The ‘Disneyfication’ of fairies has helped us forget their darker origins.
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Articles on Mythology
Displaying 1 - 20 of 39 articles
From Fiji to France to Central Australia, stories abound of lands lost beneath the sea. Some are likely founded on millennia-old memories of coastal submergence, offering us clues today.
People tell tales to explain what they see – centuries later, scientists try to map handed-down myths onto real geological events.
China’s space culture is unique and deeply rooted in the country’s traditions.
‘WandaVision’ reimagines stories from Egyptian and Greek mythology, as well as Buddhist tradition.
His life’s work was asserting the humanity and history of the Bantu people, while proposing that the soul was able to bring knowledge of the past and of the future into the present.
Is making sense of a story more important than getting at its truth? Looking at the treatment of myth in ancient Greece may help us navigate what is true, and whether that matters.
Authors sometimes put deeper meanings into their stories, but really, it’s the reader who decides.
An ad alluding to the vulva is sparking controversy, but there are few objections to phallic symbols. What explains this difference in treatment?
Our dreams of the afterlife need to challenge the idea that only the appearance of youth is worthy.
The Santa myth tells us more about adults than children.
Enheduanna’s name means ‘Ornament of Heaven’. She wrote hymns and myths more than 4000 years ago, studied the stars and yet is almost entirely unknown in the present day.
With his beard, trident, and status as Atlantean ruler, the superhero Aquaman borrows many traits from the sea gods of mythology.
All monsters make their mark on the communities they haunt. Some are cheeky and mischievous, some are mysterious, others are downright evil.
How Romans overcame their fear of witches by finding them funny.
An expert argues our connection with these figures is longstanding. They are embedded in our myths and help us explore deeper questions about being human.
Tales of giants can be found around the world - in Wales, in Australia, and the Pacific Islands. They helped people explain the sometimes cataclysmic changes to the environment they saw around them.
Even if mermaids aren’t real, they’ll likely feature in human stories for many years to come. Very few mythical creatures are found in so many diverse cultures, across so many years without changing.
A monstrous worm that features in English mythology shares remarkable similarities with the watery serpents of Indigenous stories.
Sex was central to life in ancient Mesopotamia. And the authors of Sumerian love poetry, depicting the exploits of divine couples, showed a wealth of practical knowledge about the stages of female sexual arousal.
Top contributors
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Honorary Research Associate, University of Sydney
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Professor of Classics, University of Newcastle
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Professor of Geography, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Visiting Researcher in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
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Associate Professor of Research, University of Hertfordshire
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PhD student, University of Newcastle
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Senior Lecturer in English and Writing (children's literature), University of New England
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PhD Candidate - Classics, University of Newcastle
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Director, Centre for Religious Studies, Monash University
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Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
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Doctoral Candidate, University of Cambridge
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Professor and Tutorial Fellow in English, University of Oxford
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Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of English/Film Studies, University of the Pacific
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Head of the Marketing Innovation and Distribution Program at EMLV, Pôle Léonard de Vinci
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Emeritus professor of biology, UCL
