In order to diversify the festive table, a woman often tries...
Or maybe you are a genie from a lamp who grants wishes, or a beautiful fairy who can do anything?
Find out which mythical creature from our fantasies is hidden under your human guise.
Interesting facts about famous mythical creatures of the Slavs
Brownie
The most famous owner and patron of the house, who helps the family live a normal life. The brownie is usually fed by leaving treats and water on the kitchen floor. If he loves the owners, then he protects the house from all evil, but if the brownie is not treated with due respect, he begins to do various dirty tricks, makes noise, hides things, breaks furniture, light bulbs, etc. He also often chases his owner when he moves.
Babai
Night evil spirit in Slavic mythology. This character does not have a specific description, but most often they spoke of him as a lame old man with a large sack, where he took naughty children who did not want to fall asleep.
Kikimora
One of the types of brownies that causes minor troubles around the house. Most often, the kikimora came to the house where the child died. The forest kikimora was often accused of kidnapping children, and instead of them she left an enchanted log. You could tell about the presence of Kikimora at home by finding wet footprints. And if you catch her, you can turn her into a human.
Basilisk
This creature is present in the mythology of many peoples. The head of a rooster, the wings of a bat, the body of a dragon, and the eyes of a toad, whose gaze turns all living things to stone. But if the Basilisk, according to legend, sees its reflection in the mirror, it will die immediately. The monster feeds on stones, so its permanent place of residence is caves. He comes out of his hiding place strictly at night, as he cannot stand the crowing of a rooster.
Water
Most often, this owner of the waters is kind, but sometimes he drags some onlooker under the water for entertainment. He is the commander of the mermaids, the drowned, and the aquatic inhabitants. At the bottom of rivers and lakes, the merman grazes his livestock - various fish. Its most common place of residence is whirlpools.
Crap
An evil and lustful spirit. This creature is social and most often goes hunting with its own kind. Devils are very attracted to people who abuse alcohol. When they find them, they force them to drink more and more until they reach complete madness. This is where the expression “getting drunk as hell” comes from. If a person stops drinking, the creature begins to gradually waste away, as it does not receive the necessary food.
Yrka
An evil night spirit with eyes that glow at night. The spirit is especially dangerous on the night of Ivan Kupala, but only in the field, since the Leshy block its way into the forest. Suicides become yrkoy. They love to attack lonely travelers, drinking their blood.
He will not go near the fire, as he is very afraid of fire. You can save yourself from it by running away and not looking back, saying “mind me” three times and reading “Our Father.”
Ghouls
These are the dead who attack animals and people. They rise from their graves at night, suck the blood from a living creature, which after this attack either dies or becomes a ghoul itself. According to legends, those who died an unnatural death became a ghoul (drunkards, sorcerers, murdered people, suicides). People believed that the earth did not accept such people, so they were forced to harm the living while wandering around the world.
Beregini
These are female spirits with tails who settled along the banks of rivers. They predict the future, protect people from evil spirits, and also save small children who were left unattended and fell into the water.
Shilikhany
These little mischief makers appear on Christmas Eve and run around the streets until Epiphany. A drunk person can be pushed into an ice hole, and having turned into black cats, they crawl under one’s feet. At night they are very noisy. After Baptism, these sparrow-sized spirits with horse legs and hooves run underground.
Sinister
These pagan evil spirits are dangerous because they can inhabit a person in old age, especially if this person lived a life without love and did not have children. They can turn into a poor old man.
Shishiga
Another unclean spirit that lives in the forest and attacks random people in order to gnaw their bones. Loves to make noise. According to another belief, it is a restless house spirit that mocks a person who does things without praying.
Ten mythical creatures whose reality has been disproven by science.
1.Flying rods.
Flying rods were so named for their elongated shape, ranging in length from a few centimeters to a couple of meters. They can very often be seen on video or in photographs. Many believed that this was a special form of life, still unknown to us, and there were those who considered them aliens. In any case, modern research has shown that this is just an optical illusion that occurs due to the special properties of the light passing through the lenses.
