Dragons
Throughout ancient and early modern history, creatures that we now call dragons were recorded by respected observers, not as symbols or metaphors, but as living, dangerous beings. Four prominent figures, Herodotus, Marco Polo, Alexander the Great and Conrad Gessner, each described these beasts with specificity, credibility and geographical clarity.
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484–425 BCE) is widely known as the “Father of History,” credited with writing the earliest surviving work of historical prose: The Histories. What most modern commentators ignore, or reduce to folklore, is that Herodotus described what can only be interpreted as dragons or flying serpents in Arabia.
In Book II, section 75, he writes of winged serpents with bat-like wings, which emerged from Arabia each year and attempted to enter Egypt. He claims the ibis, a sacred Egyptian bird, fought them off and that he personally went to the region to investigate:
“I went to see with my own eyes the place where the bones of the flying serpents lie. When I arrived there, I saw bones and spines of serpents in such numbers as it is impossible to describe…”
This wasn’t metaphor. Herodotus is explicit: there were enormous heaps of bones, remnants of real creatures and the locals had detailed accounts of their behavior and migration.
Modern historians often cherry-pick Herodotus: they trust him when he reports troop numbers, geographic details, or political intrigue, but dismiss him when he writes about the unexplained. Yet Herodotus was careful to distinguish between what he witnessed himself and what he was told. His account of the flying serpents is delivered as an eyewitness report, not hearsay.
If we take Herodotus seriously as a historian (as we do in all other matters), we cannot simply ignore his report of dragon-like beings. The implications are simple and powerful: either something like a dragon once lived in Arabia, or Herodotus, the man who laid the foundation of historical method, was gullible, dishonest, or deluded in a key section of his greatest work. None of those fit the man history remembers.
Marco Polo (1254–1324), another legendary traveler, also provided compelling and matter-of-fact descriptions of dragons in his Travels, particularly in the Chinese province of Karajan. He describes massive reptiles:
“In this province are found snakes and serpents of such vast size as to strike fear into all who see them… They have two short legs with three claws, very strong and powerful… Some are 30 feet long and big around as a barrel.”
These are not allegories. Polo goes on to detail how they were hunted, how their flesh and gall were used medicinally, and where they lived. Again, nothing poetic here, just direct observation of a biological creature, written in the same tone as his descriptions of trade, customs, and people.
During Alexander’s campaigns in India (late 4th century BCE), multiple sources—Greek, Indian, and later Arabic, mention his army encountering enormous serpents, often dwelling in caves or rivers. In some versions, one serpent was so revered by locals that they pleaded with Alexander not to harm it and he ordered it left alone.
These accounts, though scattered, are persistent, and interestingly, they don’t portray the creatures as supernatural, but as dangerous, territorial and respected. If Alexander, a military tactician who recorded sieges, battle strategies and supply routes in fine detail, acknowledged these beings, then it’s worth asking why we dismiss them so easily.
Finally, in the 16th century, we find Conrad Gessner (1516–1565), a Swiss physician and scholar who published Historiae Animalium, a zoological encyclopedia considered foundational to modern natural science.
In it, he includes several entries on dragons, not as mythical beasts, but as real animals known in certain regions, described with physical traits and behaviors. He compiled not just ancient accounts, but also contemporary reports and naturalist observations. Gessner was no mystic, he was rigorous, cautious and skeptical. That he chose to include dragons among legitimate animals shows that the idea of their reality persisted even in the scientific Renaissance.
From the Arabian desert to the Chinese hills, from ancient caves in India to Renaissance texts, these men wrote what they saw, or what was credibly reported to them. They were not fools or fabulists. They were thinkers, travelers, scientists, and conquerors. They gave dragons a physical, behavioral, and geographic presence.
So why do we ignore them?
Because our modern worldview cannot accommodate dragons. They are too inconvenient, too strange. And yet, the deeper one digs into historical literature, the more consistent, vivid,and unemotional these accounts become. This is not mythology, it is orphaned zoology.
The dragons may not be gone. We may have simply buried them under layers of polite disbelief.
Guy Anderson – Author
Tesla & The Cabbage Patch Kids
Rise of the Clones: The Cabbage Patch Babies
Comment: People will start seeing Dragons again.
