View source for Saint George and the Dragon

{{Short description|Medieval legend}}

[[File:Albrecht Dürer, Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1501-1504, NGA 6715.jpg|thumb|220px|''Saint George Killing the Dragon'',
woodcut by [[Albrecht Dürer]] (1501/4)]]

In a legend, [[Saint George]]{{Emdash}}a soldier venerated in [[Christianity]]—defeats a [[dragon]]. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tribute once a day. And, one day, the princess herself was chosen as the next offering. As she was walking toward the dragon's cave, St. George saw her and asked her why she was crying. The princess told the saint about the dragon's atrocities and asked him to flee immediately, in fear that he might be killed too. But the saint refused to flee, slew the dragon, and rescued the princess. The narrative was first set in [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]] in the earliest sources of the 11th and 12th centuries, but transferred to [[Diocese of Africa|Libya]] in the 13th-century ''[[Golden Legend]]''.<ref name=Watley2004>[http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/whatley-saints-lives-in-middle-english-collections-st-george-and-the-dragon "St. George and the Dragon: Introduction"] in:
E. Gordon Whatley, Anne B. Thompson, Robert K. Upchurch, eds. (2004). ''Saints' Lives in Middle Spanish Collections''.</ref>

The narrative has pre-Christian origins ([[Golden Fleece|Jason and Medea]], [[Perseus and Andromeda]], [[Typhon]], etc.),<ref name=Watley2004/> and is recorded in various saints' lives prior to its attribution to Saint George specifically. It was particularly attributed to [[Saint Theodore Tiro]] in the 9th and 10th centuries, and was first transferred to Saint George in the 11th century. The oldest known record of Saint George slaying a dragon is found in a [[Georgian language|Georgian]] text of the 11th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Pavnisi|last=Privalova|first=E. L. |publisher=Metsniereba|year=1977|location=Tbilisi|page=73|language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/publications/Tuite-2020-St%20George-1-Old%20Georgian%20.pdf |title=Sharing Myths, Texts and Sanctuaries in the South Caucasus: Apocryphal Themes in Literatures, Arts and Cults from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages|chapter=The Old Georgian Version of the Miracle of St George, the Princess and the Dragon: Text, Commentary and Translation |last=Tuite |first=Kevin |editor-last=Dorfmann-Lazarev|editor-first=Igor|date=2022|publisher= Peeters|isbn=9789042947146|location=Leuven|pages=60–94|language=en}}</ref>

The legend and iconography spread rapidly through the Byzantine cultural sphere in the 12th century. It reached [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] tradition still in the 12th century, via the [[Crusades]]. The knights of the [[First Crusade]] believed that Saint George, along with his fellow [[military saint|soldier-saints]] [[Saint Demetrius|Demetrius]], [[Saint Maurice|Maurice]], [[Saint Theodore Tiro|Theodore]] and [[Saint Mercurius|Mercurius]], had fought alongside them at Antioch and Jerusalem. The legend was popularised in Western tradition in the 13th century based on its Latin versions in the ''[[Vincent of Beauvais#Great Mirror (Speculum Maius)|Speculum Historiale]]'' and the ''Golden Legend''. At first limited to the courtly setting of [[chivalric romance]], the legend was popularised in the 13th century and became a favourite literary and pictorial subject in the [[Late Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]], and it has become an integral part of the [[Saint George in devotions, traditions and prayers|Christian traditions relating to Saint George]] in both Eastern and Western tradition.

==Origins==
===Pre-Christian predecessors===
{{further|Chaoskampf|Thracian horseman|Saint Theodore Tiro|Tetri Giorgi|Verethragna|Zahhak|Perseus and Andromeda}}

The iconography of [[military saints]] [[Saint Theodore Tiro|Theodore]], George and [[Saint Demetrius|Demetrius]] as horsemen
is a direct continuation of the Roman-era "[[Thracian horseman]]" type iconography.
The iconography of the dragon appears to grow out of the [[Rod of Asclepius|serpent]] entwining the "tree of life" on one hand, and with the [[Draco (military standard)|''draco'' standard]] used by late [[Roman cavalry]] on the other.
Horsemen spearing serpents and boars are widely represented in Roman-era stelae commemorating cavalry soldiers.
A carving from [[Krupac (Pirot)|Krupac]], Serbia, depicts [[Apollo]] and [[Asclepius]] as Thracian horsemen, shown besides the serpent entwined around the tree. Another stele shows the [[Dioscuri]] as Thracian horsemen on either side of the serpent-entwined tree, killing a boar with their spears.<ref name=Stephenson179>Paul Stephenson, ''The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography'', Oxford University Press (2016),  [https://books.google.com/books?id=O72SDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA179 179–182].</ref>

The development of the hagiographical narrative of the dragon-fight parallels the development of iconography.
It draws from pre-Christian dragon myths. The [[Copts|Coptic]] version of the Saint George legend, edited by [[E. A. Wallis Budge]] in 1888, and estimated by Budge to be based on a source of the 5th or 6th century, names "governor Dadianus", the persecutor of Saint George as "the dragon of the abyss", a Greek myth with similar elements of the legend is the battle between [[Bellerophon]] and the [[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]]. Budge makes explicit the parallel to pre-Christian myth:

<blockquote>I doubt much of the whole story of Saint George is anything more than one of the many versions of the old-world story of the conflict between Light and Darkness, or [[Ra]] and [[Apep]]i, and [[Marduk]] and [[Tiamat]], woven upon a few slender threads of historical fact. Tiamat, the scaly, winged, foul dragon, and Apepi the powerful enemy of the glorious Sungod, were both destroyed and made to perish in the fire which he sent against them and their fiends: and Dadianus, also called the 'dragon', with his friends the sixty-nine governors, was also destroyed by fire called down from heaven by the prayer of Saint George.<ref>[[E. A. Wallis Budge]], ''The Martyrdom and Miracles of Saint George of Cappadocia'' (1888), [https://archive.org/stream/martyrdommiracle00budguoft#page/n37/mode/2up xxxi–xxxiii];
[https://archive.org/stream/martyrdommiracle00budguoft#page/206/mode/2up 206], [https://archive.org/stream/martyrdommiracle00budguoft#page/222/mode/2up 223].
Budge (1930), 33–44 also likens George against Dadianus to Horos against Set or Ra against Apep.
See also Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, ''Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins'' (1959), [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA518 p. 518] (fn 8).</ref></blockquote>

