The Anatolian legend of Shahmaran affords a particularly clear exposition of the

Indo-European “Dragon-Slayer as Doctor” paradigm

Lloyd D. Graham

The attribution of healing powers to the dragon-slayer and/or his son must stem from a
common Indo-Iranian source, but the underpinning rationale is not obvious. Examples of
this nexus include Apollo and Asklepios (Greece), Tarḫuna and his son (Anatolia), two
forms of Horus (Greco-Roman Egypt), and Dian Cécht and Miach (Ireland). Surprisingly,
the underlying logic for the association is best revealed by the Anatolian legend of
Shahmaran, “The Queen of Serpents,” which can be viewed as a dragon-slayer tale despite
its non-conformity to ATU 300. The revealed basis for the slayer–healer conjunction is that
a dragon-slayer has access to the flesh and blood of a dead dragon, or to broths made
therefrom, and that some fractions of these are magically beneficial while other fractions
are lethally poisonous. Ingestion of one beneficial fraction confers profound wisdom on the
slayer (allowing him to understand the language of plants and/or animals, as in ATU 673,
and revealing to him all the secrets of medicine) while another beneficial fraction effects
ATU 305-like magical cures of the sick (and may even raise the dead or confer immortality
on the slayer). Many embodiments of this paradigm are partial; for example, exposure to
dragon meat/blood allows the Germanic slayer Sigurd/Siegfried to understand bird-song
and makes his skin invulnerable, but he does not develop healing skills.

Why, in Indo-European mythology, legend and folklore, should many dragon-slayers and/or
their sons have reputations as healers, physicians or medical experts – the Python-slayer
Apollo (the Greek god of light, knowledge, the arts and healing) and his son Asklepios (the
god of medicine, rejuvenation and physicians) being prime examples? While instances of the
association can be found from India to Ireland, the skill-sets of the hunter-warrior and the
healer-doctor have little in common;1 their repeated co-occurrence is therefore puzzling. The
present paper explores this unexpected combination of abilities and uses an Anatolian legend
– one not normally regarded as a dragon-slayer tale – to uncover the underlying logic.

1. Dragon-Slayer as healer
In his analysis of embodiments of the Indo-Iranian (I-Ir) dragon-slayer *Vṛtrahan, John Shaw
discusses the dragon-slayers Θrita/Thrita/Trita and Θraitauna/Thraētaona, figures who
originally were closely associated if not identical.2 He says: 3
Significantly, Θrita, father of Krsāspa and brother to Āthwya, father of Θraitauna, appears as
‘the first of the healers’ (Vidēvdat 22,2). Parallel evidence in Indic from post-R[ig] V[eda]
sources indicates that the attribution of healing powers to the dragon-slayer, or to those closely
associated with him, stems from a common I-Ir source. In Atharvaveda VI.113, the gods wish
to cause Grāhi, the demon of sickness, to disappear in connection with the sin that the gods
have transferred from themselves onto Trita Āptya. In Tattirīya Samhita I.8.10.2, Trita is
described as associated with long life.
Similarly, while recognising that dragon-slayers are necessarily embodiments of Dumézil’s
second function,4 i.e. military/heroic warriors,5 Shaw’s comparison of slayers from the east
and west of the Indo-European domain prompts the following observation:6

1
 A key element in the comparison, and one that does not, like the attributes of strength and
swiftness, seem to be an obvious attribute of a dragon-killer, is the clear association, in our
peripheral variants of the myth, with healing and medicine. Significantly, Irish and I-Ir are not
unique in this respect; the healing associations in the geographically intermediate Greek
traditions of Apollo are well known (cf. Puhvel 1970: 373). […] The importance of water – or
‘the waters’ – does not end with the location of the conflict: it contains significant medicinal
properties, often shared with plants, that are linked with the dragon-slayer. We have already
noted the continuing association of the Continental Apollo with healing springs.

Shaw then closes in on an Irish embodiment of a slayer–healer, Dian Cécht, who is not only
the physician of the Tuatha Dé Danann but also the person who killed the dragon (or dragon-
infested person of) Méiche.7 In addition, Dian Cécht is a tragic figure; overshadowed by the
skill of his son Miach, who proved to be a better healer than himself, Dian Cécht killed
Miach in a jealous rage. Shaw’s assessment reads:8
The belief that waters and plants are conducive to physical health and long life is a common I-
Ir theme (Duchesne-Guillemin: 196, Puhvel 1970: 374), expressed through the healing gods
Haurvatāt ‘health,’ [his brother] Amrtāt ‘immortality’ and [their sister] Ārmaiti ‘pious thought’
and their functional equivalents, the Vedic twin healers the Aśvins. Dian Cécht’s sons Miach
and Octríuil, and their sister Airmed, as we have seen, are the Irish mythological counterparts
of the Iranian trio. During medical procedures in the first battle of Mag Tuired Dian Cécht kills
and buries Miach, and herbs corresponding to the number of joints and sinews in his body grow
up from the grave (§34-§35). In the second battle (§123) the four healers cast those mortally
wounded in the battle into a well and heal them with incantations.
The herbs that grew from Miach’s grave were harvested by Airmed, “who laid them out on a
cloak in the order of their various healing properties. Dian Cécht, still jealous of Miach,
overturned the cloak and hopelessly confused the herbs so that no human would learn the
secret of immortality by their use.”9 In a footnote devoted to onomastics, Shaw comments
that “Airmed (<*are-medā), the name [of] the daughter of Dian Cécht, may contain the root
*med- ‘to take the appropriate measures’ closely associated with the IE medical doctrine by
Benveniste (1945; Watkins 1995: 539);”10 surprisingly, he does not call attention to the
striking phonetic correspondence between the name of Airmed and that of her nearly
homophonous Iranian counterpart, Ārmaiti. He then goes on to remark that “The DIL (M:
125)11 gives miach (genitive méich) as ‘a dry measure, bushel’ which, coincidentally or not,
falls within the wider semantic range of *med- as ‘measure’ e.g. Lat. modus ‘a measure of
grain’. By the regular rules of sound change in Goidelic it is at least theoretically possible to
associate Miach as an o-stem with Méiche (yo-stem).” 12 This last comment is particularly
interesting, as it suggests an identity of Miach, who was an even greater healer than his father
Dian Cécht, with the dragon (or dragon-host) Méiche. Indeed, méich is not only the genitive
singular of miach but also the nominative plural as well;13 there is no dictionary entry for
méiche, and the sole entry for méich re-directs the reader to miach.14 If Méiche and Miach are
somehow interchangeable, then one might even view the healing herbs as growing from the
joints and sinews of the dragon’s body – potentially a riff on Samson’s riddle of the living in
the dead (Judges 14:14):15 “Out of the eater came something to eat, Out of the strong came
something sweet.”16 Supporting the grave as actually being that of Méiche is the fact that
subsequently “and, inconsistently, Miach is mentioned as very much alive.”17

Other considerations, too, bring Miach into direct connection with the dragon, although this
time as the slayer rather than as the monster. Thus, in several places, the prose dindshenchas

2
nominates Mac Cécht [“son of Cécht”] rather than Dian Cécht as the Méiche-slayer, an
appellation that Calvert Watkins takes to mean “son of [Dian] Cécht,”18 i.e. Miach. The Mac
Cécht of the Ulster cycle (i.e. Mac Cécht the son of Snade Teched) also embodies a slayer-
related function in that he goes in search of water for the thirsty High King (Conaire Mór) but
is thwarted by the gods, who repeatedly conceal the country’s water-sources; eventually they
fail to hide Loch Gara in time, and Mac Cécht succeeds in filling the King’s cup.19 Of course,
the withholding of much-needed water is a canonical behaviour of the Indo-European and
Near Eastern dragon, and the release of this water is the prerogative of the dragon-slayer.20

In sum, we see in Dian Cécht and his son Miach / Mac Cécht a good example of the “the
attribution of healing powers to the dragon-slayer, or to those closely associated with him.”
However, the example is not well known: the dragon-slaying role of Dian/Mac Cécht is
limited to relatively obscure entries for the River Barrow in the metrical and prose
dindshenchas (i.e. place-name lore) of Ireland. A less obscure example, which comes from
the ancient Near East, is embodied by the Hittite myth of the weather-god Tarḫuna and the
dragon Illuyankas. In this case, Tarḫuna lost the initial battle, whereupon:21
the dragon took away with him the heart and eyes of the weather god when he vanquished him.
In order to recover them the weather god begot a son, whom he married to the daughter of
Illuyankas. This young man asked his dragon bride for the missing organs and was able to give
them back to his father. Restored, the weather god killed Illuyankas, and, at his own request,
his own son, who like the Egyptian Horus had revitalized him.
Thus, as with Dian Cécht, Tarḫuna kills not only the dragon but also his own son, the great
healer. Another example from the ancient Near East, this time from Greco-Roman Egypt, is
afforded by images of Horus-the-Elder (the Greek Haroeris)22 spearing Seth, who appears in
the form of a dangerous water-beast, in a manner that prefigures St. George spearing the
dragon in Christian art.23 In the same historical period, Horus-the-Child (the Greek
Harpokrates) was the central feature of amuletic stelae known as Horus cippi, which were
popular as apotropaic and/or curative aids; in particular, drinking water that had been poured
over a cippus was believed to heal the sting or bite of a noxious animal.24 Thus – once again –
we see a conjunction of slayer and healer in a single personage. Perhaps the best-known
example of the slayer–healer nexus is afforded by the dual nature of Apollo as the slayer of
Python at Delphi and as the Greek god of healing, some details of which will be discussed in
the next section.

