Claim CH712.1:
Job 41 describes Leviathan, a dinosaur-like
creature, as
fire breathing. This suggests that some dinosaurs could breathe fire.
Humans lived at the time as these dinosaurs and preserved the memory as
fire-breathing dragons.
Source:
Gish, Duane T., 1977. Dinosaurs: Those Terrible Lizards. El Cajon,
CA:
Master Book, pp. 51-55.
Response:
- If dinosaurs could breathe fire, they would have had adaptations around
their mouths to protect their mouth and throat from flame. Nothing
resembling such an adaptation has ever been seen.
- Fire breathing in myth and legend is not limited to dragons. There are
also fire-breathing snakes from the Chippewa (Norman 1990, 127-131),
fire-breathing bulls from the Greek (Ovid 1958, bk. 7), and
fire-breathing horses from the Bible (Rev. 9:17-18). Fire breathing is
a folkloric motif not to be taken literally.
- Not uncommonly, dragons have other fantastic properties not found in
dinosaurs, such as multiple heads (such as in the Grimms' story "The
Two Brothers," and the basmu from Akkadian myth; Dalley 1989, 323).
Legendary creatures are poor evidence for biblical literalism.
References:
- Dalley, Stephanie, 1989. Myths From Mesopotamia, Oxford University
Press.
- Grimm and Grimm, 1944. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales, New York:
Pantheon Books.
- Norman, Howard, 1990. Northern Tales, Traditional Stories of Eskimo
and Indian Peoples, New York: Pantheon Books.
- Ovid (transl. by Horace Gregory), 1958. The Metamorphoses, New York:
Viking Press.
created 2003-9-22
