Book of dragons. Giant snakes, guards of treasures and fire -breathing lizards in legends from all over the world

The first book in the new series "Enchanted World".
The most famous mythological monsters - Dragons have always caused fear and admiration. This book is a fundamental study covering the millennia of human history and many countries and cultures. The origin of the dragons from the deserts of Africa, their struggle with the elephants in the jungle of South Asia, their fear of lightning, the colossal sea monster Leviathan, the seven -headed red dragon from the Apocalypse, the Lokhnesian monster, the dragon in the Beowulf, which became the prototype of Smuuga in the hobbit " , dragons in the prophecies of the wizard Merlin, a feathered snake of ancient Mesoamerica. From the gloomy halls of the lonely mountain and the blue heavens of Westeros to the underground pantries of the Greengotts magic bank - everywhere we expect the appearance of giant fire -breathing lizards with massive wings of the bat, which guard treasures, hidden deep underground, and also sow chaos and carry destruction, eruption of fire, eager for fire, eager for firing. From your mouth. But genuine dragons are full of surprises, like this book.

From the authors:
We live in the Golden Age of Dragons. The twentieth century became a witness to the sharp growth of the popularity of these reptiles in literature and cinema, and today it remains unchanged. For decades, readers of Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, George Martin and Joan Rowling have been watching the fights of heroes with dragons - both battles, and cunning disputes. The magical special effects of films like the Seventh Travel of Sinbad (1958) and the "winner of the dragon" (1981) allowed the audience to touch the miracles, admire and enjoy the power and grandeur of these legendary creatures.
Starting from the 1970s, board games like Dungeons & Dragons ("Dungeons and Dragons") have accustomed to beginner adventurers to the battles full of dangers, and at least two generations participated in breathtaking fights with fire-breathing red dragons, and with Black dragons, erupting poison, and with blue dragons, mazing lightning. Modern computer games, created on the basis of D&D, have stepped even further, and now the game participants themselves act as fantastic heroes in an imaginary world full of magnificent digital details.
After the release of World of Warcraft in 2004, millions of gamers united in the fight against dragons. They penetrate into the gloomy lair of onyxia, fight with the dragon to the pramatier of the pack of black dragons Azeroth or attack the immortal icy snake of Sapphireon in the soaring necropolis of Naxramas. In the past ten years, dragons have been leading in many popular franchises of video games: Dark Souls (2011), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) and Minecraft (2011), the most popular and bought game in history. More recently, the attention of the audience of the whole world was captured by the epic series, shot according to George Martin’s books "Song of Ice and Flame", and everyone knows the name Daineris Targaryen, the mother of dragons.
In fact, dragons are the most famous creation of human imagination. Our thrill in front of them is deeply rooted in the remote past. From the classics of the ancient world to the present day, legends about mysterious and evil dragons have repeatedly retold in the heroic and historical epics of Europe and Asia, from ancient Greece and India to medieval Europe and China or empty lands of America. The anthology that you hold in your hands includes numerous legends and legends about dragons, and also studies what role these creatures played in myths, religious parables and folklore.

For whom this book:
For those who love mythology and fantasy in any manifestations