Constellations
Hydra (watersnake - female)
Legend tells us that Hydra was a terrible monster that lived in the marshes of Lerna. The beast had numerous heads with
the added horror that if a head was cut off, two would instantly grow back in its place. Hercules and his nephew Iolaus decided
to hunt down Hydra and kill it. Hercules would cut off a head and Ioleus would immediately burn the wound to prevent the heads
from growing back. The central head of the monster was immortal, but Hercules overcame this obstacle by burying it under a
rock.
Draco (The Dragon)
There are two different stories about this constellation:
The dragon was one of the monsters fighting with the Titans, the elder gods, in the war in which the younger Olympian gods
fought for power over the elders to take command of the universe. Dragon confronted the goddess, Athena. She grabbed it by
the tail and threw it into the sky. It hit heaven's dome, and was twisted by the rotation of the sky. Because the Dragon struck
the sky in the cold regions near the North Pole, it froze in place. And so we see it twisted up in the sky to this day.
In the second story, the dragon is Ladon who guarded the legendary tree that the beautiful apples of gold grew. The tree
belonged to the goddess Hera and told the Hesperides to guard it. The Hesperides were the three daughters of the Titan, Atlas.
They were irresponsible girls who persisted in stealing the apples from the tree for themselves. So Hera set dragon Ladon
to guard the tree. Hercules then killed the Dragon so he could steal the golden apple because this was his eleventh task.
He shot it with arrows poisoned with the blood of the Hydra. Hera put the Dragon into the sky as the constellation of Draco.
"Dragon" in Other Languages
| LANGUAGE |
ENG. SPELLING |
LANGUAGE |
ENG. SPELLING |
| Arabic |
thuban |
Italian |
drago |
| Chinese |
lung |
Japaneese |
ryuu |
| Dansk |
drage |
Latin |
draco |
| Dutch |
draak |
Nepalese |
naga |
| Finnish |
lohikäärme |
Norwegian |
drage |
| French |
dragon |
Polish |
smok |
| German |
drache |
Portugeese |
dragão |
| Greek |
drakon |
Roman |
draco |
| Hawiian |
kelekona |
Romanian |
dracul |
| Hebrew |
drakon |
Russian |
dragon |
| Hungarian |
sarkany |
Spanish |
dragón |
| Icelandic |
dreki |
Sweedish |
drake |
| Islamic |
th'uban |
Welsh |
draig |
Dragons Found in the Bible
Job 30:29
"I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls."
Isaiah 27:1
"In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent,
even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."
Jeremiah 9:11
"And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate,
without an inhabitant."
Revelation 16:13
"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth
of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet."
Did You Know...
- There are two cities named Dragon in the U.S. One is in Mississippi, and one is in Utah.
- There is a city named Dragonville in Virginia
- There are thirteen cities named drake in the U.S. They are in California, Conetticut, Kentucky, Montana,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pensilvania, and there's two in South Carolina and Arizona.
- There is a city named Hydra in Idaho.
- There are three cities named Draco in the U.S. They are in North Carolina, Pensilvania, and Texas.
