Drakon+Shrishail

=Drakons (The Graecian and Roman Dragons) =



Introduction:
Of all monsters, Dragons are the most known. Yet the Dragons were not the first great characters of mythology. Their predecessors were the Drakons; the greatest terrors in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. So let's delve into their history, their stories, and their impact on us today.

Origins:
For the most part, drakons were the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The few others were the creations of the Olympians.



Appearances:
Drakons looked much like a serpent with wings, most drakons had smaller wings and were more snake-like than the modern dragons but were still able to fly and had several other weapons. The drakons were of any color, size, or gender. Drakons were very smart monsters that served their allegiances and friendships to a person or an object. This quality is what conflicted them with so many heroes because the drakons were often slain in the myths while defending a prized object or person.

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Myths:
<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">There are the three most famous Drakons to have ever existed... <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Hesperian Drakon <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Colchian Drakon <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">and The Ismenian Drakon <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Each one has a myth to go with it and here they are...

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__Hesperian Drakon__ <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Ladon) <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">- The Hesperian Drakon was a hundred headed drakon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides and tormented the Titan Atlas as he held the heavens on his shoulders. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Ladon was killed by Hercules when the hero was sent to recover the golden apples. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">In Hesiod, the parents and siblings of Ladon represented the dangers of the sea. ===<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Accordingly this hundred-headed serpent, whose name means "Strong Flow" might have represented dangerous sea currents. === <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Echidna, joined in love with Typhon, mothered the youngest of the deadly Drakones, that one who at the gloomy great hidden limits of the earth guards the all-golden apples." <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Hesiod's Theogony)

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__Colchian Drakon__ <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">- The Colchian Drakon was an un-sleeping giant drakon that guarded the Golden Fleece in the sacred grove of Ares in Colchis. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">When Jason and the Argonauts came to fetch the fleece, the monster was killed by Jason after a brief period of time where Jason was in the mouth of the drakon. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The teeth of the drakon were harvested by King Aeetes for their magical property. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">One of the labours he assigned Jason was the sowing of these teeth in a field. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">When they were planted, a group of warriors called Spartoi came out of the ground. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The teeth of the closely related Ismenian Drakon of Thebes, sown by Cadmus, produced a similar crop of men. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">"The fleece that was protected the watching Drakon’s ward. Jason came to Colchis and put to sleep with simples that four-nostrilled snake, and handled the curved plough of the bulls." <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Lycophron's Alexandra)

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__Ismenian Drakon__ <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">- The Ismenian Drakon was a twin drakon to the Colchian Drakon which guarded the sacred spring of Ismenos near Thebes. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">When the hero Cadmus came to fetch water for the founding of the city of Thebes, he slew the deadly serpent with a cast of a stone. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The goddess Athena afterwards instructed him to sow the dragon's teeth in the earth, producing the Spartoi, five of whom became the ancestral lords of Thebes. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Ares, the father of the dragon, later avenged its death whenhe transformed Cadmus and his wife into serpents.

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Importance:
<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The real importance of drakons is their existence as a challenge for Heroes to beat. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">They signified many challenges in life to the Greeks and Romans.

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Modern References:
<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The most obvious is the Dragon. <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">While there aren't many references to Drakons, a computer language called Python has a special edition called Ladon.

<span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sources <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="background-color: #dbdb14; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">[]