What's the first recorded mention of a dragon that we know of? How did the myth of dragons originale in the first place?

by so_contemporary

I just read an article in National Geographic about a newly discovered fossil that belonged to some sort of bat winged feathered dinosaur, and looking at the illustration it occurred to me that winged dinosaurs are basically dragons minus the fire.

Obviously they were long extinct before we came about but I can’t help wonder if there is some sort of connection.

*Sorry, I meant "originate" of course. Am on mobile and noticed the error in the title too late.

PytheasTheMassaliot

Similar questions to this have been asked a bunch of times here. See this post by u/itsallfolklore or this post by u/artfulorpheus. New answers with more information are of course welcome.