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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Weld-Blundell Prism, a clay cuneiform inscribed with the Sumerian Kings List. Source: Public domain

The Sumerian King List Reveals the Origin of Mesopotamian Kingship

Out of the many incredible artifacts that have been recovered from sites in Iraq where flourishing Sumerian cities once stood, few have been more intriguing than the Sumerian King List. An ancient...
Are Mermaid Myths Inspired by a Rare Medical Condition?

Are Mermaid Myths Inspired by a Rare Medical Condition?

Mermaids have occupied our imagination for thousands of years. The mesmerizing aquatic creatures, hybrid half-human and half-fish beings, have been spotted in seas around the world and appear in...
Phoenix bird

Symbolism of the Mythical Phoenix Bird: Renewal, Rebirth and Destruction

Ancient legend paints a picture of a magical bird, radiant and shimmering, which lives for several hundred years before it dies by bursting into flames. It is then reborn from the ashes, to start a...
Exquisite Maps Reveal a Worldwide Mythical Creatures List

Exquisite Maps Reveal a Worldwide Mythical Creatures List

Every country in the world has their own special connection with cryptids. Legendary beasts have been linked to unexplained phenomena for centuries. Now all of the most famous mythical creatures have...
Cacus – The One Who Dared Cross Hercules

Cacus – The One Who Dared Cross Hercules

According to Roman mythology, Cacus was a thief who stole from the hero Hercules (whose Greek equivalent was Heracles), which was the action that resulted in the former’s death. There are several...
Main: The cesspit excavation site. Inset: The tile of the mythical beast found at the site. Source:          MOLA

Mythical Beast Unearthed in Medieval English Cesspit

A rare medieval tile depicting a mythical beast has been discovered within the treasures recovered from a 14th-century cesspit in England . Since discovering the 14th century chalk-lined cesspit in...
The Jackalope.

The Truth Behind the Jackalope and Those Who Hunt the Elusive Warrior Rabbit

The jackalope is a legendary creature mentioned in the folklore of North America. This animal is described as being a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The creature’s name, incidentally, is a...
Shields bearing image of Ahuizotl, Museum of Ethnology, Vienna.

Was the Ahuizotl an Aztec Mythical Creature or a Real Fisherman’s Foe?

The Ahuizotl (which may be translated from Nahuatl to mean ‘Thorny One of the Water’) is a creature found in the mythology of the Aztecs. This legendary creature is believed to inhabit the lakes and...
Painted side of sarcophagus from Agia Triada, Crete, around 1400 BC. Painted plaster on limestone. Shows the relationship between the Minoans and Egyptians.

Ancient DNA Analysis Reveals the ‘Mythical’ Heritage of Modern Greeks

Phys Org reports that a recent analysis of ancient DNA suggests that Ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically identical, with both peoples descending from early Neolithic farmers. The study...
A fanciful depiction of a leprechaun

The Carlingford Leprechauns: Protected by the European Union, But Are They Real?

Along with the harp and Saint Patrick, leprechauns have become iconic of Ireland. These mischievous fairies; with their green coats and hats, pots of gold at the edge of rainbows, and promise of...
5 Mythical Creatures – And Where to Find Them

5 Mythical Creatures – And Where to Find Them

Folklore is littered with accounts of unusual beasts of all shapes and sizes. Some, like Bigfoot, are household names. Others, like the Japanese water demon Kappa, are not so well-known. But they all...
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...
Artistic representation of Teyujagua paradoxa.

Newly Discovered 250-Million-Year-Old Fierce Lizard Fossil is Named After Mythical Monster

Who knows if the people who lived in the Paraná Basin of southern Brazil years ago saw fossils of dinosaurs and came up with strange mythical beings because of them. Whatever connection there may be...
The marble sphinx was found in a Chinese grave dating back more than 1,000 years.

Discovery of sphinx in northern China tomb presents something of a riddle

The sphinx is a famous icon from ancient Egypt of 5,000 years ago, but a statue of one has been excavated in China dating back more than 1,000 years. The marble sphinx, which has western features, is...
The interior of the underground basilica, which opened in April 2015

Underground Pagan Basilica with Dark History Revealed to the Public for the First Time

A pagan basilica of first century AD Rome dedicated to Pythagoras’ and Plato’s metaphysics but depicting many types of Greek and Roman mythical beings has opened to the public. The family that...
Leprechaun hat

Leprechauns: The Little People of Irish Folklore

The Leprechaun is a much-loved and sometimes feared magical creature of Irish folk legend. Short in stature and with a long-beard and pot of gold, leprechauns were once believed to pervade the Irish...
The gentle and benevolent Qilin of Chinese mythology

The gentle and benevolent Qilin of Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology is full of fantastic supernatural and mythical creatures. Whilst the Western world is probably most familiar with the dragon and the phoenix, there are other equally interesting,...
Floating Islands - Myth and Reality

Floating Islands Seen at Sea: Myth and Reality – Part 2

(Read Part 1 ) Floating islands do indeed exist on six of the seven continents; they may have trees growing upon them, be hundreds of meters across, and support the weight of humans living upon them...
Floating Islands - Myth and Reality

Floating Islands Seen at Sea: Myth and Reality

A floating island—can such a thing exist? Can the chunks of the solid earth on which we stand drift easily about the surface of a body of water? The idea of a floating island seems impossible,...
City of Lacedaemon - Pellana Laconias

Greek Government blocked discovery of the ‘mythical’ city of Lacedaemon

In the ancient Greek epic poem the ‘Iliad’, once believed to be the story of myth and legend, Homer spoke of ten cities. Today, the names of those cities can be seen in towns and villages around...