Grafton Elliot Smith was one of the early twentieth century’s most controversial anthropologists, and The Evolution of the Dragon is his attempt to trace the dragon myth to a single origin — the ancient Egyptian civilisation — from which it spread across the world. Drawing on comparative mythology, archaeology, and anthropology, Smith builds an ambitious if contested case for cultural diffusion on a global scale.
Bold, learned, and endlessly provocative, this book is a fascinating window into early comparative mythology and the debates that shaped modern folklore studies. This free EPUB is cleanly formatted for any device.