9. Dragon

9. Dragon

    Ancient civilizations were born along the banks of great waterways such as the Nile and the Yellow River. But a great river sometimes turned a monster acting violently and breaking into the city. In Sumerian mythology, a legend that Kur, a monster causing floods, was terminated by a hero was born. Tiamat, a primordial goddess of the ocean mating with Abzû (the god of fresh water) to produce younger gods, appears in Babylonian religion. These Mesopotamian monsters are considered as source of dragon.

Tiamat

     The first dynasty of Babylonia was defeated in about 1600 BC by an ancient race called Hittite who is known as the first people using iron. The Hittites who used iron weapons and innovative chariot dominated all Mesopotamia. A legend that Illuyanka, a serpentine dragon causing floods, was slain by a hero was transferred to them. The technology of chariot was transferred to each place and it is equal to the way of conduction of iron and dragon. Legend of dragon was transferred Mesopotamia to Palestine to Europe but all of them were a monster to be exterminated.

The Sky God kills the dragon Illuyanka. Behind him his son Sarruma

La Bête de la Mer (from the Tapisserie de l'Apocalypse in Angers, France). A medieval tapestry, this detail of which shows the False Prophet, the Dragon, and the Beast of the Sea.

     On the other hand in Asia, Aryan attacked India in about 1500 BC Dragon was mixed with native belief in a cobra and Nāga, the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being was born.

A Hoysala sculpture of a Naga couple. Halebidu

     In China because chariot had been transferred to China in about 1400 BC, the image of dragon could also be transferred But Chinese dragon was not an evil monster. The Yellow River often overflowed but drought was more serious for rice forming. So, ancient Chinese people considered dragon which have relation to the water as a god giving blessing rain. And it was believed that an emperor only can communicate with dragon and praying for rain. Before long, dragon became a sacred beast representing an emperor. The first Qin Emperor was called ancestor of dragon. Records of the Grand Historian of China says Emperor Gaozu of Han, the founder and first emperor of the Han Dynasty who ruled China from 202 BC to 195 BC, is son of a dragon and so he was to become an emperor.

 

Chinese dragon

Chinese dragon is a symbol of Chinese royal family

     Dragon was born from a feeling of awe and respect against the nature but it seems that dragon had become a symbol of ambition and authority. 

 reference

宗像教授伝奇考

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuyanka

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kur

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Gaozu_of_Han