How a myth becomes meaning: the dragon’s journey through religion, life, and lore. This book traces how dragon myths shift from concrete life-giving power to symbols of danger, shaping beliefs across cultures and ages.
From ancient ritual to modern speculation, the work examines how early ideas about life, death, and salvation fed the image of the dragon. It explores how religious thought and mythified science interweave, turning vivid stories into enduring symbols. Readers will see how figures like Hathor, Horus, and Osiris are linked to dragons, rain, and the elu- xir of life, and how these tales reflect human attempts to master fate.
The discussion uses comparative myth and historical context to illuminate why such legends endure. It highlights how perceptions of the divine, the sky, and the cycle of life influence storytelling about dragons and their power to affect the living world.
- How life-bringing forces become dragon symbols across cultures
- Connections between myth, religion, and early science in shaping beliefs
- Evolution of key deities and their roles in stories of life and destruction
- A cross-cultural look at rain gods, ritual blood, and rebirth myths
Ideal for readers of myth and religious history who want a clear, carefully argued view of how legends reflect human needs and knowledge.
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, FRS, FRCP (1871 –1937) was an Australian-British anatomist and a proponent of the hyper-diffusionist view of prehistory. Smith was born in Grafton, New South Wales. He attended Sydney Boys High School, he was awarded a degree in medi-cine at the University of Sydney and developed an interest in the anatomy of the human brain. He held a travelling scholarship at Cambridge in 1896. From 1900 to 1909 he was the first chairholder of anatomy at the Cairo School of Medicine and investigated the brains of Egyptian mummies. He was the first scholar to x-ray a mummy. In 1907 he became archaeological advisor to the archaeological survey of Nubia. From 1909 to 1919 he was Professor in anat-omy in Manchester, 1919–1937 he held the chair of Anatomy at the University College London. He was elected President of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland for 1924 to 1927. During World War I he attended military hospitals for shell shock and served on the British General Medical Council. G. E. Smith's father had migrated to New South Wales from London. He had attended a workingman's college under John Ruskin and later became teacher and headmaster in Grafton, New South Wales. His older brother (S. H. Smith) was Director of Education in New South Wales; his younger brother (S. A. Smith) was Acting Professor of Anatomy at the University of Sydney. G. E. Smith married Kathleen Macredie in 1902. During his time in London, he lived in Hampstead, Gower Street, and at Regent's Park. During his London years, he became a friend of Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. Smith's youngest son, Stephen Smith, died in an accident in 1936 and G. E Smith spent his final year in a nursing home in London, where he died. Smith was the leading specialist on the evolution of the brain of his day. Many of his ideas on the evolution of the primate brain still form the core of present scholarship. He was decorated by the Khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmy in 1909. He became Fellow of the Royal Society in 1907, FRCP, cross of the French Legion of Honour, and was knighted in 1934. In 1912 he received the Royal Medal of the Royal Socie-ty, in 1930 the Honorary Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons, in 1936 the Huxley Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
