Fighting Dragons: A Comparative Mythology
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- Dragons are everywhere in mythology, including religious mythology. In this video we will look at the main dragon myth that circulates around the largest religions, dragon stories such as Saint George and the Dragon, and then compare two of the most well known serpents, by looking at the Rig Veda and Enuma Elis, Tiamat and Vrtra, to see what would happen if they fought each other.
If you want to support my research and see behind the scenes work, watch my videos early, and other insights then please become a *Patreon*: / crecganford
References:
Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament, Edited by James B. Pritchard, Akkadin Myths and Epics, translated by E.A.Spicer
Landsberger, B. “The Fifth Tablet of Enuma Eliš.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 20, no. 3 (July 1961): 154-79. doi.org/10.1086/371634.
Lahari, Ajoy Kumar. Vediv Vrta. Motilal Banarsidass, Dehli. 1984.
Lincoln, Bruce. “The Indo-European Cattle-Raiding Myth.” History of Religions 16, no. 1 (August 1976): 42-65. doi.org/10.1086/462755.
Use of maps from indo-european.eu/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
And for those who read this, I had to put a picture of Anzu up instead of Tiamat, as there are no decent pictures I could use, and you all keep telling me to put more pictures in my videos. It is sometimes really hard to do this accurately when discussing pre-history and so you sometimes have to have some editorial leeway. Thanks, Jon
Chapters
===========================
0:00 Introduction
1:43 St George and the Dragon
3:06 Cattle Raiding
5:49 Rescuing a Princess
8:36 Comparing Two Mythological Dragons
11:14 Vrtra
13:35 Tiamat
16:04 Tiamat vs Vrtra
17:03 Water Serpents
17:47 Extinguishing Life
19:03 The Head of the Dragons
19:44 The Gods are Afraid
20:30 Intoxicating Drinks
21:44 The Beautiful Hero
23:09 The Hero is King of the Gods
23:48 The Hero represents Truth
24:19 Incredible Weapons
25:21 Using the Wind
26:13 Chariots
26:58 The Evil Dragon
27:28 Gods of Vegetation
29:07 Gods of War
30:44 Crushing the Head of the Enemy
30:56 The Creation of Heaven and Earth
31:29 The Truth about Tiamat and Vrtra
32:41 The Origin of this Myth
33:31 How the Myth spread
Are there any dragons you would like to know about? Jörmungandr? Hydra? Drakōn? Or would you like to know the oldest story of all about them?
All of them. Forgetting not the esoteric/symbolic meaning behind them, s'il vous plais.
I’d love to know more about when dragons stared guarding wisdom. The hymn of the pearl in acts of Thomas is great. The dragon guards a pearl. Id also love to know more about the constellation Draco and where, and how early it shows up in myth. Do serpent on mountain, tree or stick myths relate to Draco and the pole axis and ecliptic?
Hydra and Unk-Cekula, please.
Puff?
the oldest story seams to be the best one to understand all, as it's basal
Here in Brazil we have the myth of Boiuna or the Great Serpent. The tales diverge a bit between regions but the gist of it goes like this:
There once was this giant serpent called Boiuna which came from the depths of the ocean; its body was so massive that wherever it went, rivers were formed in the wake of its body and its rage caused storms and floods. Boiuna also spawned many other beings, specially animals and other monsters that terrorized humanity.
Eventually, Boiuna gave birth to a set of giant serpent twins. It became very tired and went to a deep slumber somewhere very deep.
The twins had opposite natures, one was good and liked mankind and the other was evil and wanted to destroy it. The good twin eventually got fed up and killed his evil sister (there is no consensus on what he did with the body of the evil sister). However, the good twin still set fear on human hearts because it was still a massive serpent.
One day a powerful warrior challenged the good twin to a duel, the good twin which was sad and alone accepted because he wanted to die. The warrior defeated the good twin, made it drink cattle’s milk and bleed, that, for some reason, made the good twin able to become a man and leave its serpent form behind. Some say the warrior became the first leader of man and some say it is the good twin.
