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Who was the real St. George?

• Message 1.Μύ

  Posted by Colquhoun (U3935535) on Monday, 23rd April 2007

  Today is St. George's day yet besides the dragon myth little is widely known about who the real St. George was.
  
  All that I can glean is that he was a Roman soldier who was executed for his faith in the 3rd century AD. Anyone know anymore more details?
  
  

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• Message 2

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  Posted by irene (U2450323) on Monday, 23rd April 2007

  St.George was martyred under the Emperor Diocletian & in legend slayed a dragon. He was made the patron saint of England at the time of Edward 111 who apparently chose him as a patron of the Order of the Garter. Hope this helps. Cheers.

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  Posted by Richie (U1238064) on Monday, 23rd April 2007

  He is a very popular saint in the eastern mediteranian as well. His image was everywhere in Crete. I beleive (though stand to be corrected) that Georgia is named after him and he is also their national saint.

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Monday, 23rd April 2007

  His goal celebrations for Arsenal in extra time in the 1971 FA Cup Final were particularly memorable, as was his hair-cut (if for the wrong reason). Think he runs a pub somewhere now.

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  Posted by englishvote (U5473482) on Monday, 23rd April 2007

  Nordmann, George now runs the Arsenal museum, of which he is one of the most cherished artefacts.
  He has since lost his sainthood, probably while in a pub.
  
  Strange but there is still a St John of Liverpool around, no relation to St Joan.
  

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Monday, 23rd April 2007

  Not to mention the entire Southampton team.

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  Posted by thegoodbadugly (U2942713) on Tuesday, 24th April 2007

  can anyone give me any evedince of dragons as they do not exist and never have,so what did george kill,possibly a crocidile brought in by sailors if anyone disputes this then produce the bones of a dragon please and put this myth to bed for good.

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  Posted by englishvote (U5473482) on Tuesday, 24th April 2007

  Did the dragon represent Wales from an English point of view?
  Or was this just a convenient coincidence.
  
  I have always assumed that St George was a fictional character and so the dragon has as much right to be in the story as him.
  

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• Message 9

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  Posted by TattooedThug (U7867377) on Tuesday, 24th April 2007

  anyone disputes this then produce the bones of a dragon please and put this myth to bed for good.Μύ
  
  Well 'duh'. Aliens took all the Dragon bones back to Dell PC, their home World, to make industrial strengh glue, everyone knows that.

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Tuesday, 24th April 2007

  Hi GBU,
  can anyone give me any evedince of dragons as they do not exist and never have,so what did george kill,possibly a crocidile brought in by sailors if anyone disputes this then produce the bones of a dragon please and put this myth to bed for good.Μύ
  Fossils of dinosaurs, when discovered by ancient people, could quite easily have been regarded as evidence of dragons and mythical beasts. Greece, for example, is prone to a lot of seismic activity and earthquakes and this would have created faults where rock from millions of years ago - and any fossils they contained - would have been exposed. It's quite possible that the discovery of some of these bones could be the source for some of their myths.
  
  Also, if you look at the biblical dating of the dawn of creation you're only going back a few millenia, and the more fervent religious types have believed this to be true for the last two thousand years. Considering their misunderstanding of the age of the Earth, the discovery of a dinosaur bone, never mind a skull or full skeleton, would have had them going into a frenzy about demons and dragons...
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF
  
  p.s. If you want to see a real, live dragon, then take yourself on a one-way ticket to the island of Komodo and kiss one of its reptilian inhabitants on the lips. Just don't slip it the tongue, or you might find yourself mounted and stuffed and not in the way practised by taxidermists...

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• Message 11

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  Posted by Richie (U1238064) on Tuesday, 24th April 2007

  
  Did the dragon represent Wales from an English point of view?
  Or was this just a convenient coincidence.
  
  I have always assumed that St George was a fictional character and so the dragon has as much right to be in the story as him
  Μύ
  
  Conjecture on my part I know, but origianlly to the story the dragon or serpent as its sometimes refered to has nothing to do with Wales or the Welsh tradtion of the dragon. The cult of St George was picked up on by the english knoghts because he was a warrior saint and again not because he represented an anti-welsh viewpoint.
  
  Having said that, I can hardly think that some of the higher ecelons were displeased by the representation of an "english" saint slaying a dragon, lol, but as far as I know its just an unfortuant or not (depending on your view) of George and the fearsome beastie

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• Message 12

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  Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Tuesday, 24th April 2007

  Did the dragon represent Wales from an English point of view?
  Or was this just a convenient coincidence.Μύ
  
  The Normans and Plantagenets may possibly have wanted to have seen it so but even if they did there is no evidence for this.
  
  It is certainly the case that before the Norman conquest, the Saxons and the Angles often had dragon, gryphon and wyvern banners of their own - the Wessex Wyvern, perhaps, being the most famous of these.

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