Myths and Legends of the World

Witches and wizards are people thought to possess magical powers or to command  supernatural  forces. They appear in the myths and folktales of many cultures. The word  witch  usually refers to a female, though male witches exist in some traditions. Men who possess the powers associated with witchcraft are often known as wizards. Witches are, for the most part, humans who gained arcane power either through birthright or, more commonly, by making a pact with some sort of spirit.  They often have a familiar animal or spirit. Are They Bad or Good?   In many myths and legends, witches are evil, dishonest, or dangerous. Some cultures do not consider them fully human. If not evil by nature, witches may be possessed by demons or wicked spirits determined to harm humans according to the religious teaching.  Yet ordinary men and women may learn magic for the purpose of hurting others. Such people are sometimes called sorcerers and sorceresses rather...

March is Women's history month and I am going to feature article about women but limit the show the female form to minimal.  If you were a woman in the ancient world, the best to live is in Egypt.  Women in Ancient Egypt enjoyed many of the same rights that women in our current society enjoy today. A woman could own and sell private property, resolve legal settlements, write a contract, initiate a divorce, file lawsuits, have a profession and inherit property (of course these rights also depended on the woman’s social class). I wouldn't say that Ancient Egyptian women had complete parity to men before the law. Yet they did have many rights that were out of reach for women in neighboring Greece. Women in ancient Etruria and then Rome came close second. This article will examine what it was like to be a woman in Ancient Egyptian society and the different rights and responsibilities that they had. Most women performed domestic tasks in the home. However, there were fema...

For more than two thousand years, Jezebel has been saddled with a reputation as the bad girl of the Bible, the wickedest of women. This ancient queen has been denounced as a murderer, prostitute and enemy of God, and her name has been adopted for lingerie lines and World War II missiles alike. But what if this version of her story, handed down to us through the ages, is merely the one her enemies wanted us to believe? What if Jezebel, far from being a conniving harlot, was, in fact, framed? Jezebel was a powerful Phoenician princess around 900 BCE.  She is the daughter to Ethbaal, King of Tyre in Phoenicia, and wife to Ahab, King of northern Israel. It is said by many archaeologists and scholars that Jezebel was power behind the throne, not her husband and king. She still honored her religion and did not covert to Judaism. She convinced her husband to worship her Phoenician God Baal, God of fertility, rain and the seasons. They had temples erected in his honor which was see...

“I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach speaker and ask.” Delphi in ancient Greece was the home of the most famous oracle of ancient times, at the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo. The Oracle of Delphi is Pythia who was a powerful priestess at the Temple of Apollo. People would come from all over to ask the Oracle for her wisdom and the words of Apollo about important matters of public policy to personal affairs. The Oracle would also be consulted before any kind of important decision, including war or the founding of colonies. Priests and priestesses at an oracle spoke on behalf of the gods. The advice from the gods usually so vague that it always seemed to be right. The spirit of the Oracle of Delphi was passed on from maiden to maiden to continue to speak the prophecies of Apollo. People from all over Mediterranean World as far as Lydia, Caria, Rome, and even Egypt would send a representative to consult the O...

The humiliating flogging of the Iceni Queen Boadicea was truly a defining moment in the history of corporal punishment and prompted a violent and unexpected backlash which took the occupying Roman army by surprise and forced it into a terrible and bloody conflict. Boadicea was the wife of Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, a tribe whose lands spanned the modern counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. Prasutagus ruled his people through a long period of Roman occupation and, politically astute, had allied himself with his Roman conquerors in order to guarantee a peaceful life for his people. The Romans were prepared to allow this arrangement, like most occupying armies, on the basis of mutual benefit. However by the year 60 AD, Roman patience with the ancient Britons was running very low and anger had replaced tolerance, particularly following an attempt to subdue the ancient Isle of Mona, long a refuge for Druids and discontented Britons who wish...

Born circa 1508 B.C., Pharaoh Hatshepsut reigned over Egypt for more than 20 years. She served as queen alongside her husband, Thutmose II, but after his death claimed the role of pharaoh while acting as regent to her nephew, Thutmose III. She reigned peaceably, building temples and monuments, resulting in the flourish of Egypt. After her death, Thutmose III erased her inscriptions and tried to eradicate her memory. Early Life The only child born to the Egyptian king Thutmose I by his principal wife and queen, Ahmose, Hatshepsut was expected to be queen. After the death of her father at age 12, Hatshepsut married her half-brother Thutmose II, whose mother was a lesser wife – a common practice meant to ensure the purity of the royal bloodline. During the reign of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut assumed the traditional role of queen and principal wife. Ascent to Power Thutmose II died after a 15 year reign, making Hatshepsut a widow before the age of 30. Hatshepsut had no sons --...