世界各地关于龙的起源

世界各地关于龙的起源

世界各地关于龙的起源

That's one of the mysteries of Dragon or similar giant serpent's symbolism and mythology found in ancient human cultures. Why such a creature is almost universally found in the myths and ancient art work of the world's ancient civilizations? Were did the idea of the great serpent come from and why did it become such long lasting symbol in human civilization?

古代人类文化中，龙或者说是巨蛇及其神话是如何形成的仍然是个谜。为何世界各大古文明的神话和古代艺术品中都普遍存在着“龙”这种生物？这一意象起源于何处？它为何能在人类文明中经久不衰？

Dragons or very similar creatures can be found in many cultures around the world, I don’t think it can be claimed to have come from any one source, but more an archetypal creature that can be found in myths and legends of many different peoples, that varies in appearance, nature, and abilities, but is usually a large serpentine creature often with wings, or at least the ability to fly.

龙以及各种酷似龙的生物可以在全世界许多文化中找到，我认为“龙”这一形象的发源是多样的，许多民族的神话和传说中都存在“龙”的形象，它们虽被赋予了不同的外表、本性和能力，但大多是形似蛇类的生物，并且往往生着硕大的翅膀，或者至少有着飞行的能力。

Western mythology

西方神话

世界各地关于龙的起源

The Western dragon has only recently become a particular shape of beast, that being a big lizard that flies with wings, of the sort you might see in fantasy art.In medieval times, "dragon" could refer to things of many different shapes, including both lizard-like dragons and serpentine dragons; that is to say, the snake-like dragon is hardly unknown in Western mythology.

西方的龙直到近现代才有了固定的形态，也就是我们通过魔幻作品中常常能看到的那种长着大翅膀的大蜥蜴。在中世纪，“dragon”一个词可以指代许多天差地别的东西，蜥蜴状的龙、蛇形的龙都行；也就是说，西方还是有蛇形龙的。

The western Dragon originated with the Chinese dragon, but was transported west by nomadic people such as the Alani. The Alani using the image to head up their raids would be putting forward an attacking creature. Hence the somewhat bad name of the western dragon in comparison to its eastern counterpart. I love the picture by the way of the Chinese dragon, a picture which seems to add weight to the suggestion of a creature made up of many symbols from many people brought together by an emperor or leader. Note the head and the antlers, an emblem of nomadic peoples over a considerable area.

西方的龙起源于中国，后来由诸如阿兰人这样的游牧民族传入西方。阿兰人往往在作战时使用龙的形象，并可能据此创造出了一种凶猛的怪兽与之对应。久而久之，西方的龙就开始声名狼藉了。我很喜欢那张图中的中国龙，一位君主或领袖将各族的象征组合在一起，使龙的形象平添了许多重量感。注意看这龙的头部，它长了一对鹿角，这就是驰骋于大陆之上的游牧民族的象征啊。

Greek mythology

希腊神话

世界各地关于龙的起源

The association of the serpent with a monstrous opponent overcome by a heroic deity has its roots in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, including Canaanite (Hebrew, Ugaritic), Hittite and Mesopotamian. The Chaoskampf motif entered Greek mythology and ultimately Christian mythology, although the serpent motif may already be part of prehistoric Indo-European mythology as well, based on comparative evidence of Indic and Germanic material. It has been speculated that accounts of spitting cobras may be the origin of the myths of fire-breathing dragons.[4]”

将蛇演化成硕大无朋的怪物，并最终被赋予神秘色彩最早起源于古代近东神话中，这包括了迦南人（希伯来人、乌加里特人）、赫梯人还有美索不达米亚神话。这一形象被传入希腊，并最终于基督教神化混合。实际上，通过将印度与日耳曼史料的对比分析，蛇这一意象很可能是史前印欧神话的一部分。据推测，对喷射毒汁的眼镜蛇的记载可能正是喷火巨龙神话的起源。

Japanese mythology

日本神话