In none of the foregoing cases, though, is any causal explanation offered for why a slayer
(and/or his son) should possess healing powers, beyond the generic understandings that (a)
the slayer of a predatory monster is de facto a protector of human life,25 and (b) the dragon-
slayer brings fecundity by releasing the life-giving waters that the dragon had been
withholding. In the case of Tarḫuna, the god’s missing body parts are retrieved from the
offending dragon by his son, hinting that the dragon might be a reservoir of curative power;
for good measure, the same trope occurs in Greek mythology with Zeus, whose sinews
Hermes recovers from Typhon.26 Aligned with (and indeed extending) the idea of the
defeated dragon as a source of healing is our earlier suspicion that the body of a slain Irish
dragon might have sprouted a diverse array of curative herbs – medicines potent enough to
bestow immortality if used correctly. To consolidate the hypothesis, we can add that Apollo’s
son Asklepios, the god of medicine,27 routinely made use of blood from the veins on the
right-hand side of the Gorgon Medusa – the winged snake-monster slain by Perseus28 – to
cure diseases and raise the dead.29 For his success, Asklepios – like Miach – was struck dead

3
by a dragon-slayer, who in this case was not his own father but rather Zeus,30 the above-
mentioned vanquisher of Typhon.31 Although all but one of the functional roles are
distributed across more than one individual,32 which weakens the impact of the nexus, what
we have here is an instance where the son of a dragon-slayer uses the blood of a dead dragon
to effect magical cures.

2. Eating the dragon

The curative scenario that concluded the previous section is consistent with other writings
that attribute great healing power to the flesh of dragons; in these, we read that consuming
dragon-meat or dragon-blood cures diseases,33 imparts longevity or immortality,34 and
bestows great wisdom – wisdom which, in some cases, includes a complete knowledge of
medicine and healing. Writing in the 13th century CE, Roger Bacon summarised his
understanding of the topic thus:35
For it is certain that wise men of Aethiopia have come to Italy, Spain, France, England and those
lands of the Christians in which there are good flying dragons, and by secret art they possess,
lure the dragons from their caverns. They have saddles and bridles in readiness, and they ride
these dragons and drive them in the air at high speed, so that the rigidity of their flesh may be
overcome and its hardness tempered. Just as in the case of boars and bears and bulls that are
driven about by dogs and beaten in various ways before they are killed for food. After they have
domesticated them in this way they have the art of preparing their flesh, similar to the art of
preparing the flesh of the Tyrian snake, and they use the flesh against the accidents of old age,
and they prolong life and sharpen their intellect beyond all conception. For no instruction that
can be given by man can produce such wisdom as the eating of this flesh, as we have learned
through men of proved reliability on whose word no doubt can be cast.

In Western mythology, the wisdom imparted to a slayer by eating a dragon’s flesh or by

drinking its blood is typically highly specialised; a prime example is afforded by the
Scandinavian/Germanic dragon-slayer Sigurd/Siegfried. In the Prose Edda and Völsungsaga,
Sigurd cooks the dead dragon’s heart and tastes the blood boiling forth from it, and is thereby
empowered with an understanding of the language of birds (and, in some versions, of all
animals).36 In the Nibelungenlied, bathing in dragon’s blood hardens Siegfried’s skin and
makes him invulnerable to attack,37 so the theme of longevity/immortality is preserved too,
although – once again – in a very specialised or restricted sense. Some sources, such as the
Thidrekssaga, attach the two tropes to the one hero in quick succession; first he boils pieces
of dragon-flesh, whose broth allows him to understand bird-song, and then he bathes in
dragon’s blood to harden his skin.38

At Delphi, the place where Apollo slew Python, one could view the Pythia’s insight into the
future as another example of highly specialised knowledge imparted by the dead dragon.
Since ancient authors believed the site to be named for the rotting of the slain dragon’s
carcass,39 and since they also believed that the priestess’s prophetic trance arose from
inhaling the fumes from a chasm at the site,40 we are probably supposed to join the dots and
equate the stench of putrefaction with the fumes from the chasm.41 Inhaling the dead dragon’s
odour would then serve as a surrogate for ingesting its flesh or blood, leading to the same
outcome: specialised wisdom, in this case the power of divination and prophecy. The curative
function was not lost, either. Accordingly, supplicants would visit the Temple of Apollo at

4
Delphi for personal healing,42 and to beg for the god’s intercession during epidemics and
famines;43 looking beyond Delphi, we have already seen Shaw note “the continuing
association of the Continental Apollo with healing springs.”44

In folktales, the slayer–healer nexus is again indirect; its traces are in fact displaced from the
Dragon-Slayer tale proper (AT[U] 300) to very end of the frame-story within which the slayer
episode is typically found, namely The Two Brothers (AT[U] 303).45 Stith Thompson
comments on the relationship of the two tale-types thus:46
If one wished to study the ways in which a tale in the course of centuries becomes scattered
over the whole of Europe he could not do better than to direct his attention to the two closely
related folktales, The Two Brothers (Type 303) and The Dragon Slayer (Type 300). The Two
Brothers, as a regular part of its construction, contains almost the whole of The Dragon Slayer,
so that it is necessary to study the two tales together if one is to secure an accurate picture of
their mutual relationships, and of the history of the two stories, both when they are merged
together and when they exist separately. In his thorough study of these two types Ranke has had
available for analysis some 770 versions of The Two Brothers and 368 of The Dragon Slayer.
[… P]ractically all examples of the first story contain the second.
The two tale-types are interconnected in that it is the more adventurous of the eponymous
two brothers – the one who leaves home first – who fights and kills a dragon, thereby
rescuing the princess who was to be its sacrificial meal; in saving her life, he wins her as his
bride.47 The brothers’ adventures are continued in the AT[U] 303 frame-tale as follows:48
III. The Transformation by Witch. Having rescued and married a princess (as in Type 300), the
first brother (a) goes hunting or, (b) goes in search of another princess, or (c) follows a fire
which on his bridal evening he sees out the window. (d) He falls into the power of a witch who
turns him into stone.
IV. The Chaste Brother. (a) When the second brother sees from the life-token that the first is in
trouble he seeks him and (b) [since the brothers are identical twins,] is greeted by the
brother’s wife as her husband. (c) At night he lays a naked sword between himself and her.
V. Disenchantment. (a) He disenchants his brother. (b) The first brother is jealous and kills his
rescuer but when he finds the truth [i.e. that his rescuer – the second brother – did not take
advantage of his wife], he kills the witch and (c) resuscitates him with magic roots received
from animals.

It is the very last step – labelled V.(c) – in which the brother who killed the dragon displays
the ability to restore his dead sibling to life, resuscitating him with magic roots. The fact that
the magical ingredients and/or techniques are typically provided by animals (hare, mouse,
frog, doves)49 is reminiscent of Sigurd’s new-found ability to understand the language of
birds and/or beasts, and leaves open the possibility that the healing herbs might be connected
with the body of the dragon, a particularly magical animal; in versions from Italy and
Norway, the revivifying medicine is actually called “dragon-herb.”50 At no stage does the first
brother eat the flesh or drink the blood of the dragon that he has killed, but he does cut the
tongues – or sometimes the teeth – out of its many heads, and takes them with him;51
dragon’s tongue is an ingredient of some ancient folk remedies,52 and the generative power of
dragon’s teeth is well known from the Greek myths of Jason and the Golden Fleece and
Cadmus at the Spring of Ares.53 Sometimes the first of the Two Brothers revives his dead
sibling by providing him with the “water of life,”54 thereby recalling the dragon-slayer’s

5
canonical function of releasing the life-giving waters that had been withheld by the dragon.
Often the revivifying medicine is taken from the vanquished witch,55 who occupies a similar
niche to the slain dragon.56 Finally, the fact that the dragon-slayer kills his brother in a fit of
jealousy is reminiscent of Dian Cécht’s similarly-motivated killing of his son; another
similarity is that both of the deaths prove to be temporary.

The examples offered thus far in this paper as embodiments of the slayer–healer nexus in
general, and of the curative, rejuvenating or iatrologically enlightening power of consuming
dragon-parts in particular, are somewhat convoluted, if not downright strained. Other well-
known slayer/dragon pairings – Indra and Vritra, Seth and Apophis, Herakles and the
Lernaean Hydra, Thor and the Midgard Serpent, Beowulf and Grendel, etc. – are even less
forthcoming in these respects. In contrast, a refreshingly straightforward case of the “Dragon-
slayer as Doctor” trope, and one which foregrounds the curative power of dragon-meat,
dragon-blood or dragon-broth, is afforded by the Anatolian legend of Shahmaran. The tale
fulfills this role despite the fact that it is not even formally recognised as a dragon-slayer
story.

3. The legend of Shahmaran

Shahmaran legends reportedly date back to 1000 BCE,57 and have their origin in Indo-Iranian
mythology.58 For comparison, the Atharvaveda and Vidēvdāt/Vendīdād, which were
mentioned in Section 1 as containing early examples of the slayer–healer nexus, are believed
to have been compiled in 1st millennium BCE – the former around the 9th century BCE,59 and
the latter around the mid-1st millennium BCE, coalescing oral material from the first half of
that millennium.60

The name Shahmaran (“The Shah of the Snakes”) may also be written Shahmeran, Şahmaran,
Şah-ı Maran (or combinations thereof); it has regional variants, e.g. Şahmar (Kars) and
Şahmelek (Ankara),61 as well as non-cognate alternates, e.g. Yemliha/Yemliva, a name taken
from the legend of the Seven Sleepers / Companions of the Cave.62

We will first consider a version popular in Tarsus and Mersin (Türkiye); Tarsus is the location
of the modern Shahmaran statue (Fig. 1). A cognate version is found in the Arabian Nights,
where it may be titled “The Queen of the Serpents” or similar.63 Of the three Shahmaran
versions presented in this paper, version 1 can be considered the dominant one.64 It is
conveyed by the following account, which has been synthesized from a range of sources:65
Version 1. Long, long ago, a population of intelligent and compassionate snakes (maran) lived
peacefully underground in an underground realm. Their queen was a milky-white hybrid creature
called Shahmaran, who never aged; her upper body was that of a beautiful young woman and her
lower body was that of a snake. One day, a poor man named Jamasp was exploring with some friends
when they discovered a well full of honey. The friends lowered Jamasp down into the well to extract
the honey. When there was no honey left to pass up to them, the friends abandoned Jamasp in the
well so that they could keep his share for themselves. In the darkness, Jamasp noticed a gap in the
wall of the well through which light was coming. Enlarging the gap with his knife, he saw a very
beautiful garden with unique flowers, water-pools and many snakes: it was Shahmaran’s kingdom.
Jamasp lived there for many years and earned Shahmaran’s trust – in fact, the two fell in love.
Shahmaran taught Jamasp the secrets of medicines and curative herbs.

