Chinese dragon: Did you mean...?

Oracle bones or dragon bones were the shoulder blades of oxen or the flat underside of a turtle shell known as a plastron that were used for divination during the Shang Dynasty of China which dates between c. 1600 and 1046 BCE. The bones...

Zheng Yi (also Cheng I, Ching Yih, Cheng Yao-I, Cheng Wen-Hsien, or Cheng Yud) was a Chinese pirate who lived from 1765 to 1807. Operating in the South China Sea, Zheng Yi famously led a 600-ship pirate confederation. This force of more than...

The Khitan people formed the Liao dynasty and ruled parts of Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern China from 907 to 1125 CE. Adopting elements of Chinese government and culture, the Khitan were more than a match for their rivals the Song dynasty...

In this interview, James Blake Wiener, Co-Founder and Communications Director at Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE), speaks to Emeritus Professor James H. Grayson, Professor of Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield, about the historical...

Beowulf is an epic poem composed in Old English consisting of 3,182 lines. It is written in the alliterative verse style, which is common for Old English poetry as well as works written in languages such as Old High German, Old Saxon, and...

In Japanese folklore the Shichifukujin are the Seven Lucky Gods who may also be known as the Seven Gods of Happiness or the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. The seven gods are in fact of diverse origin as some are originally from Buddhism, some...

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...

Cadmus is a Phoenician-born prince and the founder and king of Thebes in Boeotia in Greek mythology. He travelled to Greece from his home in Tyre in search of his sister Europa who had been kidnapped by Zeus. His rescue mission was abandoned...

Emperor Gaozu (also Kao-tsu, formerly Li Yuan, r. 618-626 CE) was a Sui military commander who led a rebellion against his former masters, seized control of the state, and founded the Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE). Overshadowed in the ancient...

The term 'mythology' comes from the Greek mythos (story-of-the-people) and logos (word or speech), meaning the spoken story of a people. Every civilization of the ancient world developed a belief system, which is characterized as 'mythology'...