Mythical Creature Research Articles

Manobo, Bagobo, and Mansaka Indigenous Cosmology: Rediscovering Culture through Dramatist Pentad Structures of Folk Heroes

This study investigates the culture of Manobo, Bagobo, and Mansaka Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao. It utilizes the qualitative-descriptive method to describe culture based on the practices of folk heroes in the collected oral narratives. Furthermore, the study uses the dramatist pentad theory of Kenneth Burke, including act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose, to produce cultural interpretations. Hence, the study reveals the culture mirrored in the oral narratives such as: (1) Manobo, pangayaw (hunting of enemies) and transcendental belief in Tubaran (magical instrument); (2) Bagobo, hunting of wild chickens and encountering Busaw (evil spirits); and, (3) Mansaka, courtship and marriage to a mythical creature and hunting of birds. This research facilitates critical discourses on culture through oral narratives. It may foster a sense of place and cultural identity among academic scholars to rediscover the epistemological and ontological knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao.

Did the horned dinosaur Protoceratops inspire the griffin?

Among the most widely promoted examples of fossil folklore is a supposed link between the Central Asian horned dinosaur Protoceratops and the griffin, a gold-guarding mythical creature combining features of lions and birds. First proposed in the 1990s, this geomyth postulates that tales of Protoceratops fossils were transmitted westward along trade routes from Asian gold mines to inform griffin lore among the ancient Greeks. An evaluation of the Protoceratops–griffin link, however, finds it uncompelling. Not only does it ignore established histories of griffin art and myth, but no convincing connections occur between Protoceratops and central aspects of griffin lore, such as gold guarding. In fact, Protoceratops fossils occur hundreds of kilometres from the nearest gold deposits, subverting suggestions that they inspired the griffin's association with gold. Interpretations of ancient literary references to griffins as pertaining to Protoceratops are unconvincing, and suggested anatomical similarities between griffins and Protoceratops are selectively identified. We regard the Protoceratops–griffin link as an ‘ex post facto geomyth’: an effort to find significance in superficial, inconsequential readings of geological phenomena and mythology. We posit that the allure of ancient cultures sharing our modern fascination with dinosaurs has denied this idea due scepticism.

Monstrous Bodies as Cultural Text

Monstrous bodies are culturally coded, reflecting the anxieties, expectations, fears, and desires of the culture within which they are produced. This article seeks to study monstrous corporeality in an attempt to understand the interface between culture and monsters by looking at the Greek mythical monsters as represented in Natalie Haynes’s novel Stone Blind (2022). By examining the embodied difference as well as the grotesque and the abject that inhabit the liminal space, we explore the corporeal otherness of monsters, the cultural cues entrenched in their non-normative bodies and their discursivity. The study, probing into the liminal nature of monstrous bodies that resist categorisation, seeks to highlight the subversive potential that deviant bodies offer and how Haynes seizes this opportunity to challenge the human penchant to monsterise difference for a re-evaluation of the cultural construction of monstrous bodies.

Mythological Images and Their Interpretations in Jewish Art of Eastern Galicia, 18th – 19th Century

This study analyzes the mythological representations of sea creatures, the hippocampus, and the Leviathan in the Jewish art of Eastern Galicia. It identifies the formation of a distinctive symbolic and sign system within Jewish art, serving as a means to convey fundamental religious and philosophical principles. The prohibition of anthropomorphic depictions contributed to the development of an entire cycle of animalistic and botanical images, illustrating the diaspora Jews' conceptualizations of the Land of Israel, the Jerusalem Temple, the Gardens of Eden, the commandments of the Torah, and the Talmud. Based on the study of artworks, including preserved illustrations from the destroyed synagogues in Khodoriv and Hvizdets during the Holocaust, as well as ritual objects such as Torah shields, Torah reading pointers, Hanukkah lamps, and the decoration of tombstones-matzevot, it has been established that Jewish art developed its own program of ornamentation and the use of symbols and signs. The features of the iconography of mythical sea creatures have been identified. It is emphasized that the traditional representation of the hippocampus as a creature with the body of half horse and half fish in Jewish art monuments was replaced by depictions of a creature with the body of half goat and half fish, or half lion and half fish. Such transformations can be explained by the influence of folklore and the reinterpretation of folk art. The symbolism of the hippocampus is associated with perceptions of the sea that surrounds the Land of Israel and serves as a metaphor for the transition to another, beautiful, paradisiacal world. The iconography of the depiction of the Leviathan is also connected to its symbolism. The Leviathan coiled in a ring is a traditional symbol of anticipation of messianic times, and the Leviathan coiled around a city or specific structures embodies the concept of the temple, alluding to a sacred space, as the skin of the mythical creature will be used for the tent of the righteous. Representations of the hippocampus and Leviathan on tombstones-matzevot embody the idea of anticipating messianic times and resurrection. The exploration of symbolism in Jewish representational and decorative art provides insight into the traditional Jewish culture of Eastern Galicia.