6
 Fig. 1. Shahmaran monument in Tarsus. Inset: Adjacent explanatory sign in
Turkish. The statue is actually a fountain; when active, water jets forth from
the mouths of the snake-heads that surround the central figure of Shahmaran.
Photo: Author, Oct 2024.

Years later, Jamasp had become very homesick and begged to leave. Shahmaran agreed to let him
return to the surface world provided that he promised not reveal her location to anyone and, in
addition, should not visit any hamam (public bath). Jamasp made the promise and returned to his
family. For many years, he faithfully kept silent about Shahmaran and avoided visiting a hamam.
One day, though, the Sultan fell ill, and his Vizier declared that the only remedy for his illness
was to eat Shahmaran’s flesh. Her location was unknown; however, the Vizier knew that anyone
who had been in contact with Shahmaran would have skin which turned into snake-scales in the
presence of water, so he ordered soldiers to all of the hamams to keep watch for such a person.

7
 Jamasp was ultimately coerced into visiting a hamam, where his scaly skin was duly spotted by the
soldier on watch. He was then forced or tricked into revealing where Shahmaran was hiding. The
Sultan found the well and brought Shahmaran to the surface. Just before she was killed, she informed
them that anyone who ate her snake flesh would gain the secrets of the world and be cured, whereas
anyone who ate her human flesh would die. The Sultan then killed Shahmaran and ate some of her
snake flesh; Jamasp, feeling so guilty about betraying his beloved that he did not want to go on
living, ate some of her human flesh. In a surprise twist, the Sultan died because the snake flesh was
in fact the poisonous one, whereas eating the human flesh imparted to Jamasp all of Shahmeran’s
medical wisdom, and – some say – her immortality as well.

As one travels between sources, Jamasp’s name undergoes a kaleidoscopic set of

permutations and modifications: Jamisab, Tasmasp, Tahmasp, Camasb, Camsab, Cami Sap,
Cemşab, Cemshab, Camesel, Canibis, Hâsib. He is sometimes introduced as the son of the
prophet Daniel, a sage whose own quest for the Plant of Immortality had ended in failure.66
Of greater import is the fact that Jamasp is the name of a famous Persian medical scientist;
living ca. 500 BCE, tradition positions him as a minister of king Vishtasb and contemporary
with Zoroaster.67 This Jamasp figures in Zoroastrian lore as the greatest of seers, divinely
endowed by Zoroaster with all knowledge.68 Renowned as a great astronomer, physician,
pharmacist, chemist and botanist, he has been dubbed “the father of Persian pharmacy.”69 In
the 10th century CE, Ibn Nadim mentioned him as an expert in chemistry and attributed to
him an elixir of immortality.70 The Zardust-namah, a Pahlavi manuscript from around the
same time, says that Zoroaster “gave to Jamasp a bit of the consecrated perfume,71 and all
sciences became understandable to him. He knew about all things to happen and that would
happen until the day of resurrection.”72 Such declarations indicate the extent to which, by the
end of the 1st millennium CE, myths of the kind familiar to us from the Shahmaran legend
had accreted around the kernel of the historical Jamasp.

In some variants of the Shahmaran narrative, the final plot twist is delivered slightly
differently: Shahmaran again misleads the assembly as to which part of her flesh is beneficent
and which is poisonous, and asks that the person who betrayed her location be forced to eat
the poisonous flesh as punishment. As a result, Jamasp is fed the enlightening flesh, while the
tyrannical Sultan eats the poisonous flesh and dies.73 In a much less conciliatory Mardin
variant, all of Shahmaran’s flesh turns out to be poisonous, so both die.74

A second version is quite different to the first, and presents Shahmaran as male rather than
female. It exists primarily in oral accounts.75 As well as being told in Tarsus,76 it is common
in Çukurova and the surrounding provinces, and is also told in İçel.77 This version is as
follows:78
Version 2. Despite being the son of a famous physician, Luqman was a humble woodcutter. One
day, while he was on the road home, Luqman heard a groan coming from the forest. When he went
toward the sound, he saw a hybrid creature whose upper body was that of a man and whose lower
body was that of a snake. The creature, which was called Shahmaran, had been wounded; he asked
for Luqman’s help, promising that the woodcutter would ultimately be rewarded for his kindness.
Luqman did help Shahmaran, and the latter quickly recovered from his injury. Shahmaran then
admitted that he had a premonition that his death would come at the hands of a human, so he got
Luqman to swear not to reveal his hiding-place to anyone else; he also told Luqman what he should
do in the event that this dreadful fate should come to pass. In the meantime, Shahmaran rewarded
Luqman by teaching him about human diseases and their treatments, and how to prepare every kind
of medicine.

8
 When Luqman returned to his home, he took to spending all of his time studying medicine further,
becoming Luqman the Physician.
A long time passed. Shahmaran was able to watch the events of the world because they were
reflected in certain crystal waters within his palace. One day he caught sight of the daughter of the
Sultan of Tarsus and immediately fell in love with her. When he realised that the girl was being taken
to the hamam, he secretly went to the bathhouse himself in order to appreciate her beauty first-hand
and from close quarters. However, he was spotted in the bathhouse by the girl’s servants and was
killed on its navel stone.
Upon hearing the news, Luqman immediately came to the bathhouse. There, he learned from the
Chief Astrologer that the Sultan of Tarsus had fallen ill and that he would only recover if he drank a
broth made from the head of Shahmaran. The Vizier claimed that he wanted to prepare this medicine,
but his real intention was to make the broth from the poisonous tail-part of Shahmaran, and – after
using it to cause the Sultan’s death – to marry his daughter and rule Tarsus himself. Fortunately, the
task of preparing the broth was given by the Sultan to Luqman. Following the instructions given to
him long ago by Shahmaran, Luqman divided the creature’s body into three parts and boiled each
part separately. While the meat was boiling, each part spoke out loud, announcing its magical
properties and indicating what diseases it would cure. When the Vizier arrived he demanded the
extract that would give a person extraordinary powers. Luqman anticipated the Vizier’s evil
intentions and gave him the tail juice. The Vizier drank this poisonous broth and died on the spot.
Luqman himself drank the extract from Shahmaran’s body and gave the Sultan the extract made
from Shahmaran’s head, thereby healing him. While on his way home from the palace, Luqman
realised that he could hear the plants and flowers speaking, and that they were telling him which
illness each of them would cure. Luqman recorded all of this knowledge in writing, becoming the
greatest doctor of his time – and indeed of all time.

Since Luqman (sometimes transcribed as Lokman) was a sage of great wisdom mentioned in
the Qur’an79 – Sura 31 is named for him – storytellers may assert that the humble protagonist
actually had a different name but went on to become “a Luqman,” rather than that he actually
was the original Qur’anic figure. In such cases the protagonist’s original name is often given
as Jamasp (or equivalent) and the narrative, apart from the mention of Luqman at the end,
conforms to our version 1.80

The Qur’anic Luqman is himself conflated with another man of the same name from an
earlier period, such that he appears to be a single person endowed with a supernaturally long
lifespan.81 Consistent with this, the curative or wisdom-bestowing extract that Shahmaran
bequeathed to our Luqman (which in version 1 may include the creature’s own exemption
from ageing and/or death)82 is sometimes said to have been an elixir of immortality,83 like the
potion attributed to the Persian physician Jamasp. Neither of the original Luqman characters
is especially associated with medicine or healing, but Luqman appears in Turkish folklore as
an Arab physician by virtue of his epithet ḥakīm (“the Wise”), which in Muslim countries is a
title granted to traditional healers.84 In addition to practicing medicine, he teaches it; for
example, in one Turkish tale, Luqman teaches the adventurer Meḥmed the Mad how to cure
the wife and daughter of the King and the wife of the Grand Vizier, all three of whom had
grown horns.85

The revealing to Luqman of every plant’s healing power is reminiscent of the Irish situation
at the grave of Miach, where Airmed was able to lay all of the herbs on a cloak in the order of
their various healing properties. Indeed, the confusing of their order by Dian Cécht has a

9
parallel in Armenian and Bulgarian versions of the Shahmaran legend, where Luqman’s
herbal knowledge had given him the secret of immortality; to curb this unnatural power, the
archangel Gabriel intervened and scattered Luqman’s notes, causing him to lose most of
them.86 In the Anatolian version under discussion, the fact that Luqman could hear and
understand the language of plants connects us with another Turkish myth in which “The king
of snakes (Şahmeran) gave the power to know the language of all animals to the ‘Hunter
Pîrim’ motif.”87 Specifically, “this hunter, who is close to nature, knew the language of all
birds and animals thanks to the spitting of the Snake King into his mouth, and therefore the
animals did not run away from him.”88 Naturally, we are also reminded here of the
Scandinavian/Germanic hero Sigurd/Siegfried, who became empowered with an
understanding of the language of birds (and, in some versions, of all animals) after tasting the
heart/blood/flesh of the dragon that he had killed. Many of these enlightenments – including
Luqman’s – relate folklorically to AT[U] 673: The White Serpent’s Flesh,89 a tale-type in
which in which the unauthorised eater of flesh from a white snake is immediately able to
understand the language of animals and/or plants.90 In view of the foregoing, it should come
as no surprise to discover that, by the Middle Ages, many of Aesop’s fables – which often
feature talking animals and plants – had became associated in the Arab world with Luqman.91

A third – and relatively terse – version of the legend is reported from Mardin, a city which
lies much further east in Türkiye than the source locations cited thus far:92
Version 3. A Vizier’s son found himself betrayed by his friends, who threw him into a well in the
desert. While trying to escape, he enlarged a hole in the wall of the well and entered a magical
underground kingdom, where he fell asleep. When he awoke, he saw Shahmaran – half-human and
half-snake – seated on a throne. Shahmaran threatened the man, saying: “If I let these dragons go,
they will tear you apart.” The Vizier’s son started to beg Shahmaran for his life and his freedom.
Shahmaran did set him free, but only on condition that he would never tell anyone about the
underground kingdom. On returning to the surface world, the Vizier’s son heard that the Sultan was
sick and had promised the vizierate, along with his daughter’s hand in marriage, to any person who
could save him. The doctors gathered and declared that the Sultan would recover only if he could
eat some of Shahmaran’s flesh. The Vizier’s son promptly broke his vow of silence and told the
Sultan’s men where to find Shahmaran. When the Sultan was fed with Shahmaran’s flesh, he
recovered immediately.

