Description
Edited by Bruce, Scott G.
:
The definitive global anthology of writings about dragons, from Ancient Egypt to the modern day
Since the earliest moments of human history, dragons have occupied a place in our imaginations. Bringer of night in Ancient Egypt; mortal enemy of the elephant in South Asia; slain by a god in Sanskrit hymn. In the Book of Revelation, there is the Leviathan; in Loch Ness, a monster. Their crushing coils and their treasure hoards are found throughout literature and language: in the Old English of Beowulf, in the Elvish of Tolkien, in the far-flung travels of Marco Polo.
The Penguin Book of Dragons is the definitive collection of all this and more: two thousand years of legend and lore about the menace and majesty of dragons.
Review quote:
I love the way Scott Bruce has scoured so much ancient lore to bring us this treasury of dragon-related information, and I shall turn to it frequently
Review quote:
Scholarly and thrilling. By collecting some of the foundational – and also most surprising – historical sources on these guardians of the ”boundary between the known and unknown”, Scott Bruce has created the new indispensable resource for anyone who cares about dragons
Biographical note:
Scott G. Bruce is the editor of The Penguin Book of the Undead and The Penguin Book of Hell, and the author of three books about the Abbey of Cluny. He is a professor of medieval history at Fordham University in New York City. He worked his way through college as a gravedigger.
Excerpt:
Contents
Ancient Enemies: Monstrous Snakes in the Greco-Roman World
· The Hydra of Lerna: From Apollodorus’s The Library
· Medusa, Mother of Monsters: From Lucan’s Pharsalia
· Cadmus and the Dragon of Ares: From Ovid’s Metamorphoses
· The Death of Laocoön: From Virgil’s Aeneid
· The Dragon of Bagrada River: From Silius Italicus’s Punica
· Dragons Against Elephants: From Pliny’s Natural History
Satanic Serpents: Dragons and Saints in Early Christianity
· Biblical Beasts: From the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament
· The Guardian of Heaven’s Ladder: From the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity
· Descendants of Darkness: From the Acts of Philip
· The Dragon Became Her Tomb: From Venantius Fortunatus’s Life of Marcellus
· Coiled Couriers of the Damned: From the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great
· The Monster of the River Ness: From Adomnán of Iona’s Life of Columba
Guardians of the Hoard: The Wyrms of Northern Literature
· The Terror of Nations: From the Beowulf Poem
· Sigurd, Slayer of Fáfnir: From Völsunga saga
· Winged Dragons of the North: From the Saga of Ketil Trout and the Saga of Þiðrek of Bern
Books of Monsters: Dragon Lore in Medieval Europe
· A Treasury of Ancient Dragon Lore: From Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies
· Dark Age Creature Catalogues: From the Marvels of the East and the Book of Monsters
· You Crushed their Heads Upon the Waters: From Hrabanus Maurus’s About Everything
· Remembering a Pannonian Dragon: From Arnold of St. Emmeram’s Concerning the Miracles of St. Emmeram
· God’s Fiery Vengeance: From Henry of Tournai’s Concerning the Miracles of St. Mary of Laon
· Bone Fires and Dragon Sperm: From John Beleth’s Summa on Ecclesiastical Offices
· The Prophecies of Merlin: From Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The History of the Kings of Britain
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