Roman fresco showing snake wrapped around stick
During the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), the Roman commander Marcus Atilius Regulus was said to have fought – according to Pliny the Elder – an extraordinary battle not with the Carthaginians, but with a giant serpent (this is suggested as the first mention of a dragon in Roman culture) on the Bagradas River in Africa (present-day Tunisia).
According to the account of Pliny the Elder, the monster measured over 120 feet in length (i.e. approximately 36 meters) and was killed only with the use of siege engines. His skin and jaws were to be kept in a temple in Rome for some time.
Sources
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History, VIII.14
