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THE SEVEN-HEADED DRAGON

The seven-headed dragon, which is very frequent in popular Serrano embroidery, also appears in the Bible and in the medieval illuminated beatus manuscripts which were influenced by the Mozarabic groups, who were Christians that lived or had lived under or were influenced by Muslim rule on the Iberian peninsula during the Middle Ages.

The beast to which the prophet Daniel refers represents the ‘seven kings’, or great empires that succeeded one another throughout the history of humanity. It also represents a system of governance composed of more than one tribe or entity from different origins in the process of becoming perfect and fulfilled. The seven-headed dragon is one of the many imaginary, fabulous, or legendary creatures that appear in embroidered Serrano cloths. It can be found in the mythology of different ancient civilisations, as well as in legends and traditional objects of popular culture.

Archaeological remains support the theory that many legendary creatures were first depicted in the Mesopotamian valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and then spread to both the East and the West. They appeared in Greek, Persian and Near Eastern mythologies, and were later reproduced in Byzantine and Coptic Egyptian cultures, as well as in early Hispanic art, undoubtedly enhanced by the contributions of Mozarabic artists.

Some mythological beasts are characterised by combining different animal attributes, symbolically representing the combined attributes of two or more species.