Boiuna still sleeps in the depths (of the ocean, earth or the amazon river) and, when the world comes to an end, it will wake up again and wreck havoc and destroy everything.
Thank you for watching and sharing, that was very interesting. I do like reading these stories.
boitata?
@@animebanger6662 not sure... the prefix boi means snake for sure; however I'm not sure if the two myths are related directly
Boitata is usually represented as a fire snake/dragon that protects the florests
That story really helps me understand these myths better. So the path of the river is basically serpentine, a word we still use today in the English language. Therefore the great serpent made the tracks that filled with water, hence we have rivers. Then we have great storms in which there is mighty thunder, and flashes of light, and in this form perhaps the serpent is more like we'd think of as a dragon, roaring and breathing fire. In the wake of the flooding from the storm comes fertility to the land so that parched land becomes verdant and large watering holes where animals would gather for good hunting, therefore the good aspect of bringing water and fertility to the land, but also in the dragon form what can be a wrathful, angry proto storm god.which carries many of the same weapons like lightning bolts that are used like arrows.
Instant watch! Always worth stopping and having a look!!
Thank you so much
I am always amazed at how well you can trace dates and time periods for these mythologies. I am just super pleased with the research you've doing documenting human history
Thank you for your kinds words.
@@Crecganford hey! Could you make a video reconstructing the original flood myth like you reconstructed the oldest creation myth?
Hey Crec.
Speaking of the seasonal aspect of the serpent myths, here's a renewal story you may be unaware of. There is a late Scandinavian peasants myth that describes how a Linn-orm kept people from going to church. The people then had to raise a bull calf on sweet milk and fine bread, until it was strong enough to fight the Linnorm. The bulll killed the Linn-orm, thus saving the people, but died from the poison it spewed. Notice the similarity with Thor's death during Ragnarok, and the motif of a bull being sacrificed to defeat the serpent on his famous fishing trip (which also has seasonal motifs).
Brilliant lecture on the myth of the dragon both in Proto-Indo-European and Mesopotamian mythology. Kudos!
Thank you
I do think that PIE & mesopotamian didn't exist in vaccum & were more interconnected than we think.
Please go deeper into dragon stories. These intrigue me so much!
I've made a few more since this one, I hope you watch them and like them as well.
Just discovered this channel and I'm blown away about the level of dedication and research it must've took to come up the answers to origins of mythology, indo-european ancient mythology and mythical creatures, we could've just thrown out of our minds for simply just "fiction" but you found what things could actually suggest. Good work mate, and keep it up.
Thank you for your kind words.
This is something I am searching for very intently myself and have been for a while. I know that ancient Chinese cultures have this myth many thousands of years ago as well. Some claim the myths exist in the ancient Americas also. It's an interesting topic.
Ninurta, the Mesopotamian predecessor to Marduk, was also known to slay some dragons or dragon-like beings: Anzû, the thunderbird who stole the tablet of destinies, Azag, a demon who might be a storm-dragon, as well as the horned serpents Bašmu, Mušsagimin, Ušumgallu and Mušmaḫḫū, with the latter four being mentioned in the poem Angim which is also known as "The Return of Ninurta to Nippur".
Ninurta was also a god of war, vegetation and storms, and carried a war-mace named Sharur. I think he might be the oldest known storm-god.
Very interesting! I would love a video on Jormungandr! Or the Chinese dragon myths But I love dragons so any stories you want to share would be amazing!
They will be made...
I’m obsessed with this
I'm going to show my mom this, she loves dragons and history channels.
Great video, Jon. I've often thought that ancient, giant crocodiles were the source of dragon myths (for example, St. George), since crocs will take cattle which have come to drink at a river's edge. And I've seen videos of crocs breathing out in the chilly early morning which resulted in a steamy exhalation that could easily be amplified into breathing smoke and fire. However, your video has caused me to think that perhaps some ancient storyteller stood on a high place and saw the "serpentine" course of a river and conflated the water with an actual snake - a python or something similar. As ever, your excellent work is satisfying food for thought.