In anticipation of the Saint George iconography, first noted in the 1870s, a [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Coptic]] stone fenestrella shows a mounted hawk-headed figure fighting a crocodile, interpreted by the Louvre as [[Horus]] killing a metamorphosed [[Setekh]].<ref>Charles Clermont-Ganneau, "Horus et Saint Georges, d'après un bas-relief inédit du Louvre". Revue archéologique, 1876.
{{cite web|title=Horus on horseback {{!}} Louvre Museum {{!}} Paris|url=http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/horus-horseback|website=louvre.fr|access-date=2017-07-06|archive-date=2020-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807092731/https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/horus-horseback|url-status=dead}}.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:Burgas Archaeological Museum - Thracian rider - P1020149.JPG|[[Thracian horseman]] with serpent-entwined tree (2nd century)
File:Grosvenor Museums - Grabstein 2 Kavallerist.jpg|Funerary relief of a Roman cavalryman trampling a barbarian warrior (4th or 5th century).<br /> [[Grosvenor Museum]], [[Chester]]
File:Horus horseman-E 4850-IMG 4871-gradient.jpg|Fenestrella interpreted by the [[Louvre]] as [[Horus]] on horseback spearing [[Set (deity)|Set]] in the shape of a crocodile (4th century)
</gallery>

===Christianised iconography===
Depictions of "Christ militant" [[Christ treading on the beasts|trampling a serpent]] are found in Christian art of the late 5th century. Iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil becomes current in the early medieval period.
Iconographic representations of St Theodore as dragon-slayer are dated to as early as the 7th century, certainly by the early 10th century (the oldest certain depiction of Theodore killing a dragon is at [[Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar|Aghtamar]], dated {{Circa|920}}).<ref name=Johns2016/>
Theodore is reported as having destroyed a dragon near [[Euchaita]] in a legend not younger than the late 9th century.
Early depictions of a horseman killing a dragon are unlikely to represent Saint George, who in the 10th century was depicted as killing a human figure, not a dragon.{{sfnp|Walter|1995|p=320}}
[[File:Vinica Christopher George.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Vinica, North Macedonia|Vinica]] ceramic icon of Saints Christopher and George as dragon-slayers]]
The earliest image of St Theodore as a horseman (named in Latin) is from [[Vinica, North Macedonia]], and, if genuine, dates to the 6th or 7th century. Here, Theodore is not slaying a dragon, but holding a [[Draco (military standard)|''draco'' standard]].
One of the Vinica icons also has the oldest representation of Saint George with a dragon:
George stands besides a [[Cynocephaly|cynocephalous]] [[Saint Christopher]], both saints treading on snakes with human heads, and aiming at their heads with spears.<ref>Jan Bazant, "St. George at Prague Castle and Perseus: an Impossible Encounter?",
''Studia Hercynia'' 19.1-2 (2015), 189-201 (fig. 4).</ref>
Maguire (1996) has connected the shift from unnamed equestrian heroes used in household magic to the more regulated iconography of named saints to the closer regulation of sacred imagery following the [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|iconoclasm]] of the 730s.<ref name=Stephenson179/>

[[File:Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Drawing Arcus Einhardi, 17th c - detail4.jpg|thumb|upright|17th-century drawing of the ''Arcus Einhardi'']]
In the West, a [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian-era]] depiction of a Roman horseman trampling and piercing a dragon between two soldier saints with lances and shields was put on the foot of a ''crux gemmata'', formerly in the Treasury of the [[Basilica of Saint Servatius]] in Maastricht (lost since the 18th c.). The representation survives in a 17th-century drawing, now in the {{Lang|fr|[[Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]|italic=no}} in Paris.

[[File:Yilanli Kilise dragon.jpg|thumb|250px|The Yılanlı Kilise fresco of saints Theodore and George slaying the dragon]]
The "Christianisation" of the Thracian horseman iconography can be traced to the Cappadocian [[Churches of Göreme|cave churches of Göreme]], where frescoes of the 10th century show military saints on horseback confronting serpents with one, two or three heads. One of the earliest examples is from the church known as Mavrucan 3 ({{interlanguage link|Güzelöz, Yeşilhisar|tr}}), generally dated to the 10th century,<ref>"Thierry 1972, who dates the fresco to as early as the seventh century. However, this seems unlikely, as it would be three hundred years earlier than any other church fresco in the region."
Stephenson (2016),  [https://books.google.com/books?id=O72SDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA180 180 (fn 89)].
see also: {{harvp|Walter|2003}}, pp. 56, 125, plate 27.</ref> which portrays two "sacred riders" confronting two serpents twined around a tree, in a striking parallel to the Dioskuroi stela, except that the riders are now attacking the snake in the "tree of life" instead of a boar.
In this example, at least, there appear to be two snakes with separate heads, but other examples of 10th-century Cappadocia show polycephalous snakes.<ref name=Stephenson179/>

A poorly preserved wall-painting at the {{interlanguage link|Yılanlı Kilise (Göreme)|lt=Yılanlı Kilise|tr|Yılanlı Kilise (Göreme)}} ("Snake Church") that depicts the two saints Theodore and George attacking a dragon has been tentatively dated to the 10th century,<ref>{{harvp|Johns|2017}} {{plain link|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCJBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT170|name=p. 170}}
"the pairing of the two holy dragon-slayers has no narrative source, and the symbolic meaning of the scene is spelled out in an inscription written on both sides of the central cross, which compares the victory of the two saints over the dragon to Christ's triumph over evil on the cross."</ref> or alternatively even to the mid-9th.{{sfnp|Walter|2003|p=128}}{{request quotation|date=November 2019}}<!--apparently, Walter here says that there is no reason to assign it such an early date-->

A similar example, but showing three equestrian saints, Demetrius, Theodore and George, is from the "Zoodochos Pigi" chapel in central Macedonia in Greece, in the prefecture of [[Kilkis (regional unit)|Kilkis]], near the modern village of Kolchida, dated to the 9th or 10th century.<ref>Melina Paissidou, [http://ikee.lib.auth.gr/record/278662/files/Heroes_Cults_Saints_M_Paisidu.pdf "Warrior Saints as Protectors of the Byzantine Army in the Palaiologan Period: the Case of the Rock-cut Hermitage in Kolchida (Kilkis Prefecture)"], in: Ivanka Gergova
Emmanuel Moutafov (eds.), ''ГЕРОИ • КУЛТОВЕ • СВЕТЦИ / Heroes Cults Saints'' Sofija (2015), 181-198.</ref>

A 12th-century depiction of the mounted dragon-slayer, presumably depicting Theodore, not George, is found in four [[muqarna]] panels in the nave of the [[Cappella Palatina]] in [[Palermo]].<ref name=Johns2016>{{harvp|Johns|2017}} {{plain link|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCJBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT170|name=p. 170f.}}
Jeremy Johns, "Muslim Artists, Christian Patrons and the Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina (Palermo, Sicily, circa 1143 CE)", [https://darmuseum.org.kw/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Hadeeth-No.40-ENG.pdf Hadiith ad-Dar 40] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727074901/http://darmuseum.org.kw/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Hadeeth-No.40-ENG.pdf |date=2020-07-27 }} (2016), p. 15.</ref>

