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Tjelvar’s Grave – Ship-shaped stone setting burial site, Gotland

A Bronze Age Burial Steeped in Legend: What Makes the Ship-Shaped Tjelvar's Grave Unique?

Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, is home to medieval churches, cathedral ruins, as well as numerous pre-historic sites. The archaeological and historical sites that pepper this land make up a...
A photo inside the Sunland Big Baobab.

Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? You Can at The Baobab Tree Bar

The Sunland Big Baobab is a bar nestled inside the hollow of a baobab tree. This bar is located on the Sunland Farm in South Africa. As baobabs begin to hollow on the inside as they age, empty...
Painting of a mermaid by Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann, 1873.

The Secret Life of Melusine: Mysterious Mermaid & Serpent Mother of European Nobility

Melusine is the spirit of fresh water, usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down, much like the mythical mermaid. She is also frequently illustrated with two tails. The...
Dream Idyll (A Valkyrie) by Edward Robert Hughes

The Slain Will Rise Again: Lost Valkyries Remembered

“Brothers shall fight | and fell each other, And sisters' sons | shall kinship stain; Hard is it on earth, | with mighty whoredom; Axe-time, sword-time, | shields are sundered, Wind-time, wolf-time...
A Match Made in Greek Legend: What Happened When Heracles Met the Snake Woman?

A Match Made in Greek Legend: What Happened When Heracles Met the Snake Woman?

While completing his Twelve Labors, the Greek hero Heracles (a.k.a. Hercules) got up to tons of mischief—and that included bedding a lot of women. In the process, he fathered a whole host of...
Sculpture of Athena, 1915 and painting ‘Fire of Troy’

Battle of the War Gods: Ares versus Athena! Understanding Ancient Greek War Deities

The ancient Greeks had two different gods of war — the wise goddess Athena and the bloodthirsty god Ares. The mere fact that, out of twelve Olympian gods, two deities were devoted to armed conflict...
Glastonbury tor, a location that has often been associated with Avalon.

Avalon: A Real Island Obscured by Legend, or Just a Legendary Island?

Like many mythical paradise isles, Avalon has captured the imagination of generations of writers since the island was first mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae or...
Disney ALMOST Got It Right: From Moana to Mayhem, The Mythology Behind the Real Maui

Disney ALMOST Got It Right: From Moana to Mayhem, The Mythology Behind the Real Maui

Disney’s latest animated feature film, Moana , has achieved critical acclaim, already netting over half a billion dollars. It tells the story of a Polynesian princess, who must seek out Maui, a...
A Man-Eating Hog? Meet the Crommyonian Sow

A Man-Eating Hog? Meet the Crommyonian Sow

The myths of ancient Greece had their fair share of unusual animals—the Chimera, the man-eating horses of Dionysus, and Pegasus, to name a few. But one that usually oinks its way under the radar is...
The Last of the Siberian Unicorns: What Happened to the Mammoth-Sized One-Horned Beasts of Legend?

The Last of the Siberian Unicorns: What Happened to the Beasts of Legend?

Elasmotherium , also known as the Giant Rhinoceros or the Giant Siberian Unicorn, is an extinct species of rhino that lived in the Eurasian area in the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene eras. They have...
Enormous Skull Found in Alaska May Belong to the Legendary King Bear of Inuit Mythology

Enormous Skull Found in Alaska May Belong to the Legendary King Bear of Inuit Mythology

An enormous, elongated polar bear skull emerged in 2014 from an eroding archaeological site southwest of Utqiaġvik in Alaska. Experts claim that it is quite different from most modern polar bear...
An imaginary depiction of the remains of a stranded Viking ship.

