Written by David Caldwell · 29 August 2025

St George and the Dragon: From Ancient Myth to England’s Patron Saint

Introduction: Between Legend and History

Few figures embody the curious blend of myth, faith, and national identity as fully as St. George. To the popular imagination he is the knight on horseback, spearing a monstrous dragon while rescuing a princess - an image painted in churches, carved on cathedrals, and flown on banners of English armies.

But beneath this iconic story lies a much older current. The dragon-slaying legend is not unique to George, nor to Christianity. It echoes through Egyptian, Greek, Phoenician, and Semitic traditions - tales of gods and heroes defeating monstrous embodiments of chaos. Only later was this narrative fused with the life of George of Lydda, a Roman soldier and Christian martyr, creating the legend we now know.

Ancient Roots: Dragons, Serpents, and Monsters

The battle of man against serpent or monster is one of the most ancient symbolic stories of humanity.

• In Egyptian mythology, Horus fought Typhon/Set, the serpent of chaos, a cosmic battle of light against darkness.
• In Phoenicia, inscriptions and coins show gods on horseback slaying serpent-like beasts, often identified with Baal or Reshep overcoming sea monsters. One inscription even equates this figure with Michael, the archangel who ?slays the old dragon.?
• In Greek myth, Perseus rescued Andromeda from a sea monster at Joppa (modern Jaffa, Israel). To this day, ?Andromeda?s Rock? is pointed out off Jaffa?s coast as the spot where she was chained, awaiting death.

Here, already, are the elements of St. George?s legend: the dragon, the maiden in peril, the hero with divine favour.

From Pagan to Christian: The Shrine at Lydda

The city of Lydda (modern Lod, Israel) was central to this fusion. Long associated with the worship of sea gods like Dagon, it later became the burial place of St. George. Arabic tradition identified the site with al-Khidr, the mysterious green prophet of the Qur?an, while Christian pilgrims venerated it as the martyr?s shrine.

By late antiquity, the overlapping of traditions was complete: at Lydda, dragon-slaying myths of Baal, Dagon, and Perseus merged with the cult of George. To the surrounding peoples, it was ?only natural that the Christian martyr absorbed the pagan legend to himself.?

The Historical George: Soldier and Martyr

Behind the legend of dragons and princesses lies the story of a real man. George was born around AD 270?280 in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey), the son of noble Christian parents. His father, a soldier, died young in battle; his mother returned with George to her family?s estate at Lydda (Lod) in Palestine, where he was raised.

Gifted with both intelligence and physical strength, George joined the Roman army as a young man. Rising quickly through the ranks, he became a tribune, serving directly under Emperor Diocletian.

It was a dangerous time to be a Christian. While Diocletian initially tolerated Christians in the army and court, his advisers persuaded him that they were enemies of the Empire. In AD 303, Diocletian unleashed a brutal persecution. Christians were expelled from military service, churches destroyed, and clergy imprisoned.

George, rather than renounce his faith, is said to have resigned his command, freed his slaves, and distributed his wealth to the poor, openly declaring himself a Christian before the Emperor and Senate. Such defiance sealed his fate.

According to tradition, George endured torture and imprisonment before being beheaded at Nicomedia (near modern-day Izmit, Turkey) on April 23rd, 303. His body was later taken to Lydda, where a shrine was built over his tomb - a place venerated by Christians for centuries and still revered today by multiple faiths.

The Making of a Legend

George?s martyrdom alone would have been enough to secure his sainthood. Early Church Fathers such as Eusebius, St. Jerome, and later Bede praised him as a steadfast soldier of Christ. By the sixth century, however, his story began to change.

It was at this time that the dragon episode entered his legend. The tale is most famously told in the Golden Legend, a medieval collection of saints? lives compiled in the 13th century:

• A dragon terrorised the city of Silene in Libya (sometimes identified with Cyrene).
• To appease it, the townsfolk offered two sheep daily. When the sheep ran out, they offered their children, chosen by lot.
• At last, the king?s daughter was chosen. Clad as a bride, she was led to the dragon?s lair.
• George appeared, made the sign of the cross, and wounded the beast with his lance.
• He then told the people he would slay the dragon if they converted to Christianity. The king and townsfolk agreed; George killed the monster, and 15,000 people were baptised.

This story, while fantastical, echoed far older myths. To Christian writers, it became an allegory: the dragon symbolised Satan or paganism, the maiden represented the Church, and George stood for Christ?s champion.

From East to West: The Crusaders and the Rise of St George

The legend of St. George travelled westward with pilgrims and merchants, but it was the Crusades that carried his fame into the heart of Europe.

When Richard the Lionheart besieged Acre in 1191, chroniclers reported that George himself appeared to the crusading armies, mounted on a white horse, bearing a red cross, and striking down the enemy with his heavenly sword. Whether vision or propaganda, this tale gave the Crusaders courage and established George as a warrior saint.

The Crusaders also encountered his shrine at Lydda, which they repaired and enlarged. Richard I of England built a cathedral there in his honour. To knights far from home, George became the embodiment of Christian chivalry - a soldier who defended the weak, a martyr who triumphed over persecution, and a saint who fought against the forces of darkness.

By the 14th century, St. George?s cult was firmly established in England. King Edward III, seeking to unite his knights under a common banner, founded the Order of the Garter in 1348, dedicating it to St. George. His cry of battle, ?Ha! St. Edward! Ha! St. George!? became the rallying call of English armies. Shakespeare later immortalised it in Henry V:

?Cry God for Harry, England, and St. George!?