2. Wild haggis.
The wild haggis is a fictional creature, according to legend, living in the highlands of Scotland. According to some sources, the right and left paws of the haggis are of different lengths, which allows it to run quickly over steep mountains and hills. There is an opinion that there are two breeds of this animal, the first has a short right paw, and the second has a left one. You can distinguish them quite easily: the one with the larger left leg rushes along the mountains clockwise, and the one with the larger right leg runs counterclockwise.
3. Fluffy trout.
The fluffy trout is a mythical creature native to North America. The main premise of this legend is that the water in the area is so cold that the fish need fur to survive. There is also a well-known rather funny legend that trout grew hair after hair balm factories began dumping waste into the Arkansas River.
4. Squader.
Skvader is a mythical creature, the brainchild of Swedish scientists. Rudolf Granberg in 1918 created a stuffed animal consisting of the head and legs of a hare and the back, wings and tail of a wood grouse. The legend about this animal originated at the beginning of the 20th century, when one of the local hunters told a story about how he shot a creature with the head of a hare and the body of a wood grouse.
5. Jackalope.
Jackalopes are mythical creatures of North American folklore. They are described as hares with the antlers of an antelope and the tail of a pheasant. It is possible that stories of such creatures were inspired by observations of rabbits infected with the Shope papillomavirus, which led to the growth of horns and horn-like tumors on their heads and the rest of the body. There was a legend among midwestern cowboys that the creature could be caught using the bait of a whiskey flask.
6. Madagascar man-eating tree.
In his notes, German researcher Karl Litsch spoke about an interesting legend about the Mkodo tribe from Madagascar. It talks about a certain tree with branches in the form of huge tentacles, to which a person was sacrificed every year.
7. Lake Thetis Monster.
On August 22, 1972, the Victoria Daily Times reported that two teenagers were frightened by a monster that suddenly appeared from Lake Thetis. He looked remarkably like the monster from the movie Black Lagoon. At that time, the police could not find any evidence of the authenticity of what happened, but 4 days later, 2 more people witnessed this strange creature. According to them, it came out of the lake, looked around and hid back under the water.
8.Kasai Rex.
Kasai Rex is a mythical carnivorous dinosaur that has survived to this day. He lives in Africa. There are conflicting descriptions of this monster, so most cryptozoologists are inclined to believe that it is all falsified. In one case, it is described as a 12-meter monster, similar to a lizard on two legs. The predator's coloring was dark red, with black stripes on the neck, back and tail. The animal was almost always observed eating rhinoceroses. There are also two official photographs of the animal that contradict each other: one shows a creature similar to a monitor lizard, and the other similar to a rhinoceros.
9. Khodag.
Hodag is a legendary American monster. The first mention of it dates back to 1893, when a local newspaper in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, reported an animal with the head of a frog, the face of an elephant, thick short legs, huge claws, the back of a dinosaur and a long tail with spikes. The messages were received from a well-known joker in the area, Eugene Shepard, who subsequently organized a campaign to capture the beast. It is said that he disappeared after the source of his food, white bulldogs, became rare in that area.
10. Cardiff giant.
This giant is the work of New York tobacconist George Hull. In this original way, he decided to shake up the country’s population and have some fun. He ordered a huge statue, and then buried it in the ground, while at the same time giving a tip to the workers for excavation. This giant created a huge sensation and many scientists were ready to reconsider hypotheses about the origin of man.
If someone looks like a human, talks like a human, and even smells like a human, it may not be human at all.
Who are they?
Many of the creatures look human or wear a mask. Many of them, including vampires, ghosts and werewolves, have fascinated and frightened us for centuries. For good reason, we are all very afraid of them, because we simply do not know who or what is hiding in the dark. Have you ever seen your colleague eat garlic? Or can you say that you were near him during the full moon? How do you know your closest friends aren't something else entirely? Are you sure that the people you communicate with are people and not the creatures described?
