Myths and Legends of the World

There are many myths about the descent of a goddess. This is when the Goddesses ruled the Heavens, the Earth and the Underworld. This is the story of Inanna, the ancient myth that predates the male gods, such as Zeus. The oldest known myth is Sumerian and was written on clay tablets in the third millennium B.C. It is usually known as “The Descent of Inanna” the Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth. In their original inception they were pre-patriarchal myths.  But by the time they were written down, the myths showed the incursions of the patriarchy, Inanna’s gradual dispossession, and eventual loss of status.  Dummzi: God of the Harvest Inanna marries a young, handsome shepherd called Dumuzi who becomes a god-king. They have a blissful union but after the honeymoon, Inanna decides to visit her sister in the Underworld whose husband has just died (long story). However, she isn’t on good terms with her, so, as a precaution, she instructs Ninshubur, her trusted female se...

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? It happens more often than you think. 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 temple...

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...

Storyville was a well-known, semi-legal vice district in New Orleans from 1897 to 1917. Prostitution, gambling, and live jazz fueled the streets, bringing visitors from all over the world to experience what was growing into one of the city’s largest tourist attractions and money maker. Some scholars of jazz believe that swing started in Storyville, and we know for sure that the original jazz greats made names for themselves in the brothels along Basin Street. Storyville got its name from Sidney Story, who wrote the legislation that “legalized” the district, based off of the vice restrictions used in other port cities infamous for their pleasurable activities. The new legislation bound all prostitution to the area between North Robertson, Iberville, Basin and St. Louis streets just outside the French Quarter. Some locals believed that “lewd women” were getting out of control, and tarnishing the image of the fancy little shops along Royal Street, so the legislation was met with ap...

The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s been called since the 20th century, remains the most important social and economic holiday in China. Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese year 4713 begins on Feb. 19, 2015. Originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. It was also a time to bring family together for feasting. With the popular adoption in China of the Western calendar in 1912, the Chinese joined in celebrating January 1 as New Year’s Day. China, however, continues to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year, although in a shorter version with a new name–the Spring Festival. In Chin...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone