This dragon trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and ranges across everywhere dragons turn up. Mythology first: the Latin and Greek roots of the word, the snake-like beasts of Mesopotamia and Egypt, China's rain-governing five-clawed emperor's dragon, the red dragon of Wales, Saint George, Beowulf's last fight, Fáfnir, Jörmungandr, the Hydra, the constellation Draco and the order that gave Dracula his name. Then fiction: Smaug and the thrush, Toothless and Berk, Daenerys and her eggs, Mushu, Shrek's Dragon, Puff and Jackie Paper, and why Charizard is not officially a Dragon type. And the real animals: Komodo dragons that roll in dung, dragonflies with 24,000-facet eyes, and the one map that really says 'here be dragons'. It suits a fantasy-loving family, a pub round or a classroom on myths and legends. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01'Dragon' entered English in the 13th century via Old French from a Latin word meaning what?
Huge serpent
The Greek root drakon probably comes from a verb meaning 'I see', a nod to the creature's fearsome gaze.
Q 02What did the earliest attested dragons in world mythology most resemble?
Snakes
Storm gods slaying giant serpents turn up in nearly every Near Eastern and Indo-European mythology.
Q 03Chinese dragons were traditionally thought to govern what?
Rain, the sea and other water
From the Han dynasty on they were also emblems of imperial power.
Q 04Under the Ming and Qing dynasties, a dragon with how many claws was reserved strictly for the emperor?
Five
Princes and nobles had to make do with four-clawed dragons.
Q 05Per the Han scholar Wang Fu, a Chinese dragon's scales resemble those of which animal?
A carp
Antlers of a stag, head of a camel, eyes of a demon, neck of a snake, claws of an eagle, soles of a tiger, ears of a cow.
Q 06Which coloured dragon appeared on the first Chinese national flag under the Qing dynasty?
Azure
The dragon had been the emperor's symbol for many dynasties before it reached a flag.
Q 07The Dragon is which animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac?
Fifth
Birth rates measurably spike in Dragon years because such children are considered lucky.
Q 08The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates which ancient Chinese poet-statesman?
Qu Yuan
It falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and is celebrated with races and sticky rice zongzi.
Q 09In 2009 the Dragon Boat Festival became the first Chinese holiday recognised by UNESCO on which list?
Intangible Cultural Heritage list
Hong Kong calls it the Tuen Ng Festival.
Q 10The red dragon on the flag of Wales fights an invading dragon of which colour in the Mabinogion?
White
The white dragon stood for the Saxons; the flag only became official in 1959.
Q 11Wales's red dragon flag became the country's official flag in which year?
1959
Henry VII had carried a red dragon on white and green into St Paul's after Bosworth in 1485.
Q 12The 13th-century Golden Legend places Saint George's dragon-terrorised city in which country?
Libya
The earliest 11th- and 12th-century sources had set it in Cappadocia.
Q 13In the Old English epic Beowulf, what provokes the dragon that the aged king finally fights?
A slave steals a golden cup from its hoard
Beowulf kills it with the help of young Wiglaf but dies of his wounds fifty years after beating Grendel's mother.
Q 21Leviathan, the sea dragon of the Hebrew Bible, reflects which older Canaanite monster defeated by Baal?
Lotan
Thomas Hobbes borrowed the name in 1651 as a metaphor for the all-powerful state.
Q 22Vlad the Impaler's father took the name 'Dracul' from his membership of which knightly society?
The Order of the Dragon
Sigismund of Luxembourg founded it in 1408; 'Dracula' means son of Dracul.
Q 23A wyvern differs from a classic heraldic dragon in having how many legs?
Two
Wyverns are rarely shown breathing fire, and the name comes from an old word for viper.
Q 14Which of Beowulf's followers alone dares to help him against the dragon?
Wiglaf
His name means 'remnant of valour'.
Q 15In Norse legend, Fáfnir became a dragon to guard a hoard taken from which dwarf?
Andvari
He murdered his own father for it and was later slain by Sigurð with the sword Gram.
Q 16Jörmungandr, the Norse World Serpent, is the child of Loki and which giantess?
Angrboða
His siblings are the wolf Fenrir and Hel; his letting go of his own tail signals Ragnarök.
Q 17What does Jörmungandr do that makes him an example of an ouroboros?
Bites his own tail
He encircles Midgard, which is why he is called the World Serpent.
Q 18The Hydra slain by Heracles as his second labour lived at Lerna, reputedly an entrance to what?
The Underworld
Archaeology has shown Lerna was a sacred site older than Mycenaean Argos.
Q 19According to Hyginus, which goddess hurled the dragon Draco into the sky, where it froze at the pole?
Athena
It was one of the Gigantes; its brightest star was the pole star when the pyramids were built.
Q 20Which star in Draco served as the northern pole star from around 3942 BC to 1793 BC?
Thuban
The Egyptian pyramids' entrance passages were aligned so it would be visible at night.
Q 24The phrase 'here be dragons' appears in Latin on only one known historical map; which?
The Hunt-Lenox Globe
The 1508 globe reads 'HIC SVNT DRACONES'; the idea that maps routinely said it is a myth.
Q 25The Komodo dragon is native to islands of which country?
Indonesia
It is the largest living lizard and was first recorded by Western scientists in 1910.
Q 26Young Komodo dragons live in trees and roll in what to deter cannibalistic adults?
Faeces
Adults bite with neurotoxic venom and anticoagulant saliva, not, as long believed, mouths full of rotting flesh.
Q 27The first two live Komodo dragons in Europe went on show at which zoo's new Reptile House in 1927?
London Zoo
Keeper Joan Procter trained one to come to the sound of her voice.
Q 28Roughly how many facets, or ommatidia, does each of a dragonfly's compound eyes have?
24,000
Damselflies fold their wings at rest; dragonflies hold theirs flat and out.
Q 29Smaug in The Hobbit is killed by Bard the Bowman when a thrush reveals what?
A bare patch on his jewelled underbelly
Bilbo had spotted the gap while trading riddles with the dragon.
Q 30How many years before The Hobbit's events did Smaug seize the dwarf kingdom of Erebor?
171
He also destroyed the town of Dale, whose people rebuilt on stilts as Lake-town.