A Ship in the Desert? Searching for a Lost Viking Ship in California

Back in the days when much of the map was still blank, explorers would follow any waterway in the hopes of finding the next great passage. Yet some rivers can be deceiving, especially those in the...
Divine, Forbidden and Dangerous? Magic Apples in Ancient Mythology

Divine, Forbidden and Dangerous? Magic Apples in Ancient Mythology

Apples have a prominent place in world mythology, and are often associated with paradise, magic, knowledge and sensual experience. Legendary magician Merlin was said to carry a silver bough from an...
A modern illustration of Medb

When Irish Legends and History Combine: The Tomb of the Fairy Queen Maeve

Legends suggest that the green hills of Ireland have always been a place for fairy games. According to local beliefs, the forests were full of hidden settlements inhabited by supernatural creatures...
Roland Risse (German, 1835) - "Snow White"

Who Was Snow White? When Old Stories and Real Women Combine

One of the most famous fables of all, variations of Snow White appear in more than 400 versions of fairy tales around the world. The most well-known version is actually called “ Snowdrop ” and comes...
Island in the Clouds: Is Mount Roraima Really A ‘Lost World’ Where Dinosaurs May Still Exist?

Island in the Clouds: Is Mount Roraima Really A ‘Lost World’ Where Dinosaurs May Still Exist?

Deep within the rainforests of Venezuela, a series of plateaus sit more than 9000 feet (2743 meters) above sea level and rise up 1310 feet (400 m) from the surrounding terrain like table tops. From...
Hanuman kneeling with tail encircling Rama and Sita in bed

The Sky, the Sun & the King: Mischievous and Divine Monkeys in Asian Myth

For the past few thousand years, the Indian Epic Ramayana has been among the most important literary and oral texts of South and Southeast Asia. Every autumn, Lord Rama's victory over the demon king...
The Dramatic and Tragic Life of Ancient Greek Legend Daedalus

The Dramatic and Tragic Life of Ancient Greek Legend Daedalus

Daedalus is hailed as one of the most skilled artists and craftsmen in the Ancient Greek world. Said to be the son of the gods Athena and Hephaestus, as well as the son of the mortals Alcippe (...
Main: The Inca site of Machu Picchu. Inset: Golden sun

Inti, Sun God of the Inca, Spawned the First Rulers of An Unforgettable Empire

In the mythology / religious belief system of the Incas, Inti was the god of the Sun, and one of the most important deities in the Inca pantheon. As a solar deity, Inti is closely associated with...
Wailing Out the Lament-Filled Legends and Origins of Irish Banshees

Wailing Out the Lament-Filled Legends and Origins of Irish Banshees

To hear her harrowing wail tear through the night sky was an omen of certain death. The cry of the banshee implied that someone in your family had died or was about to– or, that you were about to...
The Wold Newton Meteorite: An Extraordinary Stone and the Birth of a Superhero

The Wold Newton Meteorite: An Extraordinary Stone and the Birth of a Superhero

In a remote part of North-East England called the Yorkshire Wolds, an incident took place on Sunday 13th December 1795 that not only became talking point of late 18th century London society but also...
The Legend of the Imperial Jade Seal of China, An Heirloom Lost in Time

The Legend of the Imperial Jade Seal of China, An Heirloom Lost in Time

Of the many renowned Chinese seals, none is more famous than the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. This artifact was carved out of the He Shi Bi jade - a stone which one man lost his feet for. The seal was...
The city’s acropolis is barely visible on the hill on a cloudy day.

Archaeologists Explore Incredible Ancient City in Supposed Backwater Region of Greece

A collaboration between Greek, Swedish, and British researchers has resulted in some interesting discoveries at a previously unexplored 2,500-year-old city in Thessaly, Greece. Their findings are...
A Heart as Cold as Ice? The Japanese Legend of Yuki-onna, the Beautiful Yet Dangerous Snow Woman

A Heart as Cold as Ice? The Japanese Legend of Yuki-onna, the Beautiful Yet Dangerous Snow Woman

The legend of Yuki-onna (the snow woman) comes from The Land of the Rising Sun. This beautiful but dangerous character may be a personification of death in a severe snow storm. Japanese legends do...

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