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Episode details

Sounds,23 Jul 2026,30 mins,

Saint George and the Dragon

Dan Snow’s History Hit
Contains some violent scenes.

Available for over a year

He wasn't an English knight, but actually a Roman soldier, and the dragon didn't appear until centuries later in the medieval period. So what is the origin of the Saint George and the Dragon legend? And why do so many countries - from England to Ethiopia - adopt him as their patron? To sort the fact from the fiction, Dan is joined by Jasmine Elmer, mythologist and author of 'Slay: Ancient legends of female slayers and the hidden mythology of dragons'. They explore the history of dragons from the chaos monsters of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to the serpents of Greek mythology, Christian saints' lives and East Asian folklore, as well as the stories of other little-known dragon slayers through history. Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore. All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3Media. Dan Snow's History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

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