Are there any dragons you would like to know about? Jörmungandr? Hydra? Drakōn? Or would you like to know the oldest story of all about them?

Here in Brazil we have the myth of Boiuna or the Great Serpent. The tales diverge a bit between regions but the gist of it goes like this: There once was this giant serpent called Boiuna which came from the depths of the ocean; its body was so massive that wherever it went, rivers were formed in the wake of its body and its rage caused storms and floods. Boiuna also spawned many other beings, specially animals and other monsters that terrorized humanity. Eventually, Boiuna gave birth to a set of giant serpent twins. It became very tired and went to a deep slumber somewhere very deep. The twins had opposite natures, one was good and liked mankind and the other was evil and wanted to destroy it. The good twin eventually got fed up and killed his evil sister (there is no consensus on what he did with the body of the evil sister). However, the good twin still set fear on human hearts because it was still a massive serpent. One day a powerful warrior challenged the good twin to a duel, the good twin which was sad and alone accepted because he wanted to die. The warrior defeated the good twin, made it drink cattle’s milk and bleed, that, for some reason, made the good twin able to become a man and leave its serpent form behind. Some say the warrior became the first leader of man and some say it is the good twin. Boiuna still sleeps in the depths (of the ocean, earth or the amazon river) and, when the world comes to an end, it will wake up again and wreck havoc and destroy everything.

Instant watch! Always worth stopping and having a look!!

Hey Crec. Speaking of the seasonal aspect of the serpent myths, here's a renewal story you may be unaware of. There is a late Scandinavian peasants myth that describes how a Linn-orm kept people from going to church. The people then had to raise a bull calf on sweet milk and fine bread, until it was strong enough to fight the Linnorm. The bulll killed the Linn-orm, thus saving the people, but died from the poison it spewed. Notice the similarity with Thor's death during Ragnarok, and the motif of a bull being sacrificed to defeat the serpent on his famous fishing trip (which also has seasonal motifs).

I am always amazed at how well you can trace dates and time periods for these mythologies. I am just super pleased with the research you've doing documenting human history

Please go deeper into dragon stories. These intrigue me so much!

Brilliant lecture on the myth of the dragon both in Proto-Indo-European and Mesopotamian mythology. Kudos!

I've been looking forward to this one! Love the video, thanks for the great explanation as always. Thank you for uploading great stories like these and spreading the knowledge

Excited to see this one, Jon! A fun way to begin my Saturday!

This is a wonderful video. It is so interesting to me how the studies of myths and linguistics can help to understand the prehistoric migrations and interactions between peoples. I really love the maps, it really helps me visualize and understand the interactions. Thank you so much.

I've been patiently awaiting this video! Amazing video per usual!

Beautiful job explaining the maps! I love your channel, and it is honestly something I look forward to every time I get your notifications!

You're always asking the right questions, love this video!

i really like this style of videos - i actually feel like i've learnt something these past couple of weeks of watching! Thank you!

Such amazing content! Thank you so much for the effort to make this careful analisys. I love the final timeline. Congratulations for the channel, long live to Crecganford!

These videos are so insightful and your narration is really quite calming

I only found your channel a few weeks ago and since then have been binging your videos, they are great and very informative. I wanted to thank you as they have given me a renewed love for history. After studying it at A level many years ago my interests slipped into fantasy, which in a way these old tales and myths you describe link with, so has brought me full circle. I would love to know the oldest origins of the dragon myth, they make up a big part of fantasy so seeing if the tales written now have any similarity to the originals would be very interesting.

Thanks Jon, just the storytelling I needed tonight. Appreciate your perspectives

I am absolutely glad I found this channel I'm already subscribed but now I'm jaw dropped at the level of research and explanation you put into reference and cross references to different word uses and there multiple uses in single use .. it's great 😃👍 you sir do great work

Bravo! Thoroughly enjoyable and deeply satisfying! Thank you for the detailed work and research you brought forth and communicated so brilliantly. But the suspenseful ending! Ugh! 😂 I will be definitely be awaiting the next installment eagerly!