Changelings
Stories about switched children are popular in European folklore. These are creatures that are planted by evil spirits in place of stolen children. The children who were replaced rarely lived a normal human life. When they grew up, they looked and behaved completely differently from ordinary people. Why did fairies or other creatures do this? According to some, just for fun. But other stories argue that it is more respectable to be raised by humans than by other creatures, so switching was a way to increase the child's social status.
Medieval literature was rife with stories of changelings as society struggled to come to terms with such horrors as infant mortality, disability, childhood illnesses, and the like. It was difficult for parents to understand why some children suffered while others enjoyed life, because everyone was under the protection of God. And it all ended with people starting to come up with different stories about kidnapped children and substitutions in order to try to understand the tragic reality.
But this is not just medieval fear. The 2008 film “Switching,” starring Angelina Jolie, reveals a real-life case of child switching. In 1928, in Los Angeles, a mother discovered that her son had been kidnapped. The police managed to find the child a few days later, but the mother does not believe that the boy returned to her, it was not her son.
Demons and the devil
The best way to lead people into sin is to convince them that you are one of your own and live among them. To achieve this, demons and the devil sometimes disguise themselves as humans to carry out their evil plan. Sometimes this manifests itself as the possession of one person by another, but often demons simply take on human form. However, they are bad at disguise, especially if the people they are trying to deceive are righteous. Some neglect to hide their horns or their forked tongues, so to speak.
When demons take on human form, they can usually be easily spotted. If suddenly they are discovered, then, as a rule, they will have to disappear. However, sometimes a person who noticed a demon or devil did not renounce him and was not against the temptation. The best example of this in folklore is Faust, who sold his soul to the devil. Tom Walker in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "The Devil and Tom Walker" does the same thing.
Angels
Demons are not the only ones who consider the human form to be a good cover. Angels also disguise themselves to deal directly with humans, although the Bible describes them as beings that cannot be seen. However, the first appearance of angels in the Bible occurs in the Book of Genesis, where they are sent to assess the moral state of Sodom and Gomorrah. In order to do this, they pretended to be ordinary travelers.
Many stories describe angels or beings believed to be angels, such creatures that visit people. If demons often prefer to take the form of influential people, businessmen or lawyers, then angels tend to turn into people with a more modest standard of living. They usually try to use words and wisdom to gently nudge people towards the right path, although they may become angry if they are treated in the wrong way.
Angels disguise themselves just like demons, they try to be invisible. Where demons are "dark", angels tend to be shining, white and pure. Their holiness outshines and outstrips their false human forms. But those who are corrupted by sin will not be able to see this, and they risk facing divine punishment.
Doubles
This is perhaps the most famous creature on this list. It is an entity that resembles someone else. It is obvious that these people are completely different, the double is not even human. They are completely impossible to distinguish. But in all actions they are the same.
Maybe each of us has our own doppleganger - an exact duplicate who lives in the next city or a few streets away, but we never meet because we have different social circles, we never come into contact with each other. But should we meet? If you see your doppelganger, this is an omen of death. It won't kill you, but something will definitely happen.
Many people believe that everyone has a double, and this is true. It's possible that we all have a doppelganger that we have yet to meet. What if you're still alive and it's because your doppelganger saw you first and not the other way around? How do you know you're not a doppelganger?
Kitsune
These are foxes in Japanese folklore and mythology. Like foxes, they use their cunning and intelligence to outwit those they encounter, but their most important ability is to disguise themselves as humans. Why do they do this? Maybe it's a game or a prank to steal something or just to attack the victim. Sometimes kitsune uses human form to have sex with sleeping people. Whatever the reason, a kitsune in disguise is always a wolf in sheep's clothing.
However, many kitsune disguises are imperfect. Some retain their shadow, despite the fact that they look human, their long red hair gives them away. However, the best way to see a kitsune in disguise is to keep it close to you until it reveals itself and says something that proves that it is not human. Can you outsmart the fox?
Werewolves, ghouls, vampires
Many different creatures try to look human, and some succeed. For example, vampires. They are almost indistinguishable from people, but you can’t hide their fangs. They have many physical limitations that clearly mark them as vampires. Werewolves have similar problems - they are usually human, but on certain days they become disgusting, carnivorous animals.
