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The Phoenix, a creature with links to Egyptian mythology, was a bird that resembled a fiery eagle, with red and gold plumage. Its mythology primarily focused on its death and subsequent rebirth. In the most familiar account, it would live for 500 years, after which it would burn itself on the altar of the sun in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis ...
Wise Chiron, the son of Cronus and Philyra, was one of the Centaurs, a powerful race of part-man, part-horse creatures. While the other Centaurs were known for their violent and lecherous ways, Cronus was a gentle and helpful being. He was famously skilled in the arts of warfare, medicine, and music. Chiron was honored by both gods and mortals ...
Amaterasu can be translated as “Shines from Heaven,” with 天 meaning “heaven” (or Imperial) and 照 meaning “shines.”. Amaterasu is shorthand for Amaterasu-ōmikami, which can be represented in Kanji as 天照大神, 天照大御神, and 天照皇大神. This longer version means “the great and glorious kami who illuminates from ...
Dwarf names: Origin, structure, and meaning. Resilient and stout, robust and powerful, dwarves are a unique fantasy race typically portrayed as skilled craftspeople and durable warriors—possessing plenty of instincts for mining and metallurgy.
In Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong (孫悟空), also known as the Monkey King, is a trickster god who plays a central role in Wu Cheng’en’s adventure novel Journey to the West. Wukong is blessed with unmatched superhuman strength and the ability to transform into 72 different animals and objects. Each of his hairs have transformative powers ...
Japanese names: History, structure, and meaning. Thanks to its island geography, the land of the rising sun is a rich culture of fascinating and singular history and mythology dating back thousands of years. There’s great pride in Japanese culture—this was the rare country that threw back the Mongols—and fascinating traditions in ...
Avi Kapach is a writer, scholar, and educator who received his PhD in Classics from Brown University. Hecate, daughter of Asteria and Perses, was a powerful but mysterious goddess usually associated with magic, witchcraft, and the Underworld. Though often an object of dread, Hecate was sometimes seen as a kind goddess and a protector of justice.
Cadmus was a prince and hero born in the eastern Mediterranean. As a young man, he was forced to leave home in search of his sister (or niece) Europa, who had been carried off by Zeus. After Cadmus had scoured the earth and finally exhausted his search, he decided to settle in Greece. On a fertile site in the region of Boeotia, he fought and ...
Europa was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of either Phoenix or Agenor. Zeus fell in love with her and, in the form of a flying bull, carried her off to the island of Crete. There, Europa bore Zeus Minos and Rhadamanthys as well as (in later accounts) Sarpedon before marrying the Cretan king Asterius. Europa was given marvelous gifts by ...
Oedipus, son of Laius and Jocasta, was a Greek hero and king of Thebes, celebrated for defeating the fearsome Sphinx. He suffered a tragic downfall, however, when he discovered that he had unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus was abandoned in the wilderness soon after his birth when his father learned of a prophecy that ...