Slaying the Dragon across Eurasia

Abstract

Myths relating the slaying of a large reptile by a hero or trickster deity appear in many mythologies across Eurasia and beyond, in Polynesia and the Americas. They are an important part of the creation myths. The killing of the monster liberates the dammed up waters as to make the world fertile and inhabitable for humans. Related is the connection between summer solstice and the marriage of the dragon slayer (or a hunter) with a local virgin, ultimately, the marriage of sun and moon, as found from Old India via China and Japan to the Kekchi Mayas. Such myths are traced back to a reconstructed Late Paleolithic mythology, called “Laurasian” that incorporates myths from the beginning of the world to its final destruction. Historical Comparative Mythology is to be added as another approach in our quest to understand early humans.

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