This article is written for the use of other people doing research on dragons and half-dragons, I hope it can be a guide to those that have lost their way, or a tutor to those that want to learn more.
The Drakaina
According to the ancient Greeks there was a race of superhuman creatures called the Drakaina, these creatures were horrifying, evil and half-serpent, half-human.
I will name a few in this article to give you an idea of who and what they were and what they were capable of.
Ekhidna
Ekhidna was an immortal Drakaina and is said to have dwelled in the Korykian cave, whether it reffers to the one in the Anatolian region of Kilikia or the oracular cave at Delphoi is unknown.
She is probable the same as the monstrous she-serpent Python that was slain by Apollon at Delphoi where she protected the oracle, so that would suggest she lived in the the cave near Delphoi.
She was born of Keto, a sea-goddess that personified the terrors and dangers of the sea, in a hollow cave. She was said to have the face and head of nymph, but the body of a serpent, a giant contrast of beauty and beast.
It is said that Typhaon fell in love with her nymph eyes and face and she bore him several hard-tempered children.
Presumably born from this were creatures such as the Khimaira, the Sphinx and Kerberos. Her unnamed son, only known as Ekhidna’s Son, even fought on the side of the Titanes in the war between them and the Gods of Olympus.
Another accounts her of being the child of Tartaros, the first born god, the opposite of the Khaos, and Gaia, or Ge Mother Earth, who was second only to Khaos, the sky.
This shows the paradox with which a lot of dragons seem to have to cope, she guarded the oracle, but was a hideous creature, she had the head and face of a nymph, but the body of a drakon.
Ekhidna’s Son
Ekhidna’s son was a serpent-footed giant that fought on the side of the Titanes in their war against the Gods of Olympus, he was slain by Ares, God of War.
Apparently both him and his mother were capable of producing poison and spitting it towards others, infecting them.
Kampe
Kampe was a guard, no more than that and no less. She was appointed to guard the Hekatonkheires and the Kyklopes in Tartaros by Kronos. But Zeus slew her and freed the Giants so that they would be able to aid him in his battle againts the Titanes.
Kampe had the body of a scaly drakon, on top of which sat a body of a serpentine-haired woman. Her feet consisted of a thousand vipers and her body was adorned with the heads of fifty wild beasts - boars and lions for instance - and above her head she raised a scorpion’s tail. Black wings sprouted from her shoulders.
Though she seems irrelevant to this article due to her physical form, she is in fact a half-dragon. One with a sense of duty, she did not leave her post until she was slain by Zeus.
Python
Python was presumably the same as Ekhidna and therefore I will appoint you to her entry instead of reading this one.
Skylla
Skylla had the lower body of a sea-serpent and the upper body of a woman. She also had the foreparts of six dogs sprouting from her serpent’s chest, so that she could use them for legs.
She was killed by Heracles nonetheless, only to be restored to life by her father Phorkys, who branded her wounds.
When she meets Odysseus however, she has six heads on on grisly long necks, each head armed with a triple row of sharp teeth.
Odysseus was adviced to quickly row past her cave so that she could only carry away six of his men, if he would stop to attack the monster he would surely lose all of them, including himself, for she was an immortal monster. Which contests the Skylla Herakles had battled.
The Argonauts also encountered them and also had to choose between the raging maelstrom of Kharybdis and Skylla’s attacking heads, though they were adviced to stay in between the two staying just out of reach between them.
Another tale tells us that she started out as a nymph and that Circe poisoned the water she bathed in, so that she turned into a monster too hideous for Glaucus too love, for both were in love with him. As retaliation Skylla then stole some of Odysseus’ men as they sailed past. Glaudus after that thought that Cire had been too cruel and Skylla was now to hideous, so neither of them got him in the end.
This suggests that being Drakaina can be either a curse by the Gods or the result either of jealousy or as punishment.
Skythia
Skythia was the first ruler of the same-named land, Skythia. Instead of a lower body she had two tails of a drakon, one for a leg on each side.
She stole Herakles’ mares and cattle and demanded that he mate with her to get his cattle back.
Herakles agreed and had intercourse with her, she bore him three sons, the youngest of which later produced the entire line of rulers for Skythia, the rest was sent out of the country.
Yet even after Herakles had fulfilled the requirements he still did not get his horses back instantly, because Skythia wanted to stall his leaving.
This probably could be boiled down to the fact that dragons are indeed very capable of love, although they seem to have some problems expressing it properly.
Naga, human-headed dragons
Naga’s come from India where they worked with the Gods, their name comes from Sanskrit in which it means ‘serpent’.
Naga is also used in terms such as Initiate and Adept and even as far as away as South and Central America the word has positive meanings, there it stands for someone who is wise.
The race looks like two-legged dragons with human heads, they do not possess wings, though.
They are also revered in places such as Egypt, where they changed into King-Initiates, in China, who’s people originated from them and where they are depicted as dragons, and even in Mexico they revere them, although there they are reffered to as nagal, not naga. The only problem is, that this is viewed from an Indian point of view so it is probably heavily biased.
The serpent in Genesis is also supposed to be a naga that instructed the child of humanity on good and evil, although I do not know what to make of this myself.
They are thought to recide in Patala, a watery region underground.
This clearly shows the good side of dragons and even their presumed divinity, though more on that in the next part.
Dragon-Emperors
In the Eastern countries the dragon has been revered long before people could write down that they revered them. It is even said that emperors and other great rulers are descendants of dragons. The Japanese Emperor Hirohito supposedly even traced his ancestry back 125 generations to Princess Fruitful Jewel, daughter of a Dragon King of the Sea.
And in the same country the emperor was hidden behind a bamboo screen for a long time, because they could change themselves into dragons.
Anyone that peered behind the screen while the emperor was present was sentenced to death. And even though it may sound like an insult, calling an emperor a “dragon-face” was the greatest compliment an emperor could get in that time.
Then again the entire palace was divided into dragon-objects and phoenix-objects. For instance: dragon-throne, dragon-robe, dragon-bed and dragon-boat. Although the latter is not entirely a part of the palace.
Another thing clearly showing the divinity of dragons.
