Dragon

Temple Guardian

See Dragons and Wolves for more info

• Temple Guardian
• Drakon and Drakaina in the Lexicon
• Temple Guardian
• Sources
  • Delphi: the δράκαινα at the spring beside the oracle
  • Thebes: δράκων guarding the sacred spring of Ares
  • Colchis: δράκων literally guarding a divine relic in a sacred grove
  • Hesperides: δράκων + female guardians jointly guard the divine object
  • Echidna herself: half nymph-woman, half enormous serpent
• Ophis Serpent in Genesis Edem
• See Also

Temple Guardian

A dragon is a guardian of relics and secrets. And in the ancient priesthood, they were guarding the knowledge of the mysteries.

Drakon and Drakaina in the Lexicon

Drakon (δρακον)

• dragon, serpent
• interchangeable with ophis (ὄφις)
• sea fish, water snake
• Kerukion (κηρύκειον), prob. a wand with a serpent coiled round it
  • κηρύκειον (kērykeion) is the herald’s staff - most famously the staff carried by Hermes. The Latin/Roman name for the corresponding object is caduceus.

Drakaina

• feminine of drakon (δράκων), she-dragon, female serpent
• compared with a courtesan (a woman understood to have a sexual/erotic social role)

Even if a particular drakaina performed a rite involving sex, nudity, erotic contact, bodily fluids, fertility, initiation, or sexual service, none of that by itself makes porne (πόρνη) the lexical meaning of drakaina (δράκαινα). A priestess can perform a sexual act ritually without “prostitute” being her office, just as performing sacrifice doesn’t make every priest a "butcher".

Comes from derkomai (δέρκομαι) or drakein (δρακεῖν) meaning to see clearly, having sight

• to see clearly, having sight
• keen eyed, sharp sight

Temple Guardian

There is certainly an ancient mythic pattern of drakontes (δράκοντες) as guardians - sacred places, springs, trees, treasures, divine objects, etc.-and female serpent figures such as Echidna provide another relevant complex.

Sources

These stories appear to preserve memories/mythologizations of human ritual specialists, especially female guardians of sanctuaries, sacred knowledge, pharmaka, relics, springs, or initiation rites.

Delphi: the δράκαινα at the spring beside the oracle

Allen and Sikes’ classical commentary explicitly discusses the dragon as representing an earlier Pythian cult, probably associated with Gaia; Aeschylus later calls Gaia Delphi’s πρωτόμαντις, “first oracle/seer.”

Basically: Male theoi (Apollo) establishes his oracle by killing the female guardian associated with the previous sacred place.

Thebes: δράκων guarding the sacred spring of Ares

Cadmus needs sacred water in order to sacrifice to Athena. He sends men to the κρήνη Ἄρεως, “spring of Ares.”

A Drakon (δράκων) guards it and kills them; Cadmus kills the Drakon (δράκων).

Apollonius Rhodius preserves the same tradition considerably earlier and explicitly describes the creature as:

And there is a consequence for killing it: Cadmus must serve Ares in expiation. Apollodorus says:

Colchis: δράκων literally guarding a divine relic in a sacred grove

A relic-guardian example.

• ἐφρουρεῖτο, “was guarded.”

Jason cannot simply defeat the guardian and take the sacred object. Medea possesses the pharmacological/ritual knowledge necessary to overcome the guardian. In Apollodorus’ continuation, she uses her pharmaka φάρμακα to put the guarding δράκων to sleep and takes the fleece.

Hesperides: δράκων + female guardians jointly guard the divine object

This one is even more interesting because the δράκων and female sacred guardians perform the same guarding function together. Guarding the sacred/divine fruit.

Echidna herself: half nymph-woman, half enormous serpent

• Divine (theoi) Nymph + serpent residing beneath the recesses of the sacred earth (gaia).
• Immortal (athanatos).

There is an ancient genealogical network radiating outward from Echidna (Ἔχιδνα), and Heracles repeatedly confronts members of it.

• Greek authors make Echidna (Ἔχιδνα) the mother or ancestral source of a cluster of serpent/guardian creatures, and Heracles’ labors repeatedly bring him into conflict with that same family
• She is half nymph, half serpent
• She then produces offspring with Typhon (Τυφάων)
  • Orthos - Echidna’s two-headed dog; Heracles kills him while taking Geryon’s cattle
    • Sphinx
    • Nemean Lion - Heracles kills it as his first labor.
  • Cerberus - explicitly Echidna’s son; Heracles descends into Hades and subdues/removes him
  • Hydra of Lerna - explicitly Echidna’s daughter; Heracles kills it as his second labor
  • Chimaira
  • Ladon / Hesperidean δράκων - later genealogical tradition makes the guardian δράκων another offspring of Typhon and Echidna; Heracles must overcome the guardian in the Apples of the Hesperides episode.

What these creatures do: They are frequently boundary guardians.

• Cerberus guards the boundary of Hades.
• Orthos guards Geryon’s cattle.
• Ladon guards Hera’s divine apples/tree.
• Hydra inhabits the sacred/watery Lernaean landscape.
• The Nemean Lion controls a territory.
• In the wider drakon (δράκων) complex (not all Echidna's children) - the same function occurs at Delphi, the spring of Ares at Thebes, and the Fleece at Colchis.

Drakon (δράκων) / Drakaina (δράκαινα) as a guardian of boundary, spring, grove, tree, sacred object, underworld entrance, treasure, where the hero must overcome guardian to gain access.

These stories appear to preserve memories/mythologizations of human ritual specialists, especially female guardians of sanctuaries, sacred knowledge, pharmaka, relics, springs, or initiation rites.

Related Terms:

• serpent (ophis), dragon (drakon, drakaina), viper (echidna)
• waters, blood (hyma), rivers, (dark) harbor, cup
• immortal (athanatos), oracle

Ophis Serpent in Genesis Edem

the Genesis Ophis is the Drakon temple guardian

The writers of the Greek New Testament,
who studied exclusively the Greek Septuagint,
knew that...
The Ophis (serpent) in the Genesis Paradise account was indeed a Drakon (δρακον):

Here in Revelation, the apostles are telling us that "the ancient ophis" is "the great drakon".

We know what wandering (πλανῶν) means...
The dragon is the temple guardian, guardian of relics and secrets. The dragon will initiate you.
The writers here are salty that the drakon was initiating the public.

People in the cult do call the Ophis "diabolos" or "satan" (though Genesis doesn't), people do conflate them.

• diabolos - diabolical trickster (away from what's approved by the cult)
• satanas - catchall for any unapproved deity, paganism, nature (which is naturally opposed to the unnatural cult)

Messengers (Angeloi) in the Ancient Greek language means "messengers" (literal Greek translation), which we can take to be the drakon's (temple guardian's) attendants...

he was thrown into the earth, refers to the Morning Star / Eosphorus story in the Greek Septuagint.
Later that Morning Star is translated into Latin as Lucifer.
Implies that the Eosphorus/ Lucifer (Morning Star) was a Drakon as well... the Drakon is a dawn bringer.

We see torch-bearer (medea, hecate, ceres, etc; guidance in the rite; e.g. eleusis torch carvings) and dawn bringer traditions (TODO: give examples) in the ancient Hellenic world.

See Genesis

See Also

• Dragons and Wolves for more info