5/15/2023 0 Comments When women were dragons summaryThese were accomplished with the help of Medea the King’s daughter, shown here standing in his support, in return for a promise of marriage. When Jason reached Colchis, he underwent a series of trials imposed by King Aeëtes, culminating in Jason’s victory over the dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece. Gustave Moreau’s painting of Jason from 1865 refers to that narrative. One of the well-known dragons of the classical world was that which guarded the Golden Fleece, which had to be overcome for the hero Jason to steal the fleece. Depictions of dragons became elaborated into complex beasts which could put up a real fight with the most valiant of knights. In mediaeval times, it seems, it acquired legs, wings and started breathing fire. In the classical world, a dragon was usually a huge serpent, long in the body and covered with scales. This long weekend I look at a selection of these mythical creatures, starting today with the dragon, broadening to monsters more generally tomorrow, and on Sunday looking at orcs and other sea monsters. Pull up an illuminated mediaeval map, and where its author runs out of knowledge you’ll see drawings of fearsome beasts bearing the legend hic sunt dracones – here be dragons.
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