Introduction

The following passage is from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), a 10th-century Persian epic poem written by Ferdowsi, found the chapter titled “Sekandar Reaches a Land Where The Men Have Soft Feet and Kills a Dragon.” The beginning of the chapter describes Sekandar and his army reaching a land where men had soft feet and were extremely tall, and how they were attacked by these men and managed to defeat them and advance forward to a city with kind inhabitants, and so they set up their camp there for the time being. An observation made is that there was an enormous mountain nearby, which people didn’t stay near at night. When Sekandar asks them for the best way forward and by which paths he should lead his army, he is told:

“A path exists around this mountainside
But first you’ll have to find a willing guide;
Beyond the crest there lies a dragon’s lair,
His poison sickens birds that venture there.
The noxious vapors reach the moon, there’s no
Safe route by which your warriors could go.
His massive maw breathes fire, and he could snare
An elephant with his two locks of hair;
Our city doesn’t have the strength to fight.
We have to take up five cows, every night,
For him to feed on; and how fearfully
We place them on the rocks for him to see,
Afraid that if he finds us he’ll come down
And, piece by piece, destroy us and our town.”

After hearing this, Sekandar tells everyone not to give the dragon any food when it is time for his next meal. When the dragon realized it had not received its meal, it breathed fire in anger but  was drawn back in fear when Sekandar had his troops beat war drums. Sekandar then has decoy cows filled with poison with the intention of weakening the dragon and defeating it. The following excerpt from the chapter describes when Sekandar approaches dragon:

After this, the following passage is given:

The king approached the dragon and saw that he was like a huge dark
cloud: his tongue purple, his eves blood red, and fire issuing continuously
from his maw. The soldiers rolled the cows down toward the dragon, their
hearts anxious to see what he would do. Immediately, the dragon
descended on the carcasses like the wind. He ate them, and the poison
spread throughout his body, bursting his intestines and forcing its way
even into his brain and feet. For a long time he beat his head against the
rocks in desperation, and the army released a hail of arrows against him.
The mountainous monster sank to his feet, and his body finally
succumbed to the arrows. Leaving the creature's body where it lay,
Sekandar quickly led his troops out of that area.

The medieval artifact we have chosen is a painting of Iranian origin that depicts the dragon as a serpent-like monster. We will relate the given passage and medieval artifact to one another by focusing on the portrayal of dragons as evil and as descendants from serpents and snakes