Dragonography is a science that studies
life and behavior of dragons. - almost according to Bram
Recently, the oral heritage of our ancestors has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers of the past. Behind the characters and plots of ancient legends, they try to discern real prototypes and events in the history of mankind. Sometimes it happens: archaeologists from time to time discover the remains of cultures and entire cities, which are directly mentioned in myths and legends. In these cases, interest in the specific content of ancient legends flares up with renewed vigor.
However, there are many more skeptics …
And this seems quite logical: is it possible to perceive myths and legends, literally permeated with the description of plots and heroes, which are very far from everyday reality, otherwise than as a fairy tale? Magicians and wizards who remake the world at their own whim; dwarfs and giants; animals with intelligence and human speech, and much, much more - all this, from the point of view of common sense, can be considered at best only an allegory, and at worst - a delirium of an inflamed imagination.
Perhaps one of the most exotic characters in ancient myths, which makes us treat them like fairy tales, is the Dragon (or the Serpent): such a combination of external data and abilities seems impossible to meet in real life.
But are the myths about Dragons so incredibly far from the actual events of ancient history?.. We will try to doubt it …
Let's start a little from afar …
Promotional video:
It is known that our ancestors almost universally revered snakes.
In Iraq “To the north of Mosul, near the city of Sheikh Adi, there is the Temple of the Yezidis, where a drawing of a snake flaunts on the doors of the main entrance. This is an important center of pilgrimage for thousands of nomads-Yezidis … Yezidis consider the serpent to be the most powerful force in the world - the bearer of both good and evil”(ibid.).
In Bahrain, thousands of burial mounds with embalmed snake remains have been discovered. The age of the burial grounds is 4 thousand years.
In North America, the snake is also a key figure in the beliefs of local Indians. Images of snakes dominate the art of the Indians of a number of tribes, etc. etc.
In principle, veneration and even worship of any animals is the norm for primitive tribes of ancient (and sometimes modern) people. This is generally accepted. But of all animals, the snake has a very significant difference: the worship of the snake is closely connected in ancient culture with the symbolization in it not directly of the ordinary snake, but of some other creature - the Snake or the Serpent (the difference of which from the ordinary snake we will emphasize with a capital letter).
Another character of myths, the Dragon, is closely related to the image of the Snake. Their images in ancient legends are so closely intertwined that in fact they are talking about the same thing. Although the Serpent sometimes resembles the snake we are used to, but most often it differs sharply from it, approaching the Dragon, which already has little external (and even more so - internal) resemblance to the ordinary snake.
Even E. Blavatskaya noted that behind the variety of roles of the Serpent-Dragon, appearing under multiple names in different myths, one and the same essence is clearly hidden.
In some cases, the Dragon-Serpent symbolizes certain elements of the universe:
But most often the Serpent-Dragon appears in myths as a living creature:
This living creature (i.e. the Dragon-Serpent) in myths conducts very active and varied activities:
In the Finnish epic poem "Kalevala" the origin of the Serpent of Evil is given; he was born from the saliva of Suoyater, and the Principle of Evil, Heesi, gave him a soul. The poem describes the struggle between these two - the "creature of Evil", the Serpent, or the Sorcerer, and Ahti-Dragon, or the white magician Lemminkeinen.
Often in myths, the difference between the snake and the rest of the animal world is emphasized by the direct connection of both itself and the Snake-Dragon with the most ancient humanoid gods:
According to the legends of the Indians, Quetzalcoatl left Central America by sea, sailing on a raft of snakes.
According to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the dwelling of the god Osiris “rested on the water”, and its walls were made of “living snakes”.
The aforementioned humanoid gods are characterized by the fact that they very diligently looked after humanity at an early stage of its development. According to myths and legends, they gave people almost all the knowledge and skills that we now attribute to the characteristic features of civilization as such. They themselves, judging by the legends that have come down to us, received this knowledge, including from the Serpent-Dragons.
(Let us add in parentheses that in these myths the general characteristic of the Serpent-Dragon bears a noticeably positive connotation, from the point of view of its relationship to people.)