Mityczny potwór Kampe w „Fasti” Owidiusza

The paper discusses Greek and Roman literary sources describing Campe or Kampe (Gk. Κάμπη), a mythical female monster killed by the god Dionysus (Diodorus, Bibl. III 72) or by Zeus (Ps.-Apollodorus, Bibl. I 2,1; Nonnos, D. XVIII 233–264). Campe was a large monster who guarded the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers prisoned in Tartarus (according to Pseudo-Apollodorus and Nonnos). The same mythical monster seems to be attested in Ovid’s Fasti (III 793–808). The Roman poet presents an unknown version of the Greek myth, describing a wondrous monster (line 799: monstrum mirabile), born of Mother Earth (l. 799: Matre satus Terra). She is portrayed with the upper body of a bull and the tail of a serpent in place of legs (l. 799–800: taurus parte sui serpens posteriore fuit). Ovid does not mention the Greek or Latinized name of this mythical monster but introduces the acrostic CAMPH (= Gk. Κάμπη) in his description (Ov., Fast. III 797–801). Unfortunately, the Ovidian acrostic in question is preserved in the corrupted form CQMPH in most medieval manuscripts. It is suggested that the ancient editor, who prepared the final version of the six books of the Fasti after Ovid’s death (18 AD), failed to notice the Ovidian acrostic and introduced his own improvement in line 798 (quaeque instead of atque or the like).

Artificial Intelligence: From Talos to da Vinci

Artificial Intelligence: From Talos to da Vinci

Enguri basin toponyms in cuneiform texts

In studying the semantic and phonetic coincidences of Abzu-Engur, we focused on the Sumerian word Laḫama, which is also related to the Svan toponyms Laḫamula and the river Enguri. 50 Laḫama of Engur, as well as Abzu-Engur is found in many Sumerian and Babylonian texts from the third millennium BC and is usually associated with the Engur, Abzu waters, or the abode of wisdom. The article presents and discusses the Sumerian cuneiform texts from III millenium BC., including the ancient Babylonian period, where the Sumerian word Lahama and the Akkadian equivalent Laḫmu are recorded. Analysis of the cuneiform texts shows that the Laḫama / Laḫmu are the guardians and inseparable beings of Engur. The Sumerian word Engur (Sum. Engur), which in Sumerian means underground river, is the abode of Enki (Akk.Ea), the god of wisdom, in all cuneiform texts, guarded by the Laḫama deities. Laḫama is also found in Sumerian texts to refer to a figure of a guardian statue standing at the gates of large temples. Such as E-KUR in Nippur and E-ninu in Girsu. They are also called “Abzu -Laḫama”. (Ancient Akkadian laḫmu, probably meaning “hairy” shaggy). Laḫmu – the guardian deity associated with Enki (Akk. Ea). The Akkadian tradition was associated with Marduk. Appeared with long hair and a beard, sometimes with 4 or 6 curls. In art he is called a naked hero. Was associated with the human-bull figure. In the Babylonian creation myth, “Enuma Eliš” Laḫmu and Laḫamu are a female and a male couple, and are mentioned among the original creatures together with Anšar-Kišar. They derive from a common root (muddy). In the myth of the Babylonian creation – Enuma Eliš, Tiamat gives birth to 11 monsters. Among them is Laḫamu – a long-haired “hero”. As it is known from Ancient Mesopotamoan iconography, glower bowl with trickling water is an attribute of Enki, the god of wisdom, which is occupied by Enki in Akkadian (XXIV-XXII BC) and New Sumerian (XXI-XX BC). ) In the iconography of the period is, who is sometimes replaced by Laḫmu. Laḫama – deities are associated with Abzu-Engur and the city of Eridu. La-ḫa-ma (Sum.). According to the interpretation of the Sumerian cuneiform signs,he appears as a noble mythical creature – a creature of gratitude, merciful essential water creature. Our paper presents the Sumerian word Laḫama phonetic study, search for different meanings of cuneiform signs, which should be interesting for the study of the Kartvelian, in particular the Svan toponym Laḫamula. The article substantiates the coincidence of the Svan toponym with Laḫamula, which is directly related to the Enguri River, and which is confirmed by the Engur- Laḫama semantic and phonetic coincidences in the cuneiform texts. The root of the Svan toponym Lahamula is based on a basic study of the Sumerian lexical units: Engur and la-ḫa-ma. In the Sumerian language, the Engur is the abode of the god of wisdom, Enki (Akk. Ea). The word Apsu’s root in Georgian is also related to the flow of water (eg the river Supsa, Psou, etc.). The study presented by us is based on a general analysis of Sumerian texts and iconography and combines chronologically with the completely ancient period (IIII mill. BC), which gives us a basis for the etymology of the Svan toponyms – Enguri and Laḫamula as a matter of Mesopotamian civilization. It is also another clear proof of the cultural relations between the Ancient Near East and the Caucasus.

