Home›Dragons›TraditionBrowse ByTraditionThis page groups mythical creatures by the wider artistic and religious tradition that pictures them. Wikipedia notes that "in medieval art, animals, both real and mythical, played important roles." Browsing by tradition lets a visitor read every creature from one cultural tradition together.FactsLearn MoreTraditionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedGreat serpentine or reptilian beasts, collected by body-form. Form is the only thing the traditions gathered here share: the English word "dragon" is doing the collecting, not the traditions. 2Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedChinese: the long is an auspicious being of water, rain and imperial authority - invoked in rain ritual and worn by the emperor, not a monster to be slain. 3Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedEuropean: the dragon of Latin and Germanic tradition, and of later heraldry, is a hoard-guarding or land-wasting monster confronted and killed by a hero. 3Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedNorse: Nidhogg gnaws at the root of the world-tree Yggdrasill - a being of Old Norse cosmology and eschatology rather than of heraldry or of rain ritual. 4DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedMythical Creatures 1Learn MoreThe Dragons This group gathers dragons, the great serpentine or reptilian creatures that appear, in strikingly different roles, in mythologies across the world. In the European tradition the dragon is often a hoard-guarding menace to be slain by a hero, while in Chinese and wider East Asian tradition the dragon is an auspicious being of water, sky and imperial power. The browser will find the dragon figures the atlas gathers from these traditions. The entries describe each creature's form, powers and mythological role, noting how sharply the dragon's meaning differs from one culture to another.TraditionFilter Results2 entriesBasis of the Membership FigureAllIndependent Survey (1)National Census (1)Era of Decline End YearAll1200 (1)1976 (1)Era of Decline Start YearAll1000 (1)1966 (1)FounderAllNone (1)How the Expectation Is EnforcedAllCustomary Norm (1)Membership Figure As OfAll2006-01-01 (1)2016-01-01 (1)2018-01-01 (1)2025-01-01 (1)Origin Period End YearAll1046 BCE (1)800 (1)Origin Period Start YearAll1600 BCE (1)500 BCE (1)Practice StatusAllDiscontinued as a state religion (1)Living, and practised in varied local forms (1)Status TodayAllHistorical; not practised continuously (1)Living tradition, practised today (1)TheologyAllAncestor-centred (1)Animist: persons and powers in land, water and living things (1)Polytheistic: many gods (2)Show ResultsBrowseCompareChinese Folk ReligionTradition1 entryNorse PaganismTradition1 entrySources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books and Local Legendstier 1Stith Thompson, Indiana University Press, 1958B0-B99, Mythical Animals3. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005on dragons and heraldic beastsView the Source4. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefstier 1John Lindow, Oxford University Press, 2001the entry on NidhoggView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.