Diary Trip
DT will be travelling to Ireland in September for our first Diary trip. We will be studying the dragons of Ireland and their importance in Irish culture. Expect videos, images and essays on the dragons of Newgrange

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"With money you're a dragon; without it you're a worm."
Chinese proverb

Below is a time line of all the discovered events in history, relating to dragons, that I have found. There is still much more to put here but this is what my research has turned up so far. As ever if you have information you feel should be here please contact me or tell me in the forum.
I have entered some script in italic, these are my own personal thoughts and are not to be taken as fact.

40 000bc Rainbow Serpent
In the Congo region of west africa, Dahomey, Nigeria, the caribbean island of Haiti, Melanesia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia a vast python like serpent with multi colored skin was linked to the rainbow.
It was known as the Rainbow Serpent, Rainbow snake or Rainbow Monster.
It was prominent mostly in the Dreamtime Mythology of native Australia where they were said to live in deep pool's, lakes and billabong's.
Their relationship with people was generally benign unless they were disturbed during the dry season. This could result in the Rainbow Serpent flooding a village.
Known names for the Serpent were Dhakan, Kaleru/Galeru and Wanambi.
Ref: www.sommerland.org accessed on 27/04/07, Giants, Monsters &   Dragons - Carol Rose

4000bc Aapep
Aapep was the great moon serpent in the mythology of Ancient Egypt.
He was said to be the adversary to the sun god Re or Ra. It was believed Aapep emerged from the great void at the beginning of the world.
According to the New Kingdom funerary texts, when the sun made its nightly voyage through the underworld and when it would emerge in the mornings, the great serpent would try to trap it in its jaws.
Aapep was often linked to Set, the god of chaos as his ally. Later this tale changed and it was in fact Set who Ra enlisted to help fight the ancient serpent.
Aapep was eventually defeated by Horus or his sons and chopped up by Osiris.  
Other names for Apep were Aapep, Apop, Apophis and Apopis.
On a side note, many texts state different time periods for when Aapep was believed in, however 4000bc seems to be the most common date. I am not certain whether Aapep came first or the Babylonian Tiamat. I have written it in the order   I believe it occurred in.  
Ref: Giant's, Monsters & Dragons - Carol Rose, Ancient Egypt - David P, Silverman, Gods &Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology - Geraldine Harris, The Complete Gods & Goddesses of Ancient Egypt - Richard H. Wilkinson

This picture shows the
serpent Aapep
and the god Re.

(I believe Apohis or Apep is quite an influential part of the Dragons history. I have no facts on this but I believe the egyptian serpent may have played a great part in developing
the dragons we have now. There will be more on this later.)

 

4000bc China
Burial pieces have been found in China and dated back to 4000bc. They have scaly tails and it has been thought these depict early eastern dragons. As well as these were pig snouted dragon ornaments.
Ref: Fabulous Creatures & Other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological society of London

3200bc Newgrange
In Ireland is a monument which may be the earliest   recorded british depiction of a dragon. There is a large dome like structure with symbols   carved in stone around its edge. Within it   are two   upright rocks with another laid on their top to form a doorway of sorts. It wasn't until the top slab of rock fell that we saw the   serpent   like symbol carved on the top of each rock. Every Winter Solstice the sun rises and light shines directly in the center of these stone slabs after traveling 62 feet along the inside corridor.  
Ref: Sky Watchers, Shamans & Kings - E.C. Krupp.  

(An amazing structure and one   I would very much like to see for my self. From what   I know, my opinion is that this doorway was supposed to be the doorway to the underworld and the serpents/dragons were its guardians.)

2982bc - 2900bc Fu Hsi
A Chinese man named Fu Hsi saw a half dragon half horse emerge from a lake. It is said that the dragon had engravings all over its body and from watching the dragon move the wise Fu Hsi understood the importance of writing and so calligraphy was created.

(This is a good example of how the early Chinese dragons were far less war like than their Western counterparts.)

2356bc Emperor Yaou
Emperor Yaou in China was said to be sired by a dragon.

2000bc Pakistan
In Bannu (North West Pakistan) there have been some stone cylinders found dated back to 2000bc. They are decorated with serpentine dragons.
Ref: Fabulous Creatures & Other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological society of London

1400BC Latan
One of earliest representations of the Hydra appears on a cylinder seal from Syria dated back to 1400bc. It depicts part of a myth where the fertility god Baal defeats the seven headed dragon
Latan, a creature identified with the watery forces of chaos and disorder.
Ref: A Little History of Dragons - Joyce Hargreaves

1200bc Tiamat
In the Mythology of Sumer and Babylon a dragon named Tiamat was the creator of the world. She along with Apsu battled against the Gods. She also created Girtabili to help her in the battle. Apsu was eventually killed and so she recruited Kingu.
There are several different tales to her end depending on the time period you hear them from. One of those tales marks the rise of the god Marduk (Merodach) to chief of the Gods. He managed to hold open Tiamat's mouth with a net and shoot an arrow into her heart.
From Tiamat came the earth and milky way and from her blood came the rivers.
This tale is told by the seven tablets, The Enuma Elish. I believe these stone tablets were dated circa 1200bc
Originally Tiamat was named Asag and Marduk was Ninurta.
Ref: The Enuma Elish, Giants, Monsters & Dragons - Carol Rose, Oxford companion to world mythology, The dragon - Francis Huxley.

