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164-606: A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. Commonalities between dragons' traits are often
328-454: A Phoenician prince, was instructed by Apollo to follow a heifer and found a city wherever it laid down. Cadmus and his men followed the heifer and, when it laid down, Cadmus ordered his men to find a spring so he could sacrifice the heifer to Athena. His men found a spring, but it was guarded by a dragon, which had been placed there by the god Ares , and the dragon killed them. Cadmus killed the dragon in revenge, either by smashing its head with
492-523: A 'k' to distinguish ceremonial or ritual magic from stage magic. In modern occultism and neopagan religions, many self-described magicians and witches regularly practice ritual magic. This view has been incorporated into chaos magic and the new religious movements of Thelema and Wicca . The English words magic , mage and magician come from the Latin term magus , through the Greek μάγος, which
656-430: A Yeouiju which had fallen from heaven. Another explanation states they are hornless creatures resembling dragons who have been cursed and thus were unable to become dragons. By other accounts, an Imugi is a proto-dragon which must survive one thousand years in order to become a fully-fledged dragon. In either case, they are said to be large, benevolent, python -like creatures that live in water or caves, and their sighting
820-490: A category did not exist in ancient Mesopotamia, and a person legitimately using magic to defend themselves against illegitimate magic would use exactly the same techniques. The only major difference was that curses were enacted in secret; whereas a defense against sorcery was conducted in the open, in front of an audience if possible. One ritual to punish a sorcerer was known as Maqlû , or "The Burning". The person viewed as being afflicted by witchcraft would create an effigy of
984-514: A cure was not to be regarded superstitiously and there has been the widespread practice of medicinal amulets, and folk remedies ( segullot ) in Jewish societies across time and geography. Although magic was forbidden by Levitical law in the Hebrew Bible , it was widely practised in the late Second Temple period , and particularly well documented in the period following the destruction of
1148-492: A dragon's will, he was able to tame them and raise them well. He served Emperor Shun, who gave him the family name Huanlong, meaning "dragon-raiser". In another story, Kong Jia , the fourteenth emperor of the Xia dynasty , was given a male and a female dragon as a reward for his obedience to the god of heaven, but could not train them, so he hired a dragon-trainer named Liulei, who had learned how to train dragons from Huanlong. One day,
1312-528: A form of early protective magic called incantation bowl or magic bowls. The bowls were produced in the Middle East, particularly in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria , what is now Iraq and Iran , and fairly popular during the sixth to eighth centuries. The bowls were buried face down and were meant to capture demons . They were commonly placed under the threshold, courtyards, in the corner of
1476-681: A general protective emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the Underworld god Ninazu , but later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm-god Tishpak , as well as, later, Ninazu's son Ningishzida , the Babylonian national god Marduk , the scribal god Nabu , and the Assyrian national god Ashur. Scholars disagree regarding the appearance of Tiamat , the Babylonian goddess personifying primeval chaos, slain by Marduk in
1640-487: A head made of flint . Thunderstorms and earthquakes were thought to be caused by Apep's roar and solar eclipses were thought to be the result of Apep attacking Ra during the daytime. In some myths, Apep is slain by the god Set . Nehebkau is another giant serpent who guards the Duat and aided Ra in his battle against Apep. Nehebkau was so massive in some stories that the entire earth was believed to rest atop his coils. Denwen
1804-540: A hybridization of reptilian , mammalian , and avian features. The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon , which, in turn, comes from Latin draco (genitive draconis ), meaning "huge serpent, dragon", from Ancient Greek δράκων , drákōn (genitive δράκοντος , drákontos ) "serpent". The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological. The Greek word δράκων
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#17327648804461968-524: A kind of giant serpent that either possesses supernatural characteristics or is otherwise controlled by some supernatural power. The first mention of a "dragon" in ancient Greek literature occurs in the Iliad , in which Agamemnon is described as having a blue dragon motif on his sword belt and an emblem of a three-headed dragon on his breast plate. In lines 820–880 of the Theogony , a Greek poem written in
2132-465: A large number of Asian countries has been influenced by Chinese culture, such as Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and so on. Chinese tradition has always used the dragon totem as the national emblem, and the "Yellow Dragon flag" of the Qing dynasty has influenced the impression that China is a dragon in many European countries. The Korean dragon is in many ways similar in appearance to other East Asian dragons such as
2296-422: A man with his patron deity or to reconcile a wife with a husband who had been neglecting her. The ancient Mesopotamians made no distinction between rational science and magic. When a person became ill, doctors would prescribe both magical formulas to be recited as well as medicinal treatments. Most magical rituals were intended to be performed by an āšipu , an expert in the magical arts. The profession
2460-409: A minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations . These magical practices of Judaic folk religion which became part of practical Kabbalah date from Talmudic times. The Talmud mentions the use of charms for healing, and a wide range of magical cures were sanctioned by rabbis. It was ruled that any practice actually producing
2624-610: A mythical dragon clearly apparent. In some parts of the Old Testament, the Leviathan is historicized as a symbol for the nations that stand against Yahweh. Rahab, a synonym for "Leviathan", is used in several Biblical passages in reference to Egypt . Isaiah 30:7 declares: "For Egypt's help is worthless and empty, therefore I have called her 'the silenced Rahab '." Similarly, Psalm 87:3 reads: "I reckon Rahab and Babylon as those that know me..." In Ezekiel 29:3–5 and Ezekiel 32:2–8,
2788-460: A non-modern phenomenon. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Western intellectuals perceived the practice of magic to be a sign of a primitive mentality and also commonly attributed it to marginalised groups of people. Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), a British occultist , defined " magick " as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will", adding
2952-401: A particular society, such as foreigners, women, or the lower classes. In contrast to these negative associations, many practitioners of activities that have been labelled magical have emphasised that their actions are benevolent and beneficial. This conflicted with the common Christian view that all activities categorised as being forms of magic were intrinsically bad regardless of the intent of
3116-520: A person's soul could only survive in the afterlife for as long as his or her physical body survived here on earth. The last ceremony before a person's body was sealed away inside the tomb was known as the Opening of the Mouth . In this ritual, the priests would touch various magical instruments to various parts of the deceased's body, thereby giving the deceased the ability to see, hear, taste, and smell in
3280-404: A picture of it, including the dots. He later used these dots as letters and invented Chinese writing , which he used to write his book I Ching . In another Chinese legend, the physician Ma Shih Huang is said to have healed a sick dragon. Another legend reports that a man once came to the healer Lo Chên-jen, telling him that he was a dragon and that he needed to be healed. After Lo Chên-jen healed
3444-484: A real dragon came and visited Ye Gao, but the lord was so terrified at the sight of the creature that he ran away. In Chinese legend, the culture hero Fu Hsi is said to have been crossing the Lo River , when he saw the lung ma , a Chinese horse-dragon with seven dots on its face, six on its back, eight on its left flank, and nine on its right flank. He was so moved by this apparition that, when he arrived home, he drew
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#17327648804463608-416: A rock or using his sword. Following the advice of Athena, Cadmus tore out the dragon's teeth and planted them in the earth. An army of giant warriors (known as spartoi , which means "sown men") grew from the teeth like plants. Cadmus hurled stones into their midst, causing them to kill each other until only five were left. To make restitution for having killed Ares's dragon, Cadmus was forced to serve Ares as
