Dragons have captured our imagination going back to the Greek and Roman Empires when the skeletal bones of dinosaurs fed the myths we still believe today.

And those myths show up in our most popular popular culture today – in the Harry Potter books and movies, in Tolkien’s Middle-earth books and movies, in George R. R. Martin’s Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.

This hour, a look at dragons from the ancients through Game of Thrones.

GUESTS:

• Cressida Cowell - Author of the How to Train Your Dragon series
• Adrienne Mayor - Author of The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times and Fossil Legends of the First Americans
• William O’Connor - The late author and illustrator of the Dracopedia book trilogy
• Matthew Reilly - Author The Great Zoo of China, among many other novels

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, Chion Wolf, and Alan Yu contributed to this show, which originally aired June 4, 2015.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.