The Dragon in the West: From Ancient Myth to Modern Legend
Daniel Ogden
Published:
2021
Online ISBN:
9780191868542
Print ISBN:
9780198830184
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The Dragon in the West: From Ancient Myth to Modern Legend
Daniel Ogden
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Daniel Ogden
Pages
59–83
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Published:
August 2021
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Ogden, Daniel, 'Drakaina: The She-Dragon', The Dragon in the West: From Ancient Myth to Modern Legend (
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Abstract
What was the significance of the term drakaina, the female-denoting reflex of the term drakōn? It is contended that, whilst the term could be applied merely to a creature that resembled a pure-serpent drakōn in all respects, save for being female, the concept it more typically evoked was that of a female anguipede, a creature with the lower half of a serpent and the upper half of a woman. Particular attention is given to the cases of the Echidna (in her various manifestations), Delphyne (the female reflex of the Delphic dragon), Harmonia, Hecate, the Erinyes, the Lamias (a complex case), and Campe. These female anguipedes, for all their numbers and their continuity, never seem to have occupied the centre-ground of Greek mythology, but ever to have been somewhat occluded. The greatest occlusion is in the visual realm: they have left very little impact on the iconographic record.
Keywords: drakaina, female, anguipede, Echidna, Delphyne, Harmonia, Hecate, Erinyes, Lamia, Campe
Subject
Classical Literature Ancient and Classical Art (to 500 CE)
Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online
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