The narrative of Bel and the Dragon incorporated as chapter 14 of the extended Book of Daniel exists only in Greek in the Septuagint. This chapter, along with chapter 13, is referred to as deuterocanonical, in that it is not universally accepted among Christians as belonging to the canonical works accepted as the Bible. The text is viewed as canonical by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians but as apocryphal by Protestants and typically not found in modern Protestant Bibles, though it was in the original 1611 edition of the King James Version. It is listed in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England.^[1]

Narratives[link]

Daniel,Bel and the Dragon (France, 15th century).

Stephan Kessler's Daniel, King Cyrus in Bel's Temple

The chapter is formed of three independent narratives,^[2] which place Daniel at the court of Cyrus, king of the Persians: "When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom."^[3] There Daniel "was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends" (14:1).

The narrative of Bel (14:1-22) ridicules the worship of idols. In it, the king asks Daniel, "Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living god? seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?" to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered by bronze and thus, cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.

Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who entered through a secret door when the temple's doors were sealed.

The next morning, Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple's floor; the priests of Bel were then arrested and, confessing their deed, showed the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are then put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the "locked room mystery".^[4]

In the brief but autonomous companion narrative of the dragon (14:23-30), "there was a great Dragon, which they of Babylon worshiped." In this case the supposed god is no idol, but an animal. However, Daniel slays the dragon by baking pitch, fat, and hair (trichas) to make cakes (mazas, barley-cakes, but translated "lumps") that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption. In other variants, other ingredients serve the purpose: in a form known to the Midrash, straw was fed in which nails were hidden,^[5] or skins of camels were filled with hot coals,^[6] or in the Alexander cycle of Romances it was Alexander the Great who overcame the dragon by feeding it poison and tar.^[7]

The parallel with the contest between Marduk and Tiamat, in which winds (sâru) controlled by Marduk burst Tiamat open, has been noted by many informed readers;^[8] barley-cake plays the same role as the wind^[9]

As a result, the Babylonians are indignant. "The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slaughtered the priests," they say, and demand that Daniel be handed over to them.

The third narrative (14:31-42), Daniel in the Lions' Den, is apparently Daniel's first or second trip. It has been made into a consequence of the preceding episode, but the Septuagint precedes it with the notice, "From the prophecy of Habakkuk, son of Jesus, of the tribe of Levi." Daniel remains unharmed in the den with seven lions, fed by the miraculous transportation of the prophet Habakkuk. "Upon the seventh day the king went to bewaile Daniel: and when he came to the den, he looked in, and behold, Daniel was sitting. Then cried the king with a loud voyce, saying, Great art thou, O Lord God of Daniel, and there is none other besides thee. And he drew him out: and cast those that were the cause of his destruction into the den: and they were devoured in a moment before his face."

The Greek text of "Bel and the Dragon" exists in two versions. One, represented in a minority of manuscripts, sometimes called the "Old Greek" version, seems to represent the Septuagint translation, evidently so unsatisfactory that the early Church opted to substitute Theodotion's version in its place, in the official copies of the LXX that have survived.

See also[link]

• Book of Daniel
• Deuterocanonical books

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Jewish Encyclopedia, "Bel and the Dragon"
• Daniel 14 in the NAB

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Bible (King James)/Bel

Look up dragon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or otherwise reptilian traits.

Dragon may also refer to:

Literature[link]

• Dragon (Clive Cussler novel), a 1990 adventure novel by Clive Cussler
• Dragon (Steven Brust novel), a 1998 fantasy novel
• Dragon (fantasy series), a novel series by Laurence Yep
• The Dragon (story), by Ray Bradbury
• The Dragon (poem), a poem by A.K.Tolstoy
• Dragon: the Old Potter's Tale, a 1919 short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
• Dragon Magazine (Fujimi Shobo), a Japanese light novel magazine
• Dragon (Sinhala short story), by Anandasiri Kalapugama

Music[link]