3772-471: A slave for eight years. At the end of this period, Cadmus married Harmonia , the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite . Cadmus and Harmonia moved to Illyria , where they ruled as king and queen, before eventually being transformed into dragons themselves. Magic (supernatural) Magic , sometimes spelled magick , is the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed in the belief that they can manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces. It
3936-533: A soothsayer ( מְעוֹנֵ֥ן ) or a sorcerer ( וּמְכַשֵּֽׁף ) or one who conjures spells ( וְחֹבֵ֖ר חָ֑בֶר ) or one who calls up the dead ( וְדֹרֵ֖שׁ אֶל־הַמֵּתִֽים ) are specifically forbidden as abominations to the Lord. Halakha (Jewish religious law) forbids divination and other forms of soothsaying, and the Talmud lists many persistent yet condemned divining practices. Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism
4100-664: A spring. In the Mandean tradition of the story, Rostam hides in a box, is swallowed by the dragon, and kills it from inside its belly. The king of China then gives Rostam his daughter in marriage as a reward. The word "dragon" has come to be applied to the legendary creature in Chinese mythology , loong (traditional 龍, simplified 龙, Japanese simplified 竜, Pinyin lóng ), which is associated with good fortune, and many East Asian deities and demigods have dragons as their personal mounts or companions. Dragons were also identified with
4264-471: A story that a divine dragon created the first humans by breathing on monkeys that came to play in his cave. The Han people have many stories about Short-Tailed Old Li, a black dragon who was born to a poor family in Shandong . When his mother saw him for the first time, she fainted and, when his father came home from the field and saw him, he hit him with a spade and cut off part of his tail. Li burst through
4428-990: A study which found that approximately 39 people in a hundred are afraid of snakes and notes that fear of snakes is especially prominent in children, even in areas where snakes are rare. The earliest attested dragons all resemble snakes or have snakelike attributes. Jones therefore concludes that dragons appear in nearly all cultures because humans have an innate fear of snakes and other animals that were major predators of humans' primate ancestors. Dragons are usually said to reside in "dark caves, deep pools, wild mountain reaches, sea bottoms, haunted forests", all places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors. In her book The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times (2000), Adrienne Mayor argues that some stories of dragons may have been inspired by ancient discoveries of fossils belonging to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. She argues that
4592-536: A substantial corpus of texts which are products of the Egyptian tradition. While the category magic has been contentious for modern Egyptology, there is clear support for its applicability from ancient terminology. The Coptic term hik is the descendant of the pharaonic term heka , which, unlike its Coptic counterpart, had no connotation of impiety or illegality, and is attested from the Old Kingdom through to
4756-560: A tree trunk floating in the water while fishing. She gave birth to the sons and the tree trunk turned into a dragon, who asked to see his sons. The woman showed them to him, but all of them ran away except for the youngest, who the dragon licked on the back and named Jiu Long, meaning "sitting back". The sons later elected him king and the descendants of the ten sons became the Ailaoyi people, who tattooed dragons on their backs in honor of their ancestor. The Miao people of southwest China have
4920-531: Is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from qlippothic realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy ( Q-D-Š ) and pure ( Biblical Hebrew : טומאה וטהרה , romanized: tvmh vthrh ). The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained
5084-508: Is a category into which have been placed various beliefs and practices sometimes considered separate from both religion and science. Connotations have varied from positive to negative at times throughout history. Within Western culture , magic has been linked to ideas of the Other , foreignness, and primitivism; indicating that it is "a powerful marker of cultural difference" and likewise,
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5248-573: Is a giant serpent mentioned in the Pyramid Texts whose body was made of fire and who ignited a conflagration that nearly destroyed all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was ultimately defeated by the Pharaoh , a victory which affirmed the Pharaoh's divine right to rule. The ouroboros was a well-known Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. The precursor to the ouroboros was
5412-477: Is a god "who composed the universe with his body." In the Shanhaijing , many mythic heroes are said to have been conceived after their mothers copulated with divine dragons, including Huangdi, Shennong , Emperor Yao , and Emperor Shun . The god Zhurong and the emperor Qi are both described as being carried by two dragons, as are Huangdi, Zhuanxu , Yuqiang , and Roshou in various other texts. According to
5576-540: Is a major component and supporting contribution to the belief and practice of spiritual, and in many cases, physical healing throughout the Middle Ages. Emanating from many modern interpretations lies a trail of misconceptions about magic, one of the largest revolving around wickedness or the existence of nefarious beings who practice it. These misinterpretations stem from numerous acts or rituals that have been performed throughout antiquity, and due to their exoticism from
5740-471: Is alluded to in the Younger Avesta , in which the hero Thraētaona , the son of Āthbya, slays the three-headed dragon Aži Dahāka and takes his two beautiful wives as spoils. Thraētaona's name (meaning "third grandson of the waters") indicates that Aži Dahāka, like Vṛtra, was seen as a blocker of waters and cause of drought. The Druk ( Dzongkha : འབྲུག་ ), also known as 'Thunder Dragon', is one of
5904-645: Is an Attic red-figure kylix dated to c. 480–470 BC, showing a bedraggled Jason being disgorged from the dragon's open mouth as the Golden Fleece hangs in a tree behind him and Athena , the goddess of wisdom, stands watching. A fragment from Pherecydes of Athens states that Jason killed the dragon, but fragments from the Naupactica and from Herodorus state that he merely stole the Fleece and escaped. In Euripides's Medea , Medea boasts that she killed
6068-492: Is associated with good luck. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China. Like some other dragons, most Japanese dragons are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes (1896:248), the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws". A story about
6232-445: Is attached to the hyoid bone that is hanging from a sequence of bones. This sequence of bones the hyoid hangs from are tympanohyal, stylohyal, epihyal, and ceratohyal; these are located in the mandible and skull. In the larynx, there are vocal folds that produce the structure needed to stretch the ligament to a length that creates the roar effect. This tissue is made of thick collagen and elastic fiber that becomes denser as it approaches
6396-572: Is careful to point out that not all stories of dragons and giants are inspired by fossils and notes that Scandinavia has many stories of dragons and sea monsters, but has long "been considered barren of large fossils." In one of her later books, she states that, "Many dragon images around the world were based on folk knowledge or exaggerations of living reptiles, such as Komodo dragons , Gila monsters , iguanas , alligators , or, in California, alligator lizards , though this still fails to account for
6560-802: Is from the Old Persian maguš . (𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁|𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁, magician). The Old Persian magu- is derived from the Proto-Indo-European megʰ- *magh (be able). The Persian term may have led to the Old Sinitic *M ag (mage or shaman ). The Old Persian form seems to have permeated ancient Semitic languages as the Talmudic Hebrew magosh , the Aramaic amgusha (magician), and the Chaldean maghdim (wisdom and philosophy); from
6724-600: Is immortal, but Sophocles and Euripides both describe Heracles as killing him, although neither of them specifies how. Some suggest that the golden apple was not claimed through battle with Ladon at all but through Heracles charming the Hesperides. The mythographer Herodorus is the first to state that Heracles slew him using his famous club. Apollonius of Rhodes , in his epic poem, the Argonautica , describes Ladon as having been shot full of poisoned arrows dipped in
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6888-569: Is more complex, involving lengthy and detailed rituals as well as sophisticated, sometimes expensive, paraphernalia. Low magic and natural magic are associated with peasants and folklore with simpler rituals such as brief, spoken spells. Low magic is also closely associated with sorcery and witchcraft . Anthropologist Susan Greenwood writes that "Since the Renaissance, high magic has been concerned with drawing down forces and energies from heaven" and achieving unity with divinity. High magic
