From Worm to Wyvern

How did the classical dragon, essentially just a massive snake in form, a worm, evolve, in early Christian culture, into the very particular fantasy creature we know as a ‘dragon’ today in the West? It is argued that the dragon acquired its animalian head and more bulbous central body from another well-established creature of classical fantasy, the ancient sea-monster (kētos), this by virtue of the fact that, whilst dragon and sea-monster had remained largely distinct creatures in classical culture, they had been confounded by the Septuagint. Its wings, however, and probably too in effect its two legs (the latter placed in the position of the sea-monster’s front flippers), it derived rather from demons and the Devil, the latter being associated with snakes already in the Old Testament, and then spectacularly so in the New Testament’s Revelation. By the ninth century AD these two developments had crystallized in the wyvern-type dragon.

The Dragon in the West

The book describes the evolution of the modern dragon from its ancient forebears, in terms both of its form and of its narrative contexts. In physical form dragons are broadly serpentine, but have animalian heads, thick central bodies, wings, and clawed legs. In their stories they live in caves, lie on treasure, maraud, and burn; they are extraordinarily powerful, but even so ultimately worsted in their battles with humans. Despite the inestimable success of this physical form and this broad story-type, there is nothing obvious, inevitable, or natural about them. Rather, both are mature, complex, and artificial constructs. The book traces the evolution of the dragon’s form from the purely serpentine drakon of classical antiquity, through its merging with the forms of the ancient sea monster and the winged, humanoid demon, into that of the first recognizably modern dragon, the two-legged wyvern that emerged in the illustrated manuscripts of the ninth century AD, which has previously been described as the ‘Romanesque’ or ‘Gothic’ dragon. It traces the evolution of the dragon’s typical story-type again from classical antiquity, across the vast tradition of medieval hagiography (saints’ lives), and into the Germanic world, where particular attention is given to the wealth of dragons featured in the Norse sagas.

Laomedon, Hesione, and the Sea-Monster

A generation before the famous Trojan War, a sea-monster threatened Troy. King Laomedon, father of Priam, exposed his daughter Hesione to the creature in order to avert destruction. Heracles, who happened to be sailing by, made a deal with the king: he’d save the daughter in return for the king’s immortal horses. Heracles valiantly fought the monster and saved Hesione, but Laomedon reneged on the agreement, so Heracles stormed and conquered Troy. This chapter examines the long tradition of the story and several key changes to it across time and media, including the literature of Homer, Ovid, medieval epic, and Shakespeare, vase and wall paintings, sculpture, and opera.

The Monstrous Other and the Biblical Narrative of Ruth

Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017) restages the biblical narrative of Ruth in Cold War America, crystallizing the parallel through setting numerous scenes at a local cinema that is playing The Story of Ruth (1960). The book of Ruth tells the tale of how a non-Israelite outsider could be welcomed into the kingdom of God and ultimately into the lineage of Christ. Likewise, del Toro populates his tale with multiple outsiders—multiple ‘Ruths’—including a mute woman, an African American cleaner, a Russian Communist, and an elderly homosexual male. However, these are merely reflections of the ultimate outsider, Del Toro’s ‘Monster’. A new and anthropomorphic species of fish has been caught by the government, and these four outsiders must bind together in order to return him to the sea. During this process, the mute Elisa and the Monster make love, transgressing multiple sexual norms of the age and symbolizing true unity with ‘the other’ (all while being equally as ribald as Ruth at the foot of Boaz’ bed). This ‘otherness’ is contrasted throughout by the main antagonist, Strickland, who quotes bible verses about power in order to justify his own abusive behaviour, suggesting that the central ideological tension in the narrative is between a theology of power and a theology of liberation. The film then ends with the villain dying, while the mute Elisa is resurrected and given the promise of “happily ever after,” paralleling the coming of Christ from the line of Ruth and suggesting that the only way into the kingdom of heaven is through embracing ‘the other’. This parallel is likely intentional, for del Toro similarly ended Pan’s Labyrinth (2007) with the protagonist resurrecting to heaven. Thus, del Toro—himself a Mexican immigrant—has used film and theology to craft a modern version of Ruth that transgresses multiple boundaries in a way similar to the ancient version. Further, in making his modern Ruth into a sea-monster, he not only hints at ethnic, normative and cultural liberation for humans, but the embracing of a trans-human liberation that could include animals and possibly even the future rights of AI.

