Images

Cain Slaying Abel, oil on oak wood painting by Peter Paul Rubens, produced between 1608 and 1609. Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Cain and Abel were sons of the first humans Adam and Eve in the biblical Book of Genesis...

Eve Bewailing the Death of Abel, terracotta sculpture by Joseph Nollekens, between 1800-1810. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. According to Bible, Abel was murdered by his own brother Cain who was jealous of Abel being...

Death of the Nose god Baldr, illustration from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. SÁM 66, 75v. Baldr was a beloved son of Frigg and Odin. Upon seeing his own death in a prophetic dream he became depressed. His mother did...

A map of the Juan Fernández Islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The islands famously hosted the marooned mariner Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) from 1704 to 1709. Selkirk inspired the title character of Daniel Defoe's celebrated novel...

After Ragnarök by Emil Doepler, illustration from page 58 of Walhall, die Götterwelt der Germanen. Martin Oldenbourg, Berlin, 1905. The scene depicts the line from the Völuspá "Waterfalls flow and eagles fly overhead, hunting for...

The Gosforth Cross, Cumbria, England, dated to the 10th century CE. It depicts pivotal events from Ragnarök including Heimdall sounding the horn to battle, Thor's battle with Jörmungandr, Vidarr slaying Fenrir, and Loki's imprisonment...

Ragnarök after the fire giant Surtr has set fire to the Nine Realms of Norse cosmology by Emil Doepler, illustration from page 57 of Walhall, die Götterwelt der Germanen, Martin Oldenbourg, Berlin, 1905.

A view of the mountains on the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) was marooned on the islands from 1704 to 1709. His story inspired Daniel Defoe's Robisnon Crusoe, published in 1719.

Luke Roberts as Woodes Rogers in the TV series Black Sails. Rogers (l. 1679-1732) was a former privateer and navigator who served twice as the governor of the Bahamas. He was charged with stamping out piracy in the area and particularly the...

A painting portraying the Norse goddess of fertility Idunn giving apples to gods. Idunn was a goddess who was a guardian of the fruit (usually given as apples) that kept the gods of Asgard eternally young. For this reason, she was kidnapped...