What kind of image did "dragon" (δράκων) in Revelation give to John and first century Christians?

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Question about the term δράκων in passages such as Revelation 12:3 and Revelation 13:4 and Revelation 16:13.

(I am not asking about the symbolic meaning of whom or what the Dragon represented, as that can be seen in answers to other questions such as What type of "dragon" is implied by the seven headed serpent of revelation?.)

According to LSJ – Ancient Greek dictionaries one of the literal meanings of the word δράκων is "snake". But in most translations this word in Revelation is, for some reason, not translated as "snake" but as "dragon" which to us is a rather different beast.

In our time, the term "dragon" is heavily loaded with imagery of a fire-breathing (even magical) creature which may not have been the case during the first century, except maybe in China.

Did Apostle John’s use of the term δράκων imply anything supernatural or magical to the contemporary readers or what kind of an image did that term give them?