lithuanian
folklore) Creature that has the appearance of a cock
while in doors and the appearance of a dragon out
doors. An Aitvaras will lodge itself in a house, and
refuses to leave. He usually nests in warm places
such as the stove. According to the legend he will
give goods and money to those who sell their souls
to him; things he stole from other people. |

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