| Dragons:
Dragon (Greek drakōn, 'serpent') is the
word usually used in English for a terrifying mythical monster with a scaly
snake-like or lizard-like body. Belief in such creatures arose in
antiquity without any knowledge of the monstrous reptiles and birds that had
actually existed in remote prehistory. Mesopotamian art includes a
number of such dragon-like creatures, of malevolent and beneficent natures.
Most closely corresponding to the general image is the so-called
snake-dragon, but other hybrids such as the lion-dragon might also be
regarded as dragon-like images.
In Sumerian poetry, ušumgal,
a serpentine monster, can be a metaphor for a god or king; it is a term of
praise and not necessarily evil or unpleasant. (r)
Resource List - entry taken verbatim from the
original source:
(r) "Gods, Demons, and Symbols of
Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Dictionary." Jeremy Black
and Anthony Green. University of Texas Press, Austin. ©1992
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