Upon the Sultan’s recovery, the Vizier’s son presumably collected the promised rewards. The
wording of this account leaves the gender of Shahmaran unclear, but in Mardin Shahmaran is
usually taken to be female.93

Local variants often blend elements of the three foregoing accounts to create composite
stories, e.g. the Arabian Nights’ “Queen of the Serpents” episode has a female Shahmaran
(version 1) whose broth kills the Vizier (versions 1 & 2) and whose flesh/broth cures the
Sultan (version 2). Other independent versions of the tale exist, too, and may also contribute
to composite narratives; however, the only accounts considered in this paper are ones in
which healing and/or wisdom and/or death are imparted by Shahmaran’s flesh, blood or
broth. The magical properties associated with the different body-parts of Shahmaran – i.e.
whether medicinal, instructional or lethal – are collated in Table 1. At the end of this table (in
rows with grey fill) are appended the similarly contrasting properties attributed to body fluids
from the Gorgons of Greek mythology. The Gorgon Medusa, in particular, is often considered
to be the western counterpart of Shahmaran, although comparisons invariably seem to stop
short of highlighting their most telling similarity – the fact that some of their body-parts/
fluids/extracts cure and restore life while others poison and kill.94

10
Table 1. Properties body parts or fluids from Shahmaran (no fill) or the Gorgons (grey fill)
Poisonous Curative Enlightening
Snake flesh kills Sultan - Human flesh makes Jamasp
wise.95
- Juice from flesh cures King,96 or -
eating eyes cures Bey.97
Tail meat kills Jamasp, and - -
head meat kills King.98
(Blanching) extract kills Vizier (Blanched) flesh cures Sultan.99 -
First extract of boiled flesh kills Second extract of boiled flesh Third extract of boiled flesh
Vizier heals Sultan makes Jamasp wise.100
First scum from boiled flesh kills Boiled flesh cures King Second scum from boiled flesh
Vizier makes Jamasp wise.101
First extract of boiled flesh kills Boiled flesh/head cures Sultan Second extract from boiled flesh
Vizier makes Jamasp wise.102
Second (green) extract of boiled First (yellow) extract of boiled Third (white) extract of boiled
flesh kills magician flesh cures Padishah flesh makes Jamasp wise.103
Extract of the tail kills Vizier Extract of the head heals Sultan Extract of the body makes Jamasp
wise.104
Tail meat kills Vizier Body meat cures Sultan Head meat makes Jamasp into
Luqman the Physician.105
Tail meat kills Vizier Body meat cures King Head meat makes Jamasp wise.106
Extract of boiled body kills Vizier Extract of boiled head cures King Extract of boiled tail makes
Jamasp into Luqman the
Physician.107
Blood from right side kills King Blood from left side is medicine Blood from left side makes
Jamasp wise.108
Blood from left side kills King Blood from right side is medicine Blood from right side makes
Jamasp wise.109
Blood from left side of Gorgon Blood from right side of Gorgon -
kills cures & resurrects.110
Blood/venom from Gorgon’s Blood from Gorgon’s body -
head-snakes kills cures.111
The configuration in the “official” Turkish tale-type (TTV 57: Der Schlangenkönig Schahmeran) – namely, that
the first extract kills the antagonist while the second extract makes the protagonist a famous doctor – is
highlighted in yellow.112 Rows with grey fill give the properties attributed to body fluids from the Gorgons of
Greek mythology.

The prefix Shah – a Persian title meaning “king” – suggests that the sovereign of the snakes
should be a masculine entity. As we have seen, though, the Shahmaran snake-human may be
either male or female, hybrids which the Turks call Erbüke and İşbüke, respectively;113
however, its human part is most commonly taken to be the upper body of a woman. Sultan
Sökmen and Zeynep Balkanal, on the authority of Neşe Yildiran, report “that in the legends
told outside of Anatolia, Şahmeran is male, and that Şahmeran was feminized in Anatolia,

11
where the mother goddess cult was extremely dominant.”114 Ömer Yılar has noticed that
written accounts leave the gender of Shahmaran ambiguous, whereas this is not true of the
oral legends; in the latter, Shahmaran is female and she and Jamasp fall in love.115 As already
noted, the second version of the Shahmaran legend routinely presents the hybrid creature as
masculine. Sometimes the first version, too, has a male Shahmaran,116 in which case his
relationship with Jamasp is simply one of friendship; however, in an alliance reminiscent of
the Hurrian/Hittite Illuyankas myth, Jamasp may marry Shahmaran’s daughter.117 A male
version of Shahmaran also seems to be shown in a 13th-century stone relief from the
Armenian ruins in the archaeological precinct of Ani (Fig. 2),118 an eastern Turkish site that is
closer to Mardin than to Tarsus. Moreover, a local incarnation of Shahmaran described as “a
male in the head and a snake below” was reputed to live in the castle at Yılankale (“Snake
Castle”),119 a 12th-century Armenian castle situated 90 km east of Tarsus (Fig. 3).120 Despite
these local variants, Anatolian folk paintings and embroideries of Shahmaran almost always
portray her human part as that of a woman (Fig. 4).121

Fig. 2. This relief from Ani, now in Kars Museum, has been identified as a Shahmaran.122 The sphinx-
like creature is winged, has a crowned head and a tail which terminates in the head of a dragon; having
no female attributes, the creature is presumably male. The museum label simply describes the relief as
a “mythological portrayal” in stone, excavated at Ani. Photo: Author, Oct 2024.

12
Fig. 3. Views from opposite sides of Yılankale (“Snake Castle”), a 12th-century Armenian castle situated
on a ridgetop in the Ceyhan/Adana region of Türkiye. Photo: Author, Oct 2024.

13
Fig. 4. Three folk depictions of Shahmaran made for the tourist souvenir market,
created using the traditional under-glass painting technique.123 The prominent
necklaces call to mind the lost necklace of the Queen in some AT[U] 673 tales.124
Photos: MikaelF at Wîkîpediya (top),125 Şeb at Vikipedi (middle)126 and Buğrakara
at Vikipedi (bottom);127 images via Wikimedia Commons.

14
Due to a reddish mark found within Yılankale (Fig. 3), which is also known as Shahmaran
Castle,128 local people believe that Shahmaran not only lived within this fortification but was
killed there, too.129 However, according to mainstream belief in Tarsus, Shahmaran was killed
in a bathhouse in that city, now known as the Shahmaran Hamam (Fig. 5); a persistent
redness seen on the inner wall and navel stone (the heated octagonal stone in the center of the
bathhouse) is understood to have its origin in Shahmaran’s blood.130 Others claim that she
was killed in the nearby Koma Hamam, which no longer exists.131

Before concluding this section, it is worth clarifying that it is highly unlikely that the
secondary meaning of Luqman’s epithet ḥakīm in Türkiye – as mentioned above in the
discussion of version 2 – is itself responsible for the Shahmaran-imparted wisdom acquiring a
medical flavour. The fact that the dominant version of the legend (version 1) calls the
protagonist Jamasp – the name of the great Persian medical scientist – and makes little or no
mention of Luqman suggests that the protagonist’s acquisition of medical knowledge was
intrinsic to ancestral forms of the tale; moreover, such knowledge forms a natural extension
to the curative power of the beneficial flesh/blood/broth that is common to all three versions
(Table 1). This curative power can in turn be viewed as variant form of AT[U] 305: The
Dragon’s Heart-Blood as Remedy,132 which – fittingly enough – is often found in
combination with AT[U] 673: The White Serpent’s Flesh,133 the tale-type invoked earlier in
this section in connection with version 2. Between them, these two templates posit different
snake- or dragon-parts as sources of either healing or wisdom, which is precisely the
combination that we see in the Shahmaran legend (Table 1). We might reasonably suspect
that an intimate juxtaposition of the domains “healing” and “wisdom” would soon coalesce to
yield “healing wisdom,” and in many Shahmaran narratives we see this already
accomplished. Overall, then, we can be very confident that the Shahmaran legend has long
had the protagonist graduate with the gift of healing, and that the recruitment of Luqman’s
name was a later development – his name would naturally have been attracted to the
Shahmaran legend once he too had acquired a reputation for medical excellence. Another
attractor would have been the synergy between the life-prolonging powers bequeathed by
Shahmaran (sometimes, as mentioned previously, reified as an “elixir of immortality”) and
the seemingly eternal life-span of the pre-Qur’anic–Qur’anic Luqman composite.

4. Betrayer as Slayer

Although the Shahmaran legend clearly does not conform to the Dragon-Slayer tale-type
(AT[U] 300),134 the person who betrays Shahmaran’s location to the surface-dwelling humans
– whether Jamasp (version 1) or the Vizier’s son (version 3) – is directly responsible for the
creature’s death. At least one source refers to Jamasp explicitly as Shahmaran’s
executioner,135 and his culpability as the true killer is emphasised and compounded by his
role in cutting and cooking Shahmaran’s body. Accordingly, the protagonist in these versions
occupies the niche of dragon-slayer, notwithstanding the fact that he usually did not wish any
harm to his victim (version 1) and the fact that this snake-monster is actually benevolent in
nature.136 In the remaining version, i.e. version 2, Shahmaran is not betrayed by Luqman but
rather brings about his own death; however, Luqman’s role in butchering and cooking
Shahmaran’s body, as well as his overall homology with the protagonists from versions 1 & 3
and his frequent (if fleeting) identification in version 1 narratives with Jamasp,137 mean that
he, too, can be classed as a slayer.

