Dragon: Did you mean...?

Dragons appear in the myths and legends of civilizations around the world from ancient times to the present day. Like the lion in ancient Mesopotamia, the dragon in some cultures (notably China) came to be associated with royalty and good...

There were over 200 gods and goddesses worshipped throughout ancient China, but if one were to count every deity or spirit, the number would be over 1,000. Each town, village, city, field, farm, and sometimes even separate plot in a graveyard...

A Chinese jade dragon. Zhou Dynasty, 5th-4th century BCE. Height: 9 cm. The British Museum, London.

A celadon fish-dragon ewer. 12th century CE, Goryeo Dynasty, Korea. (National Museum of Korea, Soul, South Korea)

A Chinese pig-dragon sculpture. China, probably Yunnan Province, Yuan dynasty, 1279-1368. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

A scene from a black-figure vase of the Phoenician founder of Thebes Cadmus slaying the dragon which dwelt there. From Euboea, 560-550 BCE. Louvre Museum, Paris.

The Shinto god Susanoo searching the waters for the eight-headed dragon known as Yamato-no-Orochi or the Koshi. (19th century CE print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi)

A jade hair ornament (?), owl figurine and pig-dragon. Hongshan Culture, c. 3,500 BCE. From Liaoning Province, China. (British Museum, London)

St George slaying the dragon. From a Macedonian workshop. Made from wood and egg tempera. Dating to the second half of the 16th century. (Hellenic Museum, Melbourne, Victoria).

A black turtle and azure dragon representing the cardinal directions of north and east respectively. From Xanadu (Shangdu), the summer capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 CE). (Archaeological Museum of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot)