There was a tale written about St. George in the folk religion of several regions of Europe and Asia Minor, and accounts may vary based on local tradition.
The tale begins with a dragon that made a nest in a well where the townspeople go to get water. Because of this, the citizens had to temporarily remove the dragon from its nest by offering the dragon a daily human sacrifice. The victim was decided by drawing lots. Eventually the local princess won the lottery. She is offered to the dragon but at this point St. George arrives. He faces the dragon, slays it and saves the princess. The grateful citizens then abandon their ancestral Paganism and convert to Christianity.
The account of this tale was considered a fact but this belief about mythical dragons was abandoned. But this story contains a few religious symbolisms such as St. George can be seen as representing Christianity. The dragon is the symbol of Satan. Similarly, in early Christian stories, both the serpent (with the vast serpent being a dragon) and leviathan represent Satan. George's victory over the dragon, therefore, has been read symbolically as the victory of Christianity over Satan.
However, worldly historians consider the roots of the story to be older than Christianity itself. They note that the origin of the saint is said to be somewhat from Cappadocia in Asia, and that Asia was among the earliest regions to adopt the popular veneration of the saint. The region had long venerated other religious figures. These historians suppose that certain elements of their ancient worship could have passed to their Christian successors. Notable among these ancient deities was Sabazios, the Sky Father of the Phrygians and known as Sabazius to the Romans. This god was depicted riding on horseback. The iconic image of St. George on horseback trampling the serpent-dragon beneath him is considered to be similar to these pre-Christian representations of Sabazius. So a number of worldly historians suggested that St. George served as a christianised version of the older deity.
Also, the tale of George and the Dragon is widely considered among worldly historians to share a common theme with the Greek myth the princess Andromeda and her husband Perseus, slayer of the gorgon Medusa. According to this myth, Perseus beheaded Medusa and George his Dragon both by decapitating. The saving of the king's daughter is another shared theme as is the reward-bargain exacted by the respective hero of the stories: Possession of the princess for Perseus and the mass baptism of the king's subjects for George.
St. George’s patronage: Amersfoort, Netherlands; Aragon; agricultural workers; archers; armourers; Beirut, Lebanon; Boy Scouts; butchers; Canada; Cappadocia; Catalonia; cavalry; chivalry; Constantinople; Crusaders; England (by Pope Benedict XIV); equestrians; farmers; Ferrara, Italy; field workers; Genoa; Georgia; Gozo; Greece; Haldern, Germany; Heide; herpes; horsemen; horses; husbandmen; Istanbul; knights; lepers; leprosy; Lithuania; Lod; Malta; Modica, Sicily; Moscow; Order of the Garter; Palestine; Palestinian Christians; plague; Portugal; Ptuj, Slovenia; riders; saddle makers; sheep; shepherds; skin diseases; soldiers; syphilis; Teutonic Knights; Venice.
