Do dragon myths share a common origin?

Question

We can see ancient references to dragon-like creatures in European, Asian and also many other civilizations. Did these civilizations come up with the concept of dragons independently and just coincidentally similar? Or does the entire myth have roots in one place and spread? Of all the creatures you can come up with, to think all these civilizations came up with the same thing independently is curious.

In even more ancient mythology, serpents were very often a target or myths. Why the cross-culture significance of serpents and serpent-like creatures like dragons?

Answer 1

Similar imagery in myths and stories crop up in different cultures around the world; it isn't just dragons. The flood and Ark, vampires, resurrecting Gods, cosmic wars with differing factions...all of these can be found in various myths and religions around the world. Most of them, including mention of dragons, can be traced back to Sumerian writings (which, not surprisingly, is the earliest known written language [1]). It begs the "chicken or the egg" question, in my mind; could it be that nearly all cultures have a dragon myth because nearly all cultures experienced dragons in the distant past, or is it because nearly all cultures have some degree of inspiration from Sumerian myths, which were the earliest recorded? Occam's razor tells us it's the second, but that's not necessarily as fun...

You might also want to check out this other thread on dragons [2] and see if you find any useful answers/theories there.

[1] https://www.bl.uk/history-of-writing/articles/where-did-writing-begin [2] What is the earliest known dragon myth?

Answer 2

Interesting to note that in the Western tradition, Dragons are foes, typically fire-breathing, that must be slain, from Python to Fafnir & Smaug, while in the Eastern tradition (China principally) dragons are benefactors that bring rain.

It's possible that these two conceptions arise independently in that the Indo-European languages, including Germanic languages, use the "drak" root that comes to us through the Greek δράκων (drakōn), while the Chinese word is Lóng 龙.

If there was significant enough geographical separation to allow a distinct language families, it's not unreasonable to assume the same applies to this very ancient mythical beast.