Were Dragon Stories Really Dinosaur Encounters?

Legends of an ancient flood exist in hundreds of cultures around the world.

Many of these traditions share common elements with the biblical flood described in Genesis. For example, many of these stories assert that man’s wickedness brought divine judgment upon the whole world and that eight people and some animals survived aboard a large boat.

The Bible provides the historical account of the worldwide flood. By carefully comparing these legends with God’s Word, we see that many of these traditions have distorted, embellished, or lost information about the actual events.

Similarly, cultures from all over the globe also have dragon legends. Epic battles between gallant knights and fierce dragons are rather common, and the descriptions of these beasts are often very similar to those of dinosaurs.

Of course, ancient people would not have called them “dinosaurs,” since that word was coined in 1841. Carvings and cave paintings of these monsters have been discovered. Some of these dragon legends contain mythical elements, while others likely lost all the true details and retain nothing more than tall tales. But in many cases, the dragons were viewed as real animals. Do some of these dragon legends actually speak of dinosaurs?

In the Bible, God told Job about two creatures that could be considered dragons: the Behemoth and the Leviathan. Some Christians suggest that these are mythical monsters, but the mention of Behemoth and Leviathan in the book of Job follows the descriptions of about a dozen real animals. Furthermore, why would God tell Job to consider two beasts that did not even exist?

Dragon Legends Around the World

Red Dragon of Wales

Many tales describe how Y Ddraig Goch (the red dragon) came to be closely associated with Wales. One popular story tells of an epic battle between a red dragon and a white dragon, in which the red dragon saved the people of the land by defeating the white dragon.

The Lernaean Hydra

According to Greek mythology, Hercules performed 12 labors, including a battle with a great creature known as the hydra. This serpentine dragon had nine heads and poisonous breath. When one head was cut off, two more would grow in its place. Hercules battled fiercely and ultimately defeated the serpent.

Quetzalcoatl

The Mesoamerican Aztecs and Toltecs worshipped the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl (called Kukulcan by the Maya people). According to their mythology, he was the god of the wind and the morning and evening stars.

Daniel and the Dragon

Not accepted as part of the Old Testament canon by Jews or Protestants, the Apocrypha include extra chapters in the book of Daniel. Here we are told about Daniel’s encounter with a great dragon.

The king of Babylon commanded Daniel to worship his dragon as a god. The prophet refused and told the king that he could prove the creature was not a god by killing it without a sword or club. Daniel made cakes of pitch, fat, and hair, and fed them to the dragon, causing it to burst open.

St. George and the Dragon

St. George (AD 275–303) was a devout Christian and Roman military officer. The famous legend of his battle with the dragon is said to have occurred during his journey to join his men in Diocletian’s army.

As he neared the city of Selene in Libya, he saw a young princess outside the city wall. She pleaded with him to leave so that he would not be killed by the dragon to which she was being offered as a sacrifice. George refused to leave and vowed to protect her.

Suddenly, the dragon appeared and attacked the soldier. During his fierce battle against the fire-breathing foe, George found a weak spot under the beast’s left wing and delivered a crippling blow. The legend explains that the princess then led the maimed creature back into the city, where George killed it in the presence of the people.

The king asked George what he wanted as a reward. The dragonslayer replied, “I desire only that ye believe in the God who strengthened my hand to gain this victory.” After baptizing the city into the Christian faith, George resumed his trek to join his troops.

Beowulf and the Dragon

Originally written in Old English, the epic poem Beowulf is named for its hero and tells of his mighty deeds in sixth-century Scandinavia, a time known as the Vendel Era.

The most famous creature in the tale is Grendel, a fierce monster that devoured scores of Danish nobles. Beowulf defeated this creature by ripping its arm from the socket, causing the beast to bleed to death. The hero also defeated Grendel’s mother and numerous sea dragons.

Beowulf died from wounds sustained from a vicious fire dragon that terrorized the land after a thief had stolen a golden cup from the beast’s hoard. Aided by a brave warrior, Beowulf vanquished the flying dragon and saved the land.

The epic contains accurate historical information as well as fiction. The stories of battling dragons may be legendary, but do they have any basis in reality? Did these men or their ancestors actually fight dinosaurs and pterosaurs? This idea would be consistent with the Bible. But those who believe dinosaurs lived millions of years before man cannot adequately explain why cultures around the world have dragon legends whose creatures often match descriptions of dinosaurs.

Start planning your visit to the Creation Museum, and learn more about dragon legends and dinosaurs in the Dragon Legends exhibit.