Bocatorta, a Brazilian Ghoul: Adaptations and Influence of Anglo Arabic Folklore in Monteiro Lobato

One case of Gothic adaptation of pre-Islamic folklore resides in the figure of the ghoul. This Mesopotamian mythical creature was reinvented by Antoine Galland in the European context around 1718, when he translate and rewrote the collection of Hindi-Persian-Arabic narratives known as the One Thousand and One Nights. This article analyses the influence of this European ghoul on the creation of Bocatorta, protagonist of an eponymous short story published by Monteiro Lobato – an important Brazilian writer – in his Urupês (1918). I examine the influence of Galland’s work on Lobato’s work, alongside that of Caliban from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611), one of Lobato’s main inspirations for the character of Bocatorta.

Ḥȝyšš, the Egyptian Hippokampos – Mythical Monster or Giant Oarfish?

A serpentine god is attested on over a dozen coffins and sarcophagi dating from the Third Intermediate Period onwards. In the earliest versions, it has the head of a horse, while in later ones it appears to be a purely mythical monster. The texts identify this deity as a protective god for the deceased. New pictorial and textual sources now allow a re-evaluation of previous explanations and a new proposal for interpretation.

Banaspati Raja in Contemporary Painting Creation

Banaspati Raja is a mythical creature in the teachings of Balinese Hinduism as a guardian to protect the forest. The figure of Banaspati Raja represented in the form of sacred barong ket is believed to be able to protect the public from danger. The values of the Banaspati Raja seemed to not be fully understood. This phenomenon can be seen from the deterioration of Bali`s natural condition from year to year. The phenomenon arousing a sense of creator to create contemporary painting to aware the mindset or behavior of the people who mistakenly. The main purpose of creation is to create painting of new visually as well as have high aesthetic value. The painting is created is expected to be useful as a means of education, information and documentation for the development of the visual art of Bali. The creation of artwork is based on Sartre`s aesthetic theory with regrard to imagination as the basis for creating beautiful painting. Combined with the creation visual art structures includes elements of visual art by considering its principles. The process of creating painting through three stages, namely: exploration, visual experiments and visualization. The process of creating artworks eventually produced contemporary painting with the title Banaspati Raja. The painting is imagine the myth and the philosophy of banaspati raja through the image or symbol of the barong ket, the trees, water and mountain. Contemporary values are reflected through various technical mixes including brush strokes, pallete knive, splashes, collage, sigar warna, cawi-an and aburan. The artworks created also combines two different media, namely cnvas with recycled paper. The use of recycled paper in addition to producing variations texture, at least able to tackle the paper waste in Bali.