Zombies, vampires, ghouls, ghosts - they all exist, and they all can be among us. These creatures push us to consider what it means to be human. What does it say about us as humans that these creatures make us question how human we are?
But such monsters penetrate deeper and deeper into our fears. Any woman we date could be a kitsune, or our friends could be vampires, or when our newborn babies seem a little strange, everything immediately changes for us. We feel betrayed, captured and used for evil purposes. And when we think that this creature is an individual whose life is practically no different from ours, what does this say about us? How long can we believe that it is our actions that make us human? It's scary to think that we share such an intense personal connection with the worst killers and criminals, being similar. We are all so close to monsters and don't even realize it.
Conclusion
All these evil and good beings in disguise encourage us to confront our fear and determine our own human path.
Mythological genre(from the Greek word mythos - legend) is a genre of art dedicated to events and heroes about which the myths of ancient peoples tell. All peoples of the world have myths, legends and traditions; they constitute an important source of artistic creativity.
The mythological genre was formed during the Renaissance, when ancient legends provided rich subjects for the paintings of S. Botticelli, A. Mantegna, Giorgione,
In the 17th - early 19th centuries, the idea of paintings in the mythological genre expanded significantly. They serve to embody a high artistic ideal (N. Poussin, P. Rubens), bring closer to life (D. Velazquez, Rembrandt, N. Poussin, P. Batoni), create a festive spectacle (F. Boucher, G. B. Tiepolo) .
In the 19th century, the mythological genre served as the norm for high, ideal art. Along with the themes of ancient mythology, themes from Germanic, Celtic, Indian and Slavic myths became popular in the visual arts and sculpture in the 19th and 20th centuries.
At the turn of the 20th century, symbolism and Art Nouveau style revived interest in the mythological genre (G. Moreau, M. Denis, V. Vasnetsov, M. Vrubel). It received a modern rethinking in the graphics of P. Picasso. See historical genre for more details.
Mythical creatures, monsters and fairy-tale animals
Ancient man's fear of the powerful forces of nature was embodied in mythological images of gigantic or vile monsters.
Created by the fertile imagination of the ancients, they combined body parts of familiar animals, such as the head of a lion or the tail of a snake. The body, made up of different parts, only emphasized the monstrousness of these disgusting creatures. Many of them were considered inhabitants of the depths of the sea, personifying the hostile power of the water element.
In ancient mythology, monsters are represented by a rare wealth of shapes, colors and sizes; more often they are ugly, sometimes they are magically beautiful; Often these are half-humans, half-beasts, and sometimes completely fantastic creatures.
Amazons
The ancient Greeks believed that these fierce beauties would marry men from other tribes at certain times of the year. They gave the born boys to their fathers or killed them, and raised the girls in a warlike spirit. During the Trojan War, the Amazons fought on the side of the Trojans, so the brave Greek Achilles, having defeated their queen Penthisileia in battle, zealously denied rumors of a love affair with her.
Stately female warriors attracted more than one Achilles. Hercules and Theseus took part in the battles with the Amazons, who kidnapped the Amazon queen Antiope, married her and with her help repelled the invasion of warrior maidens into Attica.
One of the twelve famous labors of Hercules consisted of stealing the magic belt of the queen of the Amazons, the beautiful Hippolyta, which required considerable self-control from the hero.
Magi and Mages
Magi (wizards, magicians, sorcerers, sorcerers) are a special class of people (“wise men”) who enjoyed great influence in ancient times. The wisdom and power of the Magi lay in their knowledge of secrets inaccessible to ordinary people. Depending on the degree of cultural development of the people, their magicians or sages could represent different degrees of “wisdom” - from simple ignorant witchcraft to truly scientific knowledge.
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| Kedrigern and other magicians Dean Morrissey |
But the further statement of these magi that they came to Jerusalem because they saw in the East the star of the born king of the Jews, whom they came to worship, shows that they belonged to the category of those eastern magi who were engaged in astronomical observations.