Thank you, and I will do a video on at George and his dragon, as it is quite fascinating.
@@Crecganford : Great; I welcome that. I'd like to know more about Welsh dragons too.
The water monster Perseus fought to save Andromeda was in Ethiopia, so possibly a crocodile. Arjuna and Hanuman from the Maharabta also both defeated crocodiles to rescue fair maidens. The stories could possibly be related to the abolishment of human sacrifice by natural predator.
@@jytte-hilden Well said. I love playing tennis with someone who swings a mean racquet. Not so sure about the flying part of dragon lore. Unless the very earliest humans with language had some overlap with a remote colony of pterosaurs. Unlikely, but just possible. On the other hand, "composite" beasts or chimera were widespread in the IE mythos, so that may account for it.
I thought this myth generated from various dinosaurs bones found thousands of years ago
When you say "grab a cup of tea"... I grab a cup of coffee, but still very much enjoy your lecture.. Thank you !
That is still a fine beverage
Since really getting into mythology of all kinds in my teens, I’ve pretty much waited my whole adult life for this great RUclips channel.
Thank you
I've been looking forward to this one! Love the video, thanks for the great explanation as always. Thank you for uploading great stories like these and spreading the knowledge
And thank you for your kind words, and for watching.
Interesting and informative video! As always. This made me wonder about the origin of dragon myths. What could have caused such a story to arise? The fact that one dragon was salt water and the other fresh, I wonder if the flooding of the lake that came to be known as the Black Sea by the Mediterranean sea has anything to do with the origins. I imagine that flood would have caused humans to create a bunch of interesting stories and myths. Imagine living by a fresh water lake and then over the course of several weeks it is flooded, many villages are complete destroyed, many die, and then there is no fresh water. If I am alive at that time I suppose an animal like a dragon (or two) would be capable of explaining the horror that occurred.
Anyway, this video was great! Thank you.
Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment. I will talk about the origin of the dragon myth in a month or two, so watch this space :)
I always thought of those giant Komodo dragons that were big enough to swallow a man whole in Australia from 50,000 years ago could be the origin.
There’s a theory that the slash and burn that the aborigines used in AUS was directly to clear them out.
This is a wonderful video. It is so interesting to me how the studies of myths and linguistics can help to understand the prehistoric migrations and interactions between peoples. I really love the maps, it really helps me visualize and understand the interactions. Thank you so much.
28:52 I was going to give you some guff about the word "corn," but then I read the Wiki article about maize and corrected myself. Fascinating vid, sir. 👍
Thank you
I was once again reminded of our Vedic legacy. When you started talking about Indra and Vrtra I immediately thought of the Polish/Slavic God of storm and war, Perun. He is also believed to have slain a dragon who had been keeping water somewhere in the clouds, thus freeing the water and causing rain.
I think it's beautiful how everything is connected.
Those myths are absolutely connected, and it fascinates me too.
Vedic legacy? The myths aren't from Sanskrit but share a common origin in the Eurasian Steppe peoples.
@@redwaldcuthberting7195 really? Can you elaborate?
@@redwaldcuthberting7195 Quite ironic how Vrtra has been called an asura not a dragon
@@redwaldcuthberting7195 1st of all your European copied stories might be myth ,rig veda isn't. And anything in rig veda isn't related to Europe ,so what's written in the vedas is vedic legacy only and thus sanskrit.
Beautiful job explaining the maps! I love your channel, and it is honestly something I look forward to every time I get your notifications!
Thank you for watching them and your kind words.
I've been patiently awaiting this video! Amazing video per usual!
Thank you!
I only found your channel a few weeks ago and since then have been binging your videos, they are great and very informative. I wanted to thank you as they have given me a renewed love for history. After studying it at A level many years ago my interests slipped into fantasy, which in a way these old tales and myths you describe link with, so has brought me full circle. I would love to know the oldest origins of the dragon myth, they make up a big part of fantasy so seeing if the tales written now have any similarity to the originals would be very interesting.