15
Fig. 5. The Shahmaran Hamam in Tarsus. Upper: Entrance to bathhouse. Lower: The domes of the
bathhouse, left of the entrance. Photos: CeeGee, via Wikimedia Commons; Apr 2015.138

16
Once Jamasp, Luqman and the Vizier’s son are recognised as dragon-slayers, it is obvious
that the legend of Shahmaran provides a particularly clear embodiment of the Indo-European
“Dragon-Slayer as Doctor” trope. The source of the otherwise unexpected power of the slayer
as a great healer is now revealed to reside in his access to the wisdom-imparting and/or
curative flesh and/or blood of the now-dead dragon, whether the latter had taken the form of a
marauding masculine monster or a benevolent serpent queen. In benevolent cases –
irrespective of the supernatural creature’s sex – some of the protagonist’s medical knowledge
may have been acquired in a non-magical manner, having been gleaned from tuition given by
the knowledgeable creature during their shared life together. Whether or not this occurs, the
third column of Table 1 indicates that all but three of the fourteen outcomes collated for the
Shahmaran legend involve a particular fraction of the creature’s meat or broth which, when
consumed, miraculously bequeaths to the protagonist all of Shahmaran’s wisdom and healing
powers; this typically includes an ability to understand the languages of plants or animals,
and may confer immortality on him as well. These gifts undoubtedly reflect the widespread
mythic belief that a vanquisher automatically assimilates some or all of the powers of the
vanquished,139 just as Herakles gains protection from wearing the pelt of the fierce Nemean
Lion that he has killed.140
In addition, the second column of Table 1 indicates that all but two of the fourteen outcomes
involve a different fraction of the creature’s meat or broth which, when ingested,
miraculously cures the stricken Sultan/King of his grave illness. In this it resembles the
snake-infused medicinal drink known as theriac:141
theriac, a viper-wine remedy that was originally intended for snakebite but that was seen
as a universal panacea for ills in the Middle Ages up to the eighteenth century and was
thought to strengthen and invigorate one’s health immeasurably. Theriac was usually
composed of wine as a base, to which were added other herbal and mineral ingredients
(with considerable variation); and, depending upon location and source, vipers were either
boiled in the wine or soaked in it, or their parts added to the mixture for the right touch of
efficacy. The use of viper broth as an invigorating tonic continues today in the Far East,
where a thriving business is done in snake parts, snake stews, and other mixtures believed
to be medically valuable.
In southeast Asia, snake-parts are indeed still prized as tonics and used to make traditional
medicines (Fig. 6).

As Sara Kuehn has noted, “From earliest times the serpent-dragon was associated with
poisons as well as antidotes.”142 In respect of the former, the first column of Table 1 indicates
that all but one of the fourteen Shahmaran outcomes involve a poisonous fraction of the
creature’s meat or broth which, when consumed, kills the Vizier or the Sultan/King. Parallels
to this can be found in Greek mythology: Herakles and Philoctetes used arrows dipped in the
poisonous blood of the slain Hydra to kill other monsters,143 and Queen Creusa of Athens
used a drop of venomous blood from the hair-snakes of a Gorgon in an attempt to poison her
son Ion.144 In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, the blood from a slain dragon – namely,
Grendel’s mother – is so corrosive that it melts the blade of the sword used to kill and
decapitate her, leaving only the hilt.145

In Section 2, we noted that the vanquished witch in the Two Brothers frame-tale (AT[U] 303)
– i.e. the tale-type that typically hosts the Dragon-Slayer module (AT[U] 300) – occupies a
similar niche to the slain dragon. Like Medusa and Shahmaran, the canonical witch

17
Fig. 6. Snake-wrangler on the streets of Hong Kong (left), selling freshly extracted gall bladders full of
bile (upper right, in white dish) and fresh snake-meat (lower right). Photos: Author, 1992.

simultaneously possesses the elixir of death and the elixir of life,146 and both of these come to
be at the disposal of the first brother – the actual dragon-slayer – after he (or his brother) has
subjugated or killed her.147 Here, as in other embodiments of the “Dragon-Slayer as Doctor”
trope, it is the life-giving powers of healing and revivification that take centre stage while the
complementary powers of destruction and death are neglected.148

5. Conclusion

Despite not being a dragon-slayer tale of the canonical AT[U] 300 type, the Shahmaran
legend exposes the logic underpinning the slayer–healer conjunction that permeates Indo-
European mythology and folklore. The basis for the association is that a dragon-slayer has
access to the flesh and blood of a dead dragon, or to liquid extracts made from them, and that
some fractions of these are potently beneficial while other fractions are lethally poisonous.
Ingestion of one of the beneficial fractions by the slayer confers on him profound wisdom,
often allowing him to understand the language of plants and/or animals and revealing to him
all the secrets of medical science. Administering a different beneficial fraction to someone
who is sick or dying is guaranteed to magically cure them of their illness. A beneficial

18
fraction may even be able to raise the dead, as with the blood from the right-hand side of
Medusa that was given to Asklepios, or to confer immortality on the slayer or his surrogate,
as in the case of Luqman the Physician. The slayer may not even need to physically consume
any dragon-part himself or administer it to his patient because, as a vanquisher, he is
automatically presumed to have assimilated some or all of the powers of his victim.

Like the Shahmaran legend, the dragon-slayer episode involving the Scandinavian/Germanic
slayer Sigurd/Siegfried straddles and fuses both AT[U] 305 and AT[U] 673.149 However, since
in this case the slayer does not become a healer, it represents an incomplete implementation
of the paradigm that we find in the Shahmaran legend. Specifically, tasting the heart/blood/
flesh of the dragon that he has killed grants Sigurd/Siegfried wisdom enough to understand
the language of birds, and bathing in the dragon’s blood hardens his skin, a biomedical
improvement that enhances his prospects of longevity;150 despite these advantages, however,
the hero fails to develop medical skills in his own right.

The poisonous fractions of dragon-gore are retained overtly in myth and legend, where they
continue to serve as material agents of death. The wisdom-imparting and life-giving fractions
typically disappear from view, but nevertheless have a lasting impact and legacy; although
not mentioned explicitly, it is they that underpin the powers of healing and revivification
attributed to the dragon-slayer and/or his son.

© Lloyd D. Graham, 2025, excluding third-party quotations and images; v3.0_19.03.25.

Cite as: Lloyd D. Graham (2025) “The Anatolian legend of Shahmaran affords a particularly clear exposition of
the Indo-European ‘Dragon-Slayer as Doctor’ paradigm,” online at
https://www.academia.edu/127859603/The_Anatolian_legend_of_Shahmaran_affords_a_particularly_clear_exp
osition_of_the_Indo_European_Dragon_Slayer_as_Doctor_paradigm.

All URLs were accessed 25 Feb, 2025, unless otherwise stated.

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Endnotes

1
The limited overlap takes the form of the “battlefield medicine” practiced by warriors; this relates to traumatic
injury, violent affliction, mayhem, etc. and involves surgical techniques such as amputations and bone-
setting (Puhvel 1971: 372-373 & 379-380).
2
Kuehn (2011: 169): “Thrita, ‘the third man who pressed the Haoma’ (Yasna 9.10), appears originally to have
been closely associated (if not identical) with Thraētaona […] The parallels in the magical healing abilities
of both Thrita and Thraētaona are mirrored by their heroic feats. Both are known to have overcome serpent-
bodied, three-headed and six-eyed dragons, respectively known as Visvarupa and Azhi Dahaka.”
3
Shaw (2006: 159).
4
Shaw (2006: 157 & 168).
5
Lyle (1982).
6
Shaw (2006: 176).
7
Shaw (2006: 161-164).
8
Shaw (2006: 177).
9
Ellis (1991: 28).
10
Shaw (2006: 177, fn. 11); “IE” = IndoEuropean.
11
DIL: Dictionary of the Irish Language; for miach (actually míach), see online at https://dil.ie/32122.
12
Shaw (2006: 177, fn. 11).
13
Ó’Dónaill (1977: 853).
14
Ó’Dónaill (1977: 849). There is no entry in the electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL) for méich
as a headword (see online at https://dil.ie/search?q=m%C3%A9ich&search_in=headword).
15
Uther (2011: 564), cited in the course of ATU 927.
16
NRSV translation; the riddle refers to the honey from a beehive that was established in the carcass of a lion
(Judges 14:8-9).
17
Puhvel (1971: 378). This much should already have been evident from the previous block-quote by Shaw,
which concludes with “In the second battle (§123) the four healers cast those mortally wounded in the battle
into a well and heal them with incantations.” To dispel any uncertainty, the text actually names the four
healers as “Dian Cecht, his two sons Octriuil and Miach, and his daughter Airmed” (Puhvel 1971: 378).
18
Watkins (1995: 534).
19
Ellis (1991: 156).
20
Kuehn (2011: 87-88); Blust (2023: 85-86 & 119); Fagiolo et al. (2024: 19-20). For an example in Coptic
legend, see El-Shamy (1980: 160).
21
Cotterell (1986: 30-31). Tarḫuna is the Hittite name for the storm-god, Teshub is the Hurrian one. On the
complex contributions of the indigenous (i.e. pre-Indo-European) Hatti, their Hittite (Indo-European)
successors, and two other Indo-European language groups that were enmeshed with the Hittites – i.e.
Luwians and Hurrians – to the personality and mythology of the Anatolian storm-god, see Miller (2014: 231-
233). For a translation of the relevant part of the Hittite version of the myth, see Beckman (1982: 19, §20’-
§26’).
22
Hart (2005: 72-73).