Upon returning to their country, they devoted themselves to contemplative life and prayer, and when the apostles scattered to preach the Gospel throughout the world, the Apostle Thomas met them in Parthia, where they were baptized by him and themselves became preachers of the new faith. Legend says that their relics were subsequently found by Queen Helena; they were first placed in Constantinople, but from there they were transferred to Mediolan (Milan), and then to Cologne, where their skulls, like a shrine, are kept to this day. In their honor, a holiday was established in the West, known as the holiday of the three kings (January 6), and they generally became patrons of travelers.
Harpies
Harpies, in Greek mythology, the daughter of the sea deity Thaumantas and the oceanid Electra, the number of which ranges from two to five. They are usually depicted as disgusting half-birds, half-women.
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| Harpies Bruce Pennington |
Myths speak of harpies as evil kidnappers of children and human souls. From the harpy Podarga and the god of the west wind Zephyr, the divine fleet-footed horses of Achilles were born. According to legend, harpies once lived in the caves of Crete, and later in the kingdom of the dead.
Dwarves in the mythology of the peoples of Western Europe are small people who live underground, in the mountains or in the forest. They were the size of a child or a finger, but they possessed supernatural strength; they have long beards and sometimes goat legs or crow's feet.
Dwarves lived much longer than people. In the depths of the earth, little men kept their treasures - precious stones and metals. Dwarves are skilled blacksmiths and could forge magic rings, swords, etc. They often acted as benevolent advisers to people, although black gnomes sometimes kidnapped beautiful girls.
Goblins
In the mythology of Western Europe, goblins are called mischievous ugly creatures that live underground, in caves that do not tolerate sunlight, and lead an active night life. The origin of the word goblin seems to be connected with the spirit Gobelinus, which lived in the lands of Evreux and is mentioned in manuscripts of the 13th century.
Having adapted to life underground, representatives of this people became very hardy creatures. They could go without food for a whole week and still not lose strength. They also managed to significantly develop their knowledge and skills, became cunning and inventive and learned to create things that no mortal had the opportunity to do.
It is believed that goblins love to cause minor mischief to people - sending nightmares, making people nervous with noise, breaking dishes with milk, crushing chicken eggs, blowing soot from the stove into a clean house, sending flies, mosquitoes and wasps on people, blowing out candles and spoiling milk.
Gorgons
Gorgons, in Greek mythology, monsters, daughters of the sea deities Phorcys and Keto, granddaughters of the earth goddess Gaia and the sea Pontus. Their three sisters are Stheno, Euryale and Medusa; the latter, unlike the elders, is a mortal being.
The sisters lived in the far west, off the banks of the world river Ocean, near the Garden of the Hesperides. Their appearance was terrifying: winged creatures covered with scales, with snakes instead of hair, fanged mouths, with a gaze that turned all living things to stone.
Perseus, the liberator of the beautiful Andromeda, beheaded the sleeping Medusa, looking at her reflection in the shiny copper shield given to him by Athena. From the blood of Medusa appeared the winged horse Pegasus, the fruit of her relationship with the ruler of the sea, Poseidon, who, with a blow of his hoof on Mount Helicon, knocked out a source that gives inspiration to poets.
| Gorgons (V. Bogure) |
Demons and Demons
A demon, in Greek religion and mythology, is the embodiment of a generalized idea of an indefinite formless divine force, evil or benign, determining the fate of a person.
In Orthodox Christianity, “demons” are usually denounced as “demons.”
Demons, in ancient Slavic mythology, are evil spirits. The word “Demons” is common Slavic and goes back to the Indo-European bhoi-dho-s - “causing fear.” Traces of ancient meaning survive in archaic folklore texts, especially spells. In Christian ideas, demons are the servants and spies of the devil, they are warriors of his unclean army, they oppose the Holy Trinity and the heavenly army led by the Archangel Michael. They are the enemies of the human race
In the mythology of the Eastern Slavs - Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians - the general name for all lower demonological creatures and spirits, such as evil spirits, devils, demons etc. - evil spirits, evil spirits.