Thank you for watching, and your kind words. I’m currently translating a paper that discusses the earliest serpent myth, and I hope to have made a video about this within a month. And so I hope you subscribe and come back to watch it.
Excited to see this one, Jon! A fun way to begin my Saturday!
And thank you for watching it :)
Such amazing content! Thank you so much for the effort to make this careful analisys. I love the final timeline. Congratulations for the channel, long live to Crecganford!
Thank you for watching, and your kind words.
You're always asking the right questions, love this video!
Thank you
i really like this style of videos - i actually feel like i've learnt something these past couple of weeks of watching!
Thank you!
Thank you for watching, and your kind words.
Absolute stellar work, I catch myself binging too often without giving any accolades - righteous work your doing, thank you a tonne for the effort/ content!
Sorry, this side note/query I'm not sure who best to ask:
Since the Ramakien the Thai epic is a rendition of that of the Ramayana - would that then discount it, and it's discrepancies as it is third hand? (at best!)
Just curious, because outside the country - at least myself, haven't come across many mentions/passing of the vers.
Thanks again!
I'm not familiar with that material enough to say discount it. There can be motifs and ideas within those sources that are remnants of earlier mythology.
Thank you for the reply!
These videos are so insightful and your narration is really quite calming
Thank you for watching
Wow i was waiting for this video great work
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words
Bravo! Thoroughly enjoyable and deeply satisfying! Thank you for the detailed work and research you brought forth and communicated so brilliantly. But the suspenseful ending! Ugh! 😂 I will be definitely be awaiting the next installment eagerly!
Thank you for watching and your kind words... the next part will probably be in a month or so.
I love your videos man! Keep up the good content!
Thank you!
I have always thought that the story of Marduk and Tiamat was about planets colliding, resulting in the creation of our current position of earth, its tilt and spin as well as our unusually large moon and also the debris that was left behind from the planets colliding between Mars and Jupiter. Tiamat was a planet out there but was smashed to pieces by Niburu's moon (Marduk). Sitchin's books had an effect on my perception of this story.
I am absolutely glad I found this channel I'm already subscribed but now I'm jaw dropped at the level of research and explanation you put into reference and cross references to different word uses and there multiple uses in single use .. it's great 😃👍 you sir do great work
Thank you so much for your kind words.
@@Crecganford no problem. You have earned it 👍 I love history and pre history and you deliver 👌
As always fascinating video! Something that came to my mind is Tlatecuhtli from Nahua mythos, it was a earth monster killed by the gods and shaped into the world, it also supposedly bit off Tezcatlipoca's foot, i feel like we can see here references for both dragons like Tiamat and even Ymir and Indo European creation myth, weather this is a coincidence or something greater is left to further research
I'm still waiting for a vid in which "but where did they come, & where dod they go" will be ended with "where did he come from, Cotton-eye Joe".
that said, I absolutely love this channel.
I did think that when I said it! haha.
Thanks Jon, just the storytelling I needed tonight. Appreciate your perspectives
And thank you for watching
Finally got round to watching it.another excellent informative video.much respect.
BTW many thanks for saying a few words at our gathering last Saturday.
Thank you for supporting the channel Hengist, and it was a real pleasure meeting you all.
@@Crecganford likewise my friend.always recommend this channel your hard work speaks for itself.
Yay! I’ve been looking forward to this one. Watching straight away. 🙂 I’ve always liked The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol. Not explicitly a dragon but I feel like it tells all of these stories with very few actual words . Thanks for your work and research 🙂.
Thank you for watching, and your kind words. They are appreciated :)
Thank you so much for doing this. Really enjoyed it.
And thank you for watching it
Great video. I'm so glad you have captions. Even though we both speak English our pronunciation is not quite the same and the captions help me to more fully follow your narrative. I'm a long way away from where you are and I'm thankful you are on you-tube, otherwise I would have never known about you and your fascinating work.
Thank you for watching, and for your feedback. I do spend a lot of time making sure my captions are correct meaning you don't have to rely on the RUclips generated ones.
