St. George Slays Dragon

The icon depicts St. George in full military attire, emphasizing both his role as a soldier and a holy warrior.¹ He wears a short, long-sleeved tunic beneath a richly ornamented cuirass decorated with gold, featuring a single row of leather “wings” at the upper arms and a double row around the pelvis.² His legs are covered in tightly fitted hose or pantaloons, and his boots resemble bandages wrapped securely around them.³ Flowing behind him as he rides forward is a red chlamys, knotted at the chest, adding a sense of movement and drama.⁴ Armed with a round shield on his left arm, St. George thrusts a spear with his right hand into the open mouth of a fearsome three-headed dragon with red wings.⁵ The dragon coils its tail around the hind legs of the horse, which rears back in alarm, its own tail knotted.⁶ Above, in the upper right corner, the hand of God appears in two sections, offering a gesture of blessing toward the saint.⁷ The setting is defined by a stark landscape composed of two opposing triangular rock formations, framing the intense and symbolic confrontation.⁸

This icon, now housed in the Benaki Museum in Athens, was acquired through the generosity of the A. Leventis Foundation and measures 40.8 by 37.5 cm.⁹ An inscription in Greek reading “by the hand of Angelos” identifies the artist as Angelos Akotantos, a prominent Cretan painter now securely dated to the first half of the fifteenth century.¹⁰ The absence of a written date is offset by stylistic and iconographic evidence, which aligns the work with fifteenth-century Cretan painting rather than later traditions.¹¹ Angelos’s reputation is underscored by the number of surviving signed works and attributed icons, suggesting he operated a large and influential workshop.¹² His works are found across the Byzantine world, including Sinai, Patmos, and various Greek islands, demonstrating both his fame and the wide circulation of his art.¹³ The icon thus not only represents a vivid religious narrative but also provides valuable insight into the artistic production, workshop practices, and broader cultural networks of Cretan painting during this formative period.¹⁴

The figure of Saint George and the Dragon is presented as a widespread and deeply rooted cultural and religious topos in both the Eastern and Western worlds.¹⁵ As Pasquale Maria Morabito notes, the image of the saint on horseback with shield and spear confronting the winged monster is an ancient and sacred motif that appears across Christian traditions.¹⁶ This symbolism is reinforced by biblical references such as Psalm 90, which speaks of triumph over serpents, lions, and dragons, framing the saint’s victory as a divine act.¹⁷ Morabito also emphasizes the broad geographic spread of the cult, which extends from Palestine to England and from the Balkans—where tradition holds George was born in Cappadocia—to regions such as Catalonia, where he is venerated as San Jordi.¹⁸ In this way, Saint George becomes a defining figure of one of the most important martyrological cults in the Mediterranean world.¹⁹

A widely told version of the legend says that St. George, a Christian soldier, came upon a city terrorized by a dragon that demanded human sacrifices.²⁰ When the king’s daughter was chosen as the next victim, George arrived, confronted the dragon, and made the sign of the cross before attacking it.²¹ He then wounded the dragon and ultimately killed it, saving the princess and the city.²² The people were so amazed that many converted to Christianity after witnessing the miracle.²³

Footnotes

1. Maria Vassilaki, “A Cretan Icon of Saint George,” The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1032 (1989): 210.
2. Vassilaki, 210.
3. Vassilaki, 210.
4. Vassilaki, 210.
5. Vassilaki, 210.
6. Vassilaki, 210.
7. Vassilaki, 210.
8. Vassilaki, 210.
9. Vassilaki, 208.
10. Vassilaki, 208.
11. Vassilaki, 208.
12. Vassilaki, 208.
13. Vassilaki, 208.
14. Vassilaki, 208.
15. Pasquale Maria Morabito, “Saint George and the Dragon: Cult, Culture, and Foundation of the City,” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 18 (2011): 135.
16. Morabito, 135.
17. Morabito, 135.
18. Morabito, 135.
19. Morabito, 135.
20. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Saint George,” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-George.
21. Britannica, “Saint George.”
22. Britannica, “Saint George.”
23. Britannica, “Saint George.”

Bibliography

Morabito, Pasquale Maria. “Saint George and the Dragon: Cult, Culture, and Foundation of the City.” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 18 (2011): 135–53. http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.unm.edu/stable/41925424.

Vassilaki, Maria. “A Cretan Icon of Saint George.” The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1032 (1989): 208–14. http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.unm.edu/stable/883669.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Saint George.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-George.