Dragon Combats in Greek Culture Essay

Introduction

Many world mythologies tell about dragons. Depending on a particular ancient culture they belong to, these creatures can represent different things, play different roles, and have different appearances. In Greek culture, dragons are always evil and pose a threat, which is why the most familiar motif in Greek myths is that of a dragon combat: there is a dangerous monster, and there is a hero who has to overcome it.

Main body

To start with, Greek mythology shows dragons as dreadful creatures, who usually have an abnormal size, which makes them completely horrendous. Even though dragons do not exist in nature, they are made up of some parts of real living things, such as animals, birds, and snakes. They can also be presented as a blend of an animal and a human being. Some of the dragons in Greek myths have multiple heads or several mouths, others have wings and legs or look like serpents. Most commonly, they are endowed with special powers, like fire breathing, an ability to turn people into stones, and so forth.

Greek mythology has a lot of examples of dragon combats. All of them show a hero as a winner and represent the victory of something good over something evil. One of the most famous examples is the myth of Heracles and the Lernaean Hydra. The Hydra was a water monster, very similar to a snake, who had nine heads, eight of which were mortal.¹ When one of her heads was cut off, two new grew in its place instead. To defeat the beast, Heracles needed to ask his nephew for the help: just after Heracles cut off one of the Hydra’s heads, his nephew cauterized the injured area to prevent the growing of new ones.² Another example is the myth of Perseus and Medusa. Medusa was a monster with live snakes covering her head. Everyone who looked into her eyes was turned into a stone immediately. That is why the task to kill Medusa, which Perseus had, was almost impossible: how could you kill someone with your eyes closed? However, with a special scimitar that was given to Perseus by the gods, he managed to behead the monster without looking at her.³ The scimitar was mirrored, and Perseus used it to see Medusa’s reflection.

Even though Greek myths were, first and for most, the way of glorifying the gods, some of them also had additional meaning. For instance, there are explanatory or so-called etiological myths, which are aimed to explain something regarding how the world works.⁴ The myth of Zeus and Typhoeus refers to etiological ones. According to it, Typhoeus was one of the scariest dragons: it was huge and fire breathing. To overcome it, Zeus imprisoned the monster under the ground, but Typhoeus still was spewing fire there, which is why the volcano called the Mount Etna appeared at the place of imprisonment.

The ancient Greeks were deeply religious people, and in their myths, they wanted to demonstrate the power and superhuman strength of their gods. That is why heroes in mythology are depicted as clever and smart figures while their rivals, that is, monsters or dragons, are very powerful, almost unbeatable, but stupid.⁵ For the same reason, heroes often defeat their dragons with some tricks, instead of using the force only. As an example, Perseus, during his fight with Medusa, avoided looking at her and used his scimitar to see the dragon’s reflection in it. Similarly, Odysseus defeated his monster with 108 mouths due to his disguise.⁶ After entering the place disguised, he managed to kill the beast with his special bow.

One more proof that the Greeks wanted to glorify their gods in myths is the fact that they endowed their heroes with unusual weapons to symbolize the superhuman power. Only using those weapons, their power, and tricks, heroes in myths could overcome dragons. In this way, Perseus had a mirrored scimitar that let him kill his monster, and Zeus used a special sickle to overcome Typhoeus: “Zeus pelted Typhon at a distance with thunderbolts, and at close quarters struck him down with an adamantine sickle”.⁷ In some myths, it was emphasized that no one except this very figure could use a particular weapon, that is, only the hero could overcome the dragon. As an example, Odysseus had a bow, which no one else could use.⁸ Finally, when the dragon is overcome, the hero is supposed to get the reward. And that is another characteristic of Greek methodology. That is why, after killing his monster, Odysseus marries Penelope.

Another important thing that is emphasized in dragon combats is that evil can never be defeated once and for all. That is why monsters in myths are usually endowed with some immortality features. Typhoeus could not be killed, which is why Zeus imprisoned it. Perseus beheaded Medusa, but its head was still alive. Heracles killed Hydra, but her central head was immortal, which is why he needed to bury it under a huge stone. So, even though heroes manage to eliminate the threat, the evil always remains alive.

Considering all of this, is it possible to generalize what role and what meaning dragons have in Greek culture? I tend to conclude that without any doubts, these creatures present evil in its different forms. However, there are many beliefs regarding what exactly dragons represent. For example, Erich Neumann, the follower of Jung, stated that the dragon combat could be understood as the fight between the collective unconscious and individual consciousness.⁹ In this way, a dragon is a symbol of the collective unconscious: it poses a threat since it always tries to swallow a good hero, who, in its turn, is a symbol of individual consciousness. Even though the hero can be defeated from the very beginning, it is always temporary, and in the end, the individual consciousness wins the battle. There are many other beliefs in this regard as well. Freud, for instance, came up with an entirely different theory, according to which dragon combats should be explained from the sexual perspective. That is, the hero’s desire to kill a dragon and get the reward of marrying a maiden can be seen as “the son’s repressed desire to kill his father (= the dragon) and have sexual intercourse with his mother (= the maiden)”.¹⁰

Conclusion

To conclude, a dragon combat indeed is a very common motif in Greek myths. Dragons in mythology represent different forms of evil, which only gods and heroes with superhuman powers can overcome. No matter how strong, tremendous the monster is, the hero is always stronger and cleverer. Still, even though heroes manage to kill dragons, evil can never be defeated once and for all, and that is also emphasized in Greek myths.

Bibliography

Powell, Barry B. A Short Introduction to Classical Myth. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2002.

Footnotes

1. Apollodorus 2.5.2.
2. Barry B. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth (Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2002), 22.
3. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 152.
4. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 85.
5. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 94.
6. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 152.
7. Apollodorus 1.6.3.
8. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 152.
9. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 40.
10. Powell, A Short Introduction to Classical Myth, 39.