"Wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary creature with a dragon's head and wings, a reptilian body, two legs, and a tail often ending in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip. A sea-dwelling variant dubbed the sea-wyvern has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail. The wyvern in its various forms is important to heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada). It is a popular creature in European and British literature, video games, and modern fantasy. The wyvern in heraldry and"
"as a magical protective entity. A dragon-like creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian Period until the Hellenistic Period (323 BC–31 BC). This creature, known in Akkadian as the ""mušḫuššu"", meaning ""furious serpent"", was used as a symbol for particular deities and also as a general protective emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the Underworld god Ninazu, but later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm-god Tishpak, as well as, later, Ninazu's son Ningishzida, the"
"as a magical protective entity. A dragon-like creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian Period until the Hellenistic Period (323 BCE–31 BCE). This creature, known in Akkadian as the ""mušḫuššu"", meaning ""furious serpent"", was used as a symbol for particular deities and also as a general protective emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the Underworld god Ninazu, but later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm-god Tishpak, as well as, later, Ninazu's son Ningishzida, the"
"Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, ""grýphōn"", or γρύπων, ""grýpōn"", early form ""γρύψ"", ""grýps""; ) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds by the Middle Ages the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, Griffins were known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions. In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and"
"Cockatrice A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon or serpent-like creature with a rooster's head. Described by Laurence Breiner as ""an ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans"", it was featured prominently in English thought and myth for centuries. The cockatrice was first described in its current form in the late fourteenth century. The ""Oxford English Dictionary"" gives a derivation from Old French ""cocatris"", from medieval Latin ""calcatrix"", a translation of the Greek ""ichneumon"", meaning tracker. The twelfth century legend was based on a reference in ""Pliny's Natural History"" that the ""ichneumon"" lay in wait"
"headed serpentine swamp monster is said to be a dragon, being killed by Heracles later, but the matter if he is a true dragon or not is still over controversy. Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body more like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. This traces back to the continental dragon, commonly referred to as a fire-breathing dragon. The continental, like many other European dragons, has bat-like wings growing from its back. In Western folklore, dragon-like creatures and christian dragons are usually"
"Sphinx A sphinx ( , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion, and sometimes the wings of a bird. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was"
"""dragon"" (OE: ""draca"", OHG: ""trahho"", ON: ""dreki""). In China and especially in Indochina, the Indian serpent nāga was equated with the ""lóng"" or Chinese dragon. The Aztec and Toltec serpent god Quetzalcoatl also has dragon like wings, like its equivalent in K'iche' Maya mythology Q'uq'umatz (""feathered serpent""), which had previously existed since Classic Maya times as the deity named Kukulkan. The Minoan Snake Goddess brandished a serpent in either hand, perhaps evoking her role as source of wisdom, rather than her role as Mistress of the Animals (""Potnia theron""), with a leopard under each arm. Serpents figured prominently in archaic"
"Drawing the Dragons of the World"". Amphiptere An Amphiptere (also called Amphithere, Amphitere, or Phipthere) is a type of winged serpent found in European heraldry. Amphipteres generally were said to have greenish-yellow feathers, a serpentine body similar to a lindworm, bat-like green wings with feathered bone, and an arrow-tipped tail much like a wyvern's. Others are described as entirely covered in feathers with a spiked tail, bird-like wings, and a beak-like snout. Even more uncommon is the description of one with legs. Amphitheres feature in the ""Dragonology"" series of books, which employ a conceit that dragons are real. It also"
