The Turks originally saw the dragon as propitious, but absorbed a lot of other ideas about dragons when they resettled new areas (from Arabs, westerners, etc.).
In the old Assyrian beliefs, there was a dragon underground (often drawn only as a head to show it's coming up from the earth) called Mutu. The Greeks had some similar ideas, but not quite as specific as Mutu. The head on that plate reminded me of Mutu.
One thing I can't help noticing about Turkish legends, the really old ones, is that they are more like Chinese cultures than western cultures.
For example, the propitious dragon is similar to eastern cultures and even though the early Turks were pagan, their beliefs about various levels of divinity and the "sky" gods is very similar to Chinese beliefs and not very much like the western pagans, who worshiped cave beings, tree beings, nymphs of the springs, etc., things close at hand and often of the soil (Turks did this too, but with more of an emphasis of how they connected to the "upper" worlds). One can also see these legends taking on western traits as time went on (e.g., the dragon started to take on a variety of meanings).
Thunder was considered to be the roar of the sky dragon.
In the old Assyrian beliefs, there was a dragon underground (often drawn only as a head to show it's coming up from the earth) called Mutu. The Greeks had some similar ideas, but not quite as specific as Mutu. The head on that plate reminded me of Mutu.
One thing I can't help noticing about Turkish legends, the really old ones, is that they are more like Chinese cultures than western cultures.
For example, the propitious dragon is similar to eastern cultures and even though the early Turks were pagan, their beliefs about various levels of divinity and the "sky" gods is very similar to Chinese beliefs and not very much like the western pagans, who worshiped cave beings, tree beings, nymphs of the springs, etc., things close at hand and often of the soil (Turks did this too, but with more of an emphasis of how they connected to the "upper" worlds). One can also see these legends taking on western traits as time went on (e.g., the dragon started to take on a variety of meanings).
Thunder was considered to be the roar of the sky dragon.