Chaoskampf means the battle against chaos: the divine or heroic struggle with the dragon, serpent, sea, or monster of disorder.
In Babylon, Marduk battles Tiamat and forms the ordered cosmos from her body. In Canaanite myth, Baal battles Yam and Mot. In Egypt, Ra battles Apophis in the night journey. In Hebrew scripture, Yahweh subdues Leviathan and the sea. In Greece, Apollo slays Python. In Christian and medieval imagination, Michael defeats the Dragon and Saint George slays the serpent.
The symbolic drama of order emerging from chaos, light overcoming darkness, cosmos being established against the waters of dissolution.
In the Western Mystery Tradition, the dragon battle becomes the initiatory ordeal. The Knight must face the dragon. The alchemist must confront the prima materia. The mystic must descend into the chaos of the soul.
The Prince becomes King only by facing the dragon within and without. The true dragon is not only an external monster. It is the unredeemed chaos of the fallen self.