(Without any proof I believe this world creation myth was taken from the egyptians or possibly vice versa. Although I am having trouble pin pointing the dates of when these myths were believed, most sources state the dates I have entered here. This then leads me to think that the greek dragon Typhon, see below, was also taken from Apep & Set)

1100bc Dragon Kings
A hand scroll was found dated back to the 11th Century showing one of the dragon kings on it.

600 - 500bc Typhon
The Greek mythology revealed a dragon, which they say was created by Gaia, named Typhon. He had over a hundred dragons heads and his feet and legs were shaped as serpents.
Like the Egyptian Aapep and the Babylonian Tiamat, Typhon was a god of evil. More specifically the god of storms. From his eyes came flame and from his mouth came Lava.
Zeus managed to defeat the dragon when the three fates got Typhon drunk.
Some believe it is from Typhon that we get the word Typhoon.
Other names for the dragon are Typhoes, Typheus, Typhaon, Typois.
Ref: Giants, Monsters & Dragons - Carol Rose, Oxford Companion to World Mythology.

221bc - 207bc China
Shi Huangdi of China adopts a five toed dragon as the emblem of the emperors.

200bc Bel
In The Old Testiment, The Book of Daniel it states that in 600bc king Cyrus of Babylon and his people worshiped a dragon named Bel. The dragon lived in Mesopotamia with King Cyrus. When Daniel saw the dragon he asked how anyone could worship it instead of the true god. After killing
the dragon Daniel was thrown into the lions den.
There is much more to this story which will be in other sections of the website.
Ref: Giants, Monsters and Dragons - Carol Rose, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology,
Book of Daniel on the internet.

77AD Basilisk
Pliny the Elder mentions the Basilisk his work the Historia Naturalis from 77AD. 

373AD - 493AD Ollipheist
Ollipheist was a dragon that lived in the lakes of Ireland. His name meant great (Oll) fabulous beast (peist)
He was said to be so big he gorged the length of the shannon river.
According to the legend, when he heard Saint Patrick had   come to kill him, (and other serpents)
he swallowed a drunken piper and eventually fled Ireland.
There is much more to that story which will be entered into another section of this site.
I have no time stamp for the actual legend itself but Saint Patrick was supposed to have lived inbetween 373AD & 493AD and therefore we can conclude the legend at least tells us of this time.
Ref: Giants, Monsters & Dragons - Carol Rose, Annals of Ulster

400AD - 500AD Y Ddraig Goch
When the saxon Vortigern (Or saxon ally) invaded britain he was said to have built a fortress in
wales to aid his efforts.
At night stones from the fortress kept disappearing. Emrys a child sacrifice was brought to the fortress. He told them of two dragons residing in a cavern near or below the fortress. Instead of sending the child into the cavern Vortigern took some men and went down there himself. As soon
as he entered the cavern the two dragons started fighting. One was red (Y Ddraig Goch) and one white (Gwiber). Goch was the symbol for wales and Gwiber for Saxons, while the cavern
represented britain. Goch finally managed to defeat Gwiber symbolising the welsh defeating the Saxons. According to legend this is how the welsh flag came to be a red dragon named Y Ddraig Goch. Later tales changed the boy to be Merlin from the Arthurian legends.
Ref: Giants, Monsters & Dragons - Carol Rose, www.vortigernstudies.org.uk accessed at 28/04/07

The Welsh flag
depicting the
guardian dragon
Y Ddraig Goch

(This has always been one of my favorite legends and it goes to show that dragons were often thought of as guardians and not the evil demons many associate them with.)

