Here be dragons

Hic sunt dracones ( in inscriptions "HC SVNT dracones " ) is a Latin text phrase "Here are dragons " in German means.

Early world maps illustrated the space beyond the known world, often with mythical animals such as sea serpents and lake monsters. On the Hunt - Lenox Globe, which is one of the oldest surviving globes and is dated to the years 1503-1510, the formulation HC SVNT dracones is assigned to the territories east of Asia.

The formulation has especially gained numerous references in Latin and in English translation "here be dragons " in pop culture. The Chaos Computer Club has collected for the 26th Chaos Communication Congress here be dragons on the congress theme. OpenStreetMap names its server after fictional dragon. In English Original Series Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 28 in "Where Silence Has Lease " commented Captain Picard the coming unknown with: "Beyond this place there be dragons". Moreover, in the video game Divinity 2: Ego Draconis is a parchment found, bearing the heading " Hic sunt Dracones ". Also in the video game Eternal Darkness, a document with the words " Hic sunt dracones " is found.

Comparable is the meaning of " Hic sunt leones ". This variant is in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose by William of Baskerville cites the double meaning because when he finds the " finis africae ".