logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2022
29m 7s

From Ancient Ireland to Westeros: A Hist...

FIN DWYER
About this episode

In this special episode brought to you by NOW, I look into why humans are fascinated with dragons. Did you know mythology around dragons is older than organised religion and spiritual beliefs of any kind? Meanwhile images of dragons has been found on all continents in societies from ancient Ireland to China. In this podcast I look at why dragon myths are so old, where did this mythology came from and what does it mean? 


Additional narrations - Aidan Crowe


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Feb 25
The Irish in America's Indian Wars: A Dark History
In the late nineteenth century the United States pushed west and its expansion unleashed devastating violence against Native Americans. Forced from their lands and herded onto reservations Native communities faced a relentless campaign of dispossession and massacre. Thousands of ... Show More
50m 58s
Feb 18
Wild Animals and Public Entertainment in Georgian Ireland
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, lions, tigers and even elephants toured towns and cities across Ireland. Long before modern zoos, travelling menageries brought wild animals from across the globe into marketplaces, fairgrounds and urban streets. For many peo ... Show More
28m 54s
Feb 11
Why Didn't the Romans Invade Ireland?
While the Roman Empire conquered much of western Europe and established a powerful presence in Britain, Ireland remained beyond its grasp. But why? In this episode, I am joined by Dr Jacqueline Cahill Wilson to explore how Ireland interacted with the Roman world. It is a complex ... Show More
55m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
461. Dragons
"When dragons flew to war… everything burned. I do not wish to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone." Dragons - the most compelling of mythical beasts - are one of the most vivid creations of all human imagination, and their enduring resonance is captivatingly displayed by their r ... Show More
54m 16s
Jan 2022
Dragons Exist In Nearly Every Culture’s Mythology As a Mirror of Their Fears. What Are Ours?
We live in the golden age of dragons – they appear in Game of Thrones, most film adaptations of the works of J.R.R. Tolkein, and nearly everything tangentially related to fantasy. They date back millennia, appearing in every cultures mythology, from ancient Greece and India to me ... Show More
50m 18s
Oct 2023
L'ennemi juré d'Apollon : Python
<p>Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour !</p><p>Dans cette mini-série, nous explorons tous ces dragons qui, dans les mythologies grecque, japonaise, babylonienne et scandinave, crachaient du sang noir, du venin, de l’eau ou des vapeurs fétides. Eh oui, le dragon était parfois une ... Show More
5m 48s
Sep 2023
Aux origines de la mythologie japonaise : Yamata-no-Orochi
<p>Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour !</p><p>Dans cette mini-série, nous explorons tous ces dragons qui, dans les mythologies grecque, japonaise, babylonienne et scandinave, crachaient du sang noir, du venin, de l’eau ou des vapeurs fétides. Eh oui, le dragon était parfois une ... Show More
5m 45s
Oct 2023
Fafnir, ou comment devenir un dragon
<p>Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour ! </p><p>Dans cette mini-série, nous explorons tous ces dragons qui, dans les mythologies grecque, japonaise, babylonienne et scandinave, crachaient du sang noir, du venin, de l’eau ou des vapeurs fétides. Eh oui, le dragon était parfois un ... Show More
5m 58s
Oct 2023
Tiamat, la mère de tous les dragons
<p>Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour !</p><p>Dans cette mini-série, nous explorons tous ces dragons qui, dans les mythologies grecque, japonaise, babylonienne et scandinave, crachaient du sang noir, du venin, de l’eau ou des vapeurs fétides. Eh oui, le dragon était parfois une ... Show More
6m 10s
Sep 2020
Dragons
Before “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones,” dragons stalked the pages of mythology across the world. The European version became a powerful metaphor for the evils that supposedly stalked mankind. And that's where we get the most iconic European Dragon Story, featuring a man ... Show More
50m 14s
Nov 2023
Human Evolution: Dragon Man
<p>Homo longi, also known as Dragon Man, is an extinct archaic human species - with a nearly complete skull found near Harbin, China, dating back to at least 146,000 years ago. Discovered in 1933 during the construction of the Dongjiang Bridge, it remained hidden until 2018 due t ... Show More
35 m
Feb 2024
Dragons: From the Ancient World to the Hobbit
<p>Take dinosaur bones, snake poison, volcanic lava, fear of the unknown. Mix it all together and you have a dragon!</p><br><p>Today we're finding out about the ancient origins of dragons and why there used to be a much wider variety of dragon types than we see today. Our guide i ... Show More
41m 25s
Apr 2024
Welsh mythology: everything you wanted to know
What do white horses symbolise in Welsh mythology? What is the Mabinogion? Was King Arthur from Wales? And why do fairy folk hold a particularly sinister place in Welsh folklore? Speaking to Elinor Evans, Mark Rees takes listeners on a tour of the remarkable creatures and stories ... Show More
52m 31s