So nice to see someone speak about the myth stories and explain how it relates to the migrations of people and how cultures changed so did these stories. Reminding everyone that we all share a similar ancestry and history as humans, regardless of current religion or culture.
Exactly! Being a human today means you are the sum of a rich and varied past.
I can't believe the timing of this video! I really look forward to the dragon myth, as my daughter was just told that Europeans have no culture, and they stole the Dragon from Asia...
Yes ofcourse, Europeans have a culture and that's Christianity. So mate, you better stick to it .You Europeans have already done enough damage to our holy symbol and terms like swstika and Arya .
And your daughter is right, because India, persia and Mesopotamia are/were in Asia only .Taking rig vedic lores and portraying them as European won't change the truth.
@@pritsingh9766 pointing the finger at other cultures historical failings without internalizing your own is how you remain in your ignorant headspace. What a disgusting thing to say.
He keeps killing it with every video!
Thank you so much for your support and kinds words. They are very much appreciated.
Been looking forward to this one
I hope you enjoyed it
@@Crecganford
I certainly did thankyou. Always been intrigued by how the dragons were historically present in many different western cultures but also in Ancient China when, I assume there was little to none interactions?
I remember reading somewhere that fire breathing dragons could have been interpreted from the tongue flicking of snakes and probably Comodo dragons or monitor lizards?
Your work is so good! Thank you!
Thank you for your kind words, they are appreciated.
Great video Jon!
Thank you!
Wonderful videos! Thank you
Thank you.
Fascinating, you have a new subscriber. 🖖
Thank you so much for watching and subscribing. It is appreciated.
What a wonderful way to start my weekend :-) thank you for sharing your work with us.
Thank you for your kind words, and for watching. That makes my weekend start well too.
@@Crecganford I just recently discovered your channel and I'm completely sucked in. I used to feel like the far ancient world was so far removed from us that it was effectively an alien world. But you talk about these things that are still so pervasive in our culture and worldview. They are still alive and relevant, even though they are as much as 10,000 years removed. It really does wake something up inside of me.
I can't believe I found out about your channel about a week ago. Thank you a lot for the work you have to put into these videos. Even if you are very learned in this subject (which you obviously are) it must be a lot of research to make those videos.
Thank you for watching, and I love to learn and to teach, so all I am doing in teaching what I loved to learn myself.
Thank you. dragons are everywhere.
They are, so be careful!
probably the only channel i don't find it annoying to ask for likes mid video lol
you really deserve more algorithm attention
love your videos
Thank you, I do try to ask in a more entertaining way.
Absolutely love your work, a fantastic way to spend a wet and stormy night in Perth (Western Australia).
Hello to you in Australia, and thank you for watching.
Thank you for your videos, I have learned so much and really appreciate you sharing your expertise.
And thank you for watching them, and for taking the time to leave a comment. It is appreciated.
I always learn so much and then check to see if it must be ending soon only to see that I am only half way through! Wow, how do you manage to unpack so much knowledge and wisdom on these tropes of mythology and storytelling?!
Thank you, that is exactly my aim, to tell you all as much as I can
I have watched way to much RUclips for way too long.
Quality like this gets rewarded, I know you'll get millions of subscribers. I've seen it a million times and it was obvious to me when I watched your first video.
Thank you for your kind words.
very awesome dude
Thank you!
Another great video!
You're color coded maps across time are so very helpful. When I see those I know my friends will want me to share for discussion.
One friend is asking about where horse based cultures fit in this timeline of myth/language/culture dispersal. Is there another video I should share with him?
I haven't really touched on horses, but in short they took over from cattle once we worked out how to ride them.
Dude - this is way too interesting a topic to watch immediately. I need to wait until I put the kids to bed to I can really dig in. Thanks, Jon!
Thanks Kevin, I hope your kids go to bed really early so you can watch it soon!
@@Crecganford I’ve watched it three times (so far). My first familiarity with the dragon motif is from Peterson talking about Dragons guarding Treasure, but that is from a psychological perspective. It’s nice to have different filters through which to consider the same information. Again, many thanks!