24
23
Graham (2021: 71 & 72, Fig. 4).
24
Graham (2020: 420-422).
25
Kuehn (2011: 169-170) hints at a basis in sympathetic magic and homeopathy when she writes: “It is
interesting to observe that the magical healers who are called upon to cure injuries caused by snake bites and
to invent an antidote for snake venom are at the same time dragon fighters par excellence.”
26
Kershaw (2007: 39-40).
27
Kershaw (2007: 226).
28
Kershaw (2007: 141); “the Gorgon is another monster who can be assimilated to a dragon or serpent”
(Watkins 1995: 364).
29
Kershaw (2007: 143 & 231); Greeka (n.d.). In many cultures, the snake is the symbol of rejuvenation – and,
by extension, eternal life – on account of its ability to periodically slough its skin and emerge as if reborn
(Kuehn 2011: 173). As Robert Blust (2000: 522) explains, “the idea of the dragon may have arisen from
ophiolatry: the moulting of snakes was misconstrued by early man as rebirth, and consequently serpents
were worshipped through human envy of their imagined immortality. Gradually, according to this view, real
snakes evolved into fanciful dragons.”
30
Kershaw (2007: 232).
31
Kershaw (2007: 40).
32
The nexus involves three dragon-slayers (Apollo, Perseus, Zeus), two dragons (Medusa, Typhon), two healers
(Apollo, Asklepios) and one slayer’s son (Asklepios).
33
No doubt this represents a millennium-long expansion of Pliny the Elder’s 1st-century CE belief that “the
snake is full of ‘many remedies’” (Kuehn 2011: 170, fn. 23). For a brief overview of the practice of
consuming snake-meat to cure poisoning (via homeopathy and the principle of similia similibus curantur)
and the expansion of its use to combat other illnesses, see Kuehn (2011: 174, incl. fn. 55). This theme is
reprised in later in the main text in the discussion of theriac (Section 4).
34
As explained in note 29, many cultures view the snake and/or dragon as the preeminent symbol of
rejuvenation – and, by extension, eternal life – on account of the snake’s ability to periodically slough its
skin and emerge as if reborn (Blust 2000: 522; Kuehn 2011: 173).
35
Burke (1962: 623-624); Porck (2017).
36
Gentry et al. (2011: 14, 45 & 69); Myth Enthusiast (2019). The Prose Edda (Sturluson 1995: 101) and the
Völsungsaga (Völuspá 2008: chap. 9) describe the episode in almost identical terms. From the latter: “Regin
drank of [the dragon] Fafnir’s blood, and spake, ‘Grant me a boon, and do a thing little for thee to do. Bear
the heart to the fire, and roast it, and give me thereof to eat.’ Then Sigurd went his ways and roasted it on a
rod; and when the blood bubbled out he laid his finger thereon to essay it, if it were fully done; and then he
set his finger in his mouth, and lo, when the heart-blood of the worm touched his tongue, straightway he
knew the voice of all fowls, and heard withal how the wood-peckers chattered in the brake beside him.”
37
Gentry et al. (2011: 23, 158, 139 & 147); Myth Enthusiast (2019). The Nibelungenlied (Horton & Bell 1901:
18, v.100) mentions the episode as follows: “And yet another story of Siegfried I have heard : How he did
slay a dragon, with his own hand and sword, And in its blood he bathed him till horny grew his skin, And
thus no sword can cut him, as hath been often seen.” Later, Siegfried’s wife Kriemhilda repeats: “Bold is my
husband and strong enough thereto. When he upon the mountain erstwhile the dragon slew, In the brute’s
blood he bathed him, the goodly warrior. And since that day, in battle, no steel can cut him more” (Horton &
Bell 1901: 153, v.899).
38
Haymes (1988: 107).
39
Homeric Hymn to Apollo, line 370: “So triumphing he [i.e. Apollo] spoke, and her [i.e. the dragon’s] eyes
were both covered in darkness. Her did the sacred power of Helios cause putrefaction, wherefore Pytho the
place is now called, and the lord himself they call by another cognomen, the Pythian, since it was there that
monster was putrefied then by Helios’ penetrant power” (Merrill 2011).
40
Aleš Chalupa writes that “definitely the most influential theory is that the Pythia gave her prophecies under
the influence of intoxicating vapours that rose up from a deep chasm inside the adyton above which she was
sitting on a tripod,” citing as authorities Diodorus Siculus (16.24.2-4); Strabo 9.3.5; Pausanias 10.5.7;
[Longinus], Subl. 13.2; Cic. Div. 2.57; Lucan Phars. 5.79, 5.173; Justin 24.6; Plut. Mor. 432c-438d [De def.
or. 40–51] (Chalupa 2014: 35, incl. fns. 54-55).
41
The current Wikipedia entry for Delphi joins the dots in exactly this manner: “According to legend, when
Apollo slew Python its body fell into this fissure and fumes arose from its decomposing body. Intoxicated by

