With limbs of all the beasts on earth

And many-coloured wings, would you

Contain your laughter at the private view?

Horace, Ars Poetica, 1–5.

CONTENTS

Page
[Preface]3
[Introduction]13
I.[Of Dragons in General]16
II.[Of Dragons in Classical Antiquity]23
III.[Of Dragons in Early Christendom]29
IV.[Of Dragons in Modern Europe]43
V.[Of Dragons in Ancient Egypt]57
VI.[Of the Birth and Death of the Dragon]63
[Epilogue]72

PERSEUS

OR