Tahuantinsuyo, in ancient Quechua language, is the name indicating the Inca Empire, one of the largest of the South American continent, much more than the Aztec and Maya Empire. In 1532 BC, the Inca...
The builders of the pyramid complex in Egypt had a very good astronomer. We call him Senenmut (the Mother’s Brother, or the Uncle). Today, our astronomers are so good that they build computer...
When most people hear about the Blair witch, images come to mind of a horror film which was released in 1999 with a very low production budget. The movie was directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo...
Although there are different versions of the Visayan creation myth, they are similar in characters, conflicts and resolutions. The way the story was narrated and its different subsequent retellings...
Dogs have been with us since the first stargazer cast an eye to the heavens. Were dogs up there, too -- in the stars? The answer is yes. In ancient times the dog star guided and guarded, just as its...
The line between goddess and witch or witch and saint is very thin in ancient history. One example of this confusion is the legendary story of Aradia – a woman whose life has been explored in neo-...
Egypt, land of the Pharaohs. There is no single creation myth for Ancient Egypt as each region of the country owed allegiance to a different god, so for simplicity’s sake we shall just look at the...
The Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, has a very distinctive image in classical arts. In 458 BCE, the playwright Aeschylus, in his play Agamemnon , used the name of Aphrodite to denote “beauty, charm...
Two marble statues of the goddess Aphrodite have been unearthed in Petra, Jordan. Described as “absolutely exquisite”, the representations of the mythological goddess are mostly intact and are said...
The constellation of Orion is not wearing a belt. Instead, I think the middle star represents his navel. Medical scientists are just now finding out all the powers of the navel, the umbilical cord,...
A 20th century find suggests that the Vikings may have explored North America as far south as New York. Although the reasons for its presence in Charles Point are contested, no one can deny the fact...
The ancient Greeks had no problem painting their mythological women as murderesses. Among the most lethal ladies were the Danaids, the fifty daughters of a king whose crimes condemned them to...
Peruvian legends speak of a lonely and hungry woman who unleashed her fury against the sun. The star was moved by her situation, and ‘fertilized’ her with its rays. Four days later, the woman gave...
Serbia is one of the Balkan countries that was influenced by many wars. However, even after centuries of very tense events, memory of the traditions from the first inhabitants has survived. Astronomy...
One of the most popular and persistent characters of the human mythos is that of the dragon. Whether it is a gold hoarding serpent or fire-breathing giant, dragons continue to fascinate and entertain...
David R. Montgomery / The Conversation Modern people have long wondered about ancient stories of great floods. Do they tell of real events in the distant past, or are they myths rooted in imagination...
Magicians, artists and craftsmen, the Telchines are the proverbial jacks-of-all-trades - yet they are also atypical masters of all. Considered by most ancient authors to be malevolent daimons of the...
Down under all is still and dark, the spirits of the Earth are sleeping. It is the Dreamtime. There are many different Dreamtime stories that vary from region to region and from people to people...
Imagine you have been invited to meet in an abandoned cemetery to go on a werewolf hunt on the night of the next full Moon but you don’t know what to pack? It may sound like something out of a cheesy...
So how did the oft-used legend of the Green Man eventually become chosen to be the legend of Jesus? Let us begin when it was the life story of the ancient Green Man and work forward to the time of...
In Scottish folklore, Beira is said to be the goddess of winter. According to some sources, she is known also as the Cailleach, a name which is said to be translated literally into English from...
Charon’s obols were coins supposedly used by the ancient Greeks for funerary purposes. More precisely, the belief is that these coins were used by the shades (roughly equivalent to the concept of ‘...
Roses are one of the most popular flowers around the world. Over the centuries they have been a symbol of love but they also sometimes served as symbols in parts of royal coats of arms. The first...
In Norse sagas, Sigrid appears as the wife of Eric the Victorious of Sweden, then Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark. She's also known as a famous Polish queen of the Vikings, who was called Świętosława...
