Tag Archives: pliny the elder

Roland in the Deep

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Nathan

I think I first heard of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso in a blurb about C.S. Lewis comparing J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to it. Well, they do both have a magic ring that makes people invisible, and a monster … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Arthurian Legend, Authors, Book Reviews, British, C.S. Lewis, Characters, Christianity, French, Greek Mythology, Islam, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Poetry, Relationships, Religion, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Video Games, William Shakespeare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mistletoe the Line

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Nathan

As a kid, I was introduced to the idea of mistletoe being the plant people kiss under at Christmastime. Then, when I was a little older, I started looking into Norse mythology, and found the story about how mistletoe had … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Christmas, Chronicles of Narnia, Etymology, Greek Mythology, Holidays, Language, Magic, Mythology, Names, Norse, Religion, Roman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Yale, Yale, the Gang’s All Here

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Nathan

Today’s mythical creature is the Yale, which was included in a list of uncommon mythical creatures on Quora, a site I’m always getting e-mails from despite not remembering ever signing up for, but I don’t unsubscribe because there’s interesting stuff … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Etymology, Greek Mythology, Language, Monsters, Mythology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fortune Smiles Upon Thee

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Nathan

The idea of the world of the dead as a physical location was quite common in ancient cultures, and more or less still persists today. It’s still common to think of Heaven as being up in the sky and Hell … Continue reading →

Posted in Arthurian Legend, Celtic, Etymology, Food, Greek Mythology, History, Language, Maps, Mythology, Norse, Urban Legends | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Crocotta Hunter

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Nathan

With my interest in fantastic creatures of legend, it’s kind of surprising I hadn’t come across the leucrota before reading Rick Riordan’s The Demigod Diaries. This monster is first mentioned in the work of Pliny the Elder in the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Greek Mythology, Heroes of Olympus, Monsters, Mythology, Rick Riordan | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Manticore Values

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Nathan

In my examination of mythical monsters, I now move on to the manticore, a beast said to live in Persia. In the fourth century BC, a Greek physician named Ctesias put forth a description of the animal. It has the … Continue reading →

Posted in Greek Mythology, Monsters, Mythology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Catoblepas That Got the Cream

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Nathan

The subject of this post is a mythical monster described by the Greeks, but that isn’t part of classical Greek mythology. Not that this is necessarily a significant difference, but it isn’t something that Hercules fought. Rather, descriptions of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Final Fantasy, Games, Greek Mythology, Mythology, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bored in Hyperborea

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Nathan

In Greek mythology, it was said that the land of Hyperborea lay far to the north of the lands the myth-makers knew. The name means “beyond the north wind,” and it was regarded as being to the north of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Christmas, Greek Mythology, Holidays, Mythology, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments