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Join Mythos as we explore the incredible ruins of Kos Town - from ancient altars and ruined temples to a historic tree said to be connected

This year Mythos was lucky enough to visit the incredible island of Kos – a Greek island in the Aegean Sea only a short boat ride from Turkey’s port town of Bodrum. With its hot climate and gorgeous beaches, it’s easy to see why over a million tourists are said to visit the island annually. This influx of visitors to the island is far from new – during the Hellenistic period, Kos’ location made it a bustling hub for trade, though it is believed that life on the island stretches much further back, with evidence of human settlements as far back as the Bronze Age.

Of course, we couldn’t visit an island with such a rich and vibrant history without checking it out and there was plenty of history to find within the streets of Kos’ capital city, the appropriately named Kos Town. Surrounded by the busy roads, modern houses, and tourist restaurants of the port city are ancient ruins, Roman houses and one very special tree.

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#Mythos #Mythos Articles #Myths and Legends #Archaeological Sites #Archaeology #Kos #Kos Town #greek myths #greek gods #Hippocrates #Hippocrates Tree #History

We return to the world of Epic - a musical retelling of the Odyssey in which we encounter sirens, Scylla, Calypso and finally find out what

After a lengthy hiatus here at Mythos we're thrilled to be returning to our usual monthly updating schedule. We kick off with the next instalment of our 'Epic' reviews, taking a look at Odysseus' continuing journey through monster-filled seas and finally getting a glimpse of what was happening back home.

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We return to the world of Epic - a musical retelling of the Odyssey in which we encounter sirens, Scylla, Calypso and finally find out what

After a lengthy hiatus here at Mythos we're thrilled to be returning to our usual monthly updating schedule. We kick off with the next instalment of our 'Epic' reviews, taking a look at Odysseus' continuing journey through monster-filled seas and finally getting a glimpse of what was happening back home.

Check it out

We return to the world of Epic - a musical retelling of the Odyssey in which we encounter sirens, Scylla, Calypso and finally find out what

After a lengthy hiatus here at Mythos we're thrilled to be returning to our usual monthly updating schedule. We kick off with the next instalment of our 'Epic' reviews, taking a look at Odysseus' continuing journey through monster-filled seas and finally getting a glimpse of what was happening back home.

Check it out

#Epic the Musical #Epic #Thunder Saga #Wisdom Saga #Mythos #Myths and Legends #Odysseus #The Odyssey #Homer #Greek Gods #Greek Myths #Ithica #Scylla #Calypso #Mythos Articles #Mythos Reviews

Cats have played a significant role in superstition and folklore around the world, appearing as both protectors and threats.

Cats have long played a significant role in superstition and folklore around the world. At times they have been said to be bad luck, in collusion with witches, and even (mistakenly) believed to have been worshipped as gods. While Ancient Egyptians did not actually worship cats as gods, they were considered sacred due to their connection to the gods, in particular the goddess Bastet. Compared to some of humanities other domesticated companions, such as dogs or horses, cats were only domesticated within the last 10,000 years (dogs, for comparison, being domesticated approximately 23,000 years ago), but despite their relatively recent addition to our households, cats have still gained a firm place in both our homes, and our myths…

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Cats have played a significant role in superstition and folklore around the world, appearing as both protectors and threats.

Cats have long played a significant role in superstition and folklore around the world. At times they have been said to be bad luck, in collusion with witches, and even (mistakenly) believed to have been worshipped as gods. While Ancient Egyptians did not actually worship cats as gods, they were considered sacred due to their connection to the gods, in particular the goddess Bastet. Compared to some of humanities other domesticated companions, such as dogs or horses, cats were only domesticated within the last 10,000 years (dogs, for comparison, being domesticated approximately 23,000 years ago), but despite their relatively recent addition to our households, cats have still gained a firm place in both our homes, and our myths…

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Two Lines

Will shifted restlessly, throwing another glance at the locked bathroom door. His fingers itched to tap-tap-tap his nerves away, a terrible habit that his mother despaired of, and he pulled out his phone instead. Another five minutes had passed. Surely, it must have been long enough by now.

He raised his hand to knock, but his knuckles froze against wood as he heard the click of the lock. He stepped back, almost tripping over his heels in his haste and the door swung open. Nell stood before him, her hair tangled into clumps like she’d been clutching it between her hands.

“Well –?”

Nell shook her head, shoving something hard and plastic into his hand as she brushed passed him. Will looked down. One line.

“Talk to your mother,” Nell said, and the bedroom door swung closed behind her with a deafening click.