This is an interesting video. Primates are thought to have developed good close up eyesight to avoid snakes. What are snakes if not dragons without wings
They are, and when I eventually talk about the earliest of dragon myths we will see this.
Look forwar to this one 👍thanks for the content john! 🙌
And thank you for watching it
Great to thing wake up to here in the states. Thanks, Jon!
Thank you for getting up early to watch this :)
very good video
Now I need a gritty action movie in the style of The Green Man based off of this story. I imagine Trito like John Wick but going after a dragon to save his cows
That would be a good movie... especially a John Wick/Trito hero, awesome stuff!
So many cultures have a serpent or dragon. The worm Ouroboros, a serpent eating it's own tail. The Feathered Serpent of the Aztecs, Maya & Olmecs, The Archaic Period of the Mayans dates to before 2000 BCE. On one hand, I am amazed at how you've shown certain myths, common to the Americas & Eurasia must go back 15,000 years! On the other hand, I still wonder if the "Great Worm/Dragon" myths aren't a result of seeing the Milky Way in the night sky. It does look like a giant scaly snake, winding across the sky. And disappearing into the horizon far away, which may be the sea, land or mountains (depending on your point of view.) Everybody all over the earth could look into the night sky and see the giant snake or dragon! All you need is a shaman to make up (or remember) a mythic story!
Dragon is an umbrella term for various creatures and deities, Serpents also aren't the most creative of mythological creation's, i think it's reasonable to assume at least some of these originated independently from one another
Dinosaur bones are my guess!
@@SarahTheRebelOfficial yee in some cases it could be the case but we shouldn't assume Al myths originate in fossils
Not going to lie, I initially thought the dragon fightclub bit is to grab the attention of millennials raised on memes, but it had a point. Well done, sir. I personally adore some of the more modern interpretations of Tiamat and I am not talking about DnD... In some places she is regarded as the creator of the land and the sky, a sort of mother figure not just for the other gods but to the universe in more direct creation myth. It is an interesting contrast with the now classical European dragons=bad notion.
Unfortunately, I lost the source that I read this in sadly. Makes me wonder though, if any of these legends and/or religions survived in remote areas in some way outside of museums and archeological finds.
Thank you for watching, and for taking the time to comment. I did think the Fight Club analogy was most appropriate for the exact reason you state.
Brilliant piece of detective history
I had always wondered who the hell Vrtra was and what the hell Indra was doing fighting him and how that freed up waters
Great video overall! It to be a broken record, but I hope the interview with Ben Stanhope is still coming soon! There are so many interesting dragon/chaos/combat myth-stuff to compare and research!
Yes, this is a video I wanted to do before I got to Ben. Now it's out I will move this forward as quickly as I can :)
@@Crecganford Awesome to hear! I'll hope it will be a fruitful discussion between the two of you!
2:53 in Brazil there's this tradition that St George kills the dragon (in the present tense) on the moon
There used to have even popular TV shows for kids that would have the characters go to the moon (because yk, kids like the moon) and meet st George there
Reminds me of one of my absolute favorite short stories - The Valley of the Worm, by Robert E. Howard.
"I will tell you of Niord and the Worm. You have heard the tale before in many guises wherein the hero was named Tyr, or Perseus, or Siegfried, or Beowulf, or Saint George. But it was Niord who met the loathly demoniac thing that crawled hideously up from hell . . ."
Thank you. Another great presentation on Indo-European myth.
It also makes sense as to way many old river names mean 'dragon' or 'serpent'.
Interesting in how the biblical firmament kept the idea of the holes in it to let the rain through.
Awesome 👏
Thank you
Hi, sir! I just found this channel a few days ago, and I'm plowing through your entire catalog at a very fast pace!
A few videos ago you said something that worried me, though. You told us that you try to read the comment section. This can be kinda toxic, I just don't want to loose a good and informed content creator because the negativity that you can find down here some times. My best recommendation is to have a friend read this comments and select the top ones which deserve an answer.
