Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Dragons existed in mythology because people that were smarter than ignorant people realized that they could make the ignorant people afraid and thus control them.
Need protection from dragons? No sweat, pay me some money and you can live under my protection. Refuse to pay up and you'll be devoured or worse.
This tactic has been used throughout human history by peoples the world over. The things used change but the goals and objectives remain the same, money and power.
Now, instead of fearing the dragon, people fear the smart bomb. With enough money and power transferring hands, you can live under the protection of those who will keep them away. It was the same thing with dragons.
Ask anyone on the receiving end of a Vulcan auto cannon what it looks like and you'll see just how you can make people afraid and pay most any amount and pledge obedience in return for protection.
Re: dragons...'creatures that never really existed'
You know some have argued that dragons really were based on live , real crocodiles that existed with man through the millennia. The dragons arguably represented the terror those ferocious water dwellers evoked.
Dragons are also suggested to be guardians of treasure where their great eyesight was invaluable. They're also considered to be very valiant creatures. We see that with the medieval knights who used them as heraldry.
The concept of Chinese dragon is just a combined imaginary creature of many kinds of animals. Deer, fish, snake...and all that jazz. I can't remember the specific animals(yes, they are specific), but you get the idea.
Interestingly enough, at Dinosaur Valley State Park at Granbury, TX, there is evidence of human footprints next to dinosaur tracks in the stone.
Did they die out or did they survive much longer, with conditions not viable for preservation?
Hmmmmm.
No. There is no "evidence" of such a thing unless one wants to believe in invented evidence by creationists. This has been so thoroughly debunked that most creationists don't even use it as an example any more.
Ever see medieval period drawings of alligators, sharks, rhinos, or other creatures that were exotic to Europeans? It's easy to see how bones of dinosaurs or vague reports on exotic reptiles could have lead to the idea of dragons becoming widespread.
As far as the idea of dragons breathing fire or having other supernatural powers, some people still think porcupines can shoot their quills or that eagles can pick up their children. Some Asian cultures believe certain ape species can speak human languages. Things can get exaggerated quickly...it just seems to be part of human nature.
Indeed - To quote Ptolemy:
"We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible."
But you do not offer a simple explanation. Rather, you offer an extraordinarily problematic one.
We have identified over 2000 species of dinosaurs. From among those species, we have thousands of complete or near-complete skeletons, and tens thousands of other lesser complete skeletal portions, and millions of unmatched individual dinosaur bones.
Dinosaur bones exist in extreme abundance. And we find them in geologic strata right up until the K-Pg boundary, 66 million years ago. After that? Not a one.
How do we explain this, within the framework of the hypothesis that some dinosaur survived until recent times, not just here and there but around the globe, inspiring dragon tales before disappearing without a trace? We don't. We cannot. For it is inexplicable. The totality of the evidence shows, with virtual certainty, that dinosauria - save for the birds, for strict cladists who will include them (and they cannot account for the so-called dragon myth) - came to a very abrupt and very complete end of the Cretaceous.
We have countless fossils from all the epochs since the K-Pg boundary. The Paleocene. The Eocene. The Oligocene. The Miocene. Some epochs produce more fossils than others, particularly in regards to certain lineages, but they all produce fossils in great numbers. The idea that dinosaurs somehow persisted through the 66 millions years of Earth's most recent history, and were seen in abundance by early tellers of tales, but left nary a physical trace, is not a simple solution to solving the common occurrence of dragons in mythology. Rather, it is an idea that cannot possibly comport with the available data.
The simplest explanation is one I noted earlier in this thread - that the so-called pervasive myth of dragons are, in fact, just vaguely-similar myths of anthropomorphized lizards. In the case of considerable regional similarities, they are explainable by cultural diffusion. In the case of less specific similarities over greater distances, they are explained by the fact that cultures commonly anthropomorphize animals, and that almost all cultures are familiar with reptiles. This explanation is simple because it relies on no more than established facts and commonly-observed cultural practices.
About the dinosaurs being extinct 66 million years ago, how do you know this? Were you there?
What is it about dragons that they appear in human carvings, statues, old tales and history of human cultures that had no contact with each other for thousands of years?
From Europe, to Asia to the native tribes in pre-Columbian America the dragon form is seen in artifacts. How is it a creature that never actually existed could be in all these cultures separated from each other with little or no contact?
It's not because of Dino fossils...it's because of reptiles.
Seriously... snakes and lizards are widespread around the world and have been subjects of fear and fascination for all human history. It isn't a huge imaginative leap to picture giant lizards that can fly, so naturally such an imaginary creature would feature prominently in the myths and legends of disparate cultures.
About the dinosaurs being extinct 66 million years ago, how do you know this? Were you there?
When science tells you that the sun is 93 million miles from the earth, do you believe this? Have you measured it yourself? Has anyone traveled there and back with a measuring tape?
The same sound principles of observation, correlation, and application of known natural laws, allows science to arrive at conclusions in the absence of more direct evidence. The question is why you accept so many of the conclusions, arrived at using exactly the same sorts of rigorous methodologies, but have decided that science must be lying about what they have uncovered regarding the origin of species.
If I am incorrect with my assumptions, please inform us of other scientific laws or principles you feel are in error apart from evolution.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
