Monday, July 27, 2009

Dragons in European Lore (3)

“Jormungander, the Midgard Wurm” Dragon

Physical: Serpent-dragon, size of the earth, vapor breath.
Behavior: Wrapped itself around the earth, bit tail in mouth, but will eat when tempted
Type: Ouroboros, serpent dragon
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Did not have the physical characteristics
Notes: Common in world legends

“The Mordiford Wyvern” Dragon

Physical: Iridescent scales, wings, toxic breath, keen sense of smell
Behavior: Ate people, did favor one person but too hungry to care most of the time
Type: Wyvern
Typical European Dragon: Yes
Why: Behaved like a typical dragon
Notes: Was wyvern but seemed more classic dragon in behavior

“Regulus and Carthaginian Serpent” Dragon

Physical: long snake, large proportions
Behavior: peaceful, blocked passage to city
Type: Serpent dragon
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Did not have the physical characteristics or behavior
Notes: Acted like a natural animal

“The Bride of the Lindorm King” Dragon

Physical: Snaky, wingless, two-legged
Behavior: Lived in woods, not bother people
Type: Serpent dragon
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Did not have the physical characteristics
Notes: Another story of an enchanted human as a dragon

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, 2009, Animal Teachers Enterprises

Buy my books on dragons and other mythic animals!


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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Dragons in European Lore (2)



“St. Romain and the Gargouille” Dragon

Physical: Snaky body and neck, slender head and jaws, moonstone eyes, membrane fins, no legs
Behavior: Slithered, lived in the river, flood the countryside with water, afraid of the Cross
Type: Gargouille
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Spouted water instead of fire
Notes: No mentioned of eating people. Only wanted the territory

“The Lambton Wurm” Dragon

Physical: Long, eel-like, shiny black skin, coal eyes, vapor from mouth withered everything
Behavior: Lived in water, wrapped body around hill, ate people, drank milk, slept often
Type: Wurm, serpent dragon
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Did not have the physical characteristics
Notes: Seemed to include elements from Paganism and Christianity in myth.

“Siegfied and Fafnir” Dragon

Physical: Large, scales protected body except for underbelly
Behavior: Guarded treasure, walked to river for water
Type: Lindwurm
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Did not have the physical characteristics
Notes: Was typical for Norse sagas. Dragon was originally a person.

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, 2009, Animal Teachers Enterprises

Buy my books on dragons and other mythic animals!


DRAGONS!



MYTHIC ANIMALS

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Dragons in European Lore (1)







“The Legend of Master Stoorworm” Dragon

Physical: Long, lived in water, ate whatever his tongue reached, had bad breath.
Behavior: Yawned a lot, ate people, had a large appetite
Type: Sea serpent
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Had no wings, and did not breathe fire
Notes: Killed when liver was set on fire. Body formed various islands. Was typical of the “great serpents shaping the land” world myths.

“Beowulf and the Firedrake” Dragon

Physical: claws, needle teeth, breathed fire, keen sense of smell
Behavior: Guarded treasure. Did not attack until its treasure was stolen.
Type: Firedrake
Typical European Dragon: Yes
Why: Guarded treasure, breathed fire
Notes: Lived peacefully until treasure was stolen.

“St. George and the Dragon” Dragon

Physical: Large green scales, massive wings, long curly tail, many eyes on back
Behavior: Lived in swamps, ate people, terrorized everyone
Type: Lindorm
Typical European Dragon: Yes
Yes: Had the classic description, had a “damsel in distress”
Notes: Not say why dragon was angry unless Christians took over where he lived.

“St. Romain and the Gargouille” Dragon

Physical: Snaky body and neck, slender head and jaws, moonstone eyes, membrane fins, no legs
Behavior: Slithered, lived in the river, flood the countryside with water, afraid of the Cross
Type: Gargouille
Typical European Dragon: No
Why: Spouted water instead of fire
Notes: No mentioned of eating people. Only wanted the territory
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Copyright: Virginia Carper, 2009, Animal Teachers Enterprises

Buy my books on dragons and other mythic animals!


DRAGONS!



MYTHIC ANIMALS

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Adventures in Writing: Cuneiform





Beginnings of Writing: Cuneiform

In Mesopotamia, during the Uruk Period (3500 – 3100 BCE), many villages became cities. As they expanded, each new city had to reorganize to better govern and support their burgeoning populations. Out of this development came agriculture, trade, and writing.

In Sumer (3100- 2800 BCE), cities were organized around temples. The “en” (the economic official of the temple) kept track of the offerings and wealth. To keep inventory, an en had his “sangu” (accountants) survey everything. Since Sumer is located in an area of “clay muck”, the Sumerian accountants made clay figures for tallying. But, when the volume of goods became great, these figures became cumbersome to use. Then, the accountants started marking items on clay tablets. Because they were using wet clay, various scribes used a stylus which made wedge-shaped markings (cuneiform) in the clay.