===Transfer to Saint George===
[[File:St Theodor & George Sinai 9-10th century.jpg|thumb|Saints Theodore and George shown side by side as equestrian heroes. Theodore kills a dragon and George a human enemy. [[Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai]], 9th or 10th century]]
The [[dragon]] motif was transferred to the George legend from that of his fellow [[soldier saint]], [[Saint Theodore Tiro]].<ref>Robertson, Duncan (1998), ''The Medieval Saints' Lives'', pp. 51 f.</ref>

The transfer of the dragon iconography from Theodore, or Theodore and George as "Dioskuroi" to George on his own, first becomes tangible in the early 11th century.<ref>Oya Pancaroğlu, “The Itinerant Dragon-Slayer: Forging Paths of Image and Identity in Medieval Anatolia.” Gesta 43, no. 2 (2004): 153. https://doi.org/10.2307/25067102</ref>
The oldest certain images of Saint George combatting the serpent are still found in [[Cappadocia (theme)|Cappadocia]].

==Golden Legend==
In the well-known version from [[Jacobus de Voragine]]'s ''[[Golden Legend|Legenda aurea]]'' (''The Golden Legend'', 1260s), the narrative episode of Saint George and the Dragon took place somewhere he called "Silene" in what in medieval times was referred to as "[[Ancient Libya|Libya]]" (basically anywhere in North Africa, west of the [[Nile]]).<ref>{{citation|author=Jacobus (de Voragine)|editor-last1=Graesse |editor-first1=Theodor |title=Cap. LVIII. De sancto Georgio |work=Legenda aurea: vulgo Historia lombardica dicta
|year=1890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1tHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA260 |pages=260–264}}</ref><ref name=golden-legend-caxton>{{citation|author=Jacobus (de Voragine)|editor-last1=Caxton |editor-first1=William (tr.)|title=Here followeth the Life of S. George Martyr |work=The Golden Legend: Or, Lives of the Saints|volume=3 |publisher=Dent |year=1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJhJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA126 |page=126}}</ref> Silene was being plagued by a venom-spewing [[European dragon|dragon]] dwelling in a nearby pond, poisoning the countryside. To prevent it from affecting the city itself, the people offered it two sheep daily, then a man and a sheep, and finally their children and youths, chosen by lottery. One time the lot fell on the king's daughter. The king offered all his gold and silver to have his daughter spared, but the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, dressed as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.

[[Saint George]], described as a "[[tribune]]" (Roman military commander), arrived at the spot. The princess tried to send him away, but he vowed to remain. The dragon emerged from the pond while they were conversing. Saint George made the [[Sign of the Cross]] and charged it on horseback, seriously wounding it with his lance.{{Efn|Caxton gives "with his spear", but Latin text gives ''{{lang|la|lanceam fortiter vibrans}}''.}} He then called to the princess to throw him her [[girdle]] ({{lang|la|zona}}; a rope-like belt), and he put it around the dragon's neck. Wherever she walked, the dragon followed the girl like a "meek beast" on a [[leash]].{{Efn|Caxton gives "meek beast", but Latin text gives "''[[wikt:mansueto|mansuetissima]] canis'' (tamest dog)".}}

The princess and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the population. Saint George offered to kill the dragon if they consented to become Christians and be baptized. Fifteen thousand men including the king of Silene [[christianization|converted to Christianity]].{{Efn|Latin text gives XX thousand.}} George then killed the dragon, beheading it with his sword, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. The king built a church to the [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Blessed Virgin Mary]] and Saint George on the site where the dragon died and a spring flowed from its altar with water that cured all disease.<ref>Thus Jacobus de Voragine, in William Caxton's translation ([http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GL-vol3-george.html On-line text]).</ref>
Only the Latin version involves the saint striking the dragon with the spear, before killing it with the sword.<ref name=johns-note96>{{citation|last=Johns|first=Jeremy |title=Muslim Artists and Christian Moels in the Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina |editor-last=Bacile |editor-first=Rosa |work=Romanesque and the Mediterranean |publisher=Routledge |year=2017|isbn=9781351191050 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCJBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT199}}, note 96</ref>

The ''Golden Legend'' narrative is the main source of the story of Saint George and the Dragon as received in Western Europe,
and is therefore relevant for Saint George as [[Patronages of Saint George#England|patron saint of England]].
The princess remains unnamed in the ''Golden Legend'' version, and the name "Sabra" is supplied by [[Elizabethan era]] writer [[Richard Johnson (16th century)|Richard Johnson]] in his ''[[Seven Champions of Christendom]]'' (1596). In the work, she is recast as a princess of Egypt.<ref>{{citation|editor-last=Chambers |editor-first=Edmund Kerchever |title=The Mediaeval Stage: book I. Minstrelsy. book II. Folk drama |location=Halle |publisher=M. Niemeyer |year=1878 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OfYqjbX6dwC&pg=PA221 |page=221, note 2}}</ref><ref>{{citation|editor-last=[[Arturo Graf|Graf]] |editor-first=Arturo  |title=Auberon (I complementi della Chanson d'Huon de Bordeaux I) |location=Halle |publisher=M. Niemeyer |year=1878 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2iBYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA261 |page=261 |series=Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari (10)|language=it}}</ref><!--Perhaps better sources can be found that says Sabra was Johnson's invention.--> This work takes great liberties with the material, and makes Saint George marry Sabra{{Efn|Saint George is supposed to have been martyred as a virgin according to his hagiography.}} and have English children, one of whom becomes [[Guy of Warwick]].<ref>{{citation|last=Richmond |first=Velma Bourgeois |title=The Legend of Guy of Warwick |location=New York |publisher=Garland |year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptyvSphvRtsC&pg=PA130 |page=221, note 2|isbn=9780815320852 }}</ref>
Alternative names given to the princess in Italian sources still of the 13th century are ''Cleolinda'' and ''Aia''.<ref>{{citation|last=Runcini |first=Romolo |title=Metamorfosi del fantastico: luoghi e figure nella letteratura, nel cinema, massmedia |publisher=Lithos |date=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VL4ZAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Aia%22 |page=184, note 13<!--–-->|isbn=9788886584364 |language=it}}</ref> Johnson also supplied the name of Saint George's sword: "Ascalon".<ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Johnson (16th century) |date=1861 |title=The Seven Champions of Christendom |url=https://archive.org/details/TheSevenChampionsOfChristendom |location=London |publisher=J. Blackwood & Co |page=7 }}</ref> The story of Saint George, as the Red Cross Knight and the patron saint of England, slaying the dragon, which represents [[sin]], and Princess Una as George's true love and an [[allegory]] representing the [[Protestant]] church as the one true faith, was told in altered fashion in [[Edmund Spenser]]'s ''[[The Faerie Queene]]''.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/695582#:~:text=2%20The%20Faerie%20Queene%20is,%2C%20and%2For%20the%20devil | doi=10.1086/695582 | title="The dragon is sin": Spenser's Book I as Evangelical Fantasy | date=2018 | last1=Christian | first1=Margaret | journal=Spenser Studies | volume=31-32 | pages=349–368 | s2cid=192276004 | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://mythbank.com/una/ | title=Una in the Faerie Queen: An Allegory of the One True Church | date=16 May 2022 }}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:Edward Burne-Jones- Princess Sabra (the King's Daughter).JPG|''Princess Sabra (the King's Daughter)'', by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1865
File:Burne ,Princess Sabra Led to the Dragon.jpg|''Princess Sabra Led to the Dragon'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1866
File:Henry Treffry Dunn (1838-1899) - The Theodore Watts-Dunton Cabinet, The Princess Sabra Taken to the Dragon - 1288304.3 - National Trust.jpg|''The Princess Sabra Taken to the Dragon'', by [[Henry Treffry Dunn]], 1896
File:Burne Jones Saint George and The Dragon The Princess Tied to the Tree 1866.jpg|''The Princess Tied to the Tree'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1866
File:Edward Burne-Jones - The fight- St George kills the dragon VI - Google Art ProjectFXD.jpg|''The Fight: Saint George Kills the Dragon'', by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1866
File:St. George Slaying The Dragon, With Una Praying In Background, 1904 (Detail) (8415582011).jpg|''Saint George Slaying The Dragon, With Una Praying In The Background'', by [[Phoebe Anna Traquair]], 1904
File:William Bell Scott - Una and the Lion.jpg|''Una and the Lion'' by [[William Bell Scott]], 1860
File:GF Watts Una Red Cross Knight.jpg|''Una and the Red Cross Knight'' by [[George Frederic Watts]], 1860
File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - St George and Princess Sabra.jpg|''Saint George and Princess Sabra'' by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], 1862
File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - The Wedding of St George and Princess Sabra.jpg|''The Wedding of Saint George and Princess Sabra'' by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], 1857
</gallery>

