Read Part 1 As shown in numerous existing Romanian legends and testimonies, the main measure of protection against strigoi (vampires) is respecting funeral rites in detail. (The majority of strigoi...
The legends of world mythology are full of tales about infernal pacts. In the case of such a pact, the individual gives up his or her own soul in exchange for service to the devil or demons. However...
Throughout history a large number of books have been banned only because they contained various uncomfortable truths or tales. Such books have been systematically hunted down and destroyed by...
Iceland’s medieval literature is rich in many regards: in Eddas and sagas, it tells us about early Scandinavia and its expanding world-view, ranging from the mythology of the North, the legends and...
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...
During the 1440s, a Scottish chronicler, Walter Bower, sought to trace the history of the Scottish people from the earliest times. The result of his endeavour was the creation of a compendium of...
Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Purgatory is presented within The Divine Comedy as a mountain that must be climbed to be overcome. Following Dante and Virgil's sojourn into Hell, he and his guide...
Read Part 1 | Part 2 At the beginning of Inferno , the first section of the Divine Comedy , Dante Alighieri is thirty-five years old in the year 1300—representing both the new millennium and the...
Nothing sends a clearer message than an angry punishment handed down from the gods. In belief systems of cultures around the world deities have been disciplining their flocks since time immemorial,...
Read Part 1 In the ancient legend surrounding the goddess Europa, the Greeks were essentially telling the story of how Phoenicians ended up getting scattered, founding and settling, in the various...
The Valkyries of Norse mythology were women of vast prestige and power. They were one of the few factions of warrior women from ancient lore recognized as having any power over the mortal realm...
Earlier this year, several world news organizations reported that archaeologists had recently recovered 39 ingots of orichalcum from a 2,600-year-old shipwreck, found ten feet underwater off the...
‘Fold upon fold of the encircling hills, piled rich and golden,’ is how the writer (best known for her posthumous 1936 novel South Riding ) Winifred Holtby, described England’s Yorkshire Wolds...
An enchantress from Welsh mythology, Cerridwen is regarded as a woman of incredible power and magic. She pervades Welsh and Irish culture as an emblem of wisdom and rebirth, remaining today as a...
Known as the blind daughter in Finnish mythology, Loviatar is the goddess of death and disease. Born from the union of Tuoni, the god of death, and his underworld queen Tuonetar, Loviatar is...
By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times In the 8th century BC, the Greek poet Hesiod described in his Theogony a place at the end of the Earth where the gorgons dwell, where the god Atlas appears as a giant...
Elaine the Fair, the Lady of Shalott, comes down through Arthurian legend with seemingly only one purpose: to love Lancelot and, in doing so, reveal his undying affection for the queen of Camelot,...
The Dikteon Cave is one of the most important and famous cult places of Minoan Crete. It is located in the high mountains on the island of Crete in Greece and is associated with the birthplace of the...
Like many ancient poems and epic tales, the 13 th century saga of The Nibelungenlied, or "The Song of the Nibelungs", is based on both myth and history. Written by an unknown author, the tale remains...
The ancient Greeks believed that many aspects of a person’s life were determined by the three mythical women known as Fates. These were three sister goddesses that appeared in Greek and Roman...
The story of Atlantis is one of the most renowned and enduring tales from ancient Greece. This island, mentioned in the works of the philosopher Plato, was said to have been swallowed up by the sea...
Tales of vampires and other similar blood-sucking creatures have been told in various societies across the world. The most famous of these tales is the story of Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, and...
The ancient Greek writer Hesiod once wrote that there were five ages of mankind – the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the Iron Age. Similarly, in Hinduism, there are...
The Kalevala, a poem based on Finnish folklore and mythology, is regarded as the national epic of Finland. As such, the 28 of February has been set aside in Finland as a day to commemorate this piece...