Because Sumer had little in natural resources, many citizens focused on manufacturing finished goods. Their merchants developed trading organizations (“Karums”) to govern trade in raw and finished materials. Because of the Karums, Sumerian trade expanded from Mesopotamia to Egypt and Syria.

Adopting the inventory methods of the temples, merchants started using various tally symbols for items. Since, they needed to convey the concepts of orders, sales, and general merchandising issues, many scribes started using pictograms. These pictograms could then be combined to convey meaning. Merchants were able to convey crude messages over time and distance.

Because Sumerian was a monosyllabic language, their scribes could convey any meaning by using pictograms as ideograms. Since Sumerian was rich in homonyms and homophones, they could have a pictogram represent a sound (phonogram), an object, or an idea. By using sounds as puns, Sumerian scribes expanded their writing vocabulary. They grouped symbols together to convey various concepts.

Later, Sumerian writing was adopted by the Akkadians and Elamites. Since their languages were radically different from Sumerian, these peoples needed to differentiate the meanings of each of the Sumerian symbols. Determinations (additions and modifications) were added to indicate parts of speech. Cuneiform was developed into a working alphabet.

Notes:

1. Homophones: Words with the same sounds but different meanings and spellings.
Example: Pear and pair. A pair of pears is two pieces of fruit.

2. Homonym: Words with the same sound and spellings but different meanings.
Example: Fair and fair. Because the weather is fair, we are going to the county fair.

3. Please note that regional accents will change what are homonyms and homophones. In New England, aunt and ant are pronounced differently, while route and root are said in the same way.

Works Cited

Gascoigne, Bamber, “History of Writing”, The International History Project, 2009, 13 July 2009, < http://www.historyworld.net/ >.

Guisepi, R. A, “History of Writing”, International World History Project, 2007, 13 July 2009, < http://www.history-world.org/ >.

Harl, Kenneth, Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations, lectures, The Teaching Company, 2006.

Robinson, Andrew, The Story of Writing, Thames and Hudson, London, 1995.

_____, “Cuneiform Writing”, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, 15 July 2009, < http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Games/cuneiform.html >.

Picture courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.

Copyright: Virginia Carper, 2009
Animal Teachers

Monday, July 06, 2009

My Week of Dragon Sightings





In tracking any dragons that I saw in a week, I decided not to include my dragon collection. (That alone contains classic dragons, dragonets, a sea serpent, and a wyvern.) I wanted to find out if dragons appeared in other places. I was pleasantly surprised.


Date: June 20, 2009
Place: Supermarket Parking Lot. On a company truck: Tyson Land Excavation.
Description: Red, bat wings, four legs, and a pointed tail.
Type: Classic
Notes: I think the company wanted us to think of them as strong and capable of moving land.

Date: June 21, 2009
Place: Public Library: New Book Section: “Tale of Briar Bank”, Susan Albert, book cover
Description: Green, bat wings, two legs, and long.
Type: Lindwurm
Notes: Dragon character in this book was called Torvaald, who was a guardian of treasure.

Date: June 22, 2009
Place: My Space: Dog World Application: Store
Description: Mother and baby, gold, bat wings, four legs, and pointed tails.
Type: Classic, dragonet
Notes: This application encourages people to support the ASPCA. Dragons are named Goldie and Skylar. She blinks, and he sneezes out smoke.

Date: June 23, 2009
Place: Live Journal: A friend’s page. They adopted dragon eggs to hatch.
Description: The ten eggs hatched into dragons. They were all colors and shapes.
Type: Amphitere (legless, wings), classic, firedrake (red one), ice drake (white one),
Notes: An on-line application that encourages people to adopt dragons as pets.

Date: June 24, 2009
Place: Mail catalog (Fire Mountain Gems, June 2009)
Description: Bat wings, two legs, and pointed tails.
Type: Wyvern
Notes: Pewter beads for sale

Date: June 25, 2009
Place: Mail catalog (Rings and Things, 2009-2010)
Description: Green, black, blue, small, bat wings, four legs, and pointed tails.
Type: Dragonet
Notes: Ceramic beads for sale

Date: June 26, 2009
Place: TV: PBS: “Dragon Tales”
Description: Several: small and pink, large and teal, green and purple two-headed. All have bat wings and four legs.
Type: Classic, dragonet, hydra
Notes: Came upon it while channel surfing. Program encourages children to read. Pink female - Cassie, teal male - Ord, and two-headed one – Zak and Wheezie

Date: June 27, 2009
Place: TV: NBC: “Dragon”
Description: Small, blue, no wings, large nose
Type: Ice drake
Notes: Came on after a news show, in the morning. Program for young children. Dragon is friendly and childlike.

Pictures from "Dragon" TV Show (http://www.qubo.com/Dragon_show.asp)
Copyright: Virginia Carper 2009