According to popular beliefs, evil spirits are created by God or Satan, and according to popular beliefs, they appear from unbaptized children or children born from intercourse with evil spirits, as well as suicides. It was believed that the devil and the devil could hatch from a cock's egg carried under the left armpit. Evil spirits are omnipresent, but their favorite places were wastelands, thickets, and swamps; intersections, bridges, holes, whirlpools, whirlpools; “unclean” trees - willow, walnut, pear; underground and attics, space under the stove, baths; The representatives of evil spirits are named accordingly: goblin, field worker, waterman, swamper, brownie, barnnik, bannik, underground etc.
| DEMONS OF HELL |
Fear of evil spirits forced people not to go into the forest and field during Rusal Week, not to leave the house at midnight, not to leave dishes with water and food open, to close the cradle, to cover the mirror, etc. However, people sometimes entered into an alliance with evil spirits , for example, he told fortunes by removing the cross, healed with the help of spells, and sent damage. This was done by witches, sorcerers, healers, etc..
Vanity of vanities - Everything is vanity
Dragons
The first mention of dragons dates back to the ancient Sumerian culture. In ancient legends there are descriptions of the dragon as an amazing creature, unlike any other animal and at the same time resembling many of them.
The image of the Dragon appears in almost all creation myths. The sacred texts of ancient peoples identify it with the primordial power of the earth, the primordial Chaos, which enters into battle with the Creator.
The dragon symbol is the emblem of warriors on Parthian and Roman standards, the national emblem of Wales, and the guardian depicted on the prows of ancient Viking ships. Among the Romans, the dragon was the badge of a cohort, hence the modern dragon, dragoon.
The dragon symbol is a symbol of supreme power among the Celts, a symbol of the Chinese emperor: his face was called the Face of the Dragon, and his throne was called the Dragon Throne.
In medieval alchemy, primordial matter (or otherwise the world substance) was designated by the most ancient alchemical symbol - a snake-dragon biting its own tail and called ouroboros ("tail eater"). The image of the ouroboros was accompanied by the caption “All in One or One in All.” And Creation was called circular (circulare) or wheel (rota). In the Middle Ages, when depicting a dragon, different parts of the body were “borrowed” from various animals, and, like the sphinx, the dragon was a symbol of the unity of the four elements.
One of the most common mythological plots is the battle with the dragon.
The battle with the dragon symbolizes the difficulties that a person must overcome in order to master the treasures of inner knowledge, defeat his base, dark nature and achieve self-control.
Centaurs
Centaurs, in Greek mythology, wild creatures, half-human, half-horse, inhabitants of mountains and forest thickets. They were born from Ixion, the son of Ares, and the cloud, which, by the will of Zeus, took the form of Hera, on whom Ixion attempted. They lived in Thessaly, ate meat, drank and were famous for their violent temper. The centaurs fought tirelessly with their neighbors the Lapiths, trying to kidnap the wives from this tribe for themselves. Defeated by Hercules, they settled throughout Greece. Centaurs are mortal, only Chiron was immortal
Chiron, unlike all centaurs, he was skilled in music, medicine, hunting and the art of war, and was also famous for his kindness. He was friends with Apollo and raised a number of Greek heroes, including Achilles, Hercules, Theseus and Jason, and taught healing to Asclepius himself. Chiron was accidentally wounded by Hercules with an arrow poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean hydra. Suffering from an incurable sore, the centaur longed for death and renounced immortality in exchange for Zeus freeing Prometheus. Zeus placed Chiron in the sky in the form of the constellation Centaur.
The most popular of the legends where centaurs appear is the legend of the “centauromachy” - the battle of the centaurs with the Lapiths who invited them to the wedding. Wine was new to the guests. At the feast, the drunken centaur Eurytion insulted the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous, trying to kidnap his bride Hippodamia. “Centauromachy” was depicted by Phidias or his student in the Parthenon, Ovid sang it in book XII of “Metamorphoses”, it inspired Rubens, Piero di Cosimo, Sebastiano Ricci, Jacobo Bassano, Charles Lebrun and other artists.
