Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities. Western representations typically have wings, whereas Eastern ones typically do not. more...

Mythological creatures possessing some or most of the characteristics typically associated with dragons are common throughout the world's cultures.

Overview

The various figures now called dragons have no single origin, but were spontaneously envisioned in several different cultures around the world, based loosely on the appearance of a snake and possibly fossilized dinosaur and Tertiary mammal megafauna remains. It was also commonplace for "dead baby dragons" to be sold in market places. These were actually dead lizards with painted bat wings glued onto the body.

Although dragons (or dragon-like creatures) occur commonly in legends around the world, different cultures have perceived them differently. Chinese dragons (Simplified Chinese: 龙; Traditional Chinese: 龍; Hanyu Pinyin: lóng), and Eastern dragons generally, are usually seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent (there are of course exceptions to these rules). Malevolent dragons also occur in Persian mythology (see Azhi Dahaka) and other cultures.

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