7052-500: Is most likely derived from the Greek verb δέρκομαι ( dérkomai ) meaning "I see", the aorist form of which is ἔδρακον ( édrakon ). This is thought to have referred to something with a "deadly glance", or unusually bright or "sharp" eyes, or because a snake's eyes appear to be always open; each eye actually sees through a big transparent scale in its eyelids, which are permanently shut. The Greek word probably derives from an Indo-European base * derḱ- meaning "to see";
7216-424: Is no consensus as to what constitutes white, gray or black magic, as Phil Hine says, "like many other aspects of occultism, what is termed to be 'black magic' depends very much on who is doing the defining." Gray magic , also called "neutral magic", is magic that is not performed for specifically benevolent reasons, but is also not focused towards completely hostile practices. The historian Ronald Hutton notes
7380-470: Is often shown playing with on kagamibuta . The shachihoko is a creature with the head of a dragon, a bushy tail, fishlike scales, and sometimes with fire emerging from its armpits. The fun has the head of a dragon, feathered wings, and the tail and claws of a bird. A white dragon was believed to reside in a pool in Yamashiro Province and, every fifty years, it would turn into a bird called
7544-626: Is one of the subordinates of Angra Mainyu. Alternate names include Azi Dahak, Dahaka, and Dahak. Aži (nominative ažiš) is the Avestan word for "serpent" or "dragon. The Avestan term Aži Dahāka and the Middle Persian azdahāg are the sources of the Middle Persian Manichaean demon of greed "Az", Old Armenian mythological figure Aždahak, Modern Persian 'aždehâ/aždahâ', Tajik Persian 'azhdahâ', Urdu 'azhdahā' (اژدها), as well as
7708-419: Is so named because he is the third man on earth, but a three-headed serpent named * Nghi steals them. *Tritos pursues the serpent and is accompanied by *H a nér , whose name means "man". Together, the two heroes slay the serpent and rescue the cattle. The ancient Greek word usually translated as "dragon" (δράκων drákōn , genitive δράκοντοϛ drákontos ) could also mean "snake", but it usually refers to
7872-550: Is the highest-ranking creature in the Chinese animal hierarchy. Its origins are vague, but its "ancestors can be found on Neolithic pottery as well as Bronze Age ritual vessels." A number of popular stories deal with the rearing of dragons. The Zuo zhuan , which was probably written during the Warring States period , describes a man named Dongfu, a descendant of Yangshu'an, who loved dragons and, because he could understand
8036-413: Is therefore a special gift from God , while the latter is achieved through help of Jinn and devils . Ibn al-Nadim held that exorcists gain their power by their obedience to God, while sorcerers please the devils by acts of disobedience and sacrifices and they in return do him a favor. According to Ibn Arabi , Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yusuf al-Shubarbuli was able to walk on water due to his piety. According to
8200-521: Is thought to be caused by a dragon's laziness. Prayers invoking dragons to bring rain are common in Chinese texts. The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals , attributed to the Han dynasty scholar Dong Zhongshu , prescribes making clay figurines of dragons during a time of drought and having young men and boys pace and dance among the figurines in order to encourage the dragons to bring rain. Texts from
8364-523: Is traditionally said to have originated after the poet Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River and people raced out in boats hoping to save him. But most historians agree that the custom actually originated much earlier as a ritual to avert ill fortune. Starting during the Han dynasty and continuing until the Qing dynasty, the Chinese emperor gradually became closely identified with dragons, and emperors themselves claimed to be
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#17327648804468528-400: Is usually performed indoors while witchcraft is often performed outdoors. Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century. White magic is understood as the use of magic for selfless or helpful purposes, while black magic was used for selfish, harmful or evil purposes. Black magic is the malicious counterpart of the benevolent white magic. There
8692-502: The Homeric Hymn to Apollo , the god Apollo uses his poisoned arrows to slay the serpent Python , who has been causing death and pestilence in the area around Delphi . Apollo then sets up his shrine there. The Roman poet Virgil in his poem Culex , lines 163–201 Appendix Vergiliana: Culex , describing a shepherd having a fight with a big constricting snake , calls it " serpens " and also " draco ", showing that in his time
8856-517: The Huainanzi , an evil black dragon once caused a destructive deluge, which was ended by the mother goddess Nüwa by slaying the dragon. A large number of ethnic myths about dragons are told throughout China. The Houhanshu , compiled in the fifth century BC by Fan Ye , reports a story belonging to the Ailaoyi people, which holds that a woman named Shayi who lived in the region around Mount Lao became pregnant with ten sons after being touched by
9020-598: The Pistis Sophia , an early Gnostic text, describes "a great dragon whose tail is in its mouth". In medieval alchemy, the ouroboros became a typical western dragon with wings, legs, and a tail. A famous image of the dragon gnawing on its tail from the eleventh-century Codex Marcianus was copied in numerous works on alchemy. Ancient people across the Near East believed in creatures similar to what modern people call "dragons". These ancient people were unaware of
9184-999: The mušḫuššu of ancient Mesopotamia ; Apep in Egyptian mythology ; Vṛtra in the Rigveda ; the Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible ; Grand'Goule in the Poitou region in France ; Python , Ladon , Wyvern and the Lernaean Hydra in Greek mythology ; Kulshedra in Albanian Mythology ; Unhcegila in Lakota mythology ; Quetzalcoatl in Aztec Culture ; Jörmungandr , Níðhöggr , and Fafnir in Norse mythology ;
9348-403: The samurai Minamoto no Mitsunaka tells that, while he was hunting in his own territory of Settsu , he dreamt under a tree and had a dream in which a beautiful woman appeared to him and begged him to save her land from a giant serpent which was defiling it. Mitsunaka agreed to help and the maiden gave him a magnificent horse. When he woke up, the seahorse was standing before him. He rode it to
9512-686: The Akkadian Period ( c. 2334 – 2154 BC) until the Neo-Babylonian Period (626 BC–539 BC). The dragon is usually shown with its mouth open. It may have been known as the (ūmu) nā’iru , which means "roaring weather beast", and may have been associated with the god Ishkur (Hadad). A slightly different lion-dragon with two horns and the tail of a scorpion appears in art from the Neo-Assyrian Period (911 BC–609 BC). A relief probably commissioned by Sennacherib shows
9676-737: The Americas , Africa , and Asia ; the ranges of the leopard and tiger also extend into Europe , specifically in Russia . It is estimated that the ancestors of most big cats split away from the Felinae about 6.37 million years ago. The Felinae, on the other hand, comprises mostly small to medium-sized cats, including domestic cats , but also some larger cats such as the cougar and cheetah . A 2010 study published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution has given insight into
9840-670: The Book of Psalms , Psalm 74 , Psalm 74:13–14, the sea-dragon Leviathan , is slain by Yahweh , god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah , as part of the creation of the world. Isaiah describes Leviathan as a tanin ( תנין ), which is translated as "sea monster", "serpent", or "dragon". In Isaiah 27:1, Yahweh's destruction of Leviathan is foretold as part of his impending overhaul of the universal order: בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִפְקֹד יְהוָה בְּחַרְבּוֹ הַקָּשָׁה וְהַגְּדוֹלָה וְהַחֲזָקָה, עַל לִוְיָתָן נָחָשׁ בָּרִחַ, וְעַל לִוְיָתָן, נָחָשׁ עֲקַלָּתוֹן; וְהָרַג אֶת-הַתַּנִּין, אֲשֶׁר בַּיָּם In that day
10004-565: The Chinese and Japanese dragons . It differs from the Chinese dragon in that it developed a longer beard. Very occasionally, a dragon may be depicted as carrying an orb known as the Yeouiju (여의주), the Korean name for the mythical Cintamani , in its claws or its mouth. It was said that whoever could wield the Yeouiju was blessed with the abilities of omnipotence and creation at will, and that only four-toed dragons (who had thumbs with which to hold
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#173276488044610168-519: The Emperor of China , who, during later Chinese imperial history, was the only one permitted to have dragons on his house, clothing, or personal articles. Archaeologist Zhōu Chong-Fa believes that the Chinese word for dragon is an onomatopoeia of the sound of thunder or lùhng in Cantonese . The Chinese dragon ( simplified Chinese : 龙 ; traditional Chinese : 龍 ; pinyin : lóng )