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This week we take a look at the mythical inspiration behind the creatures that Tiffany Aching encounters in Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

Tiffany Aching wants to be a witch, an unusual dream for a nine-year-old girl, and a dangerous desire on the Chalk, where witches are dealt with in the traditional manner… death. But Tiffany may not have a choice. Her younger brother is missing and, as the wall between worlds grows thin, she finds herself facing down a plethora of fairytale creatures, each more dangerous than the last, until she reaches the greatest threat of all – their Queen.

In his 30th Discworld novel, ‘The Wee Free Men’, Terry Pratchett once again delves into the world of fairies and witchcraft. Taking inspiration from the folklore and superstitions of Europe and Britain, this time he focuses in particular on fairy kidnappings and, in a surprisingly dark choice for a children’s novel, the innocents lost to the witch trials.

Tiffany’s desire to be a witch comes from one such tragedy that she witnessed. After the Baron’s only son, Roland goes missing, whispers turn to witchcraft…

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In this Korean Fairy tale a young woman who shows kindness to the simplest of creatures finds her friendship repaid tenfold.

Once there was a poor girl who was, despite her circumstances, very kind. One day as she was cooking an ugly toad jumped into the kitchen. At first, the girl was horrified by the hideous creature and meant to drive it away, but when she saw that it was storming outside, she felt pity for the poor toad. She gave it some food and it ate as though it was starving, gobbling up everything she gave it. If the girl had thought the toad would leave once its hunger was sated, she was wrong. Once fed, the toad took shelter in a corner of the kitchen and hunkered down to rest. The next day, the girl awoke to find the toad still there.

The girl soon grew used to the toad’s presence and began to think of it as something like a friend. She would feed the creature every day, and every day her friend grew bigger. The companions were happy together for some time, until tragedy struck.

The village the girl lived in had long been besieged by a terrible monster.

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This week we follow our protagonists to the depths of the underworld and the heights of Olympus as we reach the end of season one! Despite l

This week we follow our protagonists to the depths of the underworld and the heights of Olympus as we reach the end of season one! Despite learning that they have missed the deadline, Percy and his friends choose to continue their quest for the Master Bolt, heading down into the underworld to confront the villain Hades and request its return.

Our protagonists are far from the first heroes to travel to the underworld, with such a journey being known as a ‘katabasis’ (meaning descent). The most famous of this number is possibly Orpheus, who travelled to the underworld to retrieve his lost love Euridice, and ultimately failed in his quest. His travels were aided by the god Apollo, who was possibly his father, though other sources give this honour to the Thracian king, Oeagrus. Apollo went on ahead of Orpheus to let Hades know that Orpheus was on his way to petition for the return of his lost bride while Orpheus himself travelled to the underworld through the gate of Taenarus (located in Taenarum in Laconia). This same entrance was used by Heracles as he travelled into the underworld to battle Cerberus, and by the then-human Psyche as part of her efforts to prove herself worthy again of Cupid’s love.

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Many gods seem to share a fondness for tossing things into the heavens. This week we take a look at how Thiazi's eyes wound up in the sky.

It seems that gods all over the world share a penchant for tossing things up into the sky. Beloved pets, lovers, siblings, even objects find themselves immortalized among the stars. Whether to honour a fallen lover or to create an eternal hunt, the gods, it seems, just can’t help themselves. The Norse gods are no exception and in this tale it is the eyes of a giant that find themselves immortalised in the heavens

Thiazi was a jötunn who had threatened Loki into kidnapping the goddess Idunn, delivering both her and her immortality-granting golden apples to Thiazi. Without Idunn, the gods soon lost their immortality, and began to grow old. When they learnt that it was Loki wo had stolen the goddess away, they were furious. Loki was told that he could either retrieve the goddess or pay with his life. Loki, naturally, chose life.

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this week we take a look at the surprisingly recent origins of the Tooth Fairy, and the long history of dental superstitions.

The Tooth Fairy, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, is a legendary figure solely (or at least primarily) believed in by children. Largely a phenomenon of the Western World, the Tooth Fairy is well known for visiting children who have lost their teeth and replacing the missing tooth with a coin – the value of that coin varying by location and averaging around £1 in the UK and $5 in America.

Though the Tooth Fairy is well known, she does not quite have the popularity of her two compatriots, and her origins are very murky – in fact, there is no true consensus on where precisely the legend of the Tooth Fairy came from. Instead, there are a number of tooth related traditions and tales thought to have contributed to the legend.