Keep this level of quality, sir, and ☕☕☕!
P.d.: tiamat is an important dragon god in Dungeons & Dragons. Capitalize on it, the algorythm should like it! Use Tiamat in the titles as much as you can hehe
Thank you for watching, and your kind words. And when this was a small channel, just a couple of months ago, reading comments was so enjoyable. But you're right, now there are some very undesirable comments, but I try not to let them affect me.
@@Crecganford 😁😁😁
Solid video, as usual. In my book, I actually have a lengthy discussion about this in Chapter 3. Whatever the origins of the Mesopotamian battle with Tiamat (and it could indeed go way back) I also reach the conclusion that some Indo-European influence had attached itself to the Near-Eastern dragon-slaying myths by the mid 2nd millennium B.C. In particular, we have evidence that the Indic warriors (Maryannu) already had a presence in Northern Mesopotamia by the 17th century B.C. and Anatolian influences from the west probably show up equally early in Syria (e.g. Luwians in Kizzuwatna).
These two waves of IE influence from the east and west were near their peak when the Baal Cycle was written. In the west, you had the Hittite Empire, which was already one of the major powers in the region- and in the east you had the Mitanni kingdom, which was ruled my Indic or Indic-descended elites. In short, you can't really rule out IE influence by the time most of these myths were written down. But *especially* by the time of the Baal cycle, which was slightly later than the Enuma Elish.
Personally, I would argue that the Baal Cycle is the most obviously IE-influenced of the Near Eastern dragon myths. It's apparent from the fact that Baal is a true Thunder God (unlike some other near-eastern dragon slayers like Marduk) and also from the fact that Lotan displays multiple heads. For the other Near-Eastern dragon-slaying narratives, I think the non-IE elements are still noticeable. That's my theory, in any case.
Thanks for this. I know this story so well and I could never connect it's roots to the story.
Looking forward to the Dragon Myth Origin video already!
It'll be a month or so, as I've a few translations to complete before my research is finished. But it won't be too long. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for this very informative video which I have enjoyed greatly. I also found a great deal of similarity of these myths to the creation myth of Germanic/Norse mythology: Ýmir, this proto-Jötunn being, being declared evil and killed, and 'it's' blood creating both a flood and the waters of the earth which was created from the body, whilst the skull, the other half of this creature formed the heavens/sky. Also then somehow this proto Ur-cow, Auðumbla, makes her magical appearance, linking in not just agriculture and animism but animal husbandry too. The surviving relatives, who didn't drown in the flood of Ýmir's blood, also declared largely evil, were often able to create monstrous offspring, gigantic wolves and dragon-like snakes, eight-legged horses, creatures which make our ancestors very likely fearful for half of their days from dusk to dawn, especially in the darker, colder half of the annual cycles.
Thank you for watching, and your comment. Yes, there is definitely similarity there which I've spoken about in other videos. The whole motif of how the world is built was similar for most cultures in Indo-Europe for the last 4,000 years or so.
Don't forget the Mittani were Indo Europeans and were in the Middle East since ancient times. They swore oaths to Vedic gods!!!
Hello! I love your channel so much, and love this episode because I'm a fairy tale nerd. If you'd ever be interested in doing a video on more fairy tale motif origins, such as tales like Snow White, i'd absolutely watch. thanks for your time ❤
Yes, perhaps I should discuss the origins of fairytales and folktales. Thank you for the suggestion.
Fascinating.
I saw the Berserker from Amon Amarth's album. Nice ;)
3:06 This story reminds me of a children´s myth story called "Búkolla" Búkolla is the name of a very wise cow. The cow saves the boy who went to get her back from the Trolls who stole her.
That sounds like an interesting story, I shall try and find it.
Your method reminds me of the great Claude Lévi-Strauss. Keep on!
Wow, thank you for the compliment. I'm humbled by such a comparison.
just a comment to support your channel 🙂
Thank you
You see a story of storm gods battling, I see analogy of writers block & brainstorming your way through until it produces 'fruit'.