Wow i was waiting for this video great work

Great video. I'm so glad you have captions. Even though we both speak English our pronunciation is not quite the same and the captions help me to more fully follow your narrative. I'm a long way away from where you are and I'm thankful you are on you-tube, otherwise I would have never known about you and your fascinating work.

Absolute stellar work, I catch myself binging too often without giving any accolades - righteous work your doing, thank you a tonne for the effort/ content!

Yay! I’ve been looking forward to this one. Watching straight away. 🙂 I’ve always liked The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol. Not explicitly a dragon but I feel like it tells all of these stories with very few actual words . Thanks for your work and research 🙂.

I love your videos man! Keep up the good content!

Finally got round to watching it.another excellent informative video.much respect. BTW many thanks for saying a few words at our gathering last Saturday.

Very interesting! I would love a video on Jormungandr! Or the Chinese dragon myths But I love dragons so any stories you want to share would be amazing!

Thank you so much for doing this. Really enjoyed it.

I can't believe I found out about your channel about a week ago. Thank you a lot for the work you have to put into these videos. Even if you are very learned in this subject (which you obviously are) it must be a lot of research to make those videos.

What a wonderful way to start my weekend :-) thank you for sharing your work with us.

He keeps killing it with every video!

Been looking forward to this one

Great video Jon!

Your work is so good! Thank you!

probably the only channel i don't find it annoying to ask for likes mid video lol you really deserve more algorithm attention love your videos

Thank you for your videos, I have learned so much and really appreciate you sharing your expertise.

Absolutely love your work, a fantastic way to spend a wet and stormy night in Perth (Western Australia).

Just discovered this channel and I'm blown away about the level of dedication and research it must've took to come up the answers to origins of mythology, indo-european ancient mythology and mythical creatures, we could've just thrown out of our minds for simply just "fiction" but you found what things could actually suggest. Good work mate, and keep it up.

I always learn so much and then check to see if it must be ending soon only to see that I am only half way through! Wow, how do you manage to unpack so much knowledge and wisdom on these tropes of mythology and storytelling?!

Another great video! You're color coded maps across time are so very helpful. When I see those I know my friends will want me to share for discussion. One friend is asking about where horse based cultures fit in this timeline of myth/language/culture dispersal. Is there another video I should share with him?

Great video, Jon. I've often thought that ancient, giant crocodiles were the source of dragon myths (for example, St. George), since crocs will take cattle which have come to drink at a river's edge. And I've seen videos of crocs breathing out in the chilly early morning which resulted in a steamy exhalation that could easily be amplified into breathing smoke and fire. However, your video has caused me to think that perhaps some ancient storyteller stood on a high place and saw the "serpentine" course of a river and conflated the water with an actual snake - a python or something similar. As ever, your excellent work is satisfying food for thought.

I have watched way to much KZfaq for way too long. Quality like this gets rewarded, I know you'll get millions of subscribers. I've seen it a million times and it was obvious to me when I watched your first video.

28:52 I was going to give you some guff about the word "corn," but then I read the Wiki article about maize and corrected myself. Fascinating vid, sir. 👍

Ninurta, the Mesopotamian predecessor to Marduk, was also known to slay some dragons or dragon-like beings: Anzû, the thunderbird who stole the tablet of destinies, Azag, a demon who might be a storm-dragon, as well as the horned serpents Bašmu, Mušsagimin, Ušumgallu and Mušmaḫḫū, with the latter four being mentioned in the poem Angim which is also known as "The Return of Ninurta to Nippur". Ninurta was also a god of war, vegetation and storms, and carried a war-mace named Sharur. I think he might be the oldest known storm-god.

Wonderful videos! Thank you

Fascinating, you have a new subscriber. 🖖

As always fascinating video! Something that came to my mind is Tlatecuhtli from Nahua mythos, it was a earth monster killed by the gods and shaped into the world, it also supposedly bit off Tezcatlipoca's foot, i feel like we can see here references for both dragons like Tiamat and even Ymir and Indo European creation myth, weather this is a coincidence or something greater is left to further research

Since really getting into mythology of all kinds in my teens, I’ve pretty much waited my whole adult life for this great KZfaq channel.

This is something I am searching for very intently myself and have been for a while. I know that ancient Chinese cultures have this myth many thousands of years ago as well. Some claim the myths exist in the ancient Americas also. It's an interesting topic.

