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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 ...
The Stymphalian Birds are best remembered as the object of Heracles ’ sixth labor. These birds choked the woods around Lake Stymphalus in northeastern Arcadia. Though they were originally imagined simply as pests, later accounts depicted them as fearsome, dangerous creatures who could use their bronze feathers as weapons and sometimes ate ...
Griffins were mythical creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. They probably originated in Near Eastern art and mythology, though they arrived in Greece at a very early period. According to the Greeks, the Griffins lived at the very edge of the world, where they hoarded gold and battled the legendary race of the ...
Cangjie (倉頡) is a legendary cultural hero in Chinese folklore who is credited with inventing the Chinese writing system. According to stories, Cangjie originally served as the official historian of the Yellow Emperor. To be effective at this job, he would need a way to record historical events.
Quetzalcoatl (pronounced Ket-zal-ko’-wat) was the Aztec version of the Feathered Serpent god that permeated Mesoamerican mythologies. Though he originated as a vegetation god, Quetzalcoatl’s role in the Aztec mythos expanded over time. By the time the Spanish arrived in the New World, Quetzalcoatl was regarded as the god of wind, patron of ...
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 ...
Phineus, son of Agenor (or, in some traditions, of the sea god Poseidon), was a prophet-king of Thrace; his kingdom was usually referred to as Salmydessus. Though Phineus was a powerful figure, he was blinded by the gods for committing some sin. Ancient sources disagreed on the exact nature of this sin: some said that Phineus had prophesied the ...
The Ceryneian Hind was a remarkable female deer; ancient sources described it as incredibly large and fast and endowed with golden antlers. It was sacred to Artemis, the Olympian goddess of the wild, and lived near the town of Ceryneia in Achaea. The great hero Heracles was sent to capture the Ceryneian Hind for the third of his Twelve Labors.
Amaterasu is the great and glorious goddess of the sun. An embodiment of the rising sun and Japan itself, she is the queen of the kami and ruler of the universe. The Japanese Imperial Family claims to have descended from her, and this is what gives them the divine right to rule Japan. She is the center of Shinto, and Japanese spiritual life.
Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, born on Crete and imprisoned alongside his father in the Labyrinth by King Minos. Daedalus fashioned wings from bird feathers and wax to enable him and Icarus to fly to freedom. But Icarus, despite his father’s warnings, flew too close to the sun; the wax of his wings melted, and he ...