Remembering the Legend of the Terrible Dragon Boaz
Šipun Cave is located on the northern side of Cavtat’s Rat Peninsula and it is 120 meters long and 32 meters deep. Although small in area, it arouses great interest among inquisitive visitors as well as scientists, for its amazing stalactites, clear lake, rich biodiversity and the ancient legends tied to it.
A description of the Šipun Cave can be found as early as the 16th century in a letter from a Dubrovnik landowner addressed to a famous Bologna naturalist and publicist. It was mentioned as interesting and most famous for a legend which had been associated with it since the 4th century. The legendary victory of St. Hilarion over the huge and terrifying Šipun dragon called Boaz, which devoured both humans and cattle, inspired many foreign and local writers.
Legend has it that St. Hilarion came to the opening of the cave where he made the sign of the cross with his hand and ordered the dragon to come out. The terrible Boaz emerged and followed him along the road by the sea to the village of Mlini, where the dragon was burned at the stake and the people we freed from the fear in which they lived because of his evil deeds. A chapel was built for the saint in Mlini, which the inhabitants of ancient Epidaurus (today’s Cavtat) visited every year as a sign of gratitude for freeing them from the monster.
This legend emphasizes the importance of the arrival of Christianity to this area, and St. Hilarion is also mentioned as the one who dealt the last blow to paganism here. It is quite probable that this Christian legend resonated strongly precisely because of the dragon cults of southeastern Illyricum, the Cult of Asclepius, the provincial imperial cults, the Cult of Mithras, and others.
Vlaho Bukovac, the world famous painter from Cavtat, writes in his autobiography about the memory of how he spent many nights in the Šipun Cave with his father, who raised his silk worms there, terrified by stories about a terrible dragon that once lived there. In the not so distant past, Cavtat masquerade participants and musicians entered the Šipun Cave to eat, drink, and rejoice during the masquerade parties that this area is famous for.
The Šipun Cave has indeed been seriously researched for more than a century, by tourists and amateurs, as well as in a scientists and biospeleologists. In 1963 it was officially protected as a natural monument. Modern science has confirmed it as an extremely important habitat of cave fauna, with terrestrial and aquatic habitats. About 70 organisms have been identified, many of which are endangered species and as such are listed in the Red Book of Cave Fauna of Croatia. It is expected that further research will reveal even more interesting facts.
Since the infrastructure was partially destroyed during the 1991 – 1995 Homeland War, the cave is unfortunately not open to the public at present, but this could soon change as the cave is being renovated. It could soon become one of Cavtat’s attractions for all lovers of legends, speleology, and life hidden beneath the surface of the earth.
By: Vinko Rožić