I was supposed to do a few things around the house today, well my wife will have to do without me today 🤣👍
Blame it on the dragons! And thank you for watching.
I would love to hear more about the near-east dragons and the differences between the Indo-European style
Then subscribe and you will :)
Tea for me!
I love mythical creatures.. 🥺💕
Be careful when hugging a dragon...
This is actually one of my favorite subjects (granted about 7 years ago before I had kids I was researching this and could tell you ALOT more about it than I can now as a mother of 3 young kids). I love the story of Tiamat (and hadn't heard about Vrtra but I'm am completely interesting in researching that now), because how it ties into so many other creation stories around the world. Almost all creation stories (even many I found based in ancient America) has a beginning of a watery chaos. For Egypt, it was the motherly waters of Nun from which Ptah (the sacred mountain) and Atum-Ra (the light) sprang and creation started. In fact, in some myths every time Atum-Ra (depicted as the sun) sets he travels through the waters of underworld and before being reborn each day in the sky he has to fight and kill Apophis (another god of chaos who is represented as a serpent). For the Chinese, it was called "Great Glory" full of endless possibilities. Before Tiamat (to transformed into a sea serpent or dragon to kill the pantheon of gods after they killed her spouse), the older Sumerian cities worshipped Nammu who held the same function as Tiamat as the watery mother chaos. In Dhammi, this being was seen as a "worm". In the beginning of the creation myth of the Native American Crow tribe, there is a watery abyss from which the Coyote creator emerges. What I see in alot of these myths and what I especially love about them is that they use the bodies of the motherly chaos being to help form the creation and also from that go on to build a sacred temple (like from the watery Egyptian Nun goddess Ptah the sacred mountain emerges and becomes holy when Atum-Ra arises and rests upon it). After Tiamat was killed, her body was used to help build the world and upon Apsu (her spouses) remains Marduk built their first temple (ziggurat). Of course there is a lot I am leaving out from lack of memory, but the symbolism of the serpent/dragon used in these stories goes well beyond what we think of today when we think of dragons, its connected to chaos, power, seas...I often think they compared it to the ocean how it can be beautiful and life bringing yet chaotic and dangerous at times.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. I love reading these things, thank you.
Fascinating! I am a total novice but came to many of the same conclusions. May I ask some of your sources so I can research for myself?
@@RS-tr1dq Sure, in truth I was writing a 236 page thesis on it so I have ALOT of sources, but I will give you some to start with that have great information: 1) Leeming, David (2010). Creation Myths of the World, Vol I and Vol II; 2) Heidel, Alexander (1942). The Babylonian Genesis; 3) Matthew, Victor H. and Benjamin, Don C. (2006). Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East
4) Naydler, James (1996). Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred, 5) Philopt, J. H. (1897). The Sacred Tree; Or, The Tree in Religion and Myth. Let me know if you want any more.
@@ak8990 thanks!
Was promised a princess for slaying a dragon. But all I got was a cow. -.-'
I know, tell me about it...
A princess cow!
I don’t know if it’s too specific, but it’s a topic that has always interested me due to the similarities of many old civilizations and cultures in their depiction of them: giant water serpents/“water dragons” of sorts throughout mythologies
I agree, it is fascinating
I was talking about dragon stories with some buddies just last week. We were discussing how so many cultures had dragons.
It's a fascinating subject, so many myths.
When you talk about princesses earlier, and then talk about "all power being bestowed onto you Indra", it feels to me that the princess doesn't so much represent treasure as a path to power, since it's through the royal marriage that the dragon slayer is brought from non-noble status to ruling all or part of the kingdom.
Meanwhile Fate/Grand Order fans: Tiamommy vs the Hottest eastern Dragon
Good talk.
Thank you
My theory on dragons is people came into caves high in the mountains ( dragons fly). They found smoke on the walls left from primitive man( dragons are fire breathing) found large dinosaur bones they couldn't explain and figured it must be a flying, fire breathing extra large animal, hence....
My video in a couple of weeks will try to explain the origin of the myth, and it does include caves… but I’ll give in more spoilers here.