- Saint George and the Dragon
The episode of Saint George and the Dragon appended to the
hagiography ofSaint George was Eastern in origin, [Robertson, "The Medieval Saints' Lives" (pp 51-52) suggested that thedragon motif was transferred to the George legend from that of his father fellowsoldier saint ,Saint Theodore Tiro . The Roman Catholic writerAlban Butler ("Lives of the Saints") was at pains to credit the motif as a late addition: "It should be noted, however, that the story of the dragon, though given so much prominence, was a later accretion, of which we have no sure traces before the twelfth century. This puts out of court the attempts made by many folklorists to present St. George as no more than a christianized survival of pagan mythology."] brought back with theCrusaders and retold with the courtly appurtenances belonging to the genre of Romance. The earliest known depiction of the motif is from early eleventh-centuryCappadocia ; [In theiconography ofEastern Orthodoxy , George had been depicted as asoldier since at least the seventh century.] the earliest known surviving narrative is an eleventh-century Georgian text.The dragon motif was first combined with the standardized "Passio Georgii" in
Vincent of Beauvais ' encyclopedic "Speculum Historiale" and then inJacobus de Voragine 's "Golden Legend ", which guaranteed its popularity in the later Middle Ages as a literary and pictorial subject.The legend
According to the "
Golden Legend " the narrative episode of Saint George and the Dragon took place in a place he called "Silene," inLibya . There was no such place, the name being perhaps a corruption of Cyrene. The "Golden Legend" is the first to place this legend in Libya, as a sufficiently exotic locale, where a dragon might be imagined.This town had a pond large as a
lake where a plague-bearing dragon dwelled that envenomed all the countryside. To appease the dragon, the people of Silene used to feed it asheep every day, and when the sheep failed, they fed it their children, chosen bylottery .It happened that the lot fell on the king's daughter. The king, distraught with grief, told the people they could have all his
gold andsilver and half of his kingdom if his daughter were spared; the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, decked out as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.Saint George by chance rode past the lake. The princess, trembling, sought to send him away, but George vowed to remain.The dragon reared out of the lake while they were conversing. Saint George fortified himself with the
Sign of the Cross , [In the earliest version, where the dragon is more clearly a representation of paganism, or at least infernal power, the sign of the Cross itself was sufficient to defeat the dragon.] charged it on horseback with hislance and gave it a grievouswound . Then he called to the princess to throw him hergirdle and put it around the dragon's neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a meek beast on a leash. She and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the people at its approach. But Saint George called out to them, saying that if they consented to becomeChristian s and be baptised, he would slay the dragon before them.The king and the people of Silene converted to Christianity, George slew the dragon, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. "Fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children." On the site where the dragon died, the king built a church to the
Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George, and from its altar a spring arose whose waters cured all disease. [Thus Jacobus de Voragine, in William Caxton's translation ( [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GL-vol3-george.html On-line text] ).]Traditionally, the sword [ [http://home.ix.netcom.com/~kiyoweap/myth/arms-weap/ascalon.htm Ascalon, Askalon (Seven Champions); Askelon (Percy's ballads) ] ] with which St. George slew the dragon was called
Ascalon , a name recalling the city ofAshkelon ,Israel . From this tradition, the name "Ascalon" was used byWinston Churchill for his personal aircraft duringWorld War II (records atBletchley Park ), since St. George is the Patron Saint of England.Origins
Many historians consider the roots of this story to be older than Christianity itself. They note that the origin of the saint is said to be partly from
