Some historians claim that George, who was born in Cappadocia in present-day Turkey, was a Roman soldier, tortured and killed because of his Christian faith in front of the walls of Nicomedia by order of Emperor Diocletian on 23 April 303. His cult first reached England in the 12th Century, after the Crusades. During the reign of King Edward III, George was proclaimed a patron saint of the kingdom. Saint George is very popular with the Eastern Orthodox Christians. In Bulgaria, he is the hero of folk songs and legends, the patron of the army and shepherds, and 6 May, his holiday, is symbolically regarded as the beginning of spring.
The legend says that Saint George saved a town in present-day Libya from a monster which had taken control of the water sources and would only let them flow in the return for a daily human offering. Shortly before the dragon could eat the king's daughter, St. George arrived. It is said that the grateful citizens adopted Christianity almost immediately.