According to G. Rawlinson, “the most important titles of this deity [Serpent-Dragon] relate to his functions, as the sources of all knowledge and science”.
The knowledge of the Serpent-Dragon was so great that it is often he who symbolizes wisdom - this quality is inherent in him in the myths of completely different regions.
The connection of the Serpent-Dragon with wisdom is characteristic of very ancient mythologies, rooted in hoary antiquity. But for our ancestors, the concept of "possession of knowledge and wisdom" included, among other things, the knowledge of magic and the possession of divine powers.
You can also recall that in ancient times magic was considered one of the most important methods of healing practice, in the symbols of which we again find the Serpent-Dragon, which has come down to us in its "primitive" form on the main emblem of all doctors in the world - a bowl with a snake wrapped around it.
The magic of the Serpent-Dragon in mythology is comparable to the corresponding skills of humanoid gods.
In the most ancient mythology, the divine power of the Serpent-Dragon is so great that it participates in the process of creating the world, i.e. fulfills the role that humanoid gods began to play in later mythology.
In some cases, the Dragon-Serpent participates not only in the creation of the world, but also directly in the creation of man himself.
A careful analysis of literally bits of data contained in mythology reveals a very interesting fact: the Dragon-Serpent was a creature that evolutionarily preceded not only humans, but also humanoid gods.
Snakes-Dragons, according to myths, by the time of the appearance of humanoid gods had already reached a high level of "wisdom", and this is possible only in the case of a later evolution of the gods themselves.
This is indicated, in particular, by a certain sequence in the process of the creation of the world, which can be traced in the ancient cosmogonies: demons - gods - people. This sequence may well be perceived in a simple chronological order of the emergence of civilizations …
Such an "evolutionary order" is preserved even when the role in the creation of the world passes to humanoid gods: the Dragon-Serpent became associated with the world of the dead and spiritual rebirth, which can be most clearly traced in the example of Egyptian mythology (i.e. again became the first to take the place to which all living things go).
So the Egyptian Shai - the original deity of good fate, luck and wealth, the patron and guardian of man - was depicted in the form of a snake and a man. Later they began to associate him with the afterlife.
The images of the god Mechent and the goddess Merit-Seger also emphasize the idea of the connection between snakes and the kingdom of the dead. Merit Seger was often depicted as just a snake or a lioness with a snake head.
This "evolutionary order" is preserved even in those later myths in which the Dragon-Serpents bear a clearly negative characterization and in which humanoid gods begin to fight with the Dragon-Serpents, who already personify evil.
It should be noted that the described transformation of the role of the Dragon-Serpent in mythology reveals an interesting pattern: the younger the myth, the more “bad” the Dragon-Snakes become, and the “worse” their relations become both with people and with humanoid gods.
The earliest myths, rooted in hoary antiquity, do not distinguish between good and bad, good and evil in our usual sense. The gods in these myths have all the qualities at the same time: they can be both good and evil, change their mood, their attitude towards people, etc. In the same myths, the Dragon-Serpent is primarily a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, bearing a clearly positive connotation.
In later myths, the gods are divided into bad and good, good is separated from evil. There, the Dragon-Serpent acquires negative qualities, personifies evil, and “good” humanoid gods and positive heroes fight against it.
(It is interesting that a rather specific way - to thoroughly drink the dragon with wine and even then, bringing him to a helpless state, to kill - can be traced from the mythology of the Hittites to the shores of the Japanese islands …)
In modern world religions, evil, like good, reaches its perfection. At the same time, the very personification of evil - the Devil - is also often endowed with many external signs of the Serpent-Dragon.
At the same time, it is striking that the numerous roles of the Serpent-Dragon in various myths are accompanied by a strong similarity in external images.
Well, that's almost all … Now let's try from "fairy tales" to a scientific and logical analysis of these myths …
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In the mythological images of the Serpent-Dragon, not only the absence of a real living prototype in the modern fauna is striking, but also the multiple similarities of the Serpent-Dragon with long-extinct dinosaurs.
