Ursi's Eso Garden

• Looks into myths and legends of cultures from ancient Greece to Aboriginal Australia
  
  
• Clear, informative text helps readers understand and appreciate the world of mythology
  
  
• Features gloriously reproduced artworks and artifacts

As told by Ovid in his Fasti, Apollo was about to make a sacrifice to Zeus and sent the crow to fetch water from a running spring. The crow flew off with a bowl in its claws until it came to a fig tree laden with unripe fruit. Ignoring its orders, the crew waited several days for the fruit to ripen, by which time Apollo had been forced to find a source of water for himself.

This book had its origins in my skywatching guides for amateur astronomers. As I came to describe each constellation, I found myself wondering about its origin and the way in which ancient people had personified it in mythology. Astronomy books did not contain satisfactory answers. They either gave no mythology at all, or they recounted stories that, I later discovered, were not true to the Greek originals. I decided to write my own book on the mythology of the constellations.

The result, Star Tales, appeared in 1988 and remains a favourite of mine although it is now difficult to obtain. To make it more widely available, I have now transferred it to the web with amendments and enhancements.

Greek myth has been passed down to us through ancient vase painting and through oral and written traditions. I chose this subject partly because I knew that the stories of myth would inspire animators but also to use the latest technologies of digital storytelling to let the stories speak to web audiences and inspire a thirst for the classics in a new generation. This content was literally screaming for a chance to be translated onto the web.

Chloris was a Nymph associated with spring, flowers and new growth. Her Roman equivalent was the goddess Flora. She was abducted by (and later married to) Zephyrus, the west wind, who gave her dominion over spring. Together they had a son, Carpus. Carpus means "fruit" in Ancient Greek, and the natural metaphor formed by the three can be seen in the following quote: "Zephyros... the personification of the West Wind which brings with it freshness and rain in the spring. He would unite with Chloris, goddess of the new vegetation, from which sprout the fresh fruits of the soil."

She was also known as Flora, and that's the title of the picture on the left by Evelyn de Morgan.

The following site contains:

• The Famous Ones
• Goddesses
• Nymphs
• Humans
• Amazons
• Monstresses
• Men
• The Myths Pages

Women in Greek Myths
by Ailia Athena.

The Chinese heaven is filled with many images: mythical rulers, religious gods and goddesses, historical beings, writers, poets, philosophers, dragons, phoenixes, tortoises, unicorns, rare birds, and flowering fruit trees. Figures from conflicting time periods, different religions, and opposing philosophies appear and interact in Chinese myths. In many Chinese tales, there is no clear separation between the mythical and the real, between heaven and earth, between history and early storytelling, between past and present.

China is a mosaic of diverse groups and of multitudes of traditions. ... When we speak of Chinese mythology we need to be clear that it represents streams flowing together, running parallel, merging or diverging from many places and from many different models of reality.

Mother's Milk: The giant cow Auohumla feeds Ymir with her milk.

The god Ahura Mazda: At first, he was only represented as two wings, later the human figure was added.

Not ready for primetime: Image of Marduk and his snake dragon. Image Credit: J. Black & A. Green, Gods, demons and symbols of ancient Mesopotamia, 1992

Hold that pose: Geb, the god of the Earth, hoists Nut, the goddess of the sky, into position.

Mother! Please!: Coatlicue was depicted as a woman with a skirt of snakes and a necklace of hearts torn from her victims.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Pan-gu separates the Earth from the Sky.

All in the Family: Izanagi and Izanami, the siblings that brought forth Japan and its inhabitants.

The Other Trinity: Brahma, the creator, is pictured with four heads, though he used to have five.

Dads, think twice about curfew: The Mutilation of Uranus by Cronus, by Vasari and Gherardi. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

Gifts from a Stranger: Adam and Eve, bears the following marking: 'Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg made this engraving in 1504'

Information of each god, including Mother Sekhmet. Very informative site.

Indian Mythology dates back to as early as 7200 B.C. when the first hymns of the RIG VEDA was composed. The hymns of the RIG VEDA are the first and freshest expression of the sense of beauty and gladness awakened in the Aryan race by the charms and the bounty of nature.
What began as a celebration of natural elements such as Air, Water and Fire was converted into the worship of cosmic elements. And thus formed the triad of the early Vedic Gods - AGNI, VAYU and SURYA. The VEDIC Gods are mere abstractions, intangible and illusive personifications of the powers of nature. It is in the post-VEDIC phase or in the PURANAS the gods assumed substantial shape and individual character.

Lakshmi

Now Re was all-powerful, and he could take many forms. His power and the secret of it lay in his hidden name; but if he spoke other names, that which he named came into being.

"I am Khepera at the dawn, and Re at noon, and Tem in the evening," he said. And the sun rose and passed across the sky and set for the first time.

Then he named Shu, and the first winds blew; he named Tefnut the spitter, and the first rain fell. Next he named Geb, and the earth came into being; he named the goddess Nut, and she was the sky arched over the earth with her feet on one horizon and her hands on the other; he named Hapi, and the great River Nile flowed through Egypt and made it fruitful.

After this Re named all things that are upon the earth, and they grew. Last of all he named mankind, and there were men and women in the land of Egypt.

The Story of Re

Hatshepsut