"Mušḫuššu The mušḫuššu (; formerly also read as ""sirrušu"", ""sirrush"") is a creature from ancient Mesopotamian mythology. A mythological hybrid, it is a scaly dragon with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, feline fore legs, a long neck and tail, a horned head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest. The mušḫuššu most famously appears on the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, dating to the sixth century BC. The form is the Akkadian nominative of the Sumerian , ""reddish snake"", sometimes also translated as ""fierce snake"". One author, possibly following others, translates it as ""splendor serpent"""
"Amphiptere An Amphiptere (also called Amphithere, Amphitere, or Phipthere) is a type of winged serpent found in European heraldry. Amphipteres generally were said to have greenish-yellow feathers, a serpentine body similar to a lindworm, bat-like green wings with feathered bone, and an arrow-tipped tail much like a wyvern's. Others are described as entirely covered in feathers with a spiked tail, bird-like wings, and a beak-like snout. Even more uncommon is the description of one with legs. Amphitheres feature in the ""Dragonology"" series of books, which employ a conceit that dragons are real. It also appears in ""Dracopedia: A Guide to"
"Jaculus The jaculus (or iaculus, pl. ""jaculi"", meaning ""thrown"" in Latin) is a small mythical serpent or dragon. It can be shown with wings and sometimes has front legs. It is also sometimes known as the javelin snake. It was said that the jaculus hid in the trees and sprang out at its victims. The force of it launching itself at the victim led to the association with javelins. Pliny described it as follows: ""The jaculus darts from the branches of trees; and it is not only to our feet that the serpent is formidable, for these fly through the"
"Dragon A dragon is a large, serpent-like legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures around the world. Beliefs about dragons vary drastically by region, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, four-legged, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. The earliest attested dragons resemble giant snakes. Dragon-like creatures are first described in the mythologies of the ancient Near East and appear in ancient Mesopotamian art and literature. Stories about storm-gods slaying giant serpents occur"
"Drakaina (mythology) In Greek mythology, a drakaina () is a female serpent or dragon, sometimes with humanlike features. Examples of the Drakaina included Campe, Delphyne, Echidna and Sybaris. Python, slain by Apollo, and the earliest representations of Delphyne are shown as simply gigantic serpents, similar to other Greek dragons. However, although the word ""drakaina"" is literally the feminine form of ""drakon"" (Ancient Greek for dragon or serpent), most drakainas had some features of a human woman. Lamia, Campe, Echidna, and many representations of Ceto, Scylla and Delphyne had the head and torso of a woman. The drakaina was a monster"
"resemble a spearhead. A ""jaculus"" is also found in the Old Norse romance ""Yngvars saga viðfǫrla"". Here it is actually said to be an extremely large dragon (""dreki""). See Olson, Emil, ed. ""Yngvars saga viðfǫrla"" ""Jämte ett bihang om Ingvarsinskrifterna"". Copenhagen: S. L. Møllers, 1912, p. 42. Jaculus The jaculus (or iaculus, pl. ""jaculi"", meaning ""thrown"" in Latin) is a small mythical serpent or dragon. It can be shown with wings and sometimes has front legs. It is also sometimes known as the javelin snake. It was said that the jaculus hid in the trees and sprang out at its"
"Guivre A guivre is a mythical creature similar to a dragon. In legend they were portrayed as serpentine creatures who possessed venomous breath and prowled the countryside of Medieval France. The words ""guivre"" (wurm, wyvern (which is derived from it), or serpent) and ""givre"" are spelling variations of the more common word ""vouivre"". Vouivre, in Franc-Comtois, is the equivalent of the old French word ""guivre."" All these forms are derived ultimately from Latin ""vīpera"", as is English ""viper"". Guivres were said to possess a long, serpentine body and a dragon's head. The guivre had horns in its forehead in some"
"creation under God's command, such as the Tannin mentioned in Book of Genesis 1:21 and the ""great serpent"" of Amos 9:3. In the Aeneid, a pair of sea serpents killed Laocoön and his sons when Laocoön argued against bringing the Trojan Horse into Troy. In antiquity and in the bible, dragons were imagined as huge serpentine monsters, which means that the image of a fire-breathing dragon with four/two legs and wings came much later—in the late Middle Ages; Most of stories say that they live in the sea, the Babylonian myths of Tiamat, the myth of the Hydra, Scylla, Cetus"