10332-603: The Middle Kingdom , commoners began inscribing similar writings on the sides of their own coffins, hoping that doing so would ensure their own survival in the afterlife. These writings are known as the Coffin Texts . After a person died, his or her corpse would be mummified and wrapped in linen bandages to ensure that the deceased's body would survive for as long as possible because the Egyptians believed that
10496-989: The Panthera genus are classified as some level of threatened by the IUCN Red List : the lion, leopard and snow leopard are categorized as Vulnerable ; the tiger is listed as Endangered ; and the jaguar is listed as Near Threatened . Cheetahs are also classified as Vulnerable, and the cougar is of Least Concern . All species currently have populations that are decreasing. The principal threats to big cats vary by geographic location but primarily consist of habitat destruction and poaching . In Africa, many big cats are hunted by pastoralists or government "problem animal control" officers. Certain protected areas exist that shelter large and exceptionally visible populations of African leopards , lions and cheetahs, such as Botswana's Chobe , Kenya's Masai Mara , and Tanzania's Serengeti ; outside these conservation areas, hunting poses
10660-488: The Qing dynasty advise hurling the bone of a tiger or dirty objects into the pool where the dragon lives; since dragons cannot stand tigers or dirt, the dragon of the pool will cause heavy rain to drive the object out. Rainmaking rituals invoking dragons are still very common in many Chinese villages, where each village has its own god said to bring rain and many of these gods are dragons. The Chinese dragon kings are thought of as
10824-579: The Sanskrit root दृश् ( dr̥ś- ) also means "to see". Draconic creatures appear in virtually all cultures around the globe and the earliest attested reports of draconic creatures resemble giant snakes. Draconic creatures are first described in the mythologies of the ancient Near East and appear in ancient Mesopotamian art and literature. Stories about storm-gods slaying giant serpents occur throughout nearly all Near Eastern and Indo-European mythologies. Famous prototypical draconic creatures include
10988-535: The Sumiyoshi temple, where he prayed for eight days. Then he confronted the serpent and slew it with an arrow. It was believed that dragons could be appeased or exorcised with metal. Nitta Yoshisada is said to have hurled a famous sword into the sea at Sagami to appease the dragon-god of the sea and Ki no Tsurayuki threw a metal mirror into the sea at Sumiyoshi for the same purpose. Japanese Buddhism has also adapted dragons by subjecting them to Buddhist law ;
11152-676: The jinn —comparable entities in Islamic mythology —were perceived as more ambivalent figures by Muslims. The model of the magician in Christian thought was provided by Simon Magus , (Simon the Magician), a figure who opposed Saint Peter in both the Acts of the Apostles and the apocryphal yet influential Acts of Peter . The historian Michael D. Bailey stated that in medieval Europe, magic
11316-406: The national symbols of Bhutan . In the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is known as Druk Yul "Land of Druk", and Bhutanese leaders are called Druk Gyalpo , "Thunder Dragon Kings". The druk was adopted as an emblem by the Drukpa Lineage , which originated in Tibet and later spread to Bhutan. The tale of a hero slaying a giant serpent occurs in almost all Indo-European mythology . In most stories,
11480-427: The pharaoh of Egypt is described as a "dragon" ( tannîn ). In the deuterocanonical story of Bel and the Dragon from the Book of Daniel , the prophet Daniel sees a dragon being worshipped by the Babylonians. Daniel makes "cakes of pitch, fat, and hair"; the dragon eats them and bursts open. Azhi Dahaka (Avestan Great Snake) is a dragon or demonic figure in the texts and mythology of Zoroastrian Persia, where he
11644-432: The wilderness , and weigh around 450 kg (990 lb) in captivity . The liger , a hybrid of a lion and tiger, can grow to be much larger than its parent species. In particular, a liger called 'Nook' is reported to have weighed over 550 kg (1,210 lb). An animal sanctuary provides a refuge for animals to live out their natural lives in a protected environment. Usually, these animal sanctuaries are
11808-523: The "Many-Faced", a serpent with five heads, who, according to the Amduat , the oldest surviving Book of the Afterlife , was said to coil around the corpse of the sun god Ra protectively. The earliest surviving depiction of a "true" ouroboros comes from the gilded shrines in the tomb of Tutankhamun . In the early centuries AD, the ouroboros was adopted as a symbol by Gnostic Christians and chapter 136 of
11972-450: The Babylonian creation epic Enûma Eliš . She was traditionally regarded by scholars as having had the form of a giant serpent, but several scholars have pointed out that this shape "cannot be imputed to Tiamat with certainty" and she seems to have at least sometimes been regarded as anthropomorphic. Nonetheless, in some texts, she seems to be described with horns, a tail, and a hide that no weapon can penetrate, all features which suggest she
12136-509: The CWSA regulations were strengthened by a law passed on September 17, 2007. The big cat species addressed in these regulations are the lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard, cheetah, jaguar, cougar, and any hybrid of these species (liger, tigon, etc.). Private ownership is not prohibited, but the law makes it illegal to transport, sell, or purchase such animals in interstate or foreign commerce. Although these regulations seem to provide
12300-493: The Colchian dragon herself. In the final scene of the play, Medea also flies away on a chariot pulled by two dragons. In the most famous retelling of the story from Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica , Medea drugs the dragon to sleep, allowing Jason to steal the Fleece. Greek vase paintings show her feeding the dragon the sleeping drug in a liquid form from a phialē , or shallow cup. In the founding myth of Thebes , Cadmus ,
12464-490: The Crown Prince wore four-taloned dragon insignia. Korean folk mythology states that most dragons were originally Imugis (이무기), or lesser dragons, which were said to resemble gigantic serpents. There are a few different versions of Korean folklore that describe both what imugis are and how they aspire to become full-fledged dragons. Koreans thought that an Imugi could become a true dragon, yong or mireu , if it caught
12628-630: The Hellenistic period, when Hellenistic authors categorised a diverse range of practices—such as enchantment, witchcraft , incantations , divination , necromancy , and astrology —under the label "magic". The Latin language adopted this meaning of the term in the first century BCE. Via Latin, the concept became incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE. Early Christians associated magic with demons , and thus regarded it as against Christian religion. In early modern Europe , Protestants often claimed that Roman Catholicism
12792-511: The Hydra's heads was immortal, so Heracles buried it under a heavy rock after cutting it off. For his Eleventh Labor, Heracles must procure a golden apple from the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides , which is guarded by an enormous serpent that never sleeps, which Pseudo-Apollodorus calls " Ladon ". In earlier depictions, Ladon is often shown with many heads. In Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, Ladon
12956-408: The Hydra, but, by the end of the sixth century BC, it was agreed that the clubbed or severed heads needed to be cauterized to prevent them from growing back. Heracles was aided in this task by his nephew Iolaus . During the battle, a giant crab crawled out of the marsh and pinched Heracles's foot, but he crushed it under his heel. Hera placed the crab in the sky as the constellation Cancer . One of
13120-475: The Japanese Buddhist deities Benten and Kwannon are often shown sitting or standing on the back of a dragon. Several Japanese sennin ("immortals") have taken dragons as their mounts. Bômô is said to have hurled his staff into a puddle of water, causing a dragon to come forth and let him ride it to heaven. The rakan Handaka is said to have been able to conjure a dragon out of a bowl, which he
13284-640: The Kurdish ejdîha (ئەژدیها). The name also migrated to Eastern Europe, assumed the form "azhdaja" and the meaning "dragon", "dragoness" or "water snake" in the Balkanic and Slavic languages. Despite the negative aspect of Aži Dahāka in mythology, dragons have been used on some banners of war throughout the history of Iranian peoples. The Azhdarchid group of pterosaurs are named from a Persian word for "dragon" that ultimately comes from Aži Dahāka. In Persian Sufi literature, Rumi writes in his Masnavi that
13448-459: The LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent — Leviathan the coiling serpent — and He will slay the dragon of the sea. Job 41:1–34 contains a detailed description of the Leviathan, who is described as being so powerful that only Yahweh can overcome it. Job 41:19–21 states that the Leviathan exhales fire and smoke, making its identification as
