Mythological Creatures

[Smokey Bacon]

Could they be based on extinct animals, possibly even dinosaurs? Either from fossils or perhaps surviving ones? I know that any surviving is highly unlikely so I'm asking more about them being based off fossils.

[Londinium]

I'm pretty certain the dragons of European mythology come from the crocodiles of the Nile, indeed quite a few depictions of St George slaying the Dragon depict something very crocodilian looking. There was of course the brief renaissance of dragons in the mid 19th century aswell when ancient fossils were found and believed to be mythological creatures early on and someone faked a dragon foetus.

[MathiasOfAthens]

I'm pretty certain the dragons of European mythology come from the crocodiles of the Nile, indeed quite a few depictions of St George slaying the Dragon depict something very crocodilian looking. There was of course the brief renaissance of dragons in the mid 19th century aswell when ancient fossils were found and believed to be mythological creatures early on and someone faked a dragon foetus.

Except there were dragons in Asia as well... China.

[NikeBG]

Could they be based on extinct animals, possibly even dinosaurs? Either from fossils or perhaps surviving ones? I know that any surviving is highly unlikely so I'm asking more about them being based off fossils.

Funny thing - just half an hour ago I finished reading one chapter from one book about the roots of some ancient myths. The specific chapter was about three creatures in Russian mythology - Whale-Fish (obviously a whale, exaggerated to huge proportions), the bird Strefil (a rather big strauss-like bird from Madagascar, extinct since a couple of centuries ago, which also supposedly inspired the Arabic Ruh, the Persian Simurgh etc) and the beast Indrik. Now, Indrik is described basically as a mole or a mouse as big as an elephant, which dies immediately if it crawls out to the surface. It's mostly found in Siberia etc, the Russian East basically, and is actually based on the imagination of the "ivory" hunters, who went to search for the remains of mammoths (the word "mammoth" itself supposedly comming from the Finnish words for "earth mole").

[Hanny]

Cyclops, Greeks in the ancient world looked at mamoth skulls in sicly, saw it had a huge central eye socket, (where the trunk used to be) and invented the cyclops to explain the skull.

[Exarch]

Could they be based on extinct animals, possibly even dinosaurs? Either from fossils or perhaps surviving ones? I know that any surviving is highly unlikely so I'm asking more about them being based off fossils.

ignoring the snide comments by other clowns on this thread, i think it's an interesting thesis

myths and legends of dragons appear to be highly influenced by fossils of dinosaurs; in chinese medicine, long gu-which are fossil bones-literally mean 'dragon bones'

the basilisk i think is inspired from cobras

[Cimberius]

I recall reading some American Indian tribes had legends of a giant bear with a tail growing out of it's face - perhaps a relic memory of mammoths or mastodons.

[Claudius Gothicus]

All of these prehistorical ''mythic beasts'' make me think of this

[Exarch]

All of these prehistorical ''mythic beasts'' make me think of this

so what's the basis for this myth?
midgets who liked to drink blood?

[Claudius Gothicus]

so what's the basis for this myth?
midgets who liked to drink blood?

sorry, I meant these guys...

[Himster]

so what's the basis for this myth?
midgets who liked to drink blood?

Nope, they're dolls (My uncle bought one in Malaysia) made of leather and stuff, not very unlike shrunken pigmie heads of peru. It's believed that you can feed your doll by leaving a bowl of blood beside them, the blood magically disapears.

[FabianScarus]

I believe the cyclopi came to be because of the findings of dwarf elephant skulls which looked, to the untrained eye, like it had a large eye socket in the middle of the skull.

[Angrychris]

well your wrong but good guess

[Armatus]

would one of these do it?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7y...-snake_animals

[Nikos]

Moved to the Athenaeum

-Nikos

[Helm]

They all exist but on the spiritual plane in the astral dimensions, to see them you must journey between the worlds.

[Armatus]

That were probably inspired by real life experiences and fears of the unknown. The world was a wild place before our time, today we look for bigfoot and Nessy, and think could something like that survive in our time, but in the ancient world it would be much more probably to have champions of the animal kingdom.

[Ludicus]

That were probably inspired by real life experiences and fears of the unknown

Indeed. For example, when the oceans were still unexplored, these fears often took the form of imaginary monsters. The Cape of Good Hope - history and the imaginary.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The monster that lies at the edge of the sea
In the pitch dark of night rose up and flew;
Around the ship it soared three times,
Three times it swooped a-screaching,
And cried: "Who can it be that dared to enter
My caverns that I never disclose,
My pitch dark roofs on the edge of the world?
And the man at the helm cried out all a-tremble:
"Our noble King John the Second!"

"Whose are the sails over which I skim?
Whose are the keels I see and hear?"
So said the monster, and thrice it circled,
Thrice it did swirl so filthy and huge.
"Who comes to do what only I can,
I who dwell where none did ever see me
And drain the fears of the fathomless sea?"
And the man at the helm did tremble and say:
"Our noble King John the Second!"

Three times from the helm his hands he raised,
Three times on the helm he lay them down,
And said, three times having trembled:
"Here at the helm I am more than I am:
I am a people who want the sea that is yours;
And stronger than a monster, that my soul doth fear
Which soars in the dark at the edge of the world,
Is the commanding will, that binds me to the helm,
Of our noble King John the Second!"

[Elfdude]

Could they be based on extinct animals, possibly even dinosaurs? Either from fossils or perhaps surviving ones? I know that any surviving is highly unlikely so I'm asking more about them being based off fossils.

All over europe there's supposed dragon bones etc. Most of the bones have been identified as large animal bones. Elephants, rhinos, big lizards and extinct creatures are amongst the favorite bones to be claimed as mythological bones.

[Armatus]

The First Fossil Hunters:
Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times
Adrienne Mayor
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6811.html

Griffins, Centaurs, Cyclopes, and Giants--these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions?