Blog topic
World Mythology articles
Zeus, Thor, Anubis, Athena, Osiris, Loki, Odin, Poseidon, Medusa and Ra, along with Ragnarok, the Trojan Horse, the labours of Heracles, Pandora's box, Icarus and the Greek underworld. Each piece tells the story first and then says what the story was for.
32 explainers, newest first. Each one ends with real questions from the unit that teaches it, so you can read the explanation and then check whether it stuck.
These are the readable companion to the World Mythology track, which holds 18 units and 2,023 practice questions. If you are starting the subject rather than looking something up, the study guide is the better place to begin.
Why Do So Many Cultures Have Dragons? Serpents, Storms and the Bones in the Ground
Dragons appear in the myths of China, Europe, India, the Americas and the Middle East with no contact between them. The theories for why, east and west.
September 15, 20264 min readWhere Do Vampire Legends Come From? Plague, Decay and the Undead of Eastern Europe
The vampire of folklore was a bloated peasant corpse blamed for village deaths, not a pale aristocrat. How decay, disease and burial customs made the legend.
September 15, 20265 min readWas Atlantis Real? Plato's Invention and the Search That Never Ends
Atlantis appears in two dialogues by Plato and nowhere before them, a lesson about a proud empire sunk by the gods. Why he made it up.
September 15, 20265 min readWhat Is the Phoenix? The Bird That Burns and Returns
The phoenix is the mythical bird that lives for centuries, dies in fire and is reborn from its ashes. Where the story came from, and why it endures.
September 15, 20265 min readWhere Do Unicorn Legends Come From? Rhinos, Narwhals and a Mistranslation
The unicorn began as a Greek traveller's account of an Indian animal and entered the Bible by translation error. How the legend grew, and what the horn was.
September 15, 20265 min readWhere Do Werewolf Legends Come From? Wolves, Rabies and the Beast Within
The werewolf is one of the oldest monsters in Europe, older than the vampire by two thousand years. What the belief grew from, and what the films added.
September 15, 20265 min readWhat Is the Epic of Gilgamesh? The Oldest Story We Have
Written on clay four thousand years ago, the epic follows a king who loses his friend and goes looking for a way not to die. The plot, the flood.
September 14, 20265 min readWhat Is the Story of Persephone? The Myth Behind the Seasons
The daughter of the harvest goddess was taken to the underworld, and her mother's grief stopped everything growing.
September 14, 20265 min readWhat Is the Story of Prometheus? Fire, Punishment and the Gift to Humanity
Prometheus stole fire from the gods, gave it to humans and paid with an eagle at his liver. The myth in Hesiod and Aeschylus, and what it came to mean.
September 14, 20264 min readWhat Is the Story of Orpheus and Eurydice? A Song, a Descent and a Backward Glance
Orpheus sang his way into the underworld to bring back his wife and lost her with one glance. The myth, its early versions, and why the ending keeps changing.
September 14, 20265 min readWho Was Hades? The God of the Dead Who Was Not the Devil
Hades ruled the Greek underworld, which took his name, and was feared but not evil. His family, his kingdom, his one famous crime, and why he had no temples.
September 14, 20265 min readWhat Is the Minotaur? The Labyrinth, Theseus and the Bull of Crete
The Minotaur was a man with a bull's head kept in a maze under the palace of Crete and fed on Athenian youths. The myth, the palace behind it, and the thread.
September 14, 20265 min readWho Is Anansi? The Spider Who Bought All the Stories in the World
Anansi is the trickster spider of West African folklore, who won the world's stories from the sky god. Where he comes from and how he crossed the sea.
September 14, 20265 min readWho Is Quetzalcoatl? The Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerica
Quetzalcoatl was the feathered serpent god of wind, learning and the morning star, worshipped in Mexico for a thousand years. His myths and the Cortes legend.
September 14, 20265 min readWhat Is the Story of the Trojan Horse?
How a wooden horse ended a ten year war, where the story comes from, and why the phrase is still used today.
August 28, 20265 min readWhat Is the Greek Underworld?
Meet Hades, the rivers of the dead, Charon the ferryman and how the ancient Greeks imagined life after death.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Anubis in Egyptian Mythology?
Meet the jackal headed god of mummification, the weighing of the heart and the journey into the afterlife.
August 28, 20265 min readWhat Is Yggdrasil, the World Tree?
What is Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse mythology? The nine worlds it connects, the creatures living in it, and why the Norse imagined the cosmos as a tree.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Athena in Greek Mythology?
The goddess of wisdom and strategy, born from Zeus's head, patron of Athens and a very different kind of war deity.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Ra, the Egyptian Sun God?
Who was Ra, the Egyptian sun god? His daily journey across the sky, his nightly battle with a serpent, and why he was the centre of Egyptian religion.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Zeus in Greek Mythology?
Meet the king of the gods, his thunderbolt, his family and the stories that made him the centre of the Greek world.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Is Thor in Norse Mythology?
Meet the thunder god, his hammer Mjolnir, his goats and the old stories that are very different from the modern versions.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Is Loki in Norse Mythology?
The shape shifting trickster who helps the gods and betrays them, and why he is far stranger than a simple villain.
August 28, 20265 min readWhat Is Ragnarok in Norse Mythology?
The end of the world, the final battle of gods and giants, and the new world that rises afterwards, explained simply.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Osiris in Egyptian Mythology?
The murdered king who became lord of the afterlife, and the story of Isis, Set and the first resurrection.
August 28, 20266 min readWhat Are the Twelve Labours of Heracles?
The full list of impossible tasks, why he had to do them, and what the labours meant to the Greeks.
August 28, 20266 min readWho Was Poseidon in Greek Mythology?
The god of the sea, earthquakes and horses, his rivalry with Athena, and why sailors feared him.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Odin in Norse Mythology?
The one eyed chief of the gods who traded his eye and hung from a tree for knowledge, and what he was preparing for.
August 28, 20266 min readWhat Is the Story of Icarus?
The boy who flew too close to the sun, the labyrinth that led to it, and what the myth is actually warning about.
August 28, 20265 min readWho Was Medusa in Greek Mythology?
The gorgon whose gaze turned people to stone, how she became one, and how Perseus defeated her.
August 28, 20265 min readWhat Is the Story of Pandora's Box?
Why it was really a jar, what was left inside, and how the myth connects to Prometheus and the theft of fire.
August 28, 20265 min readWhat Is the Sphinx in Mythology?
The Greek riddler and the Egyptian guardian, how the two differ, and what the Great Sphinx of Giza actually is.
August 28, 20265 min read