13612-563: The Middle Ages more powerful than the singular commoner, the Christian Church, rejected magic as a whole because it was viewed as a means of tampering with the natural world in a supernatural manner associated with the biblical verses of Deuteronomy 18:9–12. Despite the many negative connotations which surround the term magic, there exist many elements that are seen in a divine or holy light. The divine right of kings in England
13776-535: The New Testament as well. Some commentators say that in the first century CE, early Christian authors absorbed the Greco-Roman concept of magic and incorporated it into their developing Christian theology , and that these Christians retained the already implied Greco-Roman negative stereotypes of the term and extended them by incorporating conceptual patterns borrowed from Jewish thought, in particular
13940-460: The Ogonchô, which had a call like the "howling of a wild dog". This event was believed to herald terrible famine. In the Japanese village of Okumura, near Edo , during times of drought, the villagers would make a dragon effigy out of straw, magnolia leaves, and bamboo and parade it through the village to attract rainfall. The Vietnamese dragon ( Vietnamese : rồng ) was a mythical creature that
14104-506: The Persian Empire. In this context, the term makes appearances in such surviving text as Sophocles ' Oedipus Rex , Hippocrates ' De morbo sacro , and Gorgias ' Encomium of Helen . In Sophocles' play, for example, the character Oedipus derogatorily refers to the seer Tiresius as a magos —in this context meaning something akin to quack or charlatan—reflecting how this epithet was no longer reserved only for Persians. In
14268-558: The Quran 2:102, magic was also taught to humans by devils and the angels Harut and Marut . The influence of Arab Islamic magic in medieval and Renaissance Europe was very notable. Some magic books such as Picatrix and Al Kindi 's De Radiis were the basis for much of medieval magic in Europe and for subsequent developments in the Renaissance. Another Arab Muslim author fundamental to the developments of medieval and Renaissance European magic
14432-460: The Roman era. heka was considered morally neutral and was applied to the practices and beliefs of both foreigners and Egyptians alike. The Instructions for Merikare informs us that heka was a beneficence gifted by the creator to humanity "in order to be weapons to ward off the blow of events". Magic was practiced by both the literate priestly hierarchy and by illiterate farmers and herdsmen, and
14596-586: The Scandinavian legends, as no such animals (historical or otherwise) have ever been found in this region." Robert Blust in The Origin of Dragons (2000) argues that, like many other creations of traditional cultures, dragons are largely explicable as products of a convergence of rational pre-scientific speculation about the world of real events. In this case, the event is the natural mechanism governing rainfall and drought, with particular attention paid to
14760-475: The afterlife. The use of amulets ( meket ) was widespread among both living and dead ancient Egyptians. They were used for protection and as a means of "reaffirming the fundamental fairness of the universe". The oldest amulets found are from the predynastic Badarian Period, and they persisted through to Roman times. In the Mosaic Law, practices such as witchcraft ( Biblical Hebrew : קְסָמִ֔ים ), being
14924-425: The ancient Greeks—and subsequently for the ancient Romans—"magic was not distinct from religion but rather an unwelcome, improper expression of it—the religion of the other". The historian Richard Gordon suggested that for the ancient Greeks, being accused of practicing magic was "a form of insult". This change in meaning was influenced by the military conflicts that the Greek city-states were then engaged in against
15088-477: The blood of the Hydra. In Pindar 's Fourth Pythian Ode , Aeëtes of Colchis tells the hero Jason that the Golden Fleece he is seeking is in a copse guarded by a dragon, "which surpassed in breadth and length a fifty-oared ship". Jason slays the dragon and makes off with the Golden Fleece together with his co-conspirator, Aeëtes's daughter, Medea . The earliest artistic representation of this story
15252-410: The broader category of superstitio ( superstition ), another term borrowed from pre-Christian Roman culture. This Christian emphasis on the inherent immorality and wrongness of magic as something conflicting with good religion was far starker than the approach in the other large monotheistic religions of the period, Judaism and Islam. For instance, while Christians regarded demons as inherently evil,
15416-567: The ceiling and flew away to the Black Dragon River in northeast China, where he became the god of that river. On the anniversary of his mother's death on the Chinese lunar calendar, Old Li returns home, causing it to rain. He is still worshipped as a rain god. In China, a dragon is thought to have power over rain. Dragons and their associations with rain are the source of the Chinese customs of dragon dancing and dragon boat racing . Dragons are closely associated with rain and drought
15580-413: The choices which lay outside the range of cults did not just add additional options to the civic menu, but ... sometimes incorporated critiques of the civic cults and Panhellenic myths or were genuine alternatives to them. Katadesmoi ( Latin : defixiones ), curses inscribed on wax or lead tablets and buried underground, were frequently executed by all strata of Greek society, sometimes to protect
15744-467: The city as part of a dragon dance . The original purpose of this ritual was to bring good weather and a strong harvest, but now it is done mostly only for entertainment. During the Duanwu festival, several villages, or even a whole province, will hold a dragon boat race , in which people race across a body of water in boats carved to look like dragons, while a large audience watches on the banks. The custom
15908-499: The commoner's perspective, the rituals invoked uneasiness and an even stronger sense of dismissal. In the Medieval Jewish view, the separation of the mystical and magical elements of Kabbalah, dividing it into speculative theological Kabbalah ( Kabbalah Iyyunit ) with its meditative traditions, and theurgic practical Kabbalah ( Kabbalah Ma'asit ), had occurred by the beginning of the 14th century. One societal force in
16072-478: The danger until Rostam sees the dragon. Rakhsh bites the dragon, while Rostam decapitates it. This is the third trial of Rostam's Seven Labors . Rostam is also credited with the slaughter of other dragons in the Shahnameh and in other Iranian oral traditions, notably in the myth of Babr-e-Bayan . In this tale, Rostam is still an adolescent and kills a dragon in the "Orient" (either India or China, depending on
16236-573: The dominant threat to large carnivores. In the United States, 19 states have banned ownership of big cats and other dangerous exotic animals as pets , and the Captive Wildlife Safety Act bans the interstate sale and transportation of these animals. The initial Captive Wildlife Safety Act (CWSA) was signed into law on December 19, 2003. To address problems associated with the increasing trade in certain big cat species,
16400-505: The dragon from Beowulf ; and aži and az in ancient Persian mythology, closely related to another mythological figure, called Aži Dahaka or Zahhak . Nonetheless, scholars dispute where the idea of a dragon originates from, and a wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed. In his book An Instinct for Dragons (2000), anthropologist David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans, like monkeys , have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, large cats , and birds of prey . He cites
16564-616: The dragon king of the West Sea. And King Munmu of Silla who, on his deathbed, wished to become a dragon of the East Sea in order to protect the kingdom. Dragon patterns were used exclusively by the royal family. The royal robe was also called the dragon robe (용포). In the Joseon dynasty , the royal insignia, featuring embroidered dragons, were attached to the robe's shoulders, the chest, and back. The King wore five-taloned dragon insignia while
16728-819: The dragon lore of northern India may have been inspired by "observations of oversized, extraordinary bones in the fossilbeds of the Siwalik Hills below the Himalayas " and that ancient Greek artistic depictions of the Monster of Troy may have been influenced by fossils of Samotherium , an extinct species of giraffe whose fossils are common in the Mediterranean region. In China, a region where fossils of large prehistoric animals are common, these remains are frequently identified as "dragon bones" and are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine . Mayor, however,
16892-461: The dragon symbolizes the sensual soul ( nafs ), greed and lust, that need to be mortified in a spiritual battle. In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh , the Iranian hero Rostam must slay an 80-meter-long dragon (which renders itself invisible to human sight) with the aid of his legendary horse, Rakhsh . As Rostam is sleeping, the dragon approaches; Rakhsh attempts to wake Rostam, but fails to alert him to