497AD A dragon star
A british document dated to 497AD notes "A star of marvelous size and brilliancy appeared,
shining in one single ray, attached to which ray was extended a ball of fire in the shape of a dragon, and out of its mouth proceeded two rays.
Ref: Here be dragons - Ralph Whitlock

565AD Loch Ness Monster
According to a newspaper article, published on the 13th October 1924 by the Missionary Gazette,
an irish missionary, Columba, was traveling through Scotland spreading christianity. He happened upon a funeral of a man savaged by the the loch ness monster. The article says Columba asked
one of his men to swim out and get the boat. When the monster appeared Columba made the sign
of the cross forcing the monster to retreat.
Ref: Fabulous creatures & other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological Society of London

700AD Norse brooch
A brooch dated to the 7th century AD was found in the shape of Jormangand the Midgard serpent.
Ref: www.timelessmyths.com accessed on 02/05/07

The brooch
in the shape
of Jormangand

 

 

739AD Grendel
In 739AD Aethelheard, King of the saxons, inked his signature on a document granting land at Crediton, Devon to the Bishop of Sherborne. One of the boundry marks for this land was "Grendel's Pit"
Grendel was the famous monster or dragon from the story Beowulf. This shows the dragon was known and   that stories were told of it at this time.
Ref: The Real Middle Earth - Brian Bates

752AD Saxon war standard
The Saxons often carried a war standard showing a golden dragon to battle.
Ref: www.crwflags.com accessed at 28/04/07

793AD Lightning dragons
Documentation was found, dated to 793AD, describing terrific lightning's and dragons in the air
above england. Strokes of fire were seen hovering on high. This was all supposed to signify a
coming great famine and a frightful slaughter of multitudes of men.
Ref: Here be dragons - Ralph Whitlock  

795AD Lightning dragons cont
Again dragons were seen across britain accompanied by lightning which symbolised, as before, the coming of a great famine.
Ref: Here be dragons - Ralph Whitlock

1066AD King Harold's death
A dragon was said to be seen in the sky when king Harold was killed in the battle of Hastings. This however is thought to have been Haleys Comet.
Ref: Here be dragons - Ralph Whitlock

1066AD Dragon at St Osythes
It was said that a dragon of marvelous bigness, which by moving, burned houses was seen at St Osythes (essex, England)
Ref: Here be dragons - Ralph Whitlock

1191AD Richard I
A dragon standard was used by Richard I on the third crusade.
Ref: www.crwflags.com accessed at 28/04/07

1216AD English
A dragon was borne by the English army in the battle of lewes.
Ref: www.crwflags.com accessed at 28/04/07

1346AD Edward I / III
A dragon banner was used by Edward I and Edward III at the battle of Crecy.
Ref: www.crwflags.com accessed at 28/04/07

1415AD Henry V
Another dragon banner was used by Henry V at the battle of Agincourte.
Ref: www.crwflags.com accessed at 28/04/07

1834AD O-gon-Cho
Several sightings of the Japanese dragon O-gon-cho were reported in April 1834. The dragon reputedly lived in the middle of a lake near Kyoto in Japan. Every fifty years the dragon would
change its appearance to a songbird with magnificent golden feathers. Its song would herald the coming of a famine or great disease or some other such disaster. Strangely shortly after these reported sightings there was apparently widespread famine in the region.
Ref: Dragons - Carolyn Scrace & Gerald Legg

1893AD Amphisbaena
John Greenleaf Whittier wrote about the Amphisbaena, a two headed dragon or serpent that when cut in half could rejoin itself, in a poem "The Double-Headed Snake of Newbury"
"For he carried his head where his tail should be,
And the two of course could never agree,
But wriggled about with main and might,
Now to the left and now to the right;
Pulling and twisting this way and that,
Neither knew what the other was at.'
Ref: A Little History of Dragons - Joyce Hargreaves

1900AD Wagner
Richard Wagner did a 19th century opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung" featuring the dragon
Fafnir from Norse mythology.
Ref: Norse Mythology A to Z - Kathleen N. Daly 

1929AD Knucker of Lyminster
The hedger of Lymister told his version of the Knucker, an english dragon, and had it published in
the Sussex County Magazine in 1929AD. 
Ref: British Dragons - Jacqueline Simpson

1933AD Loch ness monster
This is when the myth of the Loch ness monster became popular. A new road was opened by the side of the Loch. Shortly after its opening a Scottish couple named Mckay saw a 30ft (9m) long animal with a serpentine neck and head.
Ref: Fabulous creatures & other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological Society of London.

1934AD Loch ness monster
Lt-Colonel Dr Robert Wilson managed to take a photo purporting to show the Loch ness monsters head.
Ref: Fabulous creatures & other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological Society of London.

April 1960AD Loch ness monster
The myth of the Loch ness monster gained popularity when an english engineer , Tim Dinsdale, captured on 16mm film a humped object moving across the loch at a speed of 7 mph.   Military experts have agreed that the creature is a living, aquatic creature. This of course indicates it may have been the Loch ness monster.
Ref: Fabulous creatures & other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological Society of London.

1972AD Loch ness monster
An American team, led by Dr Robert Rines, used a special underwater camera to get a picture of what looked like a plesiosaur's fin. This was followed up in 1975AD with a photograph of what claimed to be the creatures head and neck
Ref: Fabulous creatures & other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoological Society of London.

 

click below for my conclusion

Bibliography

 

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