Cappadocia inAsia Minor , and thatAsia Minor was among the earliest regions to adopt the popular veneration of the saint. The region had long venerated other religious figures. These historians deem it likely that certain elements of their ancient worship could have passed to their Christian successors. Notable among these ancientdeities wasSabazios , theSky Father of thePhrygia ns and known asSabazius to the Romans. This god was traditionally depicted riding on horseback. The iconic image of St. George on horseback trampling the serpent-dragon beneath him is considered to be similar to these pre-Christian representations ofSabazios . It is also possible that the "George and the Dragon" myth is derived from the myth ofPerseus and Andromeda. This myth in turn may derive from an earlierHittite myth concerning the battle between the Storm GodTarhun and the dragonIlluyankas . The story also has counterparts in other Indo-European mythologies: The slaying of the serpentVritra byIndra inVedic religion , the battle betweenThor andJörmungandr in the Norse story ofRagnarok , the Greek account of the defeat of the TitanTyphon byZeus . [cite book | last = Mallory | first = J. P. | authorlink = JP Mallory| year = 1989 |title = In Search of the Indo-Europeans | publisher = Thames and Hudson | id = ISBN 0-500-27616-1] Parallels also exist outside of Indo-European mythology, for example theBabylonian myths ofMarduk slaying the dragonTiamat .In
iconography , some Catholicsaint s are depicted in the act of killing a dragon. This is one of the common aspects ofSaint George in EgyptianCopt ic iconography,cite web | url = http://www.catchpenny.org/slay.html | title = Slaying the Dragon | accessdate = 2007-03-17 | last = Orcutt | first = Larry | year = 2002 ] on thecoat of arms of Moscow , and in English and Catalan legend. InItaly ,Saint Mercurialis , first bishop of the city ofForlì , is also depicted slaying a dragon. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06137a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Forli ] ]Saint Julian of Le Mans ,Saint Veran ,Saint Bienheuré ,Saint Crescentinus , SaintMargaret of Antioch , SaintClement of Metz , SaintMartha ,Saint Quirinus of Malmedy ,Saint Donatus of Arezzo , andSaint Leonard of Noblac were also venerated as dragon-slayers. [ [http://www.mythofrancaise.asso.fr/mythes/themes/saurocto.htm Sauroctones ] ]Treatment by artists
*
Paolo Uccello , "Saint George and the Dragon",National Gallery, London
*Edward Elgar , "The Banner of St George": a ballad for chorus and orchestra, words by Shapcott Wensley, 1879
*Raphael (Raffaello Santi), [http://www.canvaz.com/gallery/379.htm "St. George Fighting the Dragon"] , 1504. Oil on panel. Louvre, Paris, France
*Edward Burne-Jones , [http://www.abcgallery.com/B/burne-jones/burnejones12.html "St. George and the Dragon"] , 1866.
*Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti), [http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/tintoretto/st-george-dragon.jpg"St. George and the Dragon"] , 1555.
*Gustave Moreau , [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
] , c. 1870. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London.
*Giovanni Bellini , " [http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/bellini/p-bellini6.htm Saint George Fighting the Dragon] ", c. 1471. Pesaro alterpiece.
*Peter Paul Rubens . "Saint George and the Dragon", 1620Contemporary retelling
*"The
Dragon Knight ", a series of books byGordon R. Dickson , adopted this story as a past event into its canon, significant in that dragons had since referred to humans as 'georges.' The story of St. George and the Dragon is referred to on occasion, but never told. The first book in the series, "The Dragon and the George", is a retelling of a previousshort story by the same author, "St. Dragon and the George".
*In the 1950s,Stan Freberg andDaws Butler wrote and performed "St. George and the Dragon-Net" (a spoof of the tale and of "Dragnet") for Freberg's radio show. The story's recording became the first comedy album to sell over 1 million copies.
*EC Comics published a comic called "By George!!" in "Weird Fantasy " #15. The story revealed that the 'dragon' was in fact a lost, misunderstood alien child who didn't mean any harm.ee also
*
Princess and dragon Notes
References
*Loomis, C. Grant, 1948. "White Magic, An Introduction to the Folklore of Christian Legend" (Cambridge: Medieval Society of America)
*Whatley, E. Gordon, editor, with Anne B. Thompson and Robert K. Upchurch, 2004. "St. George and the Dragon in the South English Legendary (East Midland Revision, c. 1400)" Originally published in "Saints' Lives in Middle English Collections"
*"Catholic Encyclopedia", " [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06453a.htm Saint George] "
*(Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications) ( [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/whgeodintro.htm On-line Introduction] )External links
* [http://www.dolinka.org/content/blogcategory/32/97/ Saint George church in Dolinka (Hungarian: Inám)]
* [http://www.enjoyengland.com/attractions/events/calendar/april/st-george.aspx St George and the Dragon Events and Ideas - Official Website for Tourism in England]
* [http://www.stgeorgesholiday.com/st_george.asp St George Unofficial Bank Holiday] : St. George and the Dragon, free illustrated book based on 'The Seven Champions' by Richard Johnson (1596)
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