==Iconography==
{{further|Thracian horseman|Uastyrdzhi|Tetri Giorgi}}

===Medieval iconography===
[[File:George kappad.jpg|thumb|upright|Saints George and Theodore on horseback killing the dragon, fresco in [[Churches of Göreme#Azize Barbara Kilisesi|Saint Barbara church]] in [[Göreme]], [[Cappadocia]]. Dated to the early 11th century, this image has been identified as the oldest known depiction of Saint George as dragon-slayer.<ref>
Jonathan David Arthur Good, ''Saint George for England: Sanctity and National Identity, 1272-1509'' (2004), p. 102.</ref> ]]

====Eastern====
The saint is depicted in the style of a [[Roman cavalry]]man in the tradition of the "[[Thracian Heros]]".
There are two main iconographic types, the "concise" form showing only George and the dragon,
and the "detailed" form also including the princess and the city walls or towers of Lacia (Lasia) with spectators witnessing the miracle.
The "concise" type originates in Cappadocia, in the 10th to 11th century (transferred from the same iconography associated with Saint Theodore of Tiro in the 9th to 10th century).
The earliest certain example of the "detailed" form may be a fresco from [[Pavnisi church|Pavnisi]] (dated c. 1160), although the examples from [[Adishi]], [[Bochorma fortress|Bochorma]] and [[Ikvi church|Ikvi]] may be slightly earlier.<ref>Walter (2003:142).</ref>

'''Georgian'''<br />
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
St George of Parakheti.jpg|Saint George of Parakheti, Georgia, late 10th century
Icon of St. George from Labechina, Racha region of Georgia, XI century.png|Saint George of Labechina, [[Racha]], Georgia, early 11th century
Kondakov 1890. St George icon from Likhauri.jpg|Icon of Saint George and the dragon from [[Likhauri]] ([[Ozurgeti Municipality]]), Georgia, 12th century
St George enamel icon (Georgia).jpg|A 15th-century Georgian [[cloisonné enamel]] icon
</gallery>

'''Greek'''<br />
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
Byzantine - St George and the Dragon - Walters 41205.jpg|Byzantine bas-relief of Saint George and the Dragon ([[steatite]]), 12th century
St George Icon Sinai 13th century.jpg|Monumental ''vita'' icon at Sinai, first half of the 13th century, likely by a Greek artist. The dragon episode is shown in one of twenty panels depicting the saint's life.
Saint George icon in Pyrgos, Santorini.jpg|Greek icon of St George with the youth of [[Mytilene]], 15th century, [[Pyrgos Kallistis|Pyrgos]], [[Santorini]]
File:Chanter Angelos Akotandos - St George on Horseback, Slaying the Dragon - Google Art Project.jpg|Icon by Angelos Akotandos, Crete (first half of the 15th century)
St George - Google Art Project.jpg|"Pedestrian" St George, Crete, second half of the 15th century
Damaskenos Saint-George-and-Saint-Demetrius.jpg|[[Michael Damaskinos]] (16th century), Saint George killing the dragon, alongside [[Saint Mercurius]] killing [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]]
</gallery>

'''Russian'''<br />
The oldest example in Russia found on walls of the church of St George in [[Staraya Ladoga]], dated {{Circa|1167}}.
In Russian tradition, the icon is known as {{lang|ru|Чудо Георгия о змие}}; i.e., "the miracle of George and the dragon". The saint is mostly shown on a white horse, facing right, but sometimes also on a black horse, or facing left.<ref>notably the icon known as "Black George", showing the saint both on a black horse and facing left, made in Novgorod in the first half of the 15th century ([https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=62490&partId=1&searchText=icon+george&page=1 BM 1986,0603.1])</ref><ref>"a few 14th–16th century Novgorod icons such as the 'Miracle of St George', a mid-14th-century icon from the Morozov collection and now in the Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow (Bruk and Iovleva 1995, no. 21), 'St George, Nikita and the Deesis', a 16th-century icon in the Russian Museum, St Petersburg, (Likhachov, Laurina and Pushkariov 1980, fig. 237) and on some Northern Russian icons, for instance, the 'Miracle of St George and his Life' from Ustjuznan and dating from the first half of the 16th century (Rybakov 1995, fig. 214)"
[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/online_research_catalogues/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=62490&partid=1&catalogueOnly=true&catParentPageid=25390&output=bibliography%2F!!%2FOR%2F!!%2F6256%2F!%2F%2F!%2FA%20Catalogue%20of%20the%20Russian%20Icons%20in%20the%20British%20Museum%2F!%2F%2F!!%2F%2F!!!%2F&catalogueName=Icons%20in%20the%20British%20Museum&catalogueSection=A%20catalogue%20of%20the%20Russian%20icons%20in%20the%20British%20Museum&sortBy=catNumber British Museum Russian Icon "The Miracle of St George and the Dragon / Black George"].</ref>
The princess is usually not included. Another motif shows George on horseback with the youth of Mytilene sitting behind him.