Interesting and informative video! As always. This made me wonder about the origin of dragon myths. What could have caused such a story to arise? The fact that one dragon was salt water and the other fresh, I wonder if the flooding of the lake that came to be known as the Black Sea by the Mediterranean sea has anything to do with the origins. I imagine that flood would have caused humans to create a bunch of interesting stories and myths. Imagine living by a fresh water lake and then over the course of several weeks it is flooded, many villages are complete destroyed, many die, and then there is no fresh water. If I am alive at that time I suppose an animal like a dragon (or two) would be capable of explaining the horror that occurred. Anyway, this video was great! Thank you.

Look forwar to this one 👍thanks for the content john! 🙌

Great video overall! It to be a broken record, but I hope the interview with Ben Stanhope is still coming soon! There are so many interesting dragon/chaos/combat myth-stuff to compare and research!

I was once again reminded of our Vedic legacy. When you started talking about Indra and Vrtra I immediately thought of the Polish/Slavic God of storm and war, Perun. He is also believed to have slain a dragon who had been keeping water somewhere in the clouds, thus freeing the water and causing rain. I think it's beautiful how everything is connected.

Dude - this is way too interesting a topic to watch immediately. I need to wait until I put the kids to bed to I can really dig in. Thanks, Jon!

When you say "grab a cup of tea"... I grab a cup of coffee, but still very much enjoy your lecture.. Thank you !

So nice to see someone speak about the myth stories and explain how it relates to the migrations of people and how cultures changed so did these stories. Reminding everyone that we all share a similar ancestry and history as humans, regardless of current religion or culture.

very awesome dude

Hi, sir! I just found this channel a few days ago, and I'm plowing through your entire catalog at a very fast pace! A few videos ago you said something that worried me, though. You told us that you try to read the comment section. This can be kinda toxic, I just don't want to loose a good and informed content creator because the negativity that you can find down here some times. My best recommendation is to have a friend read this comments and select the top ones which deserve an answer. Keep this level of quality, sir, and ☕☕☕! P.d.: tiamat is an important dragon god in Dungeons & Dragons. Capitalize on it, the algorythm should like it! Use Tiamat in the titles as much as you can hehe

Great to thing wake up to here in the states. Thanks, Jon!

I’m obsessed with this

Looking forward to the Dragon Myth Origin video already!

Thanks for this. I know this story so well and I could never connect it's roots to the story.

I'm going to show my mom this, she loves dragons and history channels.

very good video

Brilliant piece of detective history I had always wondered who the hell Vrtra was and what the hell Indra was doing fighting him and how that freed up waters

I can't believe the timing of this video! I really look forward to the dragon myth, as my daughter was just told that Europeans have no culture, and they stole the Dragon from Asia...

Reminds me of one of my absolute favorite short stories - The Valley of the Worm, by Robert E. Howard. "I will tell you of Niord and the Worm. You have heard the tale before in many guises wherein the hero was named Tyr, or Perseus, or Siegfried, or Beowulf, or Saint George. But it was Niord who met the loathly demoniac thing that crawled hideously up from hell . . ."

Thank you. Another great presentation on Indo-European myth. It also makes sense as to way many old river names mean 'dragon' or 'serpent'.

I have always thought that the story of Marduk and Tiamat was about planets colliding, resulting in the creation of our current position of earth, its tilt and spin as well as our unusually large moon and also the debris that was left behind from the planets colliding between Mars and Jupiter. Tiamat was a planet out there but was smashed to pieces by Niburu's moon (Marduk). Sitchin's books had an effect on my perception of this story.

Thank you for this very informative video which I have enjoyed greatly. I also found a great deal of similarity of these myths to the creation myth of Germanic/Norse mythology: Ýmir, this proto-Jötunn being, being declared evil and killed, and 'it's' blood creating both a flood and the waters of the earth which was created from the body, whilst the skull, the other half of this creature formed the heavens/sky. Also then somehow this proto Ur-cow, Auðumbla, makes her magical appearance, linking in not just agriculture and animism but animal husbandry too. The surviving relatives, who didn't drown in the flood of Ýmir's blood, also declared largely evil, were often able to create monstrous offspring, gigantic wolves and dragon-like snakes, eight-legged horses, creatures which make our ancestors very likely fearful for half of their days from dusk to dawn, especially in the darker, colder half of the annual cycles.

