The ritual and finery of the poem's imaginary halls prompt us to consider fashion, decoration, and ornament. The dragon collects treasure, which is more than mere lumps of gold. Treasure is hammered gold, beautiful cups, jewels embedded in armour—art. What is it exactly that dragons want with beauty?
What about the injunction to Jews, Christians, and Muslims that no image should be made of anything above the earth, on the earth, or under the earth? In the seventh century, the issue developed into the Iconoclastic Controvery.
Extra Reading: Peter Brown, "A Dark-Age Crisis," The English Historical Review 88 (1973): 1-34 (free through UMass)
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The
Dragon Rises
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