Senol Ozdemir - Dragonlover

"She’s a kind of amazon warrior. She loves dragons much and adores them. Yes, she’s a dragoniac. She makes all day this, ‘cause of her mother and grandma were a dragoniac, too."

Senol Ozdemir

Nothing so perfect right now as this artwork to bring up a people that existed a long time ago - the Dragani (latin), Dragani or people of the dragons.

It seems that the first mention to this people was made by Rufus Avienus Festus in the poem Ora Maritima...

Ophiussam ad usque. rursum ab huius litore
internum ad aequor, qua mare insinuare se
dixi ante terris, quodque Sardum nuncupant,
septem dierum tenditur pediti via.
Ophiussa porro tanta panditur latus
quantam iacere Pelopis audis insulam
Graiorum in agro. haec dicta primo Oestrymnis est
locos et arva Oestrymnicis habitantibus,
post multa serpens effugavit incolas
vacuamque glaebam nominis fecit sui.


...and that they lived in NW Iberian Peninsula. By the time, the ancient Greeks had named the territory Ophiussa - land of serpents. In the poem Ora Maritima, the Oestrimni would of had to flee from an invasion of serpents. Is not clear however, if they were seeking refuge from the Saephe or the Dragani. Up to nowadays it is not fully clear if the symbol present in the signet of kings of Portugal is a gryphon or perhaps a representation of an old winged serpent.

Bathe in a wave of serpents ...
Faun - Unda