Merry Christmas sons of Siberia!
This will be part of David Anthony’s new book for sure…
Creatures of myth and dark
A depiction of the monster Grendel from BeowulfIn the dark there are monsters. Bogeymen. “There be dragons.” These are common human psychological reflexes. These reflexes turn into legends, and legends become embroidered into myth.There are two aspects…
The elves of our imagination and reality
In Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? the late Martin Gardner reviewed evidence for cannibalism and ultimately came to the conclusion that it was not a real phenomenon. He agreed with the interpretations of some anthropologists that cannibalism stories emerge in human groups as a way to demonize their enemies. For various genetic and archaeological […]
The war between the Aesir and Vanir
In Snorri Sturluson’s preservation of pre-Christian Scandinavian mythos, he outlines two groups of gods, the Aesir and the Vanir. Though ultimately presented as a united pantheon in comparison to beings such as the giants, there are references to a war between these two divine factions. But, there is still scholarly debate as to the significance […]
The past was not PG
The Week has published a screed against the low moral quality of Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones is bad — and bad for you. Obviously there is something to this insofar as one can see a coarsening of entertainment, or at least a decline in the stylized aspects of the depiction of reality. But […]