Monday, September 19, 2016

Dragon Spotlight 10: Leviathan

Greetings all!  As the semester continues, so does our weekly dragon spotlight!  As promised last week, we’ll be looking at the great water beast Leviathan, a monster so popular that its name can substitute for any enormous sea monster.

Leviathan is described in Job 41 in the Old Testament with many dragon like features:

14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
     ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has rows of shields
     tightly sealed together;
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
      its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth;
      sparks of fire shoot out.

As time moved on, Leviathan was paired with increasingly fierce descriptions, so that in many Christian texts the Leviathan is given an more evil connotation and has even been said to swallow the souls of the damned on Judgement Day.  



Rachel’s drawing of Leviathan is based on the mosasaur. Mosasaurs (which were recently featured in the film Jurassic World) are an extinct group of marine reptiles, distantly related to modern monitor lizards. These aquatic predators are thought to have swallowed their prey whole like a snake, and so they make for perfect inspiration for Leviathan, who is associated with swallowing souls.

Like our friend Behemoth from last week (and the Leviathan’s possible partner in crime), this fearsome sea dragon has inspired films.  In fact, Leviathan has been the title of two films, one in 1989 and another, from Russia, in 2014.




If you've ever seen either one, or have the time to watch them, let us know what they're all about! Until next week, dragon fans!

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