"a dragon. The amaru was believed capable of transgressing boundaries to and from the spiritual realm of the subterranean world. Amaru (mythology) In mythology of Andean civilizations of South America, the amaro, amaru (quechua) or katari (aymara) is a mythical serpent or dragon, most associated with the Tiwanaku and Inca empires. In Inca mythology, the amaru is a huge double-headed serpent that dwells underground. Illustrated with the heads of a bird and pumas, amarus can be seen emerging from a central element in the center of a stepped mountain or pyramid motif in the Gateway of the Sun at Tiwanaku,"
"pre-Greek griffin written accounts exist to tell us what was believed about imaginary hybird bird-mammal figures from the pre-classical time period. Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, ""grýphōn"", or γρύπων, ""grýpōn"", early form ""γρύψ"", ""grýps""; ) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds by the Middle Ages the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and"
"Amaru (mythology) In mythology of Andean civilizations of South America, the amaro, amaru (quechua) or katari (aymara) is a mythical serpent or dragon, most associated with the Tiwanaku and Inca empires. In Inca mythology, the amaru is a huge double-headed serpent that dwells underground. Illustrated with the heads of a bird and pumas, amarus can be seen emerging from a central element in the center of a stepped mountain or pyramid motif in the Gateway of the Sun at Tiwanaku, Bolivia. When illustrated on religious vessels, the amaru is often seen with bird-like feet and wings, so that it resembles"
"Sea serpent A sea serpent or sea dragon is a type of dragon described in various mythologies, most notably Greek (Cetus, Echidna, Hydra, Scylla), Mesopotamian (Tiamat), Hebrew (Leviathan), and Norse (Jörmungandr). The ""Drachenkampf"" mytheme, the chief god in the role of the hero slaying a sea serpent, is widespread both in the Ancient Near East and in Indo-European mythology, e.g. Lotan and Hadad, Leviathan and Yahweh, Tiamat and Marduk (see also Labbu, Bašmu, Mušḫuššu), Illuyanka and Tarhunt, Yammu and Baal in the Baal Cycle etc. The Hebrew Bible also has less mythological descriptions of large sea creatures as part of"
"Serpopard The serpopard is a mythical animal known from Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian art. The word ""serpopard"" is a modern coinage. It is a portmanteau of ""serpent"" and ""leopard"", derived from the interpretation that the creature represents an animal with the body of a leopard and the long neck and head of a serpent. However, they have also been interpreted as ""serpent-necked lions"". There is no known name for the creature in any ancient texts. The image is featured specifically on decorated cosmetic palettes from the Predynastic period of Egypt, and more extensively, as design motifs on cylinder seals in"
"legend, The drakons are three-headed, winged beings with snake's bodies, in other words wyvern fuses with a green hydra. In Bulgarian, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Macedonian lore, the dragon-like creature, or ""змей"" (), ""zmey"" (), ""smok"" (), ""zmiy"" (), (Bosnian zmaj), (), ""zmej"" (), is generally an evil, four-legged beast with few, if any, redeeming qualities. ""Zmeys"" are intelligent, but not greatly so, often demanding tribute from villages or small towns in the form of maidens (for food), or gold. Their number of heads ranges from one to seven or sometimes even more, with three- and seven-headed Zmeys"
"some stories that the entire earth was believed to rest atop his coils. Denwen is a giant serpent mentioned in the Pyramid Texts whose body was made of fire and who ignited a conflagration that nearly destroyed all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was ultimately defeated by the Pharaoh, victory which affirmed the Pharaoh's divine right to rule. The ouroboros was a well-known Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. The precursor to the ouroboros was the ""Many-Faced"", a serpent with five heads, who, according to the Amduat, the oldest surviving Book of the Afterlife, was"
"Winged serpent (Dungeons & Dragons) In the ""Dungeons & Dragons"" fantasy role-playing game, the winged serpent, also known as a flying snake is a magical beast. As their name suggests, they resemble small snakes who sport large, gauzy, feathered wings, and hence have the ability to fly. They also have small crests on their heads, and a stingray-like fan on the end of their tails. They live in jungles. The winged serpent first appeared in second edition for the Al-Qadim setting in the ""Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix"" (1992), and reprinted in the ""Monstrous Manual"" (1993). As said before, winged serpents"