17056-407: The entire polis . Communal curses carried out in public declined after the Greek classical period, but private curses remained common throughout antiquity. They were distinguished as magical by their individualistic, instrumental and sinister qualities. These qualities, and their perceived deviation from inherently mutable cultural constructs of normality, most clearly delineate ancient magic from
17220-429: The epithelial mucosal lining. When this large pad folds it creates a low natural frequency, causing the cartilage walls of the larynx to vibrate. When it begins to vibrate the sound moves from a high to low air resistance which makes the roaring. The lion's larynx is the longest, giving it the most robust roar. The roar in good conditions can be heard 8 or even 10 km (5 or 6 mi) away. All five extant members of
17384-483: The exact evolutionary relationships of the big cats. The study reveals that the snow leopard and the tiger are sister species, while the lion , leopard , and jaguar are more closely related to each other. The tiger and snow leopard diverged from the ancestral big cats approximately 3.9 Ma . The tiger then evolved into a unique species towards the end of the Pliocene epoch, approximately 3.2 Ma. The ancestor of
17548-487: The existence of dinosaurs or similar creatures in the distant past. References to dragons of both benevolent and malevolent characters occur throughout ancient Mesopotamian literature. In Sumerian poetry , great kings are often compared to the ušumgal , a gigantic, serpentine monster. A draconic creature with the foreparts of a lion and the hind-legs, tail, and wings of a bird appears in Mesopotamian artwork from
17712-551: The female dragon died unexpectedly, so Liulei secretly chopped her up, cooked her meat, and served it to the king, who loved it so much that he demanded Liulei to serve him the same meal again. Since Liulei had no means of procuring more dragon meat, he fled the palace. One of the most famous dragon stories is about the Lord Ye Gao, who loved dragons obsessively, even though he had never seen one. He decorated his whole house with dragon motifs and, seeing this display of admiration,
17876-528: The first century BCE onwards, Syrian magusai gained notoriety as magicians and soothsayers. During the late-sixth and early-fifth centuries BCE, the term goetia found its way into ancient Greek , where it was used with negative connotations to apply to rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional, and dangerous; in particular they dedicate themselves to the evocation and invocation of daimons (lesser divinities or spirits) to control and acquire powers. This concept remained pervasive throughout
18040-497: The first century BCE, the Greek concept of the magos was adopted into Latin and used by a number of ancient Roman writers as magus and magia . The earliest known Latin use of the term was in Virgil 's Eclogue , written around 40 BCE, which makes reference to magicis ... sacris (magic rites). The Romans already had other terms for the negative use of supernatural powers, such as veneficus and saga . The Roman use of
18204-635: The five living members of the genus Panthera , namely the tiger , lion , jaguar , leopard , and snow leopard , as well as the non- pantherine cheetah and cougar . All cats descend from the Felidae family, sharing similar musculature, cardiovascular systems, skeletal frames, and behaviour. Both the cheetah and cougar differ physically from fellow big cats, and to a greater extent, other small cats . As obligate carnivores , big cats are considered apex predators , topping their food chain without natural predators of their own. Native ranges include
18368-491: The flight of birds and astrology. He also mentioned enchantment and ligatures (the medical use of magical objects bound to the patient) as being magical. Medieval Europe also saw magic come to be associated with the Old Testament figure of Solomon ; various grimoires , or books outlining magical practices, were written that claimed to have been written by Solomon, most notably the Key of Solomon . In early medieval Europe, magia
18532-418: The following centuries. Since the nineteenth century, academics in various disciplines have employed the term magic but have defined it in different ways and used it in reference to different things. One approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor (1832–1917) and James G. Frazer (1854–1941), uses the term to describe beliefs in hidden sympathies between objects that allow one to influence
18696-490: The form of cattle: "You won the cows, hero, you won the Soma ,/You freed the seven streams to flow" ( Rigveda 1.32.12 ). In another Rigvedic legend, the three-headed serpent Viśvarūpa , the son of Tvaṣṭṛ , guards a wealth of cows and horses. Indra delivers Viśvarūpa to a god named Trita Āptya , who fights and kills him and sets his cattle free. Indra cuts off Viśvarūpa's heads and drives the cattle home for Trita. This same story
18860-834: The genus Panthera contain this elongated hyoid but owing to differences in the larynx the snow leopard cannot roar. Unlike the roaring cats in their family, the snow leopard is distinguished by the lack of a large pad of fibro-elastic tissue that allows for a large vocal fold. The range of weights exhibited by the species is large. At the bottom, adult snow leopards usually weigh 22 to 55 kg (49 to 121 lb), with an exceptional specimen reaching 75 kg (165 lb). Male and female lions typically weigh 150–250 kg (330–550 lb) and 110–182 kg (243–401 lb) respectively, and male and female tigers 100–306 kg (220–675 lb) and 75–167 kg (165–368 lb) respectively. Exceptionally heavy male lions and tigers have been recorded to exceed 306 kg (675 lb) in
19024-665: The gods Ashur , Sin , and Adad standing on its back. Another draconic creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian Period until the Hellenistic Period (323 BC–31 BC). This creature, known in Akkadian as the mušḫuššu , meaning "furious serpent", was used as a symbol for particular deities and also as
19188-491: The gods, snnw ntr (images of the god), the same power to use words creatively that the gods have is shared by humans. The interior walls of the pyramid of Unas, the final pharaoh of the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty, are covered in hundreds of magical spells and inscriptions, running from floor to ceiling in vertical columns. These inscriptions are known as the Pyramid Texts and they contain spells needed by
19352-524: The guilt for all their misdeeds onto various objects such as a strip of dates, an onion, and a tuft of wool. The person would then burn the objects and thereby purify themself of all sins that they might have unknowingly committed. A whole genre of love spells existed. Such spells were believed to cause a person to fall in love with another person, restore love which had faded, or cause a male sexual partner to be able to sustain an erection when he had previously been unable. Other spells were used to reconcile
19516-423: The hero is some kind of thunder-god . In nearly every iteration of the story, the serpent is either multi-headed or "multiple" in some other way. Furthermore, in nearly every story, the serpent is always somehow associated with water. Bruce Lincoln has proposed that a Proto-Indo-European dragon-slaying myth can be reconstructed as follows: First, the sky gods give cattle to a man named *Tritos ("the third"), who
19680-405: The homes of the recently deceased and in cemeteries . A subcategory of incantation bowls are those used in Jewish magical practice. Aramaic incantation bowls are an important source of knowledge about Jewish magical practices. In ancient Egypt ( Kemet in the Egyptian language), Magic (personified as the god heka ) was an integral part of religion and culture which is known to us through
19844-458: The incarnations of a divine dragon. Eventually, dragons were only allowed to appear on clothing, houses, and articles of everyday use belonging to the emperor and any commoner who possessed everyday items bearing the image of the dragon was ordered to be executed. After the last Chinese emperor was overthrown in 1911, this situation changed and now many ordinary Chinese people identify themselves as descendants of dragons. The impression of dragons in
20008-658: The inspiration for the Hindu myth of the naga. According to these stories, every body of water is ruled by a dragon king, each with a different power, rank, and ability, so people began establishing temples across the countryside dedicated to these figures. Many traditional Chinese customs revolve around dragons. During various holidays, including the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival , villagers will construct an approximately sixteen-foot-long dragon from grass, cloth, bamboo strips, and paper, which they will parade through
20172-456: The label drew arbitrary lines between similar beliefs and practices that were alternatively considered religious, and that it constituted ethnocentric to apply the connotations of magic—rooted in Western and Christian history—to other cultures. Historians and anthropologists have distinguished between practitioners who engage in high magic, and those who engage in low magic . High magic, also known as theurgy and ceremonial or ritual magic,