<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
Святой Георгий Победоносец, фреска 12 века, Старая Ладога.jpg|The [[Staraya Ladoga]] fresco, {{Circa|1167}}
S.George (Novgorod, mid. 14 c, GTG).jpg|14th-century icon from [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]]
Black.George.14.cent.Museum.of.Russian.icon.png|14th-century icon from [[Vladimir-Suzdal|Rostov]]
File:S.George (Novgorod, 14th c., Russian museum).jpg|Novgorod ''vita'' icon, 14th century; the "detailed" dragon iconography takes the central panel.
File:S.George (Moscow, 15th c., Korin's house-museum).jpg|Russian icon of the "detailed" type, Moscow, early 15th century
File:StGeorge-RussianMuseum.jpg|Novgorod icon, late 15th century
File:S.George (Russian North, end 15-early 16th c., GTG).jpg|Northern Russian icon of the "detailed" type, the saint is exceptionally slaying the dragon with his sword ({{Circa|1500|lk=no}}).
File:Святий Юрій Змієборець.jpg|[[Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chełm–Belz|Chełm school]], 16th century
</gallery>

'''Ethiopian'''<br />
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250" heights="250">
File:Äthiopien Grosses Triptychon Museum Rietberg EFA 15 img05.jpg|Great Triptych, Ethiopia, {{Circa|1700}}, tempera on fabric on wood; Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland
File:Alwan Codex 27 Ethiopian Biblical Manuscript.jpg|Alwan Codex 27 Ethiopian Biblical Icon - Saint George (20th century)
</gallery>

{{clear}}

====Western====
The motif of Saint George as a knight on horseback slaying the dragon first appears in western art in the second half of the 13th century.
The tradition of the saint's arms being shown as the red-on-white [[Saint George's Cross]] develops in the 14th century.

<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:20030708570DR Ankershagen Dorfkirche Fresken.jpg|13th-century fresco in [[Ankershagen]], [[Mecklenburg]]
File:St George and the Dragon Verona ms 1853 26r.jpg|Miniature from a ''Passio Sancti Georgii'' manuscript (Verona, second half of 13th century)
File:St George BNF Fr 241 101v.jpg|Miniature from a manuscript of ''[[Golden Legend|Legenda Aurea]]'', Paris, 1348
File:Saint George et le dragon, enluminure.jpg|Book of Hours ({{Circa|1380}}?)
File:St George Royal19BXVII 109.jpg|Miniature from a manuscript of ''Legenda Aurea'', Paris, 1382
File:De Grey Hours f.31.v St. George and the dragon.png|[[De Grey Hours]] ({{Circa|1400|lk=no}})
File:Anga kyrka-Mural painting02.jpg|Fresco of the full legend, [[Anga Church, Gotland]], Sweden (mid 15th century)
File:Heures Ch d'Angoulême Saint Georges XVe.jpg|Miniature from [[Heures de Charles d'Angoulême]], [[Cognac]], France, f.53v (1475–1500)
File:Saint George and the Dragon alabaster sculpture.jpg|''Saint George and the Dragon'', tinted alabaster, English, {{Circa|1375}}–1420 ([[National Gallery of Art]], Washington)
File:St Georgsgruppe, um 1500.jpg|Wooden sculpture, {{Circa|1500}}, [[Gottorf Castle]]
</gallery>

===Renaissance===
* [[Donatello]], [http://www.italianrenaissance.org/donatellos-st-george/ Saint George], {{Circa|1417}}. [[Bargello]], Florence, Italy.
* [[Paolo Uccello]], ''[[Saint George and the Dragon (Uccello)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'', {{Circa|1470}}. [[National Gallery, London]].
* [[Giovanni Bellini]], ''Saint George Fighting the Dragon'', {{Circa|1471}}. Pesaro altarpiece.<ref>[http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/bellini/p-bellini6.htm]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201073437/http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/bellini/p-bellini6.htm|date=February 1, 2016}}</ref>
* [[Lieven van Lathem]], ''[[:File:Lieven van Lathem (Flemish - Saint George and the Dragon - Google Art Project.jpg)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'' ({{Circa|1471}})
* [[Bernt Notke]], ''[[Saint George and the Dragon (Notke)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'', Storkyrkan in Stockholm, {{Circa|1484}}–1489.<ref>{{cite book|title=Nordisk familjebok|url=https://runeberg.org/nfbt/0053.html|year=1914}}</ref>
* [[Andrea della Robbia]], [[:File:Pieve di brancoli, andrea della robbia, san giorgio, la principessa e il drago 02.JPG|terracotta]], {{Circa|1490}}
* [[Albrecht Dürer]], [[:File:Albrecht Dürer - Saint George Killing the Dragon (NGA 1943.3.3597).jpg|woodcut]], 1501/4
* [[Raphael]] (Raffaello Santi), [[Saint George (Raphael, Louvre)|''Saint George'']], 1504. Oil on wood. [[Louvre]], [[Paris]], France.
* Raphael (Raffaello Santi), [[Saint George and the Dragon (Raphael)|''Saint George and the Dragon'']], 1504–1506. Oil on wood. [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.]], United States.
* [[Albrecht Altdorfer]], ''[[:File:Albrecht Altdorfer 045.jpg|Forest Landscape with Saint George Fighting the Dragon]]'', 1510
* [[Tintoretto]] (Jacopo Robusti), ''[[Saint George and the Dragon (Tintoretto)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'', 1555.<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/tintoretto/st-george-dragon.jpg]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908031908/http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/tintoretto/st-george-dragon.jpg|date=September 8, 2015}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:Bernat Martorell - Saint George Killing the Dragon - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Saint George and the Dragon (Martorell)|Saint George and the Dragon]],'' painting by [[Bernat Martorell|Martorell]] in the [[Art Institute of Chicago]] (1435)
File:Stockholm-Storkyrkan (St.Georg).jpg|''[[Saint George and the Dragon (Notke)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'', [[wood carving]] by [[Bernt Notke]] in [[Stockholm]]'s [[Storkyrkan]] (1470s)
File:1512 Meister des Döbelner Hochaltars Hl. Georg zu Pferde anagoria.JPG|''Saint George on Horseback'', Master of the Döbeln Altarpiece, 1511/13, [[Hamburger Kunsthalle]]
File:St GeorgeEnglish.JPG|Woodcut frontispiece of Alexander Barclay, ''Lyfe of Seynt George'' (Westminster, 1515)
File:Gillis Coignet - St George the Great.jpg|[[Gillis Coignet]] – ''Saint George the Great'' (1581)
</gallery>

