The last legal bacchanalia was in the second century B.C. before the Roman senate banned this festival honoring Bacchus, the Roman god of wine.
Originally a religious rite celebrated only by women, it eventually included men and became an excuse for drunken orgies.
Over the course of 12 years’ service to Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, Hercules performed the following known as The Twelve Labours of Hercules: 1. Killed the Nemean lion 2. Killed the hydra of Lerna 3. Captured the Erymanthian boar 4. Captured the hind of Artemis 5. Killed the man-eating Stymphalian birds 6. Cleaned the Augean…
The fair exists in literature, created by John Bunyin in The Pilgrim’s Progress (Part I, 1678; Part II, 1684). Established in the town of Vanity by Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, it lasts all year and sells all manner of earthly treasures and enjoyments.
Yes, according to legend, Mother Goose was real. She was Elizabeth Goose, a New England widow who married Isaac Goose, adopting a family of 10, and later bore 6 children. In 1719, her book of rhymes, Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, was said to have been published by her son-in-law. No copy of the book…
It is well known that Sisyphus was a king in Greek mythology who was punished in Hades by having to roll a stone forever up a hill, only to have it roll back down. It is less well known that he was given this sentence as punishment for cheating death. Sisyphus, a king of Corinth,…
The Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Originally there were only three, associated with memory. Their number was expanded to nine to represent each of the individual arts. They are: 1. Calliope, muse of epic poetry 2. Clio, muse of heroic poetry or history 3. Erato, muse of love poetry 4. Euterpe,…
The Egyptian pharaohs claim to be descended Ra, the sun-god. Ra is sometimes represented with the disk of the sun on his head and surrounded by Uraeus, the sacred flame-breathing asp.