From then on, George was more than a saint; he was the spiritual champion of the English nation. His red cross on a white field became the national emblem, still seen today in the flag of England.

Allegory and Symbolism

Not all took the dragon tale literally. Even in the Middle Ages, some recognised it as allegory. The dragon, many said, was simply the Evil One or the countless enemies of the Church. The maiden symbolised the Christian people, helpless before persecution, until defended by their champion.

Others offered more pragmatic explanations: crocodiles were known along the Nile, and stories of monstrous beasts easily found their way into medieval imagination. Victorian writers frequently pointed out the echoes of Perseus and Andromeda, noting that it was ?only natural that the Christian martyr absorbed the pagan legend to himself.?

Thus, the story endured not because it was history, but because it was myth with meaning - a tale that carried moral and spiritual truth across centuries.

The Real St. George: Lydda, Jaffa, and the Landscape of Legend

The story of St. George is inseparable from the land where he lived and died - the ancient region of Palestine, crossroads of empires and religions.

George?s mother was from Lydda, a bustling town on the coastal plain between Jerusalem and Jaffa. When George was martyred under Diocletian in 303 AD, his body was returned there and buried. A shrine was soon built over his tomb, and by the fourth century pilgrims were already venerating the site. Today, the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Lod (modern Lydda, Israel) still marks the place where his relics are said to rest.

Just twenty kilometres to the west lies Jaffa, one of the oldest ports in the world. Here local tradition identified the rocks offshore as the place where Andromeda had been chained and rescued by Perseus. Ancient authors like Josephus and Pliny noted this legend, and well into the medieval period travellers were shown the very rock.

Thus within a day?s walk, two traditions stood side by side:

• At Jaffa, the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda.
• At Lydda, the Christian martyrdom of George.

It was only natural that the two narratives intertwined. The dragon of George mirrored the sea monster of Perseus; the princess of Silene echoed Andromeda chained at Joppa. In this fertile land of overlapping myths, the Christian martyr absorbed the pagan legend, transforming him from soldier and saint into dragon-slayer.

Palestine, then, was not only the land of Christ but the land where pagan antiquity met Christian legend, and where George?s cult first took root before spreading across the medieval world.

From Martyr to National Patron: St. George in England

St. George?s journey from obscure martyr in Palestine to patron saint of England was neither simple nor immediate. For centuries, England had other heavenly protectors - notably St. Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia, and Edward the Confessor, the pious Saxon king.

It was the Crusades that made George a familiar figure to English knights. The Crusaders brought home stories of his miraculous appearances in battle and spread devotion to his shrine at Lydda. By the 12th century, churches dedicated to St. George were springing up across England, and his feast day (April 23rd) was being kept with increasing solemnity.

The defining moment came under Edward III. In 1348, amid the Hundred Years? War, Edward founded the Order of the Garter, dedicating it to St. George. The following year, he formally declared George the patron saint of England, replacing Edward the Confessor. From then on, the cry of ?St. George for England!? echoed on the battlefield, and his red cross on a white banner became the standard of English armies.

Shakespeare gave poetic voice to this national devotion in Henry V, when the king exhorts his soldiers at Agincourt:

?Cry God for Harry, England, and St. George!?

From that moment, George was no longer just a saint of Palestine - he was the eternal Christian knight of England, a symbol of courage, sacrifice, and the defence of faith.

Allegory, Faith, and Myth

Though few in later centuries believed in dragons, the story of George?s combat never lost its power. For the faithful, the dragon represented evil in all its forms - tyranny, heresy, sin, and persecution. The maiden he rescued was the Christian Church, threatened but never overcome.

Others viewed the tale as a cultural memory: the dragon as the crocodile or serpent of the East, the maiden as a localised echo of Andromeda at Jaffa. For rationalists, the story was allegory; for artists and poets, it was inspiration.

Whatever the interpretation, the legend endured because it captured something essential about human hope: that evil, no matter how monstrous, could be faced and overcome by courage, faith, and sacrifice.

Conclusion: The Saint at the Crossroads of Myth and Nation

The figure of St. George stands where myth, faith, and national identity converge.

• In Egypt, he echoes Horus fighting Typhon, the eternal battle of light against darkness.
• In Greece, he recalls Perseus slaying the sea monster at Jaffa, rescuing Andromeda from her chains.
• In Phoenicia, he reflects Reshep and Baal, gods who battled the powers of the deep.
• In Christian Palestine, he became a real man: a soldier who laid down his sword for his faith, martyred at Lydda in 303 AD.

By the Middle Ages, these strands were woven together. The dragon became the symbol of evil; the princess, the Church; George, the champion of Christendom. To Crusaders, he was the heavenly knight who appeared on the battlefield. To English kings, he was the patron who united knights under one banner. To the faithful, he was both martyr and myth, the soldier-saint who faced death without fear.

His cult endures because it touches something timeless: the longing for a protector, the hope that chaos can be overcome, and the belief that faith can inspire courage. Even today, the red cross of St. George flies not just as a national flag but as a symbol of that ancient truth.

As one Victorian writer remarked, ?It was only natural that the Christian martyr absorbed the pagan legend to himself.? And so he did - carrying forward echoes of Horus, Perseus, and Michael into the story of England?s saint.