===Early modern and modern art===
'''Paintings'''
* [[Peter Paul Rubens]], ''[[Saint George and the Dragon (Rubens)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'', 1620.
* [[Salvator Rosa]], ''[[:File:Salvator rosa, san giorgio e il drago (firenze, coll. gianfranco luzzetti) 02.JPG|Saint George and the Dragon]]''
* [[Mattia Preti]], ''Saint George Triumphant over the Dragon'', 1678, at [[St. George's Basilica, Malta]] in Victoria, [[Gozo]].
* [[Edward Burne-Jones]], ''Saint George and the Dragon'', 1866.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abcgallery.com/B/burne-jones/burnejones12.html|title=St. George and the Dragon|last=Burne-Jones|first=Sir Edward|publisher=Olga's Gallery|access-date=31 January 2016}}</ref>
* [[Gustave Moreau]], [[:Image:Stgeorge-dragon.jpg|''Saint George and the Dragon'']], {{Circa|1870}}. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London.
* [[Briton Rivière]], [[:File:St. George and the Dragon - Briton Riviere.jpg|''Saint George and the Dragon'']], {{Circa|1914}}.
* [[Uroš Predić]], ''St George Killing the Dragon'', 1930.
* [[Giorgio de Chirico]], ''Saint George Killing the Dragon'', 1940.<ref>{{cite web|author=Giorgio de Chirico |url=https://www.wikiart.org/en/giorgio-de-chirico/st-george-killing-the-dragon-1940 |title=''St. George Killing the Dragon'' - Giorgio de Chirico. Wikiart.com |publisher=Wikiart.org |date= |accessdate=2021-02-17}}</ref>

'''Sculptures'''
* The sculptures which form part of the clock of [[Liberty (department store)|Liberty's store]] in [[Regent Street]], London (19th century).<ref>[http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMFFKY_Libertys_Clock_Great_Marlborough_Street_London_UK The Liberty Clock] ''waymarking.com''.</ref>
* [[Joseph Edgar Boehm|Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm]], ''Saint George and the Dragon'', bronze, [[State Library of Victoria]], 1889<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gargarean.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/forecourt-statues-of-the-state-library-of-victoria|title=Forecourt Statues of The State Library of Victoria|work=THE GARGAREAN|publisher=[[WordPress.com]]|access-date=31 January 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304215742/https://gargarean.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/forecourt-statues-of-the-state-library-of-victoria/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Salvador Dalí]], ''Saint George and the Dragon'', Open Air Museum in [[Cosenza]], 1947
* [[Alexander Fisher (painter)|Alexander Fisher]], ''Saint George and the Dragon'', [[Stanway War Memorial]], [[Stanway, Gloucestershire]], England, 1920<ref>{{NHLE|num=1154209|desc=Stanway War Memorial|grade=II*|access-date=24 July 2025}}</ref>
* [[Edward Seago]], ''Saint George and the Dragon'', silver, [[Hood ornament|automobile mascot]] used for the British monarch's cars, 1952.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thechauffeur.com/the-royal-fleet-of-limousines/|title=The Royal Fleet of Limousines|work=The Chauffeur|date=6 October 2005|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>
* [[Zurab Tsereteli]], sculpture in front of the {{interlanguage link|Victory Monument (Moscow)|ru|Монумент Победы|lt=Victory Monument}} at {{interlanguage link|Victory Park (Moscow)|ru|Парк Победы (Москва)|lt=Victory Park}}, Moscow, 1995
* Zurab Tsereteli, ''[[Freedom Monument (Tbilisi)|Saint George Statue]]'', Tbilisi, 2005
* Marcus Canning and [[Christian de Vietri]], ''Ascalon'', abstract sculpture in front of [[St George's Cathedral, Perth|St George's Cathedral]], [[Perth]], 2011<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ascalon {{!}} St George's Cathedral |url=https://www.perthcathedral.org/ascalon/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=www.perthcathedral.org}}</ref>

'''Mosaic'''
* [[Edward Poynter]], ''Saint George for England'', 1869. Central Lobby in the [[Palace of Westminster]].
* [[Sergey Chekhonin]], [[Sergey Vasilyevich Gerasimov]], Central maiolica panel about the battle of Saint George the Victorious with the Serpent 1911–1913, Moscow, Russia.
* Anatoly Alexandrovich Ostrogradsky, A small image of Saint George, with the plot of the fresco of the [[St. George's Church, Staraya Ladoga|Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga]] in a stylized icon case on the façade, above the main porches, the maiolica was made in 1911–1913, Moscow, Russia.

'''Engravings'''
* [[Benedetto Pistrucci]], engraving for coin dies, 1817.
* On [[kopeck]]s issued by the [[Central Bank of Russia]].

'''Prints'''
* On banknotes issued by the [[Bank of England]]:
** [[Bank of England £1 note|£1 note]], 1917 until 1933, on obverse, with portrait of [[George V]]; 1928 until 1960, on reverse, duplicated.
** [[Bank of England £5 note|£5 note]], 1957 until 1967, on obverse, with portrait of [[Britannia]].
** [[Bank of England £20 note|£20 note]], 1970 until 1993, on obverse, with portrait of [[Elizabeth II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Documents/withdrawnrefguide.pdf|title=Withdrawn Banknotes: Reference Guide|publisher=Bank of England|access-date=17 January 2017|archive-date=29 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329073154/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Documents/withdrawnrefguide.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:Châtenois StGeorges25.JPG|17th-century statue in [[Église Saint-Georges de Châtenois]], France
File:Châtenois StGeorges30.JPG|18th-century statue in Église Saint-Georges de Châtenois, France
File:Mattia Preti - St. George Victorious over the Dragon - WGA18398.jpg|''Saint George and the Dragon'', by [[Mattia Preti]] (1678), in [[Gozo]], [[Malta]]
File:St. George the Victorious - Google Art Project.jpg|Unknown painter from [[Ukraine]], 18th century
File:Pendant with Saint George.jpg|[[Pendant with Saint George]] by [[Lluís Masriera i Rosés]] (1902), Barcelona
File:St. George and the Dragon - Briton Riviere.jpg|''St. George and the Dragon'' by [[Briton Reviere]] ({{Circa|1914}})
File:1914 Sydney Half Sovereign - St. George.jpg|[[Sovereign (British coin)|1914 sovereign]] with [[Benedetto Pistrucci]]'s engraving
File:Britain Needs You at Once - WWI recruitment poster - Parliamentary Recruiting Committee Poster No. 108.jpg|WWI British recruitment poster
File:2002 Bentley State Limousine ornament.jpg|[[Edward Seago]]'s ''St. George and the Dragon'' automobile mascot used by the British monarch (1952)
File:MBF20160630.jpg|Central maiolica panel about the battle of St. George the Victorious with the Serpent 1911–1913, artists [[Sergey Chekhonin]], [[Sergey Vasilyevich Gerasimov]]
File:Wiki tile murals bolshaya pirogovskaya 9 moscow.jpg|A small image of St. George, with the plot of the fresco of the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga in a stylized icon case on the facade, above the main porches, the maiolica was made in 1911–1913 by Anatoly Alexandrovich Ostrogradsky.
File:Манежная площадь - panoramio (1).jpg|Zurab Tsereteli's ''St. George and the Dragon'' on the top of the {{interlanguage link|Okhotny Ryad (shopping mall)|ru|Охотный ряд (торговый комплекс)|lt=Okhotny Ryad}} shopping center (1997) in Moscow, Russia
</gallery>

