Andrew Angel briefly reviews the work of Old Testament scholars on the mythological motif of God's battle with the dragon and the chaos waters. He also reviews works that touch on the existence of the motif in the period 515 BCE to 200 CE, noting the need for thorough survey of the motif in Hebrew literature of this period.There follows a study of forty-two Jewish and Christian texts (in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin), which establishes the fact that this mythological motif was well known in this period. Angel makes suggestions as to how this might offer fresh insights into the meaning of apocalyptic visions and texts that appear to refer to a 'son of man' figure in this period.