Around the world, there are a great number of small rituals and superstitions that revolve around a child’s lost tooth. One British superstition held that a child’s baby teeth should be buried in the garden to ensure the new tooth would grow in straight and strong – this was also thought to keep the tooth away from witches, who could use them to magically cause injury or illness to the child. Other ways to keep your baby tooth safe from witches involved swallowing or burning the tooth. On the other side of the world, according to an Indonesian superstition, the child should throw the tooth over their shoulder, attempting to get it over the roof of their house…

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Welcome back as we continue our dive into the myths and legends that inspired ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians.’ This week we continue where

Welcome back as we continue our dive into the myths and legends that inspired ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians.’ This week we continue where we left off, at the start of Episode Three, which picks up shortly after Percy Jackson learns that he is the half-mortal son of the Greek god, Poseidon.

As a child of Poseidon, Percy in in varied company. His siblings include giants, nymphs, gods, animals and of course other demigods, one of whom we actually talked about last week – Theseus, the original slayer of the Minotaur. Sadly, not all of Percy’s half-blood siblings were so heroic and one, Procrustes, will be showing up in a later episode. Far less noble than Theseus, Procrustes was a thief and murderer, forcing people to lay on his iron bed, which he would then forcibly fit them too – breaking and stretching bones if they were too small, and cutting off the excess if they were too large. In the book, Percy followed in Theseus’ footsteps once again, using his older half-brother’s method of dealing with… his other older half-brother. He tricked Procrustes into lying on his own bed and treated him just he had treated all his victims.

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We take a look at the fairy tale influences behind Naomi Novik’s enchanting, Rumpelstiltskin-inspired novel, Spinning Silver.

Inspired by her own family’s history as Lithuanian and Polish immigrants to America, Naomi Novik’s ‘Spinning Silver’ reimagines the fairy tale of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ (amongst others) to create a vibrant and mysterious Polish-inspired fantasy world. In this world, only a silver-spinning Jew named Miryem, a Tsarina named Irina, and a debtor named Wanda can save the fictitious kingdom of Lithvas from falling to either fire or ice.

Miryem is the daughter of a moneylender – and a poor one. Her father’s generosity and unwillingness to actually claim back the money he lends has left their family destitute. With a harsh winter and her mother growing ill, Miryem takes up her father’s duty and his books, collecting the money her family is owed.

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Inspired by Greek myths and a fantastic book series, we take a look at the new Disney+ Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Rick Riordan’s ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ is perhaps the most well known modern book series inspired by Greek myth. Originally comprising of six books and starting with ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’, the series has sold over 180 million copies worldwide and been translated into thirty-seven languages. It has inspired a Broadway musical, two films, and now, finally, a Disney Plus TV series. Drawing heavily from the books, but also from aspects of Greek myth unexplored in the original series, the Disney show brings to life a wonderful world of myth and magic, of humans and gods.

In the first episode we are introduced to the titular character, Percy Jackson, played by Walker Scobell, who is, in own words, ‘a troubled kid’.

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Around the world there are many versions of the 'Cinderella' story; a mistreated girl, wicked stepmother, missing shoe and happy marriage.

Stretching back centuries with hundreds of variations around the globe, Cinderella is one of our most enduring and popular fairy tales. Though elements have changed throughout time and place, with fairy godmother’s replacing fish, spirits, and trees, the number of sisters varying from one to six, and even Cinderella’s name changing throughout the tales, some things remain in every iteration: a beautiful girl, and a missing shoe.

One of the earliest versions of the ‘Cinderella’ story was recorded by Strabo, a Greek man who lived between 64 BC and 21 AD. The story itself is speculated to have originated even earlier, and hail from Egypt, though this is impossible to verify. The tale tells of Rhodopis, a young woman – sometimes a courtesan – who was bathing in the river when an eagle swooped down and stole her sandal.

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Join us this month as we tell the story of a young man destined to marry a princess and the wicked king determined to prevent it.

This month we’re taking a look at another Brothers Grimm fairy tale, this one collected in Germany, that tells the tale of a lucky boy born with a caul. A child born with a caul is a child born with a portion of the amniotic sack unbroken, usually covering their head or face, and said to resemble a veil or crown. The caul was said to prevent drownings, and a superstitious sailor might pay good money to purchase one from the midwife after such a birth. The fate of the caul in ‘The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs’ is unknown, but the child it came into the world with would go on to achieve riches.

Once in a small village ruled by a cruel and uncaring king, a poor woman gave birth to an infant boy, born with a caul. Being born with a caul was very rare, and a sure sign of great fortune to come in the child’s future. It was predicted that in his fourteenth year, the caul-child would win the hand of the princess...

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