Painter Giordano, Luca depicted the plot of the famous story of the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs, who decided to kidnap the daughter of King Lapith
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| RENI GUIDO Dejanira, kidnapped |
Nymphs and Mermaids
Nymphs, in Greek mythology, are the deities of nature, its life-giving and fruitful powers in the form of beautiful girls. The most ancient ones, the Meliads, were born from drops of the blood of castrated Uranus. There are nymphs of water (oceanids, nereids, naiads), lakes and swamps (limnads), mountains (restiads), groves (alseids), trees (dryads, hamadryads), etc.
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| Nereid J. W. Waterhouse 1901 |
Nymphs, owners of ancient wisdom, the secrets of life and death, healers and prophetesses, from marriages with gods gave birth to heroes and soothsayers, for example Achille, Aeacus, Tiresias. The beauties, who usually lived far from Olympus, were, at the behest of Zeus, summoned to the palace of the father of gods and people.
| GHEYN Jacob de II - Neptune And Amphitrite |
Of the myths associated with nymphs and Nereids, the most famous is the myth of Poseidon and Amphitrite. One day, Poseidon saw, off the coast of the island of Naxos, the Nereid sisters, daughters of the prophetic sea elder Nereus, dancing in a circle. Poseidon was captivated by the beauty of one of the sisters, the beautiful Amphitrite, and wanted to take her away in his chariot. But Amphitrite took refuge with the titan Atlas, who holds the vault of heaven on his mighty shoulders. For a long time Poseidon could not find the beautiful Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus. Finally, a dolphin opened her hiding place to him. For this service, Poseidon placed the dolphin among the celestial constellations. Poseidon stole the beautiful daughter Nereus from Atlas and married her.
| Herbert James Draper. Sea melodies, 1904 |
Satires
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| Satyr in Exile Bruce Pennington |
Satyrs, in Greek mythology, spirits of the forests, demons of fertility, together with the Silenians, were part of the retinue of Dionysus, in whose cult they played a decisive role. These wine-loving creatures are bearded, covered with fur, long-haired, with protruding horns or horse ears, tails and hooves; however, their torso and head are human.
Cunning, cocky and lustful, satyrs frolicked in the forests, chased nymphs and maenads, and played evil tricks on people. There is a well-known myth about the satyr Marcia, who, having picked up a flute thrown by the goddess Athena, challenged Apollo himself to a musical competition. The rivalry between them ended with God not only defeating Marsyas, but also skinning the unfortunate man alive.
Trolls
Jotuns, thurs, giants in Scandinavian mythology, trolls in the later Scandinavian tradition. On the one hand, these are the ancient giants, the first inhabitants of the world, preceding the gods and people in time.
On the other hand, the Jotuns are the inhabitants of a cold, rocky country on the northern and eastern outskirts of the earth (Jotunheim, Utgard), representatives of elemental demonic natural forces
T Rollie, in German-Scandinavian mythology, evil giants who lived in the depths of the mountains, where they kept their countless treasures. It was believed that these unusually ugly creatures had enormous strength, but were very stupid. Trolls, as a rule, tried to harm people, stole their livestock, destroyed forests, trampled fields, destroyed roads and bridges, and engaged in cannibalism. Later tradition likens trolls to various demonic creatures, including gnomes.
Fairies
Fairies, according to the beliefs of the Celtic and Roman peoples, are fantastic female creatures, sorceresses. Fairies, in European mythology, are women with magical knowledge and power. Fairies are usually good sorceresses, but there are also “dark” fairies.
There are many legends, fairy tales and great works of art in which fairies do good deeds, become patrons of princes and princesses, and sometimes themselves act as wives of kings or heroes.
According to Welsh legends, fairies existed in the guise of ordinary people, sometimes beautiful, but sometimes terrible. At will, when performing magic, they could take the form of a noble animal, flower, light, or could become invisible to people.
