Vintage Armenian Vishap Decorative Plate, Armenia Dragon Plate, Armenian Wall Hanging Plate Antique vintage Melchior/silver plated plate made from Armenia in the 1970s or even early in the 1960s. The plate evokes the ancient mythology of dragon with two dragons on the plate and the word of Armenia in different languages. The Vishap is a dragon in Armenian mythology closely associated with water, similar to the Leviathan. It is usually depicted as a winged snake or with a combination of elements from different animals. Mount Ararat was the main home of the Vishap. In some legends, vishap is the spirit of water and wealth. In other legends, it brings disaster and misfortune. Most often, people worshiped vishaps, especially during a drought. They believed that this snake-like animal pointed the places of water by crawling on the ground. And sometimes the dragon itself closed the sources of water, or drained the rivers and lakes. In Armenia, the main enemy of the dragon was the god of fire, war and storm Vahagn. He fought and killed the vishaps, after which the long-awaited rain began. Diameter 19.5cm – 7.67in Weight 299gr