"the ceremonial royal barges. Nawarupa Nawarupa (, also spelt nawa rupa; , lit. ""nine forms""), also known as byala (Arakanese: ဗျာလ or ဗျာလ္လ), is a chimeric creature found in Burmese and Rakhine (Arakanese) mythology. The nawarupa is made of 9 animals, possessing the trunk of a naga or elephant, the eyes of a deer, the horns of a rhinoceros, the tongue or wings of a parrot, the body of a lion or naya, the tail of a peacock or yak, the ears of an elephant or horse, and the feet of a chinthe or karaweik. In the Konbaung dynasty, the"
"dragon-like creature known as a ""cockatrice"". A cockatrice is supposedly born when a serpent hatches an egg that has been laid on a dunghill by a rooster and it is so venomous that its breath and its gaze are both lethal to any living creature, except for a weasel, which is the cockatrice's mortal enemy. A basilisk is a serpent with the head of a dragon at the end of its tail that is born when a toad hatches an egg that has been laid in a midden by a nine-year-old cockatrice. Like the cockatrice, its glare is said to"
"dragon motif on his sword belt and an emblem of a three-headed dragon on his breast plate. In lines 820–880 of the ""Theogony"", a Greek poem written in the seventh century BC by the Boeotian poet Hesiod, the Greek god Zeus battles the monster Typhon, who has one hundred serpent heads that breathe fire and speak all kinds of frightening animal noises. Zeus scorches all of Typhon's heads with his lightning bolts and then hurls Typhon into Tartarus. In the ""Homeric Hymn to Apollo"", the god Apollo uses his poisoned arrows to slay the serpent Python, who has been causing"
"Cerastes The cerastes (Greek: κεράστης, English: ""cerastēs"", English translation: ""having horns"") is a creature of Greek legend, a serpent that is incredibly flexible—so much so that it is said to have no spine. Cerastae can have either two large ram-like horns or four pairs of smaller horns. The cerastes hides its head in the sand with only the horns protruding out of the surface; this is meant to deceive other animals into thinking it is food. When the animal approaches the cerastes, the cerastes promptly kills it. The legend is most likely derived from the habits of the horned viper,"
"Centaur A centaur (; , ""kéntauros"", ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a mythological creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. The centaurs were usually said to have been born of Ixion and Nephele (the cloud made in the image of Hera). Another version, however, makes them children of a certain Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. This Centaurus was either himself the son of Ixion and Nephele (inserting an additional generation) or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the later version of the story"
"with descriptive terms such as ""leontocephaline"" (lion-headed) or ""leontocephalus"" (lion-head). His body is a naked man’s, entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a caduceus), with the snake’s head often resting on the lion’s head. The lion’s mouth is often open, giving a horrifying impression. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a scepter in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. On the figure from the Ostia Antica Mithraeum (left, CIMRM 312), the four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons,"
"and argue, and sing a song about their miserable plight. Amphisbaena The amphisbaena (, plural: amphisbaenae; ) is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end. The creature is alternatively called the amphisbaina, amphisbene, amphisboena, amphisbona, amphista, amfivena, amphivena, or anphivena (the last two being feminine), and is also known as the ""Mother of Ants"". Its name comes from the Greek words ""amphis"", meaning ""both ways"", and ""bainein"", meaning ""to go"". According to Greek mythology, the amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from the Gorgon Medusa's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with her"
"Amphisbaena The amphisbaena (, plural: amphisbaenae; ) is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end. The creature is alternatively called the amphisbaina, amphisbene, amphisboena, amphisbona, amphista, amfivena, amphivena, or anphivena (the last two being feminine), and is also known as the ""Mother of Ants"". Its name comes from the Greek words ""amphis"", meaning ""both ways"", and ""bainein"", meaning ""to go"". According to Greek mythology, the amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from the Gorgon Medusa's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with her in his hand, after which Cato's army then encountered it"