Have there ever been dragons?
Question 60005
Dragons appear in the mythology and folklore of cultures around the world. From the fire-breathing beasts of European legend to the serpentine dragons of Chinese tradition, these creatures have captured human imagination for millennia. But were dragons merely products of imagination, or do these legends preserve memories of real encounters? As we shall see, the evidence suggests that dragon legends may have a basis in historical reality.
Dragons in World Cultures
What is remarkable about dragon legends is their universality. Virtually every ancient culture has stories of large reptilian creatures, often with wings, sometimes breathing fire, usually dangerous to humans. This worldwide distribution demands explanation.
In the ancient Near East, the Babylonians told of Tiamat, a primordial sea dragon defeated by the god Marduk. The Sumerians depicted dragons in their art and literature. Egyptian mythology included Apophis, a giant serpent who opposed the sun god Ra. The Canaanites spoke of Lotan, a seven-headed sea serpent remarkably similar to the Leviathan of the Bible.
In Greek mythology, dragons feature prominently. The Hydra, a multi-headed serpent, was slain by Heracles. The dragon Ladon guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. Python, a great serpent, was killed by Apollo at Delphi. These were not peripheral figures; they were central to Greek religious and heroic narratives.
European medieval literature is saturated with dragon stories. Beowulf battles a dragon in the climax of the Old English epic. St George famously slew a dragon in Cappadocia. The Norse sagas tell of dragons like Níðhöggr, who gnaws at the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. These stories were not treated as pure fantasy; they were believed to describe real encounters.
Chinese dragons, while often depicted more positively than their Western counterparts, share the fundamental characteristics: large, serpentine, associated with water and weather. The Chinese word for dinosaur, 恐龙 (kǒnglóng), literally means “fearsome dragon.” When dinosaur bones were first discovered in China, the connection with traditional dragon legends was immediately made.
Australian Aboriginal peoples have stories of the Bunyip, a large creature associated with water holes. South American cultures tell of the Piasa, a dragon-like creature depicted in rock art along the Mississippi River. African traditions speak of Mokele-mbembe and similar creatures. The pattern is consistent across continents and cultures that had no contact with one another.
Dragon Descriptions in the Bible
The Bible itself refers to dragons. The Hebrew word תַּנִּין (tannin) is often translated “dragon,” “serpent,” or “sea monster.” It appears in passages like Psalm 74:13, where God is said to have broken the heads of the dragons in the waters. Isaiah 27:1 speaks of Leviathan as “the fleeing serpent” and “the twisting serpent,” a dragon that is in the sea.
As discussed in the previous question, Job 41 describes Leviathan in extraordinary detail: a creature of immense strength, with fearsome teeth, scales like shields, and apparently the ability to produce fire from its mouth. “Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth” (Job 41:19-21).
Sceptics dismiss this as poetic exaggeration or mythological embellishment. But the description is detailed and specific. And remarkably, there are creatures today that produce fire-like effects. The bombardier beetle produces a boiling chemical spray by mixing two reactive substances in its abdomen. If a small insect can produce such a defence, it is not inconceivable that a larger creature could have developed something similar.
In Revelation 12, Satan is described as “a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns” (Revelation 12:3). While this is clearly symbolic, the choice of imagery is significant. John expected his readers to understand what a dragon was. The symbolism works because dragons were known entities, not abstract concepts.
Historical Accounts of Dragons
Beyond mythology, there are historical accounts that describe encounters with dragon-like creatures as factual events.
The Roman historian Dio Cassius (AD 150-235) recorded that a dragon was spotted in Africa and killed by Roman soldiers. The creature was brought to Rome and measured 120 feet in length. The account is matter-of-fact, not legendary in tone.
In AD 1405, a chronicle from the town of Lucerne, Switzerland, records the killing of a dragon that had been terrorising the region. The creature was described as having a serpentine body, wings, and claws. The account names the knight who killed it and was preserved in official town records.
