I always liked that icon. He saves the princess; there'd be no
Super Mario Bros' without St George and the Dragon.
They knew it was symbolic (below is from one of many
historical/theological texts) - but the mixture of real and
symbolism is an interesting one:
"Clearly the story and image of St George killing the dragon has
been understood symbolically from the beginning, reaching its
iconographic climax in the 15th and 16th centuries. Therefore it
is not, either *modern and enlightened* on the one hand, nor
*hyper-rational and critical* on the other to give this symbolic
meaning to icons of St George killing the dragon: the medieval
Christians before us understood it too."
Was there a literal beast? Today's jaded minds like to imagine
everything ancients talked about as if they believed everything
just as the words say, but the ancient world was just as full of
symbolism and metaphor as today.
So, there's no way to set up percentages. Theological texts
always spoke of the dragon symbolically, as a meme-worthy
substitute for the darkness within the hearts of mankind, and
every attribute of the dragon linked to all-too-human frailties.
Yet, at the time, hard-distinctions were less important, so long
as the message came across: "This is some powerful shit here and
you might want to consider getting your village to join us."
Marketing campaign. it's like what Neil DeGrasse Tyson does for
Science. Same idea.
