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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7842043" data-attributes="member: 58172">More Draco (plural Dracones) from the Roman cavalry banners.These two Draco come from Trajans Column from the century 100s.One Draco has a lionlike head, the other a wolflike head.<img src="http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco9.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco10.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Next is a funerary stele in Britain dating to roughly 200, in Chester, England. A cavalry standard bearer carries a military Draco.<img src="http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco11.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />During the 200s, this coin depicts the Roman emperor Trajan Decius, probably carrying a Draco.<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Dacia_with_draco_on_antoninianus_of_Trajan_Decius%2C_AD_251.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />A famous Draco head was discovered in Germany, in Niederbieder, dating to the 200s. The head is made out of copper. This dragon snake head looks more like an earless snake with scales. But it has some kind of crest. Also it has teeth and lacks fangs.<img src="http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Below are Draco from the Arch of Galerius, during the 300s. The heads are unclear, but there are at least four Draco banners waving serpentinely during a military formation..<img src="http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco15.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />During Post-Classical Period (corresponding to the Byzantine Period, the Migration Period, and so on), such Roman military Draco, are the kind of ‘Draco’ that Europeans have in mind.When these and later Europeans see the word ‘Draco’ mentioned in ancient texts, such as bestiaries or the Bible, this banner is how they imagine this specific kind of snake to look like.Texts mention the Draco banner still in use during the 500s, and seems to stop functioning for the Roman and Byzantine militaries during the 600s. Nevertheless, the use of the Draco as a military standard persists elsewhere.The famous Bayeux Tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings in year 1066. It is thought to be embroidered in England during the 1000s, and informed by the eyewitness survivors of that battle. (Probably, it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, a half-brother of William the Conquerer.)Remarkably, the tapestry depicts the ‘Dragon of Wessex’. It is a red Draco wind-sock banner, carried by a military standard bearer.<img src="http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco18.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Notice, during the 1000s, this military Draco in Britain portrays this red snake as having forelegs. The animal head is ambiguous: it might be lion-like or wolf-like.This is the kind of ‘Draco’ that illustrates many bestiaries concerning the python, called a Draco in Latin.The Draco military banner remained in use. It defined what medieval Europeans knew about what the reallife Draco looked like − namely the python.</blockquote>

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