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"The dragons of
legend are strangely like actual creatures that have lived in the past. They are much like the great reptiles [dinosaurs],
which inhabited the earth long before man is supposed to have appeared on earth." (Knox Wilson, "Dragon", The World Book
Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, 1973, pg. 265.)
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A search for
the word "dragon" in the King James Version of the Bible produces 34 separate matches across 10 different books written between
approximately 2000 BC and 90 AD. The word "dragon" (Hebrew: tannin) is used throughout the Old Testament, and most
directly translates as "sea or land monsters." In the Book of Job, the author describes the great creatures, Behemoth (Job
40) and Leviathan (Job 41). Although the latest Bible translations use the words elephant, hippo or crocodile instead of Behemoth
and Leviathan, the original Hebrew and the context of the descriptions do not allow for these interpretations.
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