Table Of ContentDANIEL OGDEN
Dragons, Serpents,
and Slayers in the Classical
and Early Christian Worlds
A SOURCEBOOK
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ogden, Daniel.
Dragons, serpents and slayers in the classical and early Christian worlds : a sourcebook I
Daniel Ogden.
pages. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-992511-7 - ISBN 978-0-19-992509-4
I. Dragons-Folklore. 2. Dragons-Religious aspects. 3. Dragons in the Bible.
4. Mythology, Classical. I. Title.
BL795.D7044 2013
398.24'540938-dc23 2012032468
I 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xv
Quick Key to Some Special Tenns and Conventions
Used in this Book xvii
Schema of Motifs xix
Introduction 1
PART ONE: THE CLASSICAL DRAGON
1. The Genealogy of the Great Dragons 13
2. Typhon, Slain by Zeus 19
3. Python, Slain by Apollo 39
4. Heracles' Dragons (i): Baby Heracles and the Dragon Pair
Sent by Hera 45
5. Heracles' Dragons (ii): the Hydra 50
6. Heracles' Dragons (iii): Ladon, the Dragon of the
Hesperides 57
7. Heracles' Dragons (iv): Cerberus, the Hound of Hades 63
8. The Chimaera, Slain by Bellerophon 75
9. Medusa, Slain by Perseus 82
10. Lamia, Slain by Eurybatus and Others 97
11. The Dragon of Ares, Slain by Cadmus 109
vii
viii CONTENTS
12. The Dragon of Nemea, Slain by the Seven against
Thebes 119
13. The Dragon of Colchis, Slain or Sent to Sleep by Jason
and Medea 12 5
14. The Dragon Pair Sent against Laocoon and his Sons 134
15. The Dragon of the River Bagrada, Slain by Regulus
and his Anny 141
16. Some Unique Dragon-Slaying and Dragon-Averting
Narratives in Later Greek Sources 146
17. The Sea Monster of Tray, Slain by Heracles 153
18. The Sea Monster of Ethiopia, Slain by Perseus 162
19. Scylla, Slain by Heracles and Encountered by
Odysseus 179
PART TWO: THE CHRISTIAN DRAGON
20. The Serpents of the Bible and its Apocrypha 187
21. The Dragons of the Early Hagfographical Tradition 196
22. St Philip, the Echidna and the Ophianoi 207
23. St Silvester and the Dragon of Rome 221
24. Saintly Tales Origi,nating between the Fourth and Sixth
Centuries AD 228
25. Saintly Tales of the Central Medieval Period 239
26. St Patrick and St George 247
APPENDICES
Appendix A: World-foundational Dragon-Slaying Tales from the
Ancient Near East and India 257
Appendix B: Gennanic Dragon Fights of the Eighth to Thirteenth
Centuries AD 263
Appendix C: A Selection of Dragon- and Serpent-Slaying
Tales of Folkloric Interest 2 71
CONTENTS ix
List of Editions Used 281
References 2 89
Index of Greek and Latin sources 303
General Index 309
List ofF igures
1. The anguipede Echidna 13
2. The winged, anguipede Typhon 19
3. Python challenges Leto, with babies Apollo and Artemis 39
4. Baby Heracles throttles the serpent pair 45
5. Heracles and Iolaus battle the Lernaean Hydra 50
6. Ladon in his apple tree 57
7. Heracles brings Cerberus to Eurystheus 63
8. The Chimaera 75
9. Gorgon head 82
10. The anguipede Lamia with Apollo at Delphi 97
11. Cadmus slays the Dragon of Ares with a rock 109
12. The Dragon ofNemea devours baby Opheltes-Archemorus 119
13. Jason is regurgitated by the Colchis Dragon 125
14. The Vatican Laocoon 134
15. Regulus and his army slay the Bagrada Dragon 141
16. An anguipede Hecate's two dog-heads tear a soul apart between them 146
17. Heracles disguises himself as the sacrificial Hesione to enter the mouth
of the Sea Monster of Troy 153
18. Sir Edward John Poynter, Perseus and Andromeda 162
19. Scylla 179
20. Eve and the Snake of Eden 187
21. The Ladder of St Perpetua 19 7
22. Filippino Lippi: St Philip and the Dragon of the Temple of Mars 207
23. Maso di Banco: St Silvester and the Dragon of Rome 221
24. Jean Fouquet: St Hilary of Poitiers confines the snakes of Gallinaria 228
25. Jost Amman: St Margaret of Antioch 239
26. Raphael: St George battles the dragon 247
A. Marduk battles Tiamat 257
B. Sigurd transfixes Fafnir 263
C. The Wonderful Legend of the Lambton Worm 271
xi
Acknowledgments
Thanks ( once again) to my wife, Eriko, for drawing a number of the images
that illustrate this book. Thanks also to Stefan Vranka, the editor at OUP, and
to the typescript's most helpful anonymous readers.
Daniel Ogden
University of Exeter and UNISA
xiii
Abbreviations
ANET3 Pritchard 1969
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt
ATU Uther 2004 (i.e. 'Aarne-Thompson-Uther')
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
CTH Laroche 1971
DA Daremberg and Saglio 1877-1919
DK Diels and Krantz 1951-2
FGrH Jacoby et al. 1923-
FHG Mi.iller 1878-85
GGM Muller 1855-82
HRR Peter 1906-14
KA Kassel and Austin 1983-
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythowgiae Classicae
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica
ML Roscher 1884-1937a
MWG Ogden 2009
NEB New English Bible
PG Migne 1857-1904
PGM Preisendanz and Henrichs 1973-4
PL Migne 1884-1904
SH Parsons and Lloyd-Jones 1983
TrGF Snell et al. 1971-2004
RAC Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum
RE Pauly, Wissowa and Kroll 1893-
TUAT Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments
xv
Quick Key to Some Special Terms
and Conventions Used in this Book
Most Greek and Latin terms used in this book are supplied only in amplification of their
English translations. It may nonetheless be helpful to supply initial glosses for the terms
that recur most frequently, and so too for some less common English technical terms.
GREEK TERMS
drakon A large snake, often huge, often supernatural, marauding, man-eating
and fiery: the Greek term most consistently used to signify 'dragon'
dralwntes The plural form of drakon
drakaina A female drakon
drakainai The plural form of drakaina
ketos A sea monster, marine cousin to the drakon
kete The plural form of ketos
LATIN TERMS
draco The Latin adoption of drakon
dracones The plural form of draco
ENGLISH TERMS
anguiform Creature wholly or partially of snake form or capable of manifesting
itself in snake form
anguipede Creature that combines a humanoid upper half with a serpentine
lower half; the lower half can culminate either in a snake tail
( or tails) or a snake head (o r heads)
PARENTHESES IN TRANSLATIONS
( ... ) Text enclosed in round brackets translates material present in the
ancient text, appropriately punctuated.
[ ... ] Square brackets enclose editorial interventions in the translation of
the ancient text: a quick explanation of an obscure term, or the
supplying of the original Greek or Latin word translated. The latter is
normally given in standard form (i.e. for nouns, the nominative
singular or plural), but occasionally it is supplied in the actual
grammatical form in which it appears in context when this is
significant for the exegesis.
xvii
