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Julius Caesar: The Faults Behind the Myth
Last March marked the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination over 2,000 years ago, and after two millennia, his legendary achievements still linger in today's consciousness just as they have for centuries. He was so revered that in...

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Flood Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh
This is the 11th tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The cuneiform text on this tablet is startlingly similar to the Biblical story of Noah and his ark in the Book of Genesis. When George Smith, an assistant in the British Museum first read...

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Egpytian Stela of the Nile-Flood god Hapy
This limestone wall block depicts the Nile-Flood god Hapy who wears the plants of Upper Egypt; his head and shoulders are shown. He faces to the left and and brings offerings of hetep-mat, qebeh-jar, hes-jar and was-sceptre. From the foundations...

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Noah
Noah is considered one of the patriarchs in the Jewish Scriptures or one of the founding fathers of what became the religion of Judaism. His story begins in Genesis 6 and consists of three elements: the evil of the earth; the flood narrative...

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The Unicorn Myth
The unicorn, a mythical creature popularized in European folklore, has captivated the human imagination for over 2,000 years. For most of that time, well into the Middle Ages, people also believed them to be real. The roots of the unicorn...

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Kiowa Death-Origin Myth: Two Versions
The Kiowa nation has at least two different versions of their origin myth concerning death: How Death Came into the World and Why the Ant is Almost Cut in Two. Both explain the origin of death but differ significantly in characterization...

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The Sun & the Moon in Norse Myth
In Norse mythology, the Sun and the Moon appear as personified siblings pulling the heavenly bodies and chased by wolves, or as plain objects. Written sources, such as the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, have surprisingly little to say about...

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Theseus & the Minotaur: More than a Myth?
Until Sir Arthur Evans unearthed the palace of Knossos, the half-man-half bull killed by Theseus was considered just a popular legend; archaeology changed that perception. King Minos, of Crete, fought hard with his brother to ascend the...

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Mythology
Myths are a part of every culture in the world and are used to explain natural phenomena, where a people came from and how their civilization developed, and why things happen as they do. At their most basic level, myths comfort by giving...

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The Life of Hercules in Myth & Legend
Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Herakles, the most popular figure from ancient Greek mythology. Hercules was the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus, who was always chasing one woman or another...