Solid video, as usual. In my book, I actually have a lengthy discussion about this in Chapter 3. Whatever the origins of the Mesopotamian battle with Tiamat (and it could indeed go way back) I also reach the conclusion that some Indo-European influence had attached itself to the Near-Eastern dragon-slaying myths by the mid 2nd millennium B.C. In particular, we have evidence that the Indic warriors (Maryannu) already had a presence in Northern Mesopotamia by the 17th century B.C. and Anatolian influences from the west probably show up equally early in Syria (e.g. Luwians in Kizzuwatna). These two waves of IE influence from the east and west were near their peak when the Baal Cycle was written. In the west, you had the Hittite Empire, which was already one of the major powers in the region- and in the east you had the Mitanni kingdom, which was ruled my Indic or Indic-descended elites. In short, you can't really rule out IE influence by the time most of these myths were written down. But *especially* by the time of the Baal cycle, which was slightly later than the Enuma Elish. Personally, I would argue that the Baal Cycle is the most obviously IE-influenced of the Near Eastern dragon myths. It's apparent from the fact that Baal is a true Thunder God (unlike some other near-eastern dragon slayers like Marduk) and also from the fact that Lotan displays multiple heads. For the other Near-Eastern dragon-slaying narratives, I think the non-IE elements are still noticeable. That's my theory, in any case.

Don't forget the Mittani were Indo Europeans and were in the Middle East since ancient times. They swore oaths to Vedic gods!!!

Your method reminds me of the great Claude Lévi-Strauss. Keep on!

Thank you. dragons are everywhere.

This is an interesting video. Primates are thought to have developed good close up eyesight to avoid snakes. What are snakes if not dragons without wings

I'm still waiting for a vid in which "but where did they come, & where dod they go" will be ended with "where did he come from, Cotton-eye Joe". that said, I absolutely love this channel.

I saw the Berserker from Amon Amarth's album. Nice ;)

Awesome 👏

So many cultures have a serpent or dragon. The worm Ouroboros, a serpent eating it's own tail. The Feathered Serpent of the Aztecs, Maya & Olmecs, The Archaic Period of the Mayans dates to before 2000 BCE. On one hand, I am amazed at how you've shown certain myths, common to the Americas & Eurasia must go back 15,000 years! On the other hand, I still wonder if the "Great Worm/Dragon" myths aren't a result of seeing the Milky Way in the night sky. It does look like a giant scaly snake, winding across the sky. And disappearing into the horizon far away, which may be the sea, land or mountains (depending on your point of view.) Everybody all over the earth could look into the night sky and see the giant snake or dragon! All you need is a shaman to make up (or remember) a mythic story!

I'm not sure if you have already covered this, but do you think you could make an overview of the Rg Veda ? (as it is super interesting ! ) Or maybe to draw some kind of comparison ? I think this would be super interesting :P

Fascinating.

just a comment to support your channel 🙂

I was talking about dragon stories with some buddies just last week. We were discussing how so many cultures had dragons.

I don’t know if it’s too specific, but it’s a topic that has always interested me due to the similarities of many old civilizations and cultures in their depiction of them: giant water serpents/“water dragons” of sorts throughout mythologies

Great video, as always. Didn't know that cropping would've come before cattle, because I thought that capturing docile animals like cows and breeding them would have been easier than attending to the fields. Not to mention that you can still move to different places if weather gets difficult and still bring your animals with you, but not your fields, obviously. Regarding your question about where the inspiration for the dragon enemy figure might have been born from, I guess it's something to do with mammals innate fear of reptiles and how snakes are particularily dangerous due to their small size and mortal poison. I guess crocodiles may have also play a part in the lands of Mesopotamia and around? Looking forward to your analysis on the subject nonetheless.

always love these kinds of videos. Could do for Devas of Hindu Myth???