20336-477: The last decade of the century, however, recognising the ubiquity and respectability of acts such as katadesmoi ( binding spells ), described as magic by modern and ancient observers alike, scholars have been compelled to abandon this viewpoint. The Greek word mageuo (practice magic) itself derives from the word Magos , originally simply the Greek name for a Persian tribe known for practicing religion. Non-civic mystery cults have been similarly re-evaluated:
20500-506: The lion, leopard, and jaguar split from other big cats from 4.3–3.8 Ma. Between 3.6 and 2.5 Ma, the jaguar diverged from the ancestor of lions and leopards. Lions and leopards split from one another approximately 2 Ma. The earliest big cat fossil, Panthera blytheae , dating to 4.1−5.95 MA, was discovered in southwest Tibet. Snow leopard Tiger Jaguar Lion Leopard The ability to roar comes from an elongated and specially adapted larynx and hyoid apparatus . The larynx
20664-556: The magician Osthanes , who accompanied the military campaigns of the Persian King Xerxes . Ancient Greek scholarship of the 20th century, almost certainly influenced by Christianising preconceptions of the meanings of magic and religion , and the wish to establish Greek culture as the foundation of Western rationality, developed a theory of ancient Greek magic as primitive and insignificant, and thereby essentially separate from Homeric , communal ( polis ) religion. Since
20828-550: The magician, because all magical actions relied on the aid of demons. There could be conflicting attitudes regarding the practices of a magician; in European history, authorities often believed that cunning folk and traditional healers were harmful because their practices were regarded as magical and thus stemming from contact with demons, whereas a local community might value and respect these individuals because their skills and services were deemed beneficial. In Western societies,
20992-628: The man, a dragon appeared to him and carried him to heaven. In the Shanhaijing , a classic mythography probably compiled mostly during the Han dynasty , various deities and demigods are associated with dragons. One of the most famous Chinese dragons is Ying Long ("responding dragon"), who helped the Huangdi , the Yellow Emperor, defeat the tyrant Chiyou . The dragon Zhulong ("torch dragon")
21156-499: The modern Pagan religion of Wicca ; or as a symbol of women resisting male authority and asserting an independent female authority. Belief in witchcraft is often present within societies and groups whose cultural framework includes a magical world view . Those regarded as being magicians have often faced suspicion from other members of their society. This is particularly the case if these perceived magicians have been associated with social groups already considered morally suspect in
21320-564: The opposition of magic and miracle . Some early Christian authors followed the Greek-Roman thinking by ascribing the origin of magic to the human realm, mainly to Zoroaster and Osthanes . The Christian view was that magic was a product of the Babylonians, Persians, or Egyptians. The Christians shared with earlier classical culture the idea that magic was something distinct from proper religion, although drew their distinction between
21484-624: The orbs) were both wise and powerful enough to wield these orbs, as opposed to the lesser, three-toed dragons. As with China, the number nine is significant and auspicious in Korea, and dragons were said to have 81 (9×9) scales on their backs, representing yang essence. Dragons in Korean mythology are primarily benevolent beings related to water and agriculture, often considered bringers of rain and clouds. Hence, many Korean dragons are said to have resided in rivers, lakes, oceans, or even deep mountain ponds. And human journeys to undersea realms, and especially
21648-494: The organizations which provide a home to big cats whose private owners are no longer able or willing to care for their big cats. However, the use of the word sanctuary in an organization's name is by itself no guarantee that it is a true animal sanctuary in the sense of a refuge. To be accepted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as a bona fide animal sanctuary and to be eligible for an exemption from
21812-448: The other. Defined in this way, magic is portrayed as the opposite to science. An alternative approach, associated with the sociologist Marcel Mauss (1872–1950) and his uncle Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), employs the term to describe private rites and ceremonies and contrasts it with religion, which it defines as a communal and organised activity. By the 1990s many scholars were rejecting the term's utility for scholarship. They argued that
21976-511: The people a magician ... should be apprehended in my retinue, or in that of the Caesar, he shall not escape punishment and torture by the protection of his rank. Magic practices such as divination, interpretation of omens, sorcery, and use of charms had been specifically forbidden in Mosaic Law and condemned in Biblical histories of the kings. Many of these practices were spoken against in
22140-477: The pharaoh in order to survive in the afterlife . The Pyramid Texts were strictly for royalty only; the spells were kept secret from commoners and were written only inside royal tombs. During the chaos and unrest of the First Intermediate Period , however, tomb robbers broke into the pyramids and saw the magical inscriptions. Commoners began learning the spells and, by the beginning of
22304-541: The phenomenon of the rainbow. In Egyptian mythology , Apep or Apophis is a giant serpentine creature who resides in the Duat , the Egyptian Underworld. The Bremner-Rhind papyrus, written around 310 BC, preserves an account of a much older Egyptian tradition that the setting of the sun is caused by Ra descending to the Duat to battle Apep. In some accounts, Apep is as long as the height of eight men with
22468-450: The practice of magic, especially when harmful, was usually associated with women. For instance, during the witch trials of the early modern period, around three quarters of those executed as witches were female, to only a quarter who were men. That women were more likely to be accused and convicted of witchcraft in this period might have been because their position was more legally vulnerable, with women having little or no legal standing that
22632-536: The presence of four distinct meanings of the term witchcraft in the English language. Historically, the term primarily referred to the practice of causing harm to others through supernatural or magical means. This remains, according to Hutton, "the most widespread and frequent" understanding of the term. Moreover, Hutton also notes three other definitions in current usage; to refer to anyone who conducts magical acts, for benevolent or malevolent intent; for practitioners of
22796-413: The principle of heka underlay all ritual activity, both in the temples and in private settings. The main principle of heka is centered on the power of words to bring things into being. Karenga explains the pivotal power of words and their vital ontological role as the primary tool used by the creator to bring the manifest world into being. Because humans were understood to share a divine nature with
22960-625: The prohibition of interstate movement of big cats under the Captive Wildlife Safety Act (CWSA), organizations must meet the following criteria: Internationally, a variety of regulations are placed on big cat possession. In Austria , big cats may only be owned in a qualified zoo which is overseen by a zoologist or veterinarian. Requirements must also be met for enclosures, feeding, and training practices. Both Russia and South Africa regulate private ownership of big cats native to each country. Some countries, including Denmark , Thailand and India, prohibit all private ownership of big cats. The members of
23124-468: The religious rituals of which they form a part. A large number of magical papyri , in Greek , Coptic , and Demotic , have been recovered and translated. They contain early instances of: The practice of magic was banned in the late Roman world, and the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD) states: If any wizard therefore or person imbued with magical contamination who is called by custom of
23288-464: The rest up the mountains. To this day, Vietnamese people often describe themselves as "Children of the dragon, grandchildren of the fairy" ( Con rồng cháu tiên ). In the Rigveda , the oldest of the four Vedas , Indra , the Vedic god of storms, battles Vṛtra , a giant serpent who represents drought. Indra kills Vṛtra using his vajra (thunderbolt) and clears the path for rain, which is described in
23452-455: The seventh century BC by the Boeotian poet Hesiod , the Greek god Zeus battles the monster Typhon , who has one hundred serpent heads that breathe fire and make many frightening animal noises. Zeus scorches all of Typhon's heads with his lightning bolts and then hurls Typhon into Tartarus . In other Greek sources, Typhon is often depicted as a winged, fire-breathing serpent-like dragon. In
