Cerberus

Cerberus was a monstrous three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to Hades, the Underworld of Greek and Roman mythology. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna. His mane and tail consisted of snakes.

Cerberus allowed only shades ('spirits') of the dead to enter Hades and savagely barred their escape. However, three living mortals successfully overcame him. Orpheus used the magical power of his music to charm Cerberus into submission. Heracles (Hercules in Latin) used his great strength. Aeneas was aided by an old woman called the 'sibyl', who drugged Cerberus.

The Nature of Dragons

The dragon (Drago drago) is a homoiothermic reptile. In other words, he is a warm-blooded creature and his body is controlled internally. This characteristic enables him to adapt to the different climates of his very extensive habitat and to maintain his activities both day and night throughout the year, as he is not dependent on the warmth from the sun like the other reptiles. The dragon generally has wings, and his bones are hollow, for lightness. There are dragons, usually ancient survivors from the distant past, with stumpy legs and no wings. These rare survivors of a remote era are intelligent and fairly aggressive, and belong to a single species on the verge of extinction. This creature lives for a very long time. There are records of dragons who have lived for five hundred and even a thousand years, but there are no known cases of dragons who have died from old age. On the other hand, they die from accidents, certain diseases, or as a result of the actions of their most relentless enemy: MAN.

They are susceptible to few illnesses, and the most serious threats vary from one family to another. In the case of the Fire Dragon, the worst disease is 'scale corrosion', which can be fatal. 'Senile dementia' is more common among Earth Dragons, while acute gastritis non virginae affects mainly the Water Dragon, who has an extremely delicate stomach.

Despite his strength, the dragon loses some of his agility with age, easily falling prey to the singular and terrible dragon-killer, the armour-plated Ichneumon. This swamp dweller, which Pliny describes in his Historia Naturalis as a spindle-shaped mud fish with a sharp snout, covered with tough plates, is the dragon's mortal enemy. The Ichneumon burrows between the dragon's scales and, using its sharp snout, tunnels through the tender flesh until it reaches the entrails, which it devours, killing its victim.

The dragon can talk, and his natural language is Latin, a tongue which is innate in the dragon species, but he has no difficulty in learning and expressing himself correctly in the vernacular of the region in which he lives.

A lover of woodlands and fresh air, the dragon cannot bear environmental pollution or the tumult of civilization. The only edxception to this rule is a race of dragons, Dracos flamula, which we will come to later. Today, the dragon survives only in those rare places that have escaped pollution, small isolated pockets of the Old World, which is why the future of the dragon seems precarious.

What are Dragons?

Dragons are known in legends throughout most of the world. They were enormous reptiles, often with magical powers and the ability to talk. But they varied greatly in different parts of the world.

In Europe, there were tales of several kinds of Dragons. The kind known as a Worm resembled a giagantic snake, sometimes with four legs. A Fire-drake was a four-legged cave Dragon, often with batlike wings. A Wyvern was also winged, but had only two legs. The Dragons of Europe usually lived in caves in forests or rocky, mountainous places. There, they lay upon piles of treasure they had stolen and gathered over many years.

Courageous and daring men would sometimes try to overcome a Dragon and gain its treasure, but this was far from easy. Not only were most Dragons gigantic in size, but their scaly skins were hard as armor, and some of them could shoot blasts of fire from their mouth or nose. Dragons were also cunning and could often enchant a man with their conversation, lulling and soothing him until they suddenly stuck.

A Dragon would sometimes beseige a city or ravage a countryside. The only way to keep a Dragon from eventually killing everyone and destroying everything was to give it a sacrifice - usually a young, beautiful princess - or to find a warrior who could kill it. Some especially strong and courageous warriors did manage to kill Dragons, saving a princess from death or gaining the Dragon's horde of treasure.

The Dragons of China were quite different from those of Europe. They were seldom if ever winged. They had long, scaly, snakelike bodies, and their heads were somewhat like the head of a horse, but with whiskers and a pair of antlerlike horns. Unlike the wild, savage Dragons of Europe, Chinese Dragons were highly civilized and had their own kingdom with a government and laws. And unlike troublesome European Dragons, Chinese Dragons were generally kind and helpful to humans. They often appeared in human form, usually as a man with a very large mouth, a green beard, and Dragon horns sprouting fromhis head.

What is a Unicorn?