2:53 in Brazil there's this tradition that St George kills the dragon (in the present tense) on the moon There used to have even popular TV shows for kids that would have the characters go to the moon (because yk, kids like the moon) and meet st George there

This is actually one of my favorite subjects (granted about 7 years ago before I had kids I was researching this and could tell you ALOT more about it than I can now as a mother of 3 young kids). I love the story of Tiamat (and hadn't heard about Vrtra but I'm am completely interesting in researching that now), because how it ties into so many other creation stories around the world. Almost all creation stories (even many I found based in ancient America) has a beginning of a watery chaos. For Egypt, it was the motherly waters of Nun from which Ptah (the sacred mountain) and Atum-Ra (the light) sprang and creation started. In fact, in some myths every time Atum-Ra (depicted as the sun) sets he travels through the waters of underworld and before being reborn each day in the sky he has to fight and kill Apophis (another god of chaos who is represented as a serpent). For the Chinese, it was called "Great Glory" full of endless possibilities. Before Tiamat (to transformed into a sea serpent or dragon to kill the pantheon of gods after they killed her spouse), the older Sumerian cities worshipped Nammu who held the same function as Tiamat as the watery mother chaos. In Dhammi, this being was seen as a "worm". In the beginning of the creation myth of the Native American Crow tribe, there is a watery abyss from which the Coyote creator emerges. What I see in alot of these myths and what I especially love about them is that they use the bodies of the motherly chaos being to help form the creation and also from that go on to build a sacred temple (like from the watery Egyptian Nun goddess Ptah the sacred mountain emerges and becomes holy when Atum-Ra arises and rests upon it). After Tiamat was killed, her body was used to help build the world and upon Apsu (her spouses) remains Marduk built their first temple (ziggurat). Of course there is a lot I am leaving out from lack of memory, but the symbolism of the serpent/dragon used in these stories goes well beyond what we think of today when we think of dragons, its connected to chaos, power, seas...I often think they compared it to the ocean how it can be beautiful and life bringing yet chaotic and dangerous at times.

Good talk.

Thanks!

Just found you, wonderful research! Thank you. Have you looked into how the Chinese Dragon fits into this?

Now I need a gritty action movie in the style of The Green Man based off of this story. I imagine Trito like John Wick but going after a dragon to save his cows

I love mythical creatures.. 🥺💕

A fascinating comparison! I can't wait for more Mythical Death Battle. To answer your question, I personally am much more interested in how other dragons in IE cultures are connected and evolved from one another or a single source, rather than investigating any one of them by itself. On another note, the topic of Tiamat and PIE Ngwi have frequently raised some thoughts in my head. First, I wonder if this transition of Tiamat between cow and serpent may indicate how we got to four-legged and horned, but also scaled and reptilian dragons. Second, I can't help but notice a phonetic similarity between Ngwi, the PIE serpent, and Yngvi/Ing, a Germanic god of agriculture. Is this purely coincidence?

Excellent video as usual. Don't mean to nitpick here but Indra's weapon is Vajra with the J pronounced as a clear J as in John. As an Indian, I thought I'd just highlight that. As a keen student of Indo Aryan culture I'm sure you will appreciate this minor correction and not take offence. :) Can't wait for the next video. Big fan of the channel!

Great video. I would love to see you cover Slavic /Baltic pagan religions

Golden often also refers to a perfection of spirit. As in the old Alchemist misinterpretation, which we interpreted as meaning literal changing lead and mercury to gold, but actually refereed to taking our physical being, and spiritual being and making it into gold, pure gold, spiritual gold.

What a great Video! In his 1877 book "Mythology among the Hebrews" Ignaz Goldziher speculates that the biblical Leviathon and the tribe of Levi of Moses are the same root word. I think that the tribe of Levi were originally Egyptian religious snake handlers. There are several links in the Torah between Moses and snakes, like with the Copper Serpent statue, and there is the rod of Aaeon, another Levite, being turned into a snake. A greta new book is "The Serpent Symbol in Tne Ancient Near East" by Leslie Wilson. I love your videos! Dave Shafer.

You see a story of storm gods battling, I see analogy of writers block & brainstorming your way through until it produces 'fruit'.

Interesting in how the biblical firmament kept the idea of the holes in it to let the rain through.