First of all - a purely external resemblance: large body size with serpentine features; long tail; scaly skin or segmental carapace with multiple spines and outgrowths; large jaws with sharp teeth; powerful legs with claws; sometimes webbed wings. All this is familiar to us from the reconstructed images of predatory dinosaurs.
In ancient cultures, the Dragon-Serpent is in one way or another associated with snakes or crocodiles, and in a more general case - with reptiles. But dinosaurs are just ancient reptiles …
There is a similarity in "evolutionary parameters". So, according to ancient cosmogony (as already mentioned), humanoid gods appeared later than the Serpent-Dragon. But humanoids, at least in the history of the Earth, came into being much later than dinosaurs.
From the point of view of evolution, dinosaurs follow the amphibians and are the first in the chain of purely "land" animals, completely detached from the aquatic environment. A mention of this, only in relation to the Serpent-Dragon, can be found in mythology.
Could there be such a close connection between the Serpent-Dragon image of ancient myths and dinosaurs?
Say, according to one of the most common official versions, the mythological Dragon-Serpent owes its origin to the real finds of our ancestors of dinosaur fossils. Seemingly simple and clear … But a closer analysis of this version reveals a number of its shortcomings.
Firstly, the myths about the Dragon-Serpent are widespread, and the "easily accessible" dinosaur remains are found only in the desert regions of Central Asia (in other regions, fossil remains are most often found only under thick layers of sediments - it is unlikely that ancient people dug so deeply).
Secondly, a very close similarity of various images of the Serpent-Dragon in different myths takes place against the background of an extraordinary variety of fossil remains. Of course, the remains of carnivorous dinosaurs with huge teeth make the greatest impression on the human imagination, but there are much fewer predators in nature than herbivores. Why, in this case, absolutely nowhere (!) In myths do we find the image of the Dragon-Serpent as a “peaceful vegetarian”?.. The problem comes out …
And thirdly, the reconstruction of the original image from the fossil remains is not so easy even for modern paleontologists. How, then, our distant ancestors, with their rudimentary "knowledge" of the natural sciences, were able not only to closely reproduce the appearance of a dinosaur in the image of the Serpent-Dragon, but also to confidently classify it as a reptile?.. Again a problem …
Now let's move on from the question of external form to internal content.
Supporters consider myths and legends as some kind of "fairy tales" as one of the weighty arguments in their favor that in ancient legends the Dragon-Serpent thinks and speaks like a person. After all, the "humanization" of animals, the attribution of human behavior to them is a very characteristic feature of fairy tales. But even here not everything is so simple …
In the fairy tales of almost all peoples of the world, one can notice a certain pattern: the human traits attributed to one or another animal very clearly correspond to the characteristic features of the behavior of this animal in natural nature. A cunning fox, a stupid ram, a proud eagle, a hardworking hedgehog, a stubborn donkey, a cowardly hare think and act in fairy tales in exactly the way that the corresponding characteristic is prescribed for them, which is clearly formed under the influence of the external form of behavior of these animals in the real world. Then where did such a stable connection of the Serpent-Dragon (and the snakes and crocodiles symbolizing it) with wisdom and knowledge come from in myths?.. There are practically no prerequisites for this … And there are plenty of much better applicants for this role in the animal kingdom …
Let's go back to the dinosaurs. Modern science is less and less inclined to consider them as absolutely primitive "creeping reptiles". Based on the findings of paleontologists over the past decades, the idea is increasingly heard that some of the species of dinosaurs formed collective groups (families, herds, flocks), and this in itself is a powerful factor in the development of consciousness, since it requires the development of means of communication (i.e. communication) and teaching young individuals collective forms of behavior.
Of course, the conclusions of paleontologists are largely based on logical constructions and speculation, but the general tendency is indicative: as knowledge about the ancient inhabitants of the Earth increases, the assessment of their level of development also increases.
