Jay Crisostomo, Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, was recently interviewed for an article on the BBC website about the history of dragons.
Jay's research mainly focuses on the languages and cultures of the ancient Middle East, including the Sumerians. In the BBC article, Jay discusses how the first use of a word for dragon appeared in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) in Sumerian. Traces of the ancient Sumerian word for dragon (ušum-gal) can be found in Akkadian, an ancient language linked to present-day Arabic and Hebrew, in the name for the "ušumgallu" - or "lion-dragon" - a creature worshipped as a divine being. Check out the full article on the BBC website!
