The Pen-dragon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Wales_2.svg

I like that title. I’ve been intrigued by it. Pen-dragon. Uther Pen-dragon. Arthur Pen-dragon. But does it have any meaning? We are all familiar with the traditional image of the dragon: A large serpent, with leathery wings like a bats, horned snout, breathing fire and wreaking havoc. A dragon is a terror in any neighborhood.

Several years ago I picked up a book while shopping at “Media Play.” I liked that store and I still miss it. The book is called, “Myths of China and Japan,” by Donald A. Mackenzie. I thought it would be a collection of stories and myths. How wrong I was. It was a scholarly work, first published in the early 1900’s. This author was making a case for tracing and connecting the myths and technologies of China back to Egypt! And he started making connections on dragon lore from China to the Polynesian Islands to Central America, even to Scotland! of all places. That really got my attention, for I was in the thick of studying the Arthurian stories and legends.

One of the most important Arthurian legends dealing with dragons is the story of Merlin as a boy. Vortigern is king, but no one likes him. He brought the Saxons to England as mercenaries, then lost control of them. Vortigern then went into Wales to build a fortress, but the ground on which he built was not stable. The walls kept falling down every night. His soothsayers said that in order for the walls to stand, he had to find a boy born with no father, slay him and mix his blood in with the mortar. So the search went far and wide. The boy Merlin was found and brought to the fortress to be slaughtered, but the boy told them it would do no good. The wall was falling down because there was a pool of water under the place where they were building, and if they dug deep, they would find the pool in which they would find two serpents sleeping. But finding the pool would disturb the serpents and they would fight each other. One was a red dragon and the other a white dragon. The red dragon would defeat the white dragon for a time, but then the white dragon would destroy the red dragon. Merlin explained that the red dragon represented Britain and the white dragon the Saxons. The red dragon would eventually be driven from the pool. According to the legends, this happened, which astonished Vortigern and everyone else.

To this day, the symbol of Wales is the red dragon and most of the oldest stories place Uther and Arthur in this location.

So what is so important about dragons? And why the title, Pen-dragon? Well, as I’ve been trying to point out, there seems to be some connection between the British Isles and the culture of the middle east. We know in Hebrew that the word “ben” means “son of.” It’s not that big a leap from “ben” to “pen.” So could the title, Pen-dragon, mean “Son of the dragon?”

And why take that title? Because they were men of war. Were Uther and Arthur father and son? I’ll address that some other time. Frankly, I don’t think so. That they were related, probably, but they were both battle commanders for their people and so could both carry the same title, “Son of the dragon.”

Now, let’s get to what a dragon is. According to Donald A. McKenzie, “The Chinese dragon is a strange mixture of several animals…. The scales number 117, of which 81 are imbued with good invluences (yang) and 36 with bad influence (yin), for the dragon is partly a Preserver and partly a Destroyer.”

When we go to the scriptures we find the same tale.

Rev. 12: 3-4,
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the a third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

This sounds very much like an intent to destroy. Then there is this from Jeremiah.

Jer. 51: 34, 37
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
• • •
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

History proves that the conquering Babylonians were in turn conquered by the Persians. It was all death and destruction.

Then we have this from the Book of Mormon.

Mosiah 20: 11
11 And it came to pass that the people of Limhi began to drive the Lamanites before them; yet they were not half so numerous as the Lamanites. But they fought for their lives, and for their wives, and for their children; therefore they exerted themselves and like dragons did they fight.

Alma 43: 44
44 And they were inspired by the Zoramites and the Amalekites, who were their chief captains and leaders, and by Zerahemnah, who was their chief captain, or their chief leader and commander; yea, they did fight like dragons, and many of the Nephites were slain by their hands, yea, for they did smite in two many of their head-plates, and they did pierce many of their breastplates, and they did smite off many of their arms; and thus the Lamanites did smite in their fierce anger.

In the Book of Mormon, the term dragon is used only in context of war.

The other night I turned on the TV and caught a portion of the Nature program on our local PBS station. It was interesting as they showed us how lethal and impressive crocodiles are. They patiently lay in wait, hardly to be seen, just below the surface of the water. When a prey gets close enough, they attack at lightening speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Once they grasp their prey, they do not let go. The prey is dragged into the waters and rolled and rolled until it drowns.

It’s a pretty strong metaphor, “…like dragons did they fight.” There have been crocodiles in the waters of the Nile in Egypt from the beginning.

How fascinating this dragon lore: from the Americas, to the Polynesian Islands to the lands of China and Japan. And according to Donald McKenzie, the dragon myth has its roots buried in the mud of the Nile river of Ancient Egypt, the cultural center of the middle-eastern world.

Once again we can tie the lore of the British Isles to the middle-east.

We should really name him Arthur, Son of War, Battle Commander to the Bretons.

Next time: The Celtic Guise and The American Indian Totem. (I’ve got some research to do on this one.)

Resources:
-“Myths of China and Japan,” by Donald A. MacKenzie, Gramercy Books, New York, Copyright, 1994.
-“The History of the Kings of Great Britain,” Geoffrey of Monmouth, translated by Lewis Thorpe, published by Penguin books. Translation copyright 1966 by Lewis Thorpe.