legionromanes on Feb 3 2009, 04:08 PM, said:
what it basically comes down to is either
dragons really existed
dragons never existed
its not a hard decision as theres no evidence at all for the former and loads of evidence for the latter
Peace on the Field muh friends! Peace on the Field says unto you yer old farmer!
I have this thought : What if King Cyrus Dragon was something else at all. Something that was not until now thought of here.
I think one can seriously theorize Cyrus could very well have had a very special and spectacular animal as a "Holy pet" in his temple.
And he had a sumerian exta name for that sort of Creature which we today translate into "Dragon" for not knowing better.
But, muh friends, even if we all like Dinosaurs very much - It is more than little far fetched to say that Cyrus had one.
But it is also true that the "not so dumb at all sumerians" sure knew theyr crocodiles and the like very well.
Cyrus and his Priests would not risk to become a laughing stock if they had tried to masquerade a crocodile as a "holy mystical dragon"
I have a new Idea :
What if King Cyrus dragon was really a "Cross-Breed between Species" ? A Hybrid animal! The King sure had the money and resorces to either buy such a hybrid somewhere or secretly to let his animal-specialists do a crossing that would look spectacular so that it could be presented for fame as a "holy temple dragon"
In this case especially the "Liger" comes to my mind. The Crossing between a male lion and a female tiger.
The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger (not to be confused with a tigon). It is the largest of all cats and extant felines.
Size and growth
Imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to liger size.[3] These are genes that may or may not be expressed on the parent they are inherited from, and that occasionally play a role in issues of hybrid growth. For example, in some dog breed crosses, genes that are expressed only when maternally-inherited cause the young to grow larger than is typical for either parent breed. This growth is not seen in the paternal breeds, as such genes are normally "counteracted" by genes inherited from the female of the appropriate breed.[4]
The tiger produces a hormone that sets the fetal liger on a pattern of growth that does not end throughout its life. The hormonal hypothesis is that the cause of the male liger's growth is its sterility — essentially, the male liger remains in the pre-pubertal growth phase. Male ligers also have the same levels of testosterone on average as an adult male lion. In addition, female ligers also attain great size, weighing approximately 700 lb (320 kg) and reaching 10 feet (3.05 m) long on average, and are often fertile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LigerMeaning : Because of a Hibrydical Growth-Gene-Thing the Liger becomes unbeliavably big, as big as a Lion and a tiger together, as voluminous as a horse and never stops to grow.
It could scare a modern day person to death if that person doesnt know about ligers. In old sumeria surely normal citicens did not know facts about the liger for even today it is seldom enough that such a hybrid is born in a zoological garden. And the ligers size and special anatomy could for a perplexed person partly overshadow that it is felinous at all. Perhaps the priests did even go further and painted or masqueraded the hybrid to make him look even more famous.
I think Cyrus theoretically could have gotten his hands on a Tiger for to let it mate with a lion. I know they today only live in asia, but Science knows there was long long ago an african tiger too that later died out. I dont know if there were some around in Cyrus time still, but Cyrus could have gotten his hands somehow on an indian or asian tiger.
My Point is : Cyrus getting a Tiger for breeding a Liger or getting a Liger from somewhere is fo sure more plausible Than King Cyrus petting a LIVING DINOSAUR in his temple, even if so much people find it attractive to have that thought.
Now look . I do find resemblances between Cyrus Dragon and liger :
1