A message from beyond the grave: Hercules rescuing Hesione on a Stojnik funerary monument

The research of this study is dedicated to a unique iconographical scene in the territory of the Central Balkan Roman provinces, of Hercules rescuing Hesione from a sea-monster (ketos), depicted on a funerary monument found in 1931 at the site of Stojnik, in the vicinity of Belgrade, antique Singidunum, and now displayed in the lapidarium of the National Museum in Belgrade. The funerary monument was erected for the deceased, a veteran of cohors II Aurelia nova, Publius Aelius Victorinus, by his wife Aurelia Rufina and their son Publius Aelius Acutianus. The rich iconography of the monument makes it a very important example of funerary art in the period from the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd century - the eschatological symbolism of the presented scenes and motifs is more than clear and underlines not only the hope of the deceased?s family for his eternal and blessed life after death, but also the deceased?s victory over death and presents him as a symbol of courage and virtue. The architectural scheme of the monument, along with its iconography, suggests strong artistic influences from Noricum and both the Pannonian provinces, while the the mythical tale of Hercules and Hesione was chosen, it is argued, not only because Hercules was one of the most favoured gods in the Roman army, but also because he was a protector of miners and mines.

Two crossbows and a carbine: Out of the commentary on A.N. and B.N. Strugatsky’s novel “Hard to be a God”

The article is devoted to the study of the functions of the characters’ weapons in A.N. and B.N. Strugatsky’s novel “Hard to be a God”. It is important for writing a commentary on the prologue of the novel. The authors used the historical-typological and mythopoetic research methods. As the result of reviewing the history of words-concepts, as it made by A.N. Veselovsky, the authors managed to study the intertextual connections of “Hard to be a God” with V.T. Shalamov’s poem “Crossbow” and his story “May”, as well as N.S. Gumilev’s poem “Just looks through the cliffs...” and E. Hemingway’s play “The fifth column”. Through these connections, the image of weapons is formed in the work of science fiction writers. It is necessary to destruct the mythological enemy – the sea monster, which symbolizes the social evil within the novel framework. As we have found out, the reason for such an intricate symbolism lies in the peculiarities of the age: the image of the sea monster standing for public evil is due to historical reasons. And since the elimination of social problems by such radical methods, according to the authors, is impossible, the movement towards a bright future should be only gradual and peaceful. As in reality, weapons are fundamentally unable to perform their task. Moreover, the weapon is dangerous for its owner, which indicates the ambivalence of the image. In addition, the comparison, important for the novel “Hard to be God”, of the past and future appears the first in the comparison of crossbows and carbines, further developing by other means. Weapons are involved in creating a number of important motives: doom, the danger of using force, and interference in the course of history.

Jonah’s dag gadol, a Sea-Monster Associated with the Primeval Sea?

The quest for the identity of the fish in the story of Jonah has been extraordinary. Many attempts have been made to identify known sea animals, with bodies and mouths large enough to swallow and harbour a human being. The whale seems to have been crowned the general best-fit solution. A few interpretations have veered to the mythological, with the fish being associated with creatures such as sea-monsters. None of these viewpoints convincingly identified the Jonah fish as a sea-monster associated with the primeval waters. The probability that dag gadol was a primeval sea-monster is investigated. How mythical creatures thrived in the milieu of the Jonah narrative and why these mythological creatures are absent from modern Bible translations is explored, as well as the dissonance of translators and interpreters not to endorse a foreign creature in the Old Testament. This article hopes to shed new light on the probable identity of Jonah’s fish.