==Literary adaptations==
[[Edmund Spenser]] expands on the Saint George and the Dragon story in Book I of the ''[[The Faerie Queene|Fairy Queen]]'', initially referring to the hero as the ''Redcross Knight''.
[[William Shakespeare]] refers to Saint George and the Dragon in ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' ( ''Advance our standards, set upon our foes Our ancient world of courage fair St. George Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons'' act V, sc. 3), ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' ( ''The game's afoot: follow your spirit, and upon this charge cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!''' act III, sc. 1), and also in ''[[King Lear]]'' (act I).

A 17th-century broadside [[ballad]] paid homage to the feat of George's dragon slaying. Titled [[St. George and the Dragon (ballad)|"St. George and the Dragon"]], the ballad considers the importance of Saint George in relation to other heroes of epic and Romance, ultimately concluding that all other heroes and figures of epic or romance pale in comparison to the feats of George.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/34079/xml |title=New Ballad of St. George and the Dragon (EBBA 34079)|work=[[English Broadside Ballad Archive]]|publisher=[[University of California at Santa Barbara]], Department of English |access-date=31 January 2016|location=National Library of Scotland - Crawford 1349}}</ref>

''The Banner of St George'' by [[Edward Elgar]] is a ballad for chorus and orchestra, words by [[Shapcott Wensley]] (1879).
The 1898 ''Dream Days'' by [[Kenneth Grahame]] includes a chapter entitled "[[The Reluctant Dragon (short story)|The Reluctant Dragon]]", in which an elderly Saint George and a benign dragon stage a mock battle to satisfy the townsfolk and get the dragon introduced into society.  Later made into a [[The Reluctant Dragon (1941 film)|film]] by [[Walt Disney Productions]], and set to music by [[John Rutter]] as a children's [[operetta]].

In 1935 [[Stanley Holloway]] recorded a humorous retelling of the tale as ''St. George and the Dragon'' written by Weston and Lee.
In the 1950s, [[Stan Freberg]] and [[Daws Butler]] wrote and performed ''[[St. George and the Dragonet|St. George and the Dragon-Net]]'' (a [[satire|spoof]] of the tale and of ''[[Dragnet (drama)|Dragnet]]'') for Freberg's radio show. The story's recording became the first comedy album to sell over a million copies.

[[Margaret Hodges]] retold the legend in a 1984 children's book (''[[Saint George and the Dragon (book)|Saint George and the Dragon]]'') with [[Caldecott Medal]]-winning illustrations by [[Trina Schart Hyman]].

The Forever Knights that serve as a recurring antagonist faction in the ''[[Ben 10]]'' are revealed in the third series ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'' to have been founded by Sir George from the legend of Saint George and the Dragon, with the tale directly referenced by name. The dragon that George fought is depicted as a shapeshifting extradimensional demon named Dagon, worshipped by a cult called the Flame Keepers’ Circle that goes to war against the Forever Knights. Series main antagonist Vilgax takes advantage of his true form's coincidental resemblance to Dagon's true appearance to manipulate the Flame Keepers’ Circle into helping him find the heart of Dagon, which George had cut out and sealed with the Ascalon, depicted here as a sword of alien origin created by Azmuth prior to inventing the Omnitrix.

[[Samantha Shannon]] describes her 2019 novel ''[[The Priory of the Orange Tree]]'' as a "feminist retelling" of Saint George and the Dragon.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/X0lsvafy9mI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190523214748/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0lsvafy9mI Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0lsvafy9mI |title=Shelfie with Samantha Shannon |publisher=YouTube |date=2019-02-26 |accessdate=2021-02-17}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Heraldry and vexillology==
===Coats of arms===
[[Reggio Calabria]] used Saint George and the dragon in its {{ill|lt=coat of arms|Stemma di Reggio Calabria|it|vertical-align=sup}} since at least 1757, derived from earlier (15th-century) iconography used on the city seal.
Saint George and the dragon has been depicted in the [[coat of arms of Moscow]] since the late 18th century,
and in the [[Coat of arms of Georgia (country)|coat of arms of Georgia]] since 1991 (based on a coat of arms introduced in 1801 for Georgia within the [[Russian Empire]]).

<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:S. Giorgio di Cappadocia e lo stemma della città di Reggio - Stemma di Reggio Calabria.png|Coat of arms of [[Reggio Calabria]] (1896)
File:Moscow COA 1781.png|[[Coat of arms of Moscow]] (1781)
File:Coat of arms of Moscow.svg|Coat of arms of Moscow (1993 design)
File:Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation.svg|[[Coat of arms of Russia]] (1993)
File:COA of Kyiv Oblast m.svg|Coat of arms of [[Kyiv Oblast]] (1999)
File:Lesser coat of arms of Georgia.svg|[[Coat of arms of Georgia (country)|Coat of arms of Georgia]] (2004)
</gallery>
[[File:Aragonese Royal Arms with the Crest of the Chivalry of Saint George.svg|thumb|right|250px|The [[Coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon|royal arms of Aragon]] from the Inventory of [[Martin I of Aragon|King Martin]] (c.1400)<ref>Domènech i Montaner, Lluís (1995) ''Ensenyes nacionals de Catalunya''. Barcelona : Generalitat de Catalunya. {{ISBN|84-393-3575-X}}.</ref>]]
'''Provincial coats of arms'''
* [[Kyiv Oblast]], Ukraine (1999)
* [[Moscow Oblast]], Russia ({{ill|lt=2005|Герб Московской области|ru|vertical-align=sup}})