The origin of the word fairy remains unknown, but in the mythologies of European countries it is very similar. The words for fairy in Spain and Italy are “fada” and “fata”. Obviously, they are derived from the Latin word "fatum", that is, fate, fate, which was a recognition of the ability to predict and even control human destiny. In France, the word "fee" comes from the Old French "feer", which apparently appeared on the basis of the Latin "fatare", meaning "to enchant, to bewitch". This word speaks of the ability of fairies to change the ordinary world of people. From the same word comes the English word "faerie" - "magical kingdom", which includes the art of witchcraft and the entire world of fairies.
Elves
Elves, in the mythology of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples, are spirits, ideas about which go back to the lower natural spirits. Like elves, elves are sometimes divided into light and dark. Light elves in medieval demonology are good spirits of the air, atmosphere, beautiful little men (about an inch tall) in hats made of flowers, inhabitants of trees, which, in this case, cannot be cut down.
They loved to dance in circles in the moonlight; the music of these fabulous creatures enchanted listeners. The world of the light elves was Apfheim. The light elves were engaged in spinning and weaving, their threads were flying webs; they had their own kings, fought wars, etc.Dark elves are gnomes, underground blacksmiths who store treasures in the depths of the mountains. In medieval demonology, elves were sometimes called lower spirits of natural elements: salamanders (spirits of fire), sylphs (spirits of air), undines (spirits of water), gnomes (spirits of earth)The myths that have survived to this day are full of dramatic stories about gods and heroes who fought dragons, giant snakes and evil demons.
In Slavic mythology, there are many myths about animals and birds, as well as creatures endowed with a bizarre appearance - half-bird, half-woman, human-horse - and extraordinary properties. First of all, this is a werewolf, a werewolf. The Slavs believed that sorcerers could turn any person into a beast with a spell. This is the frisky half-man, half-horse Polkan, reminiscent of a centaur; wonderful half-birds, half-maidens Sirin and Alkonost, Gamayun and Stratim.
An interesting belief among the southern Slavs is that at the dawn of time all animals were people, but those who committed a crime were turned into animals. In return for the gift of speech, they received the gift of foresight and understanding of what a person feels.
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Vampires
Witches
Dragons
Demons
Almost all the mythical creatures about which we know anything are collected here.
It's no secret that in ancient times, to explain this or that natural phenomenon, people referred to the will of the Gods. Thus, thunder and lightning were an indicator of Odin's rage. While the storm and the death of the sailors was an expression of Poseidon's wrath. The Egyptians believed that the sun was controlled by God Ra. In addition to explaining certain phenomena associated with the favor of the pantheon of Gods of a certain nationality, people often described their assistants as mythical creatures.
Myths and legends
Many epics, tales, legends and myths have survived to this day, which describe amazing creatures. They can be good and evil, help and harm people. The only thing each of the mythical characters have in common is magical abilities.
Regardless of their size or habitat of mythical creatures, in various legends a person could turn to them for help. On the other hand, there are many stories about how people fight “creatures” that intimidate residents of villages, cities and even countries. Interestingly, the presence of mythical creatures is described in the treatises of almost all nationalities inhabiting planet Earth.
Fact or fiction?
Each of us in childhood heard fairy tales about Baba Yaga, the Serpent Gorynych or Koshchei the Immortal. These characters are typical of the legends that arose in Rus'. At the same time, stories about gnomes, trolls, elves and mermaids will be closer to Europeans. However, almost anywhere in the world, legends about vampires, werewolves and witches have been heard at least once.
Is it possible to say that all these fables are a figment of human imagination or reliable confirmation that mythical creatures previously lived on our planet? It is impossible to reliably answer this question. However, many legends or events described in them are confirmed by the facts that scientists discover.
What is this section about?
The mysteries of the existence of fairies, unicorns, griffins, and harpies have been attracting people for many centuries. In this section of the site you can familiarize yourself with information that will lift the curtain on the mystery of the origin of magic and answer the most popular questions about mythical creatures.
Historical facts are presented here and various versions of legends are described. After reading the articles, for yourself, everyone will be able to answer the question of whether these races actually existed or whether they are a figment of the imagination of people who were afraid of every rustle.
