From the ninth century onwards Byzantine depictions show George as a warrior in court apparel or as a martyr.  According to an older legend known to Ambrosius, George worried over experiencing that many converts to Christianity had lapsed back into disbelief because of the persecutions of emperors Diocletian and Maximian.  George therefore took off his knights’ armour, distributed his possessions among the poor, and addressed the people with the words: “All heathen gods are bad spirits, but our Lord created heaven and earth”.  Subsequently, judge Dacian had him arrested, tortured with nails and salt rubbed into the wounds.  During George’s imprisonment, Christ appeared to him, comforted and strengthened him.  The cup of poison was transformed into a potable liquid and George, who had been tied to a wheel, stepped down from the pot of boiling lead unharmed.  He was now ready to do whatever the judge desired. The judge called the people together and instructed them to go with George to the temple.  He knelt down and prayed.  Suddenly fire fell from the skies and destroyed the temple, the idols and the priests.  The earth opened up and swallowed all the ruins. The judge then had George dragged through the streets by horses and finally beheaded (see the window-panes in the Church of St. Dionysus in Esslingen, Germany, as well as several illuminated manuscripts of the thirteenth century.  The icon shows him in full figure as one of God’s horsemen (with symbolic cross) and as a warrior carrying a sword. 

The Leg. Aur. is based on a number of legends.  The first one chronicled here is also the best-known, being the “youngest” and dating from the eleventh century.  However, the attached martyr scenes are based on earlier legends.  These refer in one instance to the Arian bishop George of Alexandria who, suffering endless martyrdom, is repeatedly brought back to life by the angel Michael.  Others point to the Persian king Dadian who, in later versions of the legend, is responsible for the martyrdom of George the converter.
 
The icon type itself is based on legends telling of the miracles of George that came into being in the world of Eastern Orthodox Christianity during the seventh to ninth centuries.  The battle scene selected from the legend of the battle (there are numerous variants where this event is represented in more detail) between St. George and the dragon is to be understood primarily symbolically – the victory of good over evil.  The cult of St. George was very popular in Russia under Jaroslav the Wise.  From the end of the fifteenth century onwards the legend of the dragon-slayer became more specified.  The icon presented here discloses (see above) neither telling details, nor persons involved, nor detailed architectural background.  According to legend, there was a dragon living in a lake near the city of Silena in Libya.  The dragon was polluting the air with his poisonous breath.  In order to appease the dragon, two lambs had to be sacrified daily.  When there were finally no lambs left, the sons and daughters of the inhabitants had to be sacrificed instead.  Finally, it was the king’s daughter’s turn.  Then suddenly George appeared, captured the dragon, and promised to kill it if the king and his subjects would agree to convert to Christianity, which they promptly did.