The unicorn is a legendary animal. It is usually portrayed as a slender, white horse with a spiraling horn on its forehead, although its appearance and behavior differs, depending on the location. In the west it was usually considered wild and untamable, while in the Orient it was peaceful, meek and thought to be the bringer of good luck. There it is usually depicted as a goat-like creature, with cloven hooves and a beard. In Japan it is called Kirin, and in China Ki-lin. The name is based on the Hebrew word re'em, in early versions of the Old Testament translated as "monokeros", meaning "one horn", which became "unicorn" in English. The creature is probably based on the rhinoceros or the narwhal, a marine creature with one horn.

In the west it was first mentioned by the Greek historian Ctesias in 398 BC. According to him they lived in India and he described them as 'wild donkeys which are as big as a horse, even bigger. Their bodies are white, their heads dark red and their eyes are deep blue. They have a single horn on their forehead which is approximately half-a-meter long.' This description was based on the tales of travelers, and is a mixture of an Indian rhinoceros, the Himalayan antelope, and the wild donkey.

The horn itself is white at the base, black in the middle and with a sharp, red tip. It is believed to possess healing abilities. Dust filed from the horn was thought to protect against poison, and many diseases. It could even resurrect the dead. Amongst royalty and nobility in the Middle Ages, it became quite fashionable to own a drinking cup made of the horn of an unicorn, not in the least because it was supposed to detect poison.

The belief in the healing abilities of the horn is probably based on a medieval story. In this particular tale, many animals once gathered around a pool in the midst of night. The water was poisoned and they could not drink from it, until a unicorn appeared. He simply dipped his horn in the pool and the water became fresh and clean again.

Another medieval story tells of the capture of a unicorn by a maiden. The unicorn was far too fast and wild for the man that was hunting him. He could only be tamed by a maiden who sat lonely underneath a tree in the woods. Attracted by the scent of purity he would lay his head on her lap and she would rock him to sleep. Then she would cut of his horn, and leave him for the hunter and his dogs.

What is a Centaur?

The next horse-like mythological beast is actually more of a man-beast. This creature, one of many formed by the fusion of human and animal features, is the mighty centaur. Centaurs are apparently Greek in origin, residing in the rich area of ancient Thessaly. They are recorded as fierce warriors with the torso, head, and arms of a man or woman, mounted on the four-legged body of a horse or, occasionally, some other hoofed animal. Perhaps the most famous of all centaurs in Greek mythology was the highly-respected healer Chiron, who was said to have instructed some of Greece’s most famous legendary heroes and demi-gods.

What is a Gryphon?

Among these creatures is the majestic gryphon. The gryphon has very distinct characteristics, with the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion, conjoined to the head and claws of an eagle. It is also said to have the wings of an eagle and feline ears.  Gryphons are honest fellows with a good sense of humor (gryphons 'grin' by just opening their beak) and posess great imaginations. , Gryphons are beautiful and graceful. Most can speak more than one language and sing wonderfully, and their young ones are humorous to behold.They are roughly eight times larger than a normal lion and are stronger than one hundred eagles, fighting like twice their number when cornered; thus gryphons are something even a dragon would think twice about attacking. Hey, did you know that gryphons' tails grow hotter the angrier they get?   It's true. That's why they favor being near lakes and rivers, to cool their tails. Historically, gryphon legends are from the Issedonians (who lived beyond the Ural mountains). They have the reputation of guarding hidden treasure in the gold mines of India and Scythia. Gryphons have appeared in Babylonia and were depicted in Hittite, Assyrian, and Persian art. The gryphon is considered a kind and gentle creature because it is the combination of the lion and the eagle, two sun creatures. Gryphons supposedly drew the chariot of the Sun god Apollo across the sky each day. Gryphons are also reputed to lay eggs of pure agate in nests of gold. Like crows they seem to enjoy owning treasure and *sparklies* and are understandable irritated at humans who try to steal from their caches. The goddess Nemesis holds the gryphon sacred, for it is both vengeful and watchful.  Some sources report that the gryphon was adopted by the Christian church as a symbol of Christ, with the lion-half representing Christ's mortality and the eagle-half representing Christ's divinity.

What is a Pheonix?

The phoenix and thunderbird are both mighty myths symbolized by the form of a bird. The phoenix originates from ancient Egypt, and is such a strong symbol, that it exists as a symbol representing long life in today’s modern world. Only one of these mighty birds was believed to be able to exist at one time, with a life span of hundreds of years, and went hand in hand with the worship of the sun. As a great bird that ascended from the sun, and would return the same way, they were believed to bring with them eternal life. The thunderbird grew as a myth out of the Native American culture. A Great Spirit in bird form believed to bring many of lives necessities to those on earth, including water, by being a carrier of storms, bringing forth rain, lightening, and thunder.