• Dragon (band), a New Zealand – Australian rock band
• Dragons (band), an English band
• The Dragons (band), defunct San Diego glam-rock band
• Dragon (Jake Shimabukuro album)
• Dragon (Loudness album), 1998
• The Dragon (Vangelis album), 1978
• Dragon Records, a record label
• "Dragon", a song by The Sugarcubes on the album Life's Too Good

Film and television[link]

• Dragon (TV series) a children's TV series premiering in 2004
• Dragon Shiryu is Friend for Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya.
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, a 1993 biographical film
• The business experts on the reality TV series Dragons' Den
• Dragons, another name for the film How to Train Your Dragon
• Dragon (2006 film), a 2006 action/fantasy film

Games and sport[link]

• Dragon boat, a long, narrow canoe-style boat
• Dragon (keelboat), a sailing yacht
• Dragon (magazine), a Dungeons & Dragons magazine
• The Dragon (road), a motorsporting destination in North Carolina, United States
• Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation, a chess opening
• Dragon tiles, a type of honor tile in Mahjong
• Dragon, a version of the video game Mega Man Star Force

Teams[link]

• AS Dragon, a soccer team in Guadeloupe
• AS Dragon, a soccer team in Tahiti
• AS Dragons, a soccer team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• AS Dragons FC de l'Ouémé, a soccer team in Benin
• Barcelona Dragons, a former American football team in Spain
• Belgrade Blue Dragons, an American football team in Serbia
• Cardiff City Blue Dragons, a former rugby league team in Wales, United Kingdom
• Catalans Dragons, a rugby league club in France
• C.D. Dragón, a soccer team in El Salvador
• Celtic Dragons, a netball team in Wales, United Kingdom
• Chesapeake Dragons, a soccer team in the United States
• China Dragon, an ice hockey team in Shanghai, China
• Chunichi Dragons, a baseball team in Japan
• Chunnam Dragons, a soccer team in South Korea
• Danville Dragons, an indoor football team in the United States
• Darwin Dragons SC, a soccer team in Australia
• Dayton Dragons, a baseball team in the United States
• Delft Dragons, an American Football team in the Netherlands
• Dragón FC, a soccer team in Equatorial Guinea
• Dragons de Rouen, an ice hockey team in France
• Drexel Dragons, the sports teams of Drexel University in the United States
• Drouin Dragons, a soccer team in Drouin, Victoria, Australia
• Dublin Dragons, an American Football Team in Ireland
• Dudelange Dragons, an American Football Team in Luxembourg
• Engadine Dragons, a junior rugby league team in Australia
• Glamorgan Dragons, a cricket team in the United Kingdom
• Golden Dragon F.C., a soccer team in Sierra Leone
• Jersey Dragons, a former soccer team in the United States
• Lane College Dragons, the sports teams of Lane College in the United States
• Los Angeles Dragons, a former American football team in the United States
• Moorhead Dragons, the sports teams of Minnesota State University Moorhead in the United States
• New York Dragons, an Arena Football League team in the United States
• Newport Gwent Dragons, a Rugby Union team in Wales
• Northcote Football Club, nicknamed the Northcote Dragons was an Australian Rules Football
• RC Dragon Brno, a rugby union team in the Czech Republic
• Phoenix Dragons, an inline hockey team in the United States
• St. George Dragons, a former rugby league team in Sydney, Australia
• St. George Illawarra Dragons, a rugby league football club in Australia
• San Antonio Dragons, a former ice hockey team in the United States
• San Francisco Dragons, a field lacrosse team in the United States
• Shellharbour City Dragons, a rugby league team in New South Wales, Australia
• Sichuan Dragons, a baseball team in China
• Thomasville Dragons, a former women's soccer team in Georgia, United States
• Tiffin Dragons, the sports teams at Tiffin University in Ohio, United States
• Verdun Dragons, a former ice hockey team in Canada
• Welcoat Dragons, a basketball team in the Philippines
• Wisconsin Dragons, a women's tackle football team in the United States

Mathematics and computing[link]

• Dragon (cipher)
• Dragon chip, a family of Chinese CPUs
• Dragon curve, a family of fractal curves
• Dragon Data, a Welsh computer manufacturer
  • Dragon 32/64, two 1980s home computers
• Dragon Systems, a speech recognition software company
• Dragon (remote sensing), several remote sensing image processing software packages