However, collective ways of existence are in many ways only a necessary, but by no means a sufficient condition for the development of consciousness to its highest form - self-consciousness, which underlies such concepts as "knowledge" and "wisdom". Whether the dinosaurs could even come close to self-consciousness is hardly ever archeology and paleontology will be able to confidently determine: too much time has passed since their disappearance from the face of the Earth. Tens of millions of years have erased the vast majority of traces from the surface of our planet …
Be that as it may, dinosaurs had certain prerequisites for a breakthrough to higher forms of consciousness. And for evolution, in principle, it is all the same: that reptiles, that mammals … The form is not important here: in nature, only the general tendency of the development of the living towards the complication of consciousness dominates, and who exactly reaches its peak does not matter from the point of view of evolution.
In this, dinosaurs even had a definite advantage: the period of their evolution is at least several times longer than that of mammals. Mammals have reached the top, but nothing is known about the achievements of dinosaurs … And it is not known how it would have ended if they had not died out 65 million years ago …
By the way, such an ancient disappearance of dinosaurs from the surface of the Earth is the reason for one more "absurdity". Even the most ancient man could not see with his own eyes a living representative of dinosaurs, because according to the most optimistic estimates of modern science, the "age" of the primitive human ancestor does not exceed three million years. However, in the myths, the Serpent-Dragons are quite alive and well …
In order to understand how this “absurdity” can be overcome, let us turn directly to the fact of the sudden disappearance of dinosaurs from the surface of our planet. In the details of this event, there are many interesting things …
According to the modern version, the cause of the death of the once prosperous and even dominant dinosaurs on Earth was a global change in climatic conditions caused by the fall of a giant meteorite about 65 million years ago in the region of present-day Mexico. Due to the collision of this celestial body with the Earth, the so-called "shock winter" came, for which the dinosaurs were completely unprepared.
Scientists have practically no doubt about the fact of this catastrophe for a long time, since there is an enormous amount of geological and archaeological evidence of it. But there was a small "discrepancy" with the timing and scale of the extinction of dinosaurs: according to theoretical estimates, the physiological characteristics of reptiles could indeed lead to their death as a result of a sharp cold snap, but this could have happened over a much longer period than the one for which it actually happened according to archaeological data. And besides, over this longer period, in theory, a much larger number of dinosaur species should have been able to adapt to the changed climatic conditions, as modern representatives of reptiles could at one time.
However, not so long ago, a discovery was made that put everything in its place: studies of some species of turtles and crocodiles (which are, as you know, "typical" reptiles) revealed in them the strongest dependence of the sex of the offspring on the temperature of the environment in which the eggs of these turtles and crocodiles are located … This fact made it possible to bring the picture of the extinction of dinosaurs to its logical conclusion.
As a result of the fall of a meteorite 65 million years ago, conditions could well have developed that during the "shock winter" it got so cold that the vast majority of dinosaurs who survived the immediate catastrophe (as "typical" reptiles) hatched from eggs of only one sex. This could well have created the preconditions for a "natural" extinction without any remnants of a huge number of species within only one or two generations.
Thus, it can be noted that the extinction of the dinosaurs that reigned on Earth for 200 million years was, on the one hand, natural due to their "evolutionary shortcomings", and on the other, a completely irregular fact (well, they just had no luck with the meteorite). And if a worldwide catastrophe had not occurred, then it is quite possible (moreover, it is very, very likely) that the higher forms of consciousness would have been achieved not by mammals, but by reptiles. And then you and I, dear reader, would feel great in a scaly skin, enjoy terrestrial views from the height of our flight on webbed wings, or decorate our long tails with colorful ribbons for a holiday …
But not everyone is so "lucky" with meteorites … Therefore, the following hypothesis is quite acceptable: on a planet with conditions similar to those that reigned on Earth 100-200 million years ago, no catastrophes similar to our 65 million years ago occurred. And there the highest forms of consciousness were reached by those who were much closer in appearance and physiology to reptiles than to humanoids.