'''Municipal coats of arms'''
* '''Australia''': [[City of Hurstville|Hurstville]]
* '''Austria''': [[Pitten]], [[Sankt Georgen an der Gusen]], [[Sankt Georgen an der Leys]], [[Sankt Georgen an der Stiefing]], [[Sankt Georgen im Attergau]], [[Sankt Georgen ob Murau]].
* '''Croatia''': [[Kaštel Sućurac]], [[Vis (town)|Vis]].
* '''Czech Republic''': [[Brušperk]].
* '''Denmark''': [[Holstebro]].
* '''France''': [[Aydoilles]], [[Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames]], [[Ligsdorf]], [[Maulan]], [[Mussidan]], [[Saint-Georges, Moselle|Saint-Georges (Moselle)]], [[Saint-Georges-Armont]], [[Saint-Georges-d'Espéranche]], [[Saint-Georges-d'Oléron]], [[Saint-Georges-d'Orques]], [[Saint-Georges-de-Reintembault]], [[Saint-Georges-du-Bois, Maine-et-Loire|Saint-Georges-du-Bois]], [[Saint-Georges-du-Vièvre]], [[Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche]], [[Saint-Georges-sur-Loire]], [[Saint-Jurs]], [[Saorge]], [[Sospel]], [[Villeneuve-Saint-Georges]].
* '''Germany''': [[Bürgel]], [[Hattingen]], [[Mansfeld]], [[Rittersbach]], [[St. Georgen im Schwarzwald]], [[Schwarzenberg, Saxony|Schwarzenberg]].
* '''Hungary''': [[Bácsszentgyörgy]], [[Balatonszentgyörgy]], [[Borsodszentgyörgy]], [[Dunaszentgyörgy]], [[Homokszentgyörgy]], [[Pécsvárad]], [[Szentgyörgyvár]], [[Szentgyörgyvölgy]], [[Tatárszentgyörgy]].
* '''Italy''': [[Reggio Calabria]]
* '''Lithuania''': [[Marijampolė]], [[Prienai]], [[Varniai]].
* '''Netherlands''': [[Ridderkerk]], [[Terborg]].
* '''Poland''': [[Brzeg Dolny]], [[Dzierżoniów]], [[Milicz]], [[Ostróda]].
* '''Romania''': [[Suceava]], [[Sfântu Gheorghe]].
* '''Russia''': [[Moscow]]
* '''Serbia''': [[Srpski Krstur]].
* '''Slovakia''': [[Svätý Jur]].
* '''Slovenia:''' [[Municipality of Šenčur|Šenčur]], [[Šentjur]]
* '''Spain''': [[Alcalá de los Gazules]], [[Golosalvo]], [[Puentedura]].
* '''Switzerland''': [[Castiel, Switzerland|Castiel]], [[Corminboeuf]], [[Kaltbrunn]], [[Ruschein]], [[Saint-George]], [[Schlans]], [[Stein am Rhein]], [[Waltensburg/Vuorz]].
* '''Ukraine''': [[Holoby]], [[Liuboml]], [[Nizhyn]], [[Taikury]], [[Volodymyr (city)|Volodymyr]], [[Vyshneve (city)|Vyshneve]], [[Zbarazh]].

===Flags===
{{gallery|mode=packed|width=160|height=160
|File:Flag of England.svg|[[Flag of England]] (Saint George's Flag)
|File:Flag of Botsaris.svg|Standard of Greek general [[Markos Botsaris]]
|File:Ethiopian imperial standard of Haile Selassie I (reverse).svg|Imperial standard of [[Haile Selassie]] of Ethiopia (reverse)
|File:Flag of Malta.svg|[[Flag of Malta]]
}}

===Military insignia===
* Regimental flags of the [[Hellenic Army]] (1864)
* Badge of the [[Royal Regiment of Fusiliers]] (1968)
* Flag of the [[Russian Orthodox Army]] (2014)

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism|Christianity}}
* [[Bakasura]]
* [[Saint George]]
* [[Saint George in devotions, traditions and prayers]]
* [[Princess and dragon]]
* [[Ducasse de Mons]]
* [[Dragon Hill, Uffington]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
'''Citations'''<br />
{{reflist|30em|refs=

}}
'''Sources'''
* {{cite thesis|last=Mina |first=John Louis |title= Thematic and Poetic Analysis of Russian Religious Oral Epics: Epic Duxovnye Stixi |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |year=1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KoFJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Egorij%22 |page=73}}
* {{cite book|last=Warner |first=Elizabeth |title=Russian Myths|publisher=University of Texas Press  |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PoesCeU0iUC&pg=PA67 |isbn=978-0-2927-9158-9 |pages=67–68}}
* {{cite book|last=MacDermott |first=Mercia |title=Bulgarian Folk Customs |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |year=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gh4IE6toGJMC&pg=PA64 |pages=64–66 |isbn=978-1-8530-2485-6}}

'''Bibliography'''<br />
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{citation|last=Aufhauser |first=Johannes B. |title=Das Drachenwunder des Heiligen Georg: nach der meist verbreiteten griechischen Rezension |year=1911 |publisher=Leipzig, B.G. Teubner |url=https://archive.org/details/dasdrachenwunder00aufhuoft}}
* {{citation|last=Fontenrose  |first=Joseph Eddy |title=Appendix 4: Saint George and the Dragon |work=Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins |publisher=University of California Press |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA515 |pages=515–520|isbn=9780520040915 }}
* Loomis, C. Grant, 1949. ''White Magic, An Introduction to the Folklore of Christian Legend'' (Cambridge: Medieval Society of America)
* {{citation|last=Thurston |first=Herbert |title=St. George |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=6 |place=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |date=1909 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFc_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA453 |pages=453–455}}<!--[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06453a.htm Online version] (transliterates Greek text, etc.)-->
* {{citation |last=Walter |first=C. |title=The Origins of the Cult of St. George |journal=Revue des études byzantines |volume=53 |year=1995 |pages=295–326 |doi=10.3406/rebyz.1995.1911 |issn=0766-5598}}.
* {{citation |last=Walter |first=Christopher |title=The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhKmDQAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon |date=2003 |isbn=9781351880510 }}.
* Whatley, E. Gordon, editor, with Anne B. Thompson and Robert K. Upchurch, 2004.  ''St. George and the Dragon in the South English Legendary (East Midland Revision, c. 1400)'' Originally published in ''Saints' Lives in Middle English Collections'' ([http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/whgeodintro.htm on-line text: Introduction]).
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{refbegin}}
* [https://github.com/tcorral/St.George-Legend Saint George Legend explained in Javascript] by Tomás Corral
* [http://www.enjoyengland.com/attractions/events/calendar/april/st-george.aspx St George and the Dragon Events and Ideas – Official Website for Tourism in England]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070429070715/http://www.stgeorgesholiday.com/st_george.asp St George Unofficial Bank Holiday]: ''St. George and the Dragon'', free illustrated book based on 'The Seven Champions' by Richard Johnson (1596)
* [http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/stgeorge St George's Bake and Brew] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121224004816/http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/stgeorge |date=2012-12-24 }}
{{refend}}

{{Saint George}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George And The Dragon}}
[[Category:Saint George and the Dragon| ]]
[[Category:Christian folklore]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]
[[Category:Christian iconography]]
[[Category:Saint George (martyr)]]
[[Category:Tiamat]]