The Future Is Furby

The Future Is Furby

On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer by Michael P. Branch

Reviewed by: On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer by Michael P. Branch Hal Crimmel Michael P. Branch, On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer. New York: Pegasus Books, 2022. 253 pp. Hardcover, $27.95; paper, $18.95; audiobook, $19.95. What in the West could be more iconic than a jackalope, that mythical creature with the body of a rabbit and the horns of a deer? It’s about time someone wrote a book about jackalopes, and Michael Branch delivers a thoughtful, entertaining read. Unlike Disney’s carefully curated talking mice or superhuman coyotes, the jackalope is a homegrown critter, small-town, tall tale, stitched together by shade-tree taxidermists, among other predominately rural characters sketched out with heart and humor by Branch. Readers will find an entertaining mix of storytelling, wide-ranging and careful natural and cultural history, including a beautifully illustrated sixteen-page section of jackalope art, photographs, paintings, and drawings. [End Page 89] Branch has a gift for crisp descriptions that make places come to life, whether atmospheric old hotels, city streets in San Francisco, or oil and gas country locales where “the whole town has an edge-of-town-feel” (79). If you’ve been through east central Wyoming lately, that’s a poignant observation. Character portraits breathe life into interview subjects the way taxidermists breathe life into their mounts—even if this life—in the form of a jackalope—is purely fantastical. (One caveat on that in a moment). The cultural sweep of the jackalope owes much to humans’ love of tall tales, and the book accordingly contains a chapter on their role, as well as a chapter on the history and psychology of hoaxes, an account of jackalope kitsch and an exhaustive account of horned rabbit tales from around the globe, among others. Branch mentions a couple of times that he is obsessed with jackalopes, and reading this chapter on global horned rabbit tales it’s clear he’s sustained by this creature with similarities to many different cultures across the globe. As scholars and researchers it’s worth pondering how obsession might be the driving force in what keeps so many of us in front of a computer day after day, when we could be otherwise out . . . looking for jackalopes! Perhaps the most intriguing chapters, ones that link the legend to science, appear toward the end of the book: chapters 8 and 9 trace the connection between horned rabbits and significant medical discoveries. In David Quammen-esque fashion, Branch explains how in the 1930s Dr. Richard Shope discovered the connection between swine flu and the 1918 influenza pandemic. This thinking led him further into the world of viruses. As a hunter Shope had wondered what caused warty growths on rabbits and in 1933 published a paper identifying the cause as papillomavirus. Human papilloma-virus, or HPV, is the cause of 99.7 percent of cervical cancers and many other cancers that attack the genital regions and the oral cavities (189), and these HPVs are related to the very same virus causing horned growths to appear on rabbits. It’s hard to do justice to this wide-ranging book in 600 words. But for those looking for a read that is entertaining yet serious, with research embedded in an engrossing narrative, you’ll find it here. As a work of western American literature, the book engages [End Page 90] people and places from the arid states and its engagement with mythology helps readers think about the ways in which the West has always been—and perhaps always will be—a place where the mythical and the real intersect in ways that sometimes lead to curious stories that appeal to the human imagination, and to stories that lead to Nobel Prize–winning, life-saving science. Hal Crimmel Weber State University Copyright © 2023 Western Literature Association

The SARS-CoV-2 Hydra, a tiny monster from the 21st century: Thermodynamics of the BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants

SARS-CoV-2 resembles the ancient mythical creature Hydra. Just like with the Hydra, when one head is cut, it is followed by appearance of two more heads, suppression of one SARS-CoV-2 variant causes appearance of newer variants. Unlike Hydra that grows identical heads, newer SARS-CoV-2 variants are usually more infective, which can be observed as time evolution of the virus at hand, which occurs through acquisition of mutations during time. The appearance of new variants is followed by appearance of new COVID-19 pandemic waves. With the appearance of new pandemic waves and determining of sequences, in the scientific community and general public the question is always raised of whether the new variant will be more virulent and more pathogenic. The two variants characterized in this paper, BA.5.2 and BF.7, have caused a pandemic wave during the late 2022. This paper gives full chemical and thermodynamic characterization of the BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants of SARS-CoV-2. Having in mind that Gibbs energy of binding and biosynthesis represent the driving forces for the viral life cycle, based on the calculated thermodynamic properties we can conclude that the newer variants are more infective than earlier ones, but that their pathogenicity has not changed.

“Time Meant Nothing”: A New Reading of Pietro di Donato's Three Circles of Light beyond Autobiography and Stereotypes

“Time Meant Nothing”: A New Reading of Pietro di Donato's <i>Three Circles of Light</i> beyond Autobiography and Stereotypes

Will to the Original: Platonism in Henry James’ Roderick Hudson

Will to the Original: Platonism in Henry James’ <i>Roderick Hudson</i>

What is a γρυπαίετος (Aesch. Fr. inc. fab. 422 R. )?

The purpose of the following paper is to identify what kind of mythical creature Aeschylus’ γρυπαίετος (‘griffin–eagle’) that caused such a scandal for ‘Euripides’ in Aristophanes’ Frogs 928–930 (= Aesch. fr. inc. fab. 422 R.) was. The term has usually been interpreted in three ways: (a) as a poetic form of ‘eagle’; (b) as a poetic form of ‘griffin’; (c) as ‘eagle of the griffin species’. The testimony of Aristophanes’ Frogs and vase-painting suggests that it may have been an idiosyncratic, archaic type of griffin, called by modern specialists ‘griffin-bird’ and characterised by having two legs, not four, and the body of a bird, not a lion. This fantastic creature appeared quite frequently on Archaic black-figure vases in Athens, but had completely disappeared by the end of the 6th century BC. As a result, its appearance would be unknown to Aristophanes’ public, making the term γρυπαίετος impossible to make out (Ra. 930). Thus, the following paper suggests that Aeschylus’ γρυπαίετος (‘griffin-eagle’) is a fabulous composite beast made up of griffin and eagle parts, as its name suggests: a griffin head (with an open hooked beak, long pointed ears, a protuberance or horn over the eyes, and a curl or plume falling down one side of the neck) crowning an eagle body (two-legged, feathered, with wings and talons).