Moreover (if you continue the logical chain), these intelligent lizards could well have mastered space flights and visit our "unlucky" (from their point of view) planet in the not so distant past (only millennia ago). Can you imagine what interest they might be interested in our Earth, the fate of which their home world escaped …
Here is a very real prototype and source of the Serpent-Dragon image in the myths of mankind, which was lucky (or not lucky?) At the dawn of its civilization to meet these alien lizards …
For all the fantastic nature of the proposed hypothesis, hardly anyone will argue with the fact that it is logically consistent. And in this capacity it has one consequence that is important for us: this hypothesis allows us to reduce the most exotic character of myths to the level of everyday reality. And this, in turn, allows us to look at mythology not only as some kind of fantasy, but also as a probable chronicle of our ancient history.
The stated hypothesis is partly indirectly confirmed by the myths themselves, which clearly indicate the "heavenly" (in our reading - alien) origin of the Dragon-Serpents. True, according to the most frequently encountered version, the visit of the Earth by the Dragon-Serpents was not an independent action.
In this case, the very reason for the "fall" becomes interesting, which was very carefully analyzed by E. Blavatskaya, having studied the ancient descriptions of the "uprising" of the Serpent-Dragon.
But what is meant by Chaos in this case?.. In the considered mythology, which is related in time to the conflict between the Serpent-Dragon and the humanoid gods, the Order was considered absolute, unquestioning, faith-based submission to a certain Supreme Deity and its laws. Naturally, any opposition and just disobedience to these laws was declared the opposite of Order - Chaos.
If you put together the "sins" of the Dragon-Serpents against the "divine order", it turns out that they advocated in their actions to be guided by their wisdom, to make conscious decisions, and not to obey blind faith and established religious laws. The Dragon-Snakes have announced that they have self-awareness and a will of their own !!!
It is clear that in the conditions of the totalitarian (as we would call it now) regime of subordination of the entire life of the community to the strict Supreme Order, any attempts to introduce democracy in decision-making, any manifestations of one's own will are inevitably declared Evil, which must be eradicated at any cost.
In this quote, the expression "detection for destruction" may well have a direct meaning …
Which was done, judging by the available data in mythology …
The humanoid gods who emerged victorious from the conflict, naturally, assigned the concept of Good to their orders and actions, and attached the label of Evil to everything opposite …
But the conflict did not bypass the side of man, who was involved in the "showdown" of some gods with others (after all, the Dragon-Snakes, as already indicated, also possessed "divine power").
The reasons for the decision of the Serpent-Dragon to turn to a person are not completely clear, but it is quite possible that this was an attempt to implement his (the Serpent-Dragon) principles for which he fought - the principles of freedom of choice. One way or another, but the Dragon-Serpent opened his eyes to the fact that there is a different life, a different world order. He revealed the secret of the alternative path …
But, as we know from mythology, it did little good to man: the victory of the humanoid gods in the war with the Serpent-Dragon not only led to the sterility of this "knowledge", but also brought on humanity the wrath of the "winners" for involvement in the "knowledge" passed on to him …
Among the details of the "showdown" of the Dragon-Serpents with the humanoid gods, from the point of view of the hypothesis proposed by the author, the following text attracts attention (in which the Dragon-Snakes are clearly meant by Daityas, Asuras, Demons and Devils):
What a colossal amount of information this text contains !!! It turns out that the Divine Vishnu (the supreme deity of the Indian pantheon) is "one with the Serpent Race" !!! The Serpent Race "abounds in wealth" (that is, it flourishes completely) and is "insatiable in pleasures" (what is not the law of increasing needs) !!! And the battle is taking place "on the North Shore of the Milky Ocean" !!!
E. Blavatsky believed that the Atlantic Ocean was named the Milky Ocean. But why not admit that there may be another interpretation (the texts allow it): under the Milky Ocean, our Galaxy may well appear, the visible part of which has been called the "Milky Way" from ancient times …
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And the last thing. No matter how fantastic this hypothesis may seem, and no matter how controversial the arguments of the supporters of the version of multiple contacts of mankind with other civilizations, one cannot discount the fact that here and there in the descriptions of “aliens” from other worlds certain features slip dinosaurs.
ANDREY SKLYAROV