Marco Polo, in his travels through Asia in the 13th century, reported seeing dragons in the province of Karazan. He described them as large serpents with short legs, jaws big enough to swallow a man, and terrifying appearance. Polo was not writing fantasy; he was documenting what he claimed to have observed.
The explorer Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) included detailed descriptions and illustrations of dragons in his natural history works. He treated dragons as real animals alongside lions, elephants, and other creatures. His illustration of a dragon reportedly killed near Bologna in 1572 shows a creature remarkably similar to reconstructions of pterosaurs.
The brass plaque in Carlisle Cathedral, England, commemorates the killing of a dragon by a knight in the Middle Ages. The dragon is depicted with a long neck, small head, and serpentine body. Again, this was not presented as legend but as historical fact.
The Connection with Dinosaurs
The obvious question arises: could dragon legends preserve human memories of dinosaurs? The mainstream scientific view holds that dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years before humans evolved, making any encounter impossible. But as we have seen, the young-earth creationist view places dinosaurs and humans together in the same timeframe.
If dinosaurs lived alongside humans, we would expect exactly what we find: widespread legends of large reptilian creatures, often dangerous, encountered in various environments. The consistency of these legends across cultures, their treatment as historical rather than fictional, and their detailed descriptions all point to a common source of experience.
The depictions of dragons in ancient art are striking. The Ishtar Gate of Babylon, now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, features reliefs of the sirrush, a creature with a long neck, scaly body, serpentine head, and clawed feet. It is depicted alongside lions and bulls, real animals that the Babylonians knew well. Why include a fictional creature in the same context? The simplest explanation is that the sirrush was also known to them.
In the British Museum, you can see Mesopotamian cylinder seals depicting long-necked creatures remarkably similar to sauropod dinosaurs. These seals date from thousands of years ago. How did ancient artists know what these creatures looked like unless they had seen them or received descriptions from those who had?
What Happened to the Dragons?
If dragons were real, why do we not see them today? The answer is the same as for dinosaurs generally: extinction. Large, dangerous creatures that competed with humans for resources or threatened human settlements would have been hunted. The very legends that tell of dragons also tell of heroes who killed them. This is not merely mythology; it is a record of extinction.
Climate change after the Flood would have affected dragon populations. Changes in habitat, food sources, and competition with other animals all contributed to decline. Some species may have retreated to remote regions and survived longer than others. Reports of dragon sightings continued well into the medieval period and beyond, suggesting a gradual decline rather than sudden disappearance.
Conclusion
The universal presence of dragon legends across human cultures is best explained not by coincidence or shared imagination but by shared experience. Ancient peoples encountered large reptilian creatures that we would recognise as dinosaurs or related animals. They recorded these encounters in their art, their literature, and their history. The Bible itself references such creatures in Job and elsewhere. Far from being embarrassed by dragon legends, Christians can point to them as evidence that the biblical timeline, in which humans and dinosaurs coexisted, makes sense of the data better than the evolutionary alternative.
“In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.” Isaiah 27:1
Bibliography
- Cooper, Bill. After the Flood: The Early Post-Flood History of Europe Traced Back to Noah. New Wine Press, 1995.
- DeYoung, Don. Dinosaurs and Creation: Questions and Answers. Baker Books, 2000.
- Ham, Ken, ed. The New Answers Book 1. Master Books, 2006.
- Lyons, Eric, and Kyle Butt. The Dinosaur Delusion. Apologetics Press, 2008.
- Nelson, Vance. Dire Dragons. Untold Secrets of Planet Earth Publishing Company, 2012.
- Niermann, Darek. “Rebuttals to Common Criticisms of Young-Earth Creationism’s Dragon Legends Claims.” Answers Research Journal 11 (2018): 117-131.
- Steel, Allan K. “Could Behemoth Have Been a Dinosaur?” Journal of Creation 15, no. 2 (2001): 42-45.