25
 the vapors, the sibyl would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she
prophesied” (Wikipedia, s.v. Delphi, online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi).
42
Middleton (1888: 320).
43
Cole (2004: 72).
44
Shaw (2006: 177); similarly Puhvel (1971: 379).
45
The designation “AT[U]” is used for tale-types that are present both in the Aarne-Thompson scheme (AT;
Thompson 1946 and/or Thompson 1973) and in Hans-Jörg Uther’s revised scheme (ATU; Uther 2011). For
simplicity, AT[U] is rendered ATU in the Abstract.
46
Thompson (1946: 24); similarly, Thompson (1946: 25).
47
Thompson (1973: 93 [Motif set III]); Uther (2011: 183).
48
Thompson (1973: 95-96).
49
Ranke (1934: 301). The portrayal of animals as knowing the secrets of herbally-mediated revivification is
likely to derive from an episode early in the medical career of Asklepios, who observed a snake using a herb
to restore life to a snake which Asklepios had just killed (Hyginus, Astronomica II.14; Grant 1960). Perhaps
this herb is supposed to be the same one as the rejuvenating “Plant of Heartbeat” stolen from Gilgamesh by
the snake in the Mesopotamian epic (Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard Version, XI: 280-315; George 1999: 98-
99).
50
Drachenkraut in German (Ranke 1934: 302).
51
Thompson (1973: 88); Uther (2011: 174).
52
Myth Enthusiast (2019); there is also a plant named Dragon’s Tongue (Sauropus sp.) which is used in
traditional medicine (Hu 1967). The Devil’s tongue is a curative organ in the Latvian oicotype (= sub-type 3)
of AT[U] 305: The Dragon’s Heart-Blood as Remedy (Uther 2011: 187-188), a tale-type which normally
features the curative power of dragon-parts; the importance of this tale-type will become clear in Section 3.
53
Sown in the earth like seeds, the teeth turned into warriors (Kershaw 2007: 106-109 & 196).
54
Ranke (1934: 302-303); Uther (2011: 184).
55
Ranke (1934: 302).
56
It is from her that the above-mentioned “dragon’s-herb” is taken (Ranke 1934: 302).
57
Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 284-285).
58
Yilar (2016: 6 & 10). Recall Shaw’s assertion in Section 1 that “the attribution of healing powers to the
dragon-slayer, or to those closely associated with him, stems from a common I-Ir source” (Shaw 2006: 159).
59
Flood (1996: 37).
60
Rose (2011: 9 & 243).
61
Yilar (2016: 1).
62
Yilar (2016: 3 & 5).
63
Payne (1884: 52-57 & 135-149). The Arabian Nights tale is thought to have been the basis of the 15th-century
Camasbnâme, a Turkish literary version presented to Murad II by Musa Abdi (Eberhard & Boratav 1953: 64;
Çiblak 2007: 191; Sökmen & Balkanal 2018: 285).
64
Karadeniz (2023).
65
Payne (1884); Eberhard & Boratav (1953: 63-64 [TTV 57]); Çiblak (2007: 188-189 [K1]); Uysal (2014);
NNACO (2016); Biţună (2017); European Union (2017: 50); Turkish Museums (2020); Daily Sabah (2020);
Meray (2023); Gültekin (2023); Pourpre988 (2024); Nasim Stone (2024: 89-92); Ghorbany (n.d.).
66
Yılar (2016: 10); cf. the similar “Plant of Heartbeat” stolen from Gilgamesh by the snake in the
Mesopotamian epic (Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard Version, XI: 280-315; George 1999: 98-99), mentioned
earlier in note 49.
67
Zargaran & Mohagheghzadeh (2012: 4).
68
Boyce (2011). From the Pâzend Jâmâspi: (Modi 1903: 108): “Zarathushtra, in his life-time said thus before
king Vishtâsp : ‘By the command of God, I have made Jâmâsp wise (i.e., foreseeing). He knows everything.’
Then Jâmâsp went before king Vishtasp and said thus : I know (i.e., I have learnt) everything from the
immortal Zarathushtra of Spitama, and what a knowledge it is!”
69
Zargaran & Mohagheghzadeh (2012: 3 [Abstract] & 5).
70
Zargaran & Mohagheghzadeh (2012: 5).
71
This “perfume” would be equivalent to one of the beneficial liquid extracts (broths) prepared from the snake-
monarch’s flesh in many Shahmaran narratives; see ahead to version 2 and Table 1.
26
72
Zargaran & Mohagheghzadeh (2012: 5). The Persian Zarātušt-nāme has a similar passage; although he is not
granted immortality per se, “Jāmāsp acquires eternal qualities of omniscience and clairvoyance and is
invested with the role of clairvoyant par excellence” (Agostini 2013: 52). On the granting of immortality to
another character in the same passage, see note 89.
73
Deniz (2020: 224).
74
European Union (2017: 52).
75
Yılar (2016: 10).
76
Çiblak (2007: 189 & 195 [K2]).
77
Diyadinnet (2019).
78
Çiblak (2007: 189-190 [K2]); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 286-287 [version b]); also Şimşek (2019: 28) and
Ozdemir (2009: first two versions combined), despite no explicit mention of Luqman.
79
“We bestowed wisdom upon Luqmān” (Qur’an 31: 12).
80
E.g. Uysal (2014); Irmak (2022: slide 4); Jovanna (2022: “Queen of Serpents” panel).
81
Kassis (1999: 47-50).
82
Çıblak (2007: 193); Yılar (2016: 103); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 289); Şimşek (2019: 31).
83
Daily Sabah (2018); Deniz (2020: 224).
84
Heller & Stillman (1986: 813); Yılar (2016: 11).
85
Walker & Uysal (1966: 33 & 264, n. 42).
86
Kuehn (2011: 171, incl. fn. 25); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 288).
87
Beydili (2004: 616, s.v. Yılan); author’s translation from the original Turkish, assisted by Google Translate
and DeepL.
88
Beydili (2004: 75, s.v. Avcı Pîrim); author’s translation from the original Turkish, assisted by Google
Translate and DeepL.
89
Note the milky-white colour of Shahmaran in version 1 of the legend (Meray 2023; Ghorbany n.d.) and the
white colour of the third extract of her boiled flesh, the extract that makes Jamasp wise (Table 1; Nasim
Stone 2024: 89-92). Likewise, some Shahmaran narratives about Yılankale Castle (see ahead to Fig. 3) say
that it is (or at least used to be) full of snakes that feed on milk (Şimşek 2019: 28). In the Persian Zarātušt-
nāme, mentioned in connection with Jamasp in note 72, milk is the medium used by Zoroaster to bestow
immortality on Pišōtan (Agostini 2013: 52).
90
Thompson (1973: 236); Uther (2011: 370). The AT[U] 673 tale-type may be summarised as follows: Contrary
to a warning, a servant (cook) eats the flesh of the white serpent from the king’s pot. He thereby learns the
speech of animals (birds) or plants (grass and trees). From the conversation of birds he learns of an
impending disaster and warns his master, or he learns where the queen’s lost necklace/ring can be found,
thereby exonerating himself from guilt. In Irish mythology, the serpent is replaced by a fish, the so-called
Salmon of Knowledge (Ellis 1991: 124, s.v. Fintan 2).
91
Heller & Stillman (1986); Kassis (1999: 51); Noegel & Wheeler (2002: 197).
92
Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 287), citing Hasan Özcan’s verbal account of the legend in Ellerin Türküsü
(2013).
93
Ellerin Türküsü (2013); European Union (2017: 50); Turkish Museums (2020); Bedi (2024).
94
Aida Amer (2017) comes tantalisingly close when, with respect to Medusa and Shahmaran, she speaks of “the
cultural divide of figures whose unifying characteristics have been forgotten – in this case, serpentine
features, blood which both restores, and their roles as guardians.”
The fact that some dragon-parts kill while others cure can be rationalised at different levels. At the
material level, the snake/dragon embodies both death (via the snake’s lethal bite) and rebirth/immortality
(via the snake’s ability to slough its skin; notes 29 & 34). At a deeper cosmogonic level, the dragon – that
withholder or bringer of water (Blust 2023: 82-92) – personifies the primeval waters, which themselves
represent both chaos (dissolution, death) and regenerative potential (creation, rebirth), as with the ancient
Egyptian Nun (Hart 2005: 109-110). Interestingly, the similar-sounding Hebrew and Arabic letter nūn means
“fish,” and Islamic tradition holds that it represents the chaos-whale of the primordial waters, or “a mythical
fish upon which God created the earth” (Kuehn 2017: 46-47, incl. fn. 45); reciprocally, the hieroglyph for the
corresponding Egyptian letter – n – is the water symbol ( ), which in a threefold stack ( ) serves as the
determinative of Nun (Faulkner 1962: 134, s.v. nnw).
The monster’s creative aspect can be expressed in ways that do not require it to be killed, such as in
situations where it swallows its victim (death) and then regurgitates it/him alive (resurrection/rebirth), as
27
 occurs astrologically with the sky-dragons that devour and release the sun and moon to cause eclipses and
the lunar cycle (Kuehn 2011: 124; Mikayelyan 2021: 236). A well-known Old Testament example of the
same trope is the prophet Jonah’s sojourn in the belly of the sea-beast (Kuehn 2017: 31-56; Mikayelyan
2021: 234 & 241); Jewish midrash claims this to have been filled with fiery heat (Friedman 1988: 130-131),
as one would expect of a dragon (Blust 2023: 114; Graham 2024; although see also Fagiolo et al. 2024: 24),
and other commentators also liken this and other biblical sea-beasts to dragons (Kuehn 2017: 33 & 55-56;
also 63, fn. 92, re Leviathan). A Christian legend involves St. Margaret the Virgin being swallowed by Satan
in the shape of a dragon; of this, Martos Núñez et al. (2015: 423) write: “The way of gobbling up is the most
archaic, and derives from a maieutic myth: the predator snake transfers its wisdom to the gobbled one
(legend of Saint Margarita), who is vomited after the process.” In such katabasis-like round-trips, they
observe that the protagonist receives a “kind of gift or magical virtue from the inside of the snake,” often
from within its mouth (Martos Núñez et al. 2015: 423 & 428).
Central/West Asian art affords a recurring royal paradigm in which the astral eclipse-dragon is subdued
rather than killed, thereby allowing the ruler to harness and channel its powers (Kuehn 2011: 113-127;
Kuehn 2017: 56-57). The iconography relates both to the Mesopotamian “Master of Animals” template
(Graham 2020: 420-421) and to the classic East Asian motif of two opposed dragons trying to swallow the
sun (Graham 2024: 31, Fig. 27). In the Central/West Asian examples, the sun-disk of the East Asian motif is
humanised, usually becoming the head of the ruler (Öney 1969-70: 200; Kuehn 2011: 113-127, Pl. 30: Fig.
118, Pl. 31: Figs. 119 & 121, Pl. 43: Figs. 139ab, Pls. 71-72: Figs. 114, 120, 122 & 124; Kuehn 2017: 56-62
& 90-93: Figs. 13-17); the threat of its ingestion, symbolised by one of the two heraldically-opposed gaping
mouths, is balanced by the promise of its salvific rebirth, symbolised by the other (Kuehn 2017: 72-74).
95
Biţună (2017: 8), although the author inadvertently inverts the effects in the final sentence of the narrative
(here corrected).
96
European Union (2017: 50).
97
Şimşek (2019: 28); Ozdemir (2009).
98
European Union (2017: 52).
99
Ghorbany (n.d.); Daily Sabah (2020).
100
Çiblak (2007: 188-189 [K1]); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 286 [version a]).
101
Payne (1884).
102
Diyadinnet (2019); Ozdemir (2009: last version); Turkish Museums (2020).
103
Nasim Stone (2024: 56 & 89-90).
104
Çiblak (2007: 190 [K2]); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 286-287 [version b]).
105
Uysal (2014).
106
Gültekin (2023).
107
Meray (2023); Pourpre988 (2024).
108
Deniz (2020: 224).
109
Deniz (2020: 224).
110
Apollodorus, Library 3.10.3 (Frazer 1921): “And having become a surgeon, and carried the art to a great
pitch, he [Asklepios] not only prevented some from dying, but even raised up the dead; for he had received
from Athena the blood that flowed from the veins of the Gorgon, and while he used the blood that flowed
from the veins on the left side for the bane of mankind, he used the blood that flowed from the right side for
salvation, and by that means he raised the dead.” Transcript online at
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3
Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D3#:~:text=Apollodorus%2C%20Library%2C%20book%2
03%2C%20chapter%2010%2C%20section%203.
111
Euripides’ Ion describe these fluids in lines 985-1015 & 1048-60. The play contains the following dialogue
between an Old Servant and the Athenian queen Creusa, who had inherited two vials that had originally been
obtained from Athena after the goddess had slain a Gorgon. “Cre: Two drops of Gorgon’s blood. Old Ser:
What power could they exert on the nature of a human creature? Cre: The one with death is fraught, the
other cures disease. […] Cre: Each drop of gore which trickled from the hollow vein— Old Ser: What
purpose does it serve? what virtue does it carry? Cre: Wards off disease, and nourishes man’s life. Old Ser:
What doth that second drop effect, of which thou madest mention? Cre: It kills, for it is venom from the
Gorgon’s snakes.” Coleridge (1910: 297); transcript online at
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Plays_of_Euripides_(Coleridge)/Ion.

