Search
Search Results
Article
The Mesopotamian Pantheon
The gods of the Mesopotamian region were not uniform in name, power, provenance or status in the hierarchy. Mesopotamian culture varied from region to region and, because of this, Marduk should not be regarded as King of the Gods in the same...
Definition
Centaur
A centaur was a creature from Greek mythology which was half-man and half-horse. The head, arms and torso of a centaur were human and joined at the waist to the body and legs of a horse. Centaurs represented barbarism and unbridled chaos...
Definition
Roman Imperial Cult
The Roman imperial cult was the practice of venerating Roman emperors and their families as having divine attributes, honoring their contributions to the spread of Roman religion and culture. It was instituted by the first Roman emperor Augustus...
Definition
Meleager
Meleager (Greek: Meleagros) is a hero from Greek mythology who famously led an expedition to kill the Calydonian boar which was terrorizing the kingdom of Oeneus in Aetolia in central-western Greece. Appearing in Homer's Iliad and the later...
Article
Jason & the Argonauts
The pan-Hellenic mythological hero Jason was famed for his expedition with the Argonauts - as the sailors on their ship the Argo were known - in search of the Golden Fleece in Kolchis on the Black Sea, one of the most popular and enduring...
Article
The Shield of Heracles: The Complete Poem
The Shield of Heracles (also known as The Shield of Herakles and, in the original, Aspis Herakleous) is a poem of 480 hexameter lines written by an unknown Greek poet in the style of Hesiod (lived 8th century BCE). It deals with the Greek...
Article
The Bear Man
The Bear Man is a Pawnee legend exemplifying the Native American understanding of the natural world and serving as an origin tale for the Bear Dance, which was performed to awaken the bears in spring from their winter hibernation and also...
Article
A Story of Faith
A Story of Faith is a legend of the Pawnee nation similar in theme to The Boy Who Was Sacrificed and featuring the same sacred animals – the Nahu'rac – who serve Ti-ra'wa ("Father Above") from their homes in five mystical places. This story...
Article
The Snake Brother
The Snake Brother is a legend of the Pawnee nation, which corresponds to the "King of the Waters" – or Snake Man – myth told by many other Native peoples of North America. Although many different indigenous nations tell similar stories, with...
Article
The Dun Horse
The Dun Horse is a Pawnee tale about a poor boy and his grandmother, who find an old horse and take it in. The horse turns out to be magical, however, and improves their fortunes considerably. Like many Pawnee legends – and Native American...