The image of Ivan Mazepa in opera works of the 19th century

Statement of the problem. Ukraine is currently going through a period of forming its nation, so it is urgent to turn to historical figures who influenced the country’s development. The tragic life of Hetman Ivan Mazepa has been attracting the attention of both historians and artists for over 300 years. Each of the authors was drawnto something “his own” in Mazepa’s fate, so the range of artistic representations of the hetman is very wide: from traitor to hero, from warrior to philanthropist, from an ordinary person to an almost mythical creature. The question arises as to the relevance of Mazepa’s personality representation in artistic works. The purpose of the article is to study the image of the Hetman in the opera practice of the nineteenth century using historical, chronological, cultural and comparative research methods. For the first time, M. Grandval’s opera is studied in comparative chronological and general cultural contexts. Results and conclusions. In world culture, the memory of I. Mazepa has been preserved mainly because his life reflects the main themes of Romanticism: loneliness, betrayal, love, exile. These romantic features prompted most authors to modify the historical truth, so Mazepa’s portraits are very different from their prototype. Taking up the study of Mazepa’s “operatic iconography”, we found that three other operas of the same name were created in the nineteenth century, in addition to the most famous and most studied work by P. Tchaikovsky, written in 1881–1883. The first of them is the opera “Mazepa” (“Maria”) by the prominent Ukrainian composer, folklorist, and music critic Petro Sokalsky (1832–1887). The opera was never staged. The second opera “Mazepa” chronologically was written and staged in St. Petersburg in 1859 by Borys Fitinhoff, a little-known Russian composer of German descent. The third opera “Mazeppa” was written b the French composer M. Grandval (Marie F&amp;#233;licie Clemence de Rezet, Victoire de Grandval). By analyzing the facts of her creative life, we have clarified the main features of her compositional style, which represented the salon culture of the time and was the result of her own passion for opera. Her operatic work was quite fruitful: she created eight operas and two “lyrical poems” written together with the most famous librettists who collaborated with G. Bizet, Ch. Gounod, J. Massenet, C. Saint-Sa&amp;#235;ns. M. Grandval’s Mazepa (1892) is rightfully considered the most prominent and popular among the composer’s operas. After its premiere, the opera was performed for more than 10 years at opera houses in France. The answer to the question of why the composer of chamber and lyrical salon genres chose a large-scale historically significant image of Mazepa, on the one hand, should be sought in the high public interest in the romanticized image of the Ukrainian hetman and the related problem of power inherent in post-Napoleonic France. On the other hand, the creation of “Mazeppa” is a logical result of the internal evolution of Grandval’s operatic work from a one-act comedy to a five-act grand historical opera, which is a continuation of the established national tradition.

Psammead or It

Translating a name in children’s literature can be a delicate process, one that may be further complicated when the protagonist involved is a “Psammead”, a truly magical beast that is grammatically referred to with the pronoun “it”. This paper looks at the naming solutions utilized in three different French translations of E. Nesbit’s work. It examines the difficulties of translating names from English, a language with natural gender, into French, a language with grammatical gender. Using close text analysis and reader-response surveys, this article investigates readers’ cognitive responses, and determines whether readers of the English and French texts construct the same mental representation of the Psammead. As will be shown in this study, naming decisions made for translations can modify more than just the grammatical gender seen on the page. When an “it” becomes an “elle” or “she”, a mythical creature can become completely re-gendered.

Aaru

<i>Aaru</i>

‘As you set out for Ithaka hope your road is a long one’: the talent development journey

This article used the popular poem of Ithaka by C.P. Cavafy to create an analogy aiming to provide a theoretical analysis of the journey of talent development within sport. Concepts discussed include the similarities between elements of the poem and talent development literature. Elite level can be perceived as the ‘Ithaka’ for athletes while Cyclops and other mythical monsters can be viewed as the obstacles in the pathway of development towards elite level. Therefore, athletes need to be prepared for those potential challenges throughout their journey. As highlighted by ‘Ithaka’ and as shown in the literaturę within the last decade, the development and learning experiences appear to be more important than the destination. The analysis concludes that the approach from practitioners and organizers needs to be focused on appropriate, holistic, and longterm development to facilitate to the ‘craft’ of better people through sport.