What were dragons a metaphor for in medieval times?
The Devil.
Giant fire breathing flying lizard
Crocodiles
>>1387790
dank memes
Medieval societies regularly uncovered dinosaurs during mining and construction projects and thus had to make something of them.
Dragons
>>1387790
They weren't metaphors, they were dinosaurs.
>>1387812
This is what I've heard as well. I'd love to see some kind of example of a writing from the time mentioning it.
Vaginas
>>1387790
le reptillian jews
>>1387934
I heard the Greeks got the idea of the big Cyclops monsters from finding elephant skulls which makes a lot of sense. Love imagining some Greek guy staring at one of these filled with wonder and horror
>>1387790
In the apocalypsis of John the Dragon is Satan.
>>1387956
yeah- I could imagine the feat of Odysseus!
>>1387790
they were mentioned in the bible
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Dragons/
that picture seems related to this
>And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
dragons represent belligerent entities more powerful than you, the implication being that you put aside your anxieties and set your mind to acting like the hero
>>1388111
This so much, there are so many retarded material explanations of allegory and myth going around
this board in general being a perfect example
>>1388111
"Dragon" was "serpent" in the original text, right? Like changing "goat" to "faun," or "aurochs" to "monoceros?"
>>1387790
Paganism.
>>1387812
I think this is possibly a backwards created myth.
Dinosaur bones are rare in europe especially full skeletons or even large bones.
Dragons are part of our ancestral memory from when they used to exist before the dragon genocide.
>>1387905
Nothing about dinosaurs written prior to 1841 uses the word dinosaur.
guess when the word dinosaur was coined?
>>1387790
Anal sex.
>>1388167
Sounds good to me. Dragons, serpents, winged serpents, sea serpents; these were all written about as real animals.
>>1388390
Where? Where were they written as a real animal and not as a metaphor for something else?
>>1388458
Where were they written about as a metaphor?
What makes you think dragons were used as metaphors?
>>1388492
Litterally everywhere dragons are mentioned, that the bible flat out refers to the devil as a dragon and medieval bestiaries repeatedly ascribe it to the devil?
Revelaation 12:9 Wycliffes translation
"And that dragon was cast down, the great old serpent, that is called the Devil, and Satan, that deceiveth all the world; he was cast down [cast out] into the earth, and his angels were sent with him. "
http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast262.htm
What do you think the story of Saint George was about? Some guy having a fight with a dinosaur because big lizards are cool?
>>1387790
Dragons
>>1388390
Are you saying dragons are real?
>>1388620
Yes.
>>1388638
We should probably have at least a shred of physical evidence of dragons if that's so.
The ego
>>1388689
Well in Europe. In Asia, the dragon is a Falstaffian figure of life and prosperity.
>>1388529
>dinosaur
Would go for a monitor lizard. Remember, anything bigger than an anole (or whatever lived in Europe at the time) would've been a monster to them.
Dragons are the ultimate sneks.
I Greek Mythology, there were four types of dragons, the serpent Dracones, the marine Cetea, the fire-breathing Chimaera and the she-monster Dracaenae, all of which were symbolic expressions of the primal, untamed nature of the ancient world, each overcome by a great hero in his effort to secure the land for the new era of human civilization.
>>1388822
The culture hero slays the beast of chaos, like Marduk and Tiamat...
>>1387812
I don't know about this specifically, but Greeks found dinosaur bones and thought they were ancient heroes
>>1387812
I don't know about this. When the Chinese found Dinosaur bones, they thought them to be Dragon ones, hinting that they already established dragons in their beliefs
Humans and dinosaurs actually lived together at some point, and these are the remnants in folk memory
>>1388847
Not even dinosaur bones. I think they were gonna turn this into "dragon bone powder" before the scientific community bought it off their hands.
>>1387790
Spaceships.
>>1388835
Why would a hero kill Swedish black metal bands?
>>1388858
t. Ken Ham
>>1388858
Funny how creationists would think that the finding o the fossil of a dinoaur which lived 200,000 years ago would be a confirmation to their views.
>>1389311
>muh flood
>muh floating forest
>muh scientist conspiracy
>>1387956
That's an elephant seal skull.
>>1387790
Kulturkampf
>>1388899
Kek
Serpents and reptiles in general are a stand-in for the lower nature of man, and it's really not even that hard to extrapolate if you compare a reptile skull to a human's. The creativity of people in antiquity is really underestimated, it's not like everyone was a cretin until 1500! Kulturkampf is where we get the modern myths of "reptoids" in human skin, with psychopathic self-serving behavior, as if they had no concept of thought beyond eating, hoarding wealth and inflicting pain.
>Hint: those basic survival functions are what the "reptilian brain" is used to govern.
>>1388693
I don't know who was the genius who decided to put chinese and western dragons in the same category, when they're clearly unrelated mythological creatures with a very different purpose.
>>1388835
Or Jesus and the serpent/Satan in the Revelations, by the way.
>>1388899
Marduk is the hero
Jews, clearly
>Evil
>Decieving
>Murderous
>Cunning
>Loves to hoard massive amounts of gold
>>1387790
It's not clear that they were a metaphor at all. People have believed in dragons since very ancient times, and while some authors and artists undoubtedly used them in allegorical ways, the underlying idea of dragons as something that exists is probably meant quite literally.
>>1389479
>what is Judensau?
>>1389479
Kek.
>>1389484
Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing about a book of cryptids written by Linnaeus himself. It included a hydra, a reverse-frog, a satyr-ape, and a form of dragon.
>>1389514
What the fuck is a reverse-frog?
>>1389516
A frog with reversed metamorphosis. Starts out as a tiny frog and turns into a giant tadpole twice the size of the frog.
>>1389521
Found the image. Also, not a book itself, but rather a category he had on earlier versions of the book: Animalia Paradoxa.
>>1389484
Yet OP is asking about medieval times, when they are quite clearly allegorical for the devil/satan/hell.
>>1387979
>dragons represent belligerent entities more powerful than you, the implication being that you put aside your anxieties and set your mind to acting like the hero
Vaginas and their firey temptations.
>>1390553
Nah, there was an actual species of frog that had a larger tadpole stage, so they assumed that it had a reversed metamorphosis.
And then there's the Satyrus.
>>1392975
is that some kind of ancient furry