28
112
Eberhard & Boratav (1953: 63 [TTV 57]). In the AT[U] scheme, Yılar (2016: 2) considers the closest match
to be AT[U] 673: The White Serpent’s Flesh, a tale-type considered in detail in Section 3.
113
Uysal (2014).
114
Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 288); author’s translation from the original Turkish, assisted by Google Translate
and DeepL. Similarly, others claim that the Persian embodiment of Shahmaran is male (Uysal 2014).
115
Yilar (2016: 10)
116
Çiblak (2007: 193); Diyadinnet (2019); Alıcı (2017: 456).
117
Eberhard & Boratav (1953: 64). In some version 2 narratives, Shahmaran’s eyes and liver (Diyadinnet 2019),
or eyes only (Table 1; Şimşek 2019: 28; Ozdemir 2009), are specified as the portions to be eaten; as we saw
earlier, Tarḫuna was trying to retrieve his stolen eyes from Illuyankas (Diyadinnet 2019). Incidentally, both
the liver and eyes of dragons feature with curative power in the Flemish and Sebian oicotypes (= sub-types 2
& 4, respectively) of AT[U] 305: The Dragon’s Heart-Blood as Remedy (Uther 2011: 188-189), a tale-type
which will be discussed in the main text at the end of the current section.
118
Khalifa-Gueta (2023: 225). Other sites possessing similar hybrids (i.e. sphinxes with dragon-headed tails) are
listed by Mikayelyan (2021: 240), who interprets them (without any mention of Shahmaran) as solar
symbols associated with power and bestowers of apotropaic protection (Mikayelyan 2023).
119
Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 288); Şimşek (2019: 28-31). Author’s translation from the original Turkish,
assisted by Google Translate and DeepL.
120
Daily Sabah (2018); Nasim Stone (2024: 60-62).
121
Ellerin Türküsü (2013); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 291 & 293, Figs. 1-4).
122
Khalifa-Gueta (2023: 225). As mentioned in note 118, Mikayelyan (2021: 240) interprets sphinxes with
dragon-headed tails as solar symbols associated with power and bestowers of apotropaic protection
(Mikayelyan 2023), making no mention of Shahmaran.
123
Ellerin Türküsü (2013); Biţună (2017: 8); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 291-292 & 294). The top layer (from
the viewer’s perspective) is painted directly onto the underside of the glass, and background layers are added
sequentially thereafter.
124
Thompson (1973: 236): “Contrary to warning, the cook eats the flesh of the white serpent. He learns the
speech of animals [B217.1.1] [… and] he learns where the queen’s necklace has been lost [N451],” thereby
exonerating himself from accusations that he had stolen it. An alternative or additional referent for the
necklaces in the Shahmaran paintings is suggested by a passage from Kuehn (2011: 181): “Pearls and their
association with serpents also appear in a legend in the seventh-century Sanskrit text Harshacharita (“The
Deeds of Harṣa”). According to the story a pearl necklace, ‘which shone ... like a cluster of stars,’ born of the
tears of the Moon god, became an antidote to poison and came into the possession of Vasuki, the king of
serpents. The latter always carried it with himself to soothe the burning heat of poison and eventually
presented it to Nagarjuna during his stay in the Netherworld.”
125
Photo by MikaelF at Kurdish Wikipedia, online at
https://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%AAne:Salname_2004.jpg, CC0 (Public Domain).
126
Photo by Şeb at Turkish Wikipedia, online at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C5%9Eamaran%C4%B1n_uzun_g%C3%B6vdesi_ve_y%C4%
B1lan_ba%C5%9F%C4%B1.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0.
127
Photo by Buğrakara at Turkish Wikipedia,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sahmeran_m%C3%BCzeden.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0.
128
Chesney & Ainsworth (1837: 420).
129
Sözeri (2006: 42); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 289).
130
Çiblak (2007: 192); Sökmen & Balkanal (2018: 289).
131
Diyadinnet (2019).
132
Thompson (1973: 98); Uther (2011: 187-188). The title of the tale-type is drawn from the Danish oicotype.
133
Uther (2011: 370), under heading “Combinations.”
134
As mentioned in an earlier note, Yılar (2016: 2) considers its closest match to be AT[U] 673: The White
Serpent’s Flesh, a tale-type considered in detail in Section 3.
135
European Union (2017: 52).
136
That Shahmaran is not usually recognised as a dragon is evident from the creature’s omission from a recent
review of dragons in Anatolian legends (Aslan 2014). Interestingly, in the 9-14th centuries CE, dragons in
Armenia and adjacent regions retain/regain some of the positive and apotropaic functions that they enjoy up
29
 to the present day in China and south-east Asia (Mikayelyan 2021; Blust 2023: 13-14), so it is not entirely
surprising to find a wise and benevolent dragon in the region’s Shahmaran legends.
137
E.g. “Cemshab, who encounters Shahmaran, is actually Lokman Hekim” (Karadeniz 2023); “Tahmasp
acquires all the secrets and wisdom of Shahmaran and becomes the Lokman Hekim” (Uysal 2014); similarly
Pourpre988 (2024) and Vikipedi (2025).
138
Upper photo online at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OldHammamTarsus_(3).JPG, lower one at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OldHammamTarsus_(2).JPG, both CC BY-SA 4.0.
139
Kuehn (2011: 73). In the Andean region of South America, many examples of this principle are afforded by
the serial encounters in the Moche myth of Ai Apaec’s journey to the underworld (Holmquist & Fraresso
2021: 111-147). Closer to the Indo-European domain, Sara Kuehn volunteers a narrative in which the
dragon-slayer Indra (mentioned at the end of Section 2) acquires the attributes of a dead dragon by actually
becoming the dead dragon. Thus, Kuehn (2011: 175) reports that Indra is identified in the Swāt region of
Central Asia with Lord Śakra, “an incarnation of the Buddha, [who] sacrificed himself for the good of the
people by transforming himself into a great serpent whose dead body filled the entire valley of Swāt. Since
his flesh was a remedy for every kind of disease, the sick were thus delivered from their afflictions.”
Perceptively, Kuehn (2011: 175) links Lord Śakra’s metamorphosis with the Queen of the Serpents
episode in the Arabian Nights, which we know to be a form of the Shahmaran legend (Section 3);
accordingly, she writes of Śakra’s transformation that “This legend has certain affinities with an assortment
of tales related to the Queen of the Serpents which is included in Alf layla wa-layla collection of fairy-tales
and other stories.” However, this recognition does not extend far into the broader canvas that forms the
subject of the present paper. Firstly, the Queen’s beneficial flesh is presented as the specific cure for a named
disease rather than recognised as a magical panacea, a status suggested (a) by the vague nature of the
“mysterious illness” that afflicts the human ruler in the Shahmaran accounts and (b) by the declaration in
version 2 that the flesh would cure multiple different illnesses. Secondly, and more importantly, the role of
the Jamasp/Hâsib figure – our dragon-slayer – is down-played to the point where he seems to drop out of the
healing equation entirely. Thus Kuehn (2011: 175) says: “In the tale the Serpent-Queen consents to be slain
and to sacrifice her flesh in order to heal the king. However just as in Andromachus the Younger’s theriac
recipe recorded in the Kitab al-diryāq text, the consumption of snake flesh is seen here specifically as a cure
for leprosy with which the king is afflicted. In the tale the flesh of the reptile is to be boiled and then served
to the leper. Moreover drinking the elixir, in other words the broth in which the flesh was cooked (after
skimming off the ‘first scum’ or foam which appears in the process of boiling), is said to give access to the
fountains of knowledge, as well as various sciences.” The topic then switches to ʿAli ibn Waḥshiyya al-
Nabaṭī’s 9th-century CE text on poisons.
140
Kershaw (2007: 157-158). This is a rather materialistic reification of the transference; it may equally occur in
a less concrete manner by magical means. In respect of a dragon-slayer’s acquisition of immortality,
Mikayelyan (2021: 232) eschews materialistic mechanisms when she says: “fighting the dragon was the
leading theme of the victory of a cultural hero over evil and disorder and the act of consecration of a hero,
the transition to another level, overcoming death.” In metaphysical terms, killing the gatekeeper and
guardian of the underworld was tantamount to a triumph over death (Mikayelyan 2021: 241).
141
McDonald (1994: 21). Theriac manufacture is presumably what Roger Bacon had in mind when he spoke of
“the art of preparing the flesh of the Tyrian snake” in the block-quote in Section 2. The use of theriac to cure
leprosy, as mentioned in note 139, was advocated by the 2nd-3rd century CE physician Galen (McDonald
1994: 22-23). Consistent with the etiological statements already made above in notes 29, 34 & 94,
McDonald (1994: 23) says: “The analogic, metaphorical thinking has a zoological grounding in the real act
of a snake’s shedding its own skin, and the broader implication is that molting the skin not only cures
immediate diseases of that organ, but, by extension, rejuvenates, transforms, and even, in the extreme,
renders immortal.”
142
Kuehn (2011: 171). The mythic identification of the snake with rejuvenation and eternal life (notes 29 & 34)
is opposed and counterbalanced by the real-life threat to life posed by snake-bite (note 94). A similar binary
opposition is found in the archaic tendency to assign to a single deity the power to inflict a particular disease
as well as the ability to cure it (Puhvel 1971: 372-373). On the intentional use of snake-fractions to kill,
Kuehn quotes a chilling extract from a medieval Islamic toxicological treatise by Ibn Waḥshiyya which
describes how to prepare a vicious poison from the body-parts and blood of a black snake, as well as the
horrific effects that it has on its victims (Kuehn 2011: 179-180).
143
Kershaw (2007: 158, 160 & 313).
144
Subsequent to the extract quoted in note 111, Euripides’ Ion has Creusa instruct her old servant as follows:
“Cre. Dost know then what to do? Take from my arm this golden bracelet, Athena’s gift, some ancient
craftsman’s work, and seek the spot where my lord [i.e. Ion] is offering secret sacrifice; then when their
30
 feasting is o’er and they are about to pour drink-offering to the gods, take this phial in thy robe and pour it
into the young man’s goblet; (not for all, but for him alone, providing a separate draught,) who thinks to lord
it o’er my house. And if once it pass his lips, never shall he come to glorious Athens, but here abide, of life
bereft.” However, when the servant carries out her instructions, Ion pours the poisoned drink as a god’s
libation; the murderous plot is revealed when a flock of doves arrives and “one that settled on the spot where
the son new-found [i.e. Ion] had poured his wine, no sooner had tasted thereof, than convulsions seized her
feathered form and she went mad, and screaming aloud uttered strange unwonted cries; and all the feasters
gathered there marvelled to see the bird’s cruel agony, for she lay writhing in the toils of death, and her red
claws relaxed their hold.” Coleridge (1910: 298 & 302-303); online at
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Plays_of_Euripides_(Coleridge)/Ion.
145
Beowulf, lines 1584-1649 (Heaney 1999: 52-53): “The Geat captain [i.e. Beowulf … ] carried no spoils from
those quarters except for the [dragon’s] head and the inlaid sword-hilt embossed with jewels; its blade had
melted and the scrollwork on it burnt, so scalding was the blood of the poisonous fiend who had perished
there.” The notion of dragon’s blood as a metal-dissolving acid is perpetuated in modern cinema in the Alien
franchise, which commenced with Ridley Scott’s movie Alien (1979); see IMDb (1990-2024).
146
E.g. Christiansen (1964: 182).
147
Ranke (1934: 302); Thompson (1973: 96); Uther (2011: 183).
148
The co-existence of poisonous and curative/enlightening fractions of dragon’s blood provides an explanation
for the “noticeable contradiction” of why a single drop of Fafnir’s blood is supposedly lethal, yet
Sigurd/Siegfied is able to bathe in blood from the slain dragon and to ingest its heart’s blood with beneficial
results (Myth Enthusiast 2019).
149
The canonical Sigurd episode (Prose Edda, Völsungsaga, etc.; see Section 2) does not conform solely to
AT[U] 305: The Dragon’s Heart-Blood as Remedy, since consuming the dragon’s heart-blood does not cure a
disease but rather confers zoolingual wisdom, an AT[U] 673 attribute. The canonical Siegfried story
(Nibelungenlied; see Section 2) does not conform solely to AT[U] 673: The White Serpent’s Flesh, since the
hero’s exposure to dragon-gore (here, bathing in the dragon’s blood) does not impart wisdom but rather
hardens his skin against attack; being a biomedical improvement that improves his longevity, this must be
considered an AT[U] 305 attribute. Siegfried’s skin-hardening has actually been awarded its own tale-type,
AT[U] 650C: The Youth who Bathed himself in the Blood of a Dragon (Thompson 1973: 227; Uther 2011:
356-357). The zoolingual wisdom imparted by the dragon-flesh broth of the Thidrekssaga does conform
fully to AT[U] 673: The White Serpent’s Flesh, but the same source pairs this with the hardening of the
hero’s skin by dragon-blood, which – as we have already seen – must be considered an AT[U] 305 attribute.
Accordingly, we can say that the Sigurd/Siegfried episode straddles, and usually fuses, both AT[U] 305 and
AT[U] 673. Strangely, Thompson (1946: 83 & 181) mentions only AT[U] 673 in connection with
Sigurd/Siegfried’s acquisition of zoolingual wisdom, despite the fact that, with the exception of the
Thidrekssaga broth, it is dragon’s heart-blood – the titular AT[U] 305 attribute – that endows him with this
capacity.
150
See the previous note for an interpretation of Sigurd’s/Siegfried’s gifts in terms of canonical folktale types.

31