Transportation[link]

• Dragon Automobile Company
• HMS Dragon, the name of several Royal Navy ships
• B-23 Dragon, a twin-engined bomber aircraft
• de Havilland Dragon, a wooden biplane designed as an airliner
  • de Havilland Dragon Rapide, successor to the Dragon
• Dennis Dragon, a double-decker bus
• Dragon (spacecraft), a spacecraft
• Dragon (car), a Russian car manufacturer
• Dragon (1848–1872), a GWR Iron Duke Class locomotive
• Dragon (1873–1892), a South Devon Railway Buffalo class locomotive
• Dragon (1880–1892), a GWR Rover class locomotive
• Dragon, GWR 3031 Class locomotive that was built for and run on the Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1915
• Kaiser Dragon, an automobile made by the Kaiser car company in 1953.
• Dragonair, a Hong Kong-based airline

Plants and animals[link]

• Dragonfish
• Dragon fruit, a common name for the Pitaya
• Dragon Spruce (Picea asperata), an evergreen tree
• Dragon tree, a common name for the genus Dracaena
• Dragon herb, a common name for the herb tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus)
• Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), a monitor lizard from the island of Komodo
• Draco (genus), a flying (gliding) lizard from Asia
• Agamidae, some kinds of lizards found in Africa, Asia, Australia and parts of Europe
• The lizard genus Pogona (Bearded Dragons)
• The lizard Physignathus cocincinus (Chinese Water Dragon)
• Dragonfly, a winged predatory insect

People[link]

• Carmen Dragon (1914–1984), American conductor and composer
• Daryl Dragon (born 1942), American musician and member of Captain & Tennille
• Bruce Lee (1940–1973), Chinese actor and martial artist, nicknamed "The Dragon"
• Vlad II Dracul (1390–1447), duke of Wallachia, nicknamed "Vlad the Dragon"
• Lyoto Machida (born 1978), Brazilian martial artist, nicknamed "The Dragon"
• Ricky Steamboat (born 1953), American professional wrestler, nicknamed "The Dragon"
• Don "The Dragon" Wilson (born 1954), American champion kickboxer and actor
• Tatsumi Fujinami (born 1953), Japanese professional wrestler, nicknamed "The Dragon"

Dragons in fiction[link]

See also List of dragons in literature and List of dragons in popular culture.

• The Dragon (Beowulf), one of the main antagonists in Beowulf, an Old English heroic epic poem
• Dragons (Dragon Prince), in the works of Melanie Rawn
• Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons)
• Dragon (Middle-earth), in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien
• Dragons (Pern), in the works of Anne McCaffrey
• Dragon (Shrek)
• Dragon (Wheel of Time), in the works of Robert Jordan
• The Dog of Montarges, about a dog named Dragon, who solves his master's murder

Places[link]

• Dragon Hill, Uffington in the Vale of the White Horse
• Dragon, Utah, a ghost town

Other uses[link]

• Comodo Dragon (web browser), a freeware web browser based on Chromium.
• Dragon (rocket), a French sounding rocket
• Dragon (zodiac), Chinese zodiac symbol
• Dragon (Ninurta), in Sumerian mythology, one of the heroes slain by Ninurta
• Serpent (Bible), also referred to as the "Dragon" in the Book of Revelation
• Dragon (Adventureland), a roller coaster in Iowa, United States
• The Dragon (Ocean Park), a roller coaster in Hong Kong
• The Dragon Academy, a private school in Ontario, Canada
• Dragon Cone, a volcano in British Columbia, Canada
• Dragon Models Limited, a Hong Kong toy manufacturer
• Dragon reactor, a gas-cooled reactor in England
• Dragon School, a British preparatory school in Oxford, England
• HMM-265, a USMC helicopter squadron known as the Dragons
• M47 Dragon, a missile system
• The Dragon, a grouping of galaxies in the field of Abell 370
• A version of the blunderbuss firearm

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