23616-412: The sorcerer and put it on trial at night. Then, once the nature of the sorcerer's crimes had been determined, the person would burn the effigy and thereby break the sorcerer's power over them. The ancient Mesopotamians also performed magical rituals to purify themselves of sins committed unknowingly. One such ritual was known as the Šurpu , or "Burning", in which the caster of the spell would transfer
23780-428: The source) by forcing it to swallow either ox hides filled with quicklime and stones or poisoned blades. The dragon swallows these foreign objects and its stomach bursts, after which Rostam flays the dragon and fashions a coat from its hide called the babr-e bayān . In some variants of the story, Rostam then remains unconscious for two days and nights, but is guarded by his steed Rakhsh . On reviving, he washes himself in
23944-460: The spirits of those they had wronged, they would leave offerings known as kispu in the person's tomb in hope of appeasing them. If that failed, they also sometimes took a figurine of the deceased and buried it in the ground, demanding for the gods to eradicate the spirit, or force it to leave the person alone. The ancient Mesopotamians also used magic intending to protect themselves from evil sorcerers who might place curses on them. Black magic as
24108-492: The temple into the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries CE. During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, the Persian maguš was Graecicized and introduced into the ancient Greek language as μάγος and μαγεία . In doing so it transformed meaning, gaining negative connotations, with the magos being regarded as a charlatan whose ritual practices were fraudulent, strange, unconventional, and dangerous. As noted by Davies, for
24272-663: The term maleficium applied to forms of magic that were conducted with the intention of causing harm. The later Middle Ages saw words for these practitioners of harmful magical acts appear in various European languages: sorcière in French, Hexe in German, strega in Italian, and bruja in Spanish. The English term for malevolent practitioners of magic, witch, derived from the earlier Old English term wicce . Ars Magica or magic
24436-700: The term was similar to that of the Greeks, but placed greater emphasis on the judicial application of it. Within the Roman Empire , laws would be introduced criminalising things regarded as magic. In ancient Roman society, magic was associated with societies to the east of the empire; the first century CE writer Pliny the Elder for instance claimed that magic had been created by the Iranian philosopher Zoroaster , and that it had then been brought west into Greece by
24600-433: The two in different ways. For early Christian writers like Augustine of Hippo , magic did not merely constitute fraudulent and unsanctioned ritual practices, but was the very opposite of religion because it relied upon cooperation from demons , the henchmen of Satan . In this, Christian ideas of magic were closely linked to the Christian category of paganism , and both magic and paganism were regarded as belonging under
24764-538: The two words were probably interchangeable. Hesiod also mentions that the hero Heracles slew the Lernaean Hydra , a multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of Lerna . The name "Hydra" means "water snake" in Greek. According to the Bibliotheka of Pseudo-Apollodorus, the slaying of the Hydra was the second of the Twelve Labors of Heracles . Accounts disagree on which weapon Heracles used to slay
24928-470: The undersea palace of the Dragon King (용왕), are common in Korean folklore. In Korean myths, some kings who founded kingdoms were described as descendants of dragons because the dragon was a symbol of the monarch. Lady Aryeong , who was the first queen of Silla , is said to have been born from a cockatrice , while the grandmother of Taejo of Goryeo , founder of Goryeo , was reportedly the daughter of
25092-631: Was Ahmad al-Buni , with his books such as the Shams al-Ma'arif which deal above all with the evocation and invocation of spirits or jinn to control them, obtain powers and make wishes come true. These books are still important to the Islamic world specifically in Simiyya , a doctrine found commonly within Sufi - occult traditions. Big cat The term " big cat " is typically used to refer to any of
25256-435: Was a "relatively broad and encompassing category". Christian theologians believed that there were multiple different forms of magic, the majority of which were types of divination , for instance, Isidore of Seville produced a catalogue of things he regarded as magic in which he listed divination by the four elements i.e. geomancy , hydromancy , aeromancy , and pyromancy , as well as by observation of natural phenomena e.g.
25420-601: Was a term of condemnation. In medieval Europe, Christians often suspected Muslims and Jews of engaging in magical practices; in certain cases, these perceived magical rites—including the alleged Jewish sacrifice of Christian children —resulted in Christians massacring these religious minorities. Christian groups often also accused other, rival Christian groups such as the Hussites —which they regarded as heretical —of engaging in magical activities. Medieval Europe also saw
25584-631: Was conceived as some form of dragoness. In the mythologies of the Ugarit region, specifically the Baal Cycle from the Ugaritic texts , the sea-dragon Lōtanu is described as "the twisting serpent / the powerful one with seven heads." In KTU 1.5 I 2–3, Lōtanu is slain by the storm-god Baal , but, in KTU 1.3 III 41–42, he is instead slain by the virgin warrior goddess Anat . In the Hebrew Bible , in
25748-678: Was devised, taught, and worked by demons would have seemed reasonable to anyone who read the Greek magical papyri or the Sefer-ha-Razim and found that healing magic appeared alongside rituals for killing people, gaining wealth, or personal advantage, and coercing women into sexual submission. Archaeology is contributing to a fuller understanding of ritual practices performed in the home, on the body and in monastic and church settings. The Islamic reaction towards magic did not condemn magic in general and distinguished between magic which can heal sickness and possession , and sorcery. The former
25912-463: Was generally passed down from generation to generation and was held in extremely high regard and often served as advisors to kings and great leaders. An āšipu probably served not only as a magician, but also as a physician, a priest, a scribe, and a scholar. The Sumerian god Enki , who was later syncretized with the East Semitic god Ea, was closely associated with magic and incantations; he
26076-436: Was independent of their male relatives. The conceptual link between women and magic in Western culture may be because many of the activities regarded as magical—from rites to encourage fertility to potions to induce abortions —were associated with the female sphere. It might also be connected to the fact that many cultures portrayed women as being inferior to men on an intellectual, moral, spiritual, and physical level. Magic
26240-480: Was invoked in many kinds of rituals and medical formulae, and to counteract evil omens. Defensive or legitimate magic in Mesopotamia ( asiputu or masmassutu in the Akkadian language) were incantations and ritual practices intended to alter specific realities. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that magic was the only viable defense against demons , ghosts , and evil sorcerers. To defend themselves against
26404-408: Was magic rather than religion, and as Christian Europeans began colonizing other parts of the world in the sixteenth century, they labelled the non-Christian beliefs they encountered as magical. In that same period, Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to express the idea of natural magic . Both negative and positive understandings of the term recurred in Western culture over
26568-540: Was often used as a deity symbol and was associated with royalty. Similar to other cultures, dragons in Vietnamese culture represent yang and godly beings associated with creation and life. In the creation myth of the Vietnamese people , they are descended from the dragon lord Lạc Long Quân and the fairy Âu Cơ , who bore 100 eggs. When they separated, Lạc Long Quân brought 50 children to the sea while Âu Cơ brought
26732-402: Was the patron god of the bārȗ and the ašipū and was widely regarded as the ultimate source of all arcane knowledge. The ancient Mesopotamians also believed in omens , which could come when solicited or unsolicited. Regardless of how they came, omens were always taken with the utmost seriousness. A common set of shared assumptions about the causes of evil and how to avert it are found in
26896-421: Was thought to be able to give them " sacred magic" power to heal thousands of their subjects from sicknesses. Diversified instruments or rituals used in medieval magic include, but are not limited to: various amulets, talismans, potions, as well as specific chants, dances, and prayers . Along with these rituals are the adversely imbued notions of demonic participation which influence of them. The idea that magic
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