10
votes
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Looking for good information on Australian Aboriginal Mythology
Australian Aboriginal myths in some regards are a little unique in the sense that many of their creatures are derived from the traditions of Aboriginal Dreamtime.
A word of caution: many of these ...
- 2,842
9
votes
Accepted
Goods reads about Herakles/Hercules twelve labors?
If you're looking for a summary of what the ancient poets wrote about, your best bet would be to look at Pseudo-Apollodorus' Bibliotecha. The Bibliotecha is a work that collates nearly all of Greek ...
- 7,157
8
votes
Accepted
Is this Sabine name of Flora accurate?
That claim according to which there was a Sabine month called Flusalis can be found in a footnote of William Warde Fowler's The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic; an introduction to the ...
- 3,539
6
votes
Accepted
What is the source of the story of Hades trapping Pirithous and Theseus in the Chairs of Forgetfulness?
Apollodorus' Epitome 1.24:
Theseus, arriving in the realm of Haides [Hades] with Peirithous
[Pirithous], was thoroughly deceived, for Haides on the pretense of
hospitality had them sit first ...
- 9,772
5
votes
Accepted
What is the source of the story of the immaculate conception of Mars?
The quote within the quote in your Question is Book 5, Lines 255-258 of Ovid's Fasti. The full story runs from Line 229 through Line 260 of the same book, making up a medium-sized paragraph. (James ...
- 9,772
5
votes
Accepted
Are there freely available texts of Geseriad in English?
You can find this one, certainly not the best, but a good one, and as free as you like.
- 3,501
5
votes
Trying to find a hunter myth I was told as a child
There is a Dutch folktale about a hunter who waits for a giant hare. Here is a tentative translation:
A hunter once had heard rumors about an extraordinarily large hare, which every
night around ...
- 581
5
votes
Accepted
What source says Cleola died giving birth to Pleisthenes?
You should keep in mind that Graves often takes some liberties in his retellings of Greek myths, adding details and personal interpretations in order to make a more readable and coherent whole out of ...
- 1,689
5
votes
Accepted
Is there any ancient source that says the Augean Stables hadn't been cleaned for 30 years?
The oldest reference to the 30 year figure I've been able to find, comes from a 17th century translation of Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheca historic, translated by H.C. Gent and published in 1653.
That ...
- 7,786
4
votes
Accepted
What sources describe the rivers of the Underworld?
The description of Acheron and Styx in Aeneid 6 appears to be fairly clearly based on the somewhat ambiguous Underworld structure supplied by Circe in Homer's Odyssey 10. Other mythography subsequent ...
- 9,772
4
votes
What sources describe the rivers of the Underworld?
One source mentioning the rivers is Book X of the Odyssey:
So I spoke, and the beautiful goddess straightway made answer: ‘Son of Laertes, sprung from Zeus, Odysseus of many devices, let there be ...
- 1,400
4
votes
What are the historical sources for the Illuminati mythos?
The following work on Freemasonry gives a broad overview of its historical development: from its origins in the era of Solomon's Temple up to the 19th century, with an emphasis on Freemasonry's plans ...
- 495
4
votes
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Is there a preferred, scholarly edition of the Gesta Danorum in English?
The translation by Peter Fisher, with an introduction and commentary by Hilda Roderick Davidson, is easy to find, and reputable.
- 5,878
4
votes
What are good sources to introduce people to mythology?
If you are interested in Summerian mythology you can check out the Oracc Project here: Link to the Oracc Project
4
votes
What are good sources to introduce people to mythology?
Here are some other sources for Greek and Egyptian myths:
THEOI.com for Greek mythology
Ancient Egypt Online for the Gods and Goddesses
Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Ancient Egypt, the section on ...
4
votes
Accepted
Who is Crite of Chaldea?
Okay, this might be something:
The OAHSPE Bible mentions Crite three times:
"Thoth sent the following message to Looeamong, to wit:...But, behold, I labor against Gods who have the advantage of ...
- 942
4
votes
Accepted
Why is Circe in Aeaea?
Not Alone
In the Odyssey, in fact, Kirke [Circe] does not live all by her lonesome on the island of Aiaia [Aeaea]. In Book 10, Odysseus says that Kirke's house is tended to by certain wood-nymphs, ...
- 9,772
4
votes
What are some references to Mathonwy in Welsh legends?
Sadly, I've never been able to find any direct references to Mathonwy anywhere.
Bromwich (pg. 439) mentions that the name Mathonwy itself could be a doublet for the name Math, like so many names in ...
- 464
4
votes
What's the best way to go about researching obscure mythologies?
Because the internet hold a great deal of misinformation and disinformation, for obscure mythologies your best bet is scholarly work. (Folklorists and academic researchers.)
Books
You'll want to ...
- 14.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Who is Thulis of Egypt?
The Man
He is supposed to be one of the earliest kings of Egypt; he also supposedly conquered the entire world, says the story, "all the way to Okeanos [Oceanus]." Most English translations ...
- 9,772
4
votes
Accepted
What do we know about the Roman goddesses Adeona and Abeona?
Unfortunately, Varro's Antiquities is only known through references like this one. Searching for #abeon in the Packhum corpus (a collection of, theoretically, all surviving Latin literature before 200 ...
- 1,288
4
votes
Any Good Sources for Aztec Mythology?
The only book I have is Douglas Gifford's Warriors, Gods and Spirits from Central and South American Mythology (illustrated by John Sibbick). This book is part of the The World Mythology series, which ...
- 141
4
votes
In what ancient source, if any, does the infant Hermes disguise himself as Ares?
The lost poem Hermes by Eratosthenes seems to be the source for the myth of Hera suckling Hermes. In his paper Theodulus' Ecloga and Mythographus Vaticanus 1, Winfried Bühler, referring to this ...
- 1,689
4
votes
Did ancient Greek authors describe any consistent details of the Olympians' appearance (hair/eye color, relative height, etc)?
Statues were colored in Ancient Greece, and it's indicated by pigment traces that, for example, the statue of a deity did not get a new hair color every (insert interval here) like a modern-day ...
- 5,354
4
votes
Accepted
Are there any accounts of English folklore concerning walking willow trees?
This is not an account per se, but it is a source that proves such a belief existed in English folklore. Katharine Mary Briggs documents a Somerset rhyme that goes:
Ellum do grieve,
Oak he do hate,
...
- 7,786
4
votes
Are there any accounts of English folklore concerning walking willow trees?
To expand slightly on the answer by @Semaphore.
In her An Encyclopedia of Fairies Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures (page 159), after the Somerset rhyme, Katharine Mary ...
- 1,689
4
votes
Accepted
What ancient source says Aegisthus killed Atreus at 7 years old?
I'm afraid this is another instance of Graves embellishing a myth with details which were not present in the sources he drew upon. In this particular case, it's not at all obvious why he would add the ...
- 1,689
3
votes
What are the oldest extant influential mythology inspired books (mainly Eastern)?
It would be helpful if you could link to the article.
High level answer without seeing the article would be the Upanishads for India, and the Book of Songs for China.
In terms of the Mesopotamian ...
- 14.1k
3
votes
Accepted
What is the source of the legend of Herakles bathing in the spa waters of Edipsos?
>File Not Found!<
From what I've been able to find, there is no ancient source which tells such a story about Aidepsos (the commonly older transliteration of the town's name, which is Latinised as ...
- 9,772
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