Definitions

The term Venus figurine is used to describe the more than 200 small statuettes of voluptuous female figures that have been found at Upper Paleolithic sites across Europe and some parts of Asia. “When paleoanthropologists refer to figurines...

Phidias (also Pheidias) was, according to his contemporaries, the most renowned of all Greek sculptors. His greatest masterpieces were completed between c. 465 and 425 BCE. Unfortunately, except through copies, no example of his work has...

Ryujin (aka Ryu-o) is the dragon king, sea god, and master of serpents in Japanese mythology. With his magic jewels he is responsible for the tides, and he represents both the perils and bounty of the sea and so was especially relevant to...

Kagutsuchi (aka Hi-no-Kagutsuchi) is the Shinto god or kami of fire and is also known as Homusubi. The son of Izanami and Izanagi, the fire god is the father of eight warrior gods and eight mountain gods, amongst others. Such a destructive...

A long barrow is a class of Middle Neolithic (approximately 3500-2700 BCE) burial monument which is found extensively throughout the British Isles and is related to other forms of contemporary tomb-building traditions of north-western Europe...

Ennin (c. 793-864 CE, posthumous title: Jikaku Daishi) was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Tendai sect who studied Buddhism at length in China and brought back knowledge of esoteric rituals, sutras, and relics. On his return, he published...

Kofukuji is a Buddhist temple which was founded in 669 CE and relocated to its present location in Nara, Japan in 710 CE. It was the main Buddhist temple of the influential Fujiwara clan during the Heian Period (794-1185 CE). The temple's...

Hecate (Hekate) is a goddess of Greek mythology capable of both good and evil. She was associated with witchcraft, magic, the Moon, doorways, and creatures of the night like hell-hounds and ghosts. Hecate often carries a torch in her connection...

Kasuga Taisha is an ancient Shinto shrine located in a forest east of Nara, capital of Japan between 710 and 784 CE. Founded in 768 CE, the site has four main shrines in honour of four Shinto-Buddhist deities, one of which is the ancestor...

The Minamoto clan was an extended family group which dominated Japanese government and the imperial court in the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The clan famously defeated their arch rivals the Taira in the Genpei War of 1180-1185 CE and included...