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What is the meaning of the star symbols appearing on seal VA 243?
Here is the picture of cylinder seal VA/243.
Image credits: Z. Sitchin
This seal was named like that because it is number 243 in the collection of the Vorderasiatische Museum in Berlin.
What is the correct meaning of the star symbol (including 11…
kenorb
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What is the significance of the sport ball in the Popol Vuh?
In the Mayan creation myth Popol Vuh, the sport "ball" seems to play a special role in the story. For example, playing ball seems to have indicated a lack of respect in this section of the story:
As for One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu, they would…
user62
20
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1 answer
Who is the Chinese supreme god?
Analogous to the Greek Zeus or the Norse Odin, who is the supreme god in the Chinese folk religion pantheon?
It seems that this may be the concept of "Tai Di", or primordial divinity, but it's unclear who this is, as in various contexts, this could…
congusbongus
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Was there a cult of Hercules in Germania?
Publius Cornelius Tacitus in his De Origine et situ Germanorum tells us that 1st century Germanic tribes worshipped Hercules:
They say that Hercules, too, once visited them; and when going into battle, they sing of him first of all heroes. They…
yannis
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19
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Is there support for the theory that the Mayan deity Chac represents an elephant?
On a holiday in Mexico, we were told about Chac, the Mayan rain deity. The tour guide said that Chac's snout was that of an elephant, indicating that the Maya originally came from India.
While humans have migrated over long distances, this story…
Vixen Populi
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19
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Why would slaves be sacrificed after their master's death?
Sacrifice is a common practice in the Norse pagan religion.
Sacrifice (blót) played a huge role in most of the rituals that are known about today, and communal feasting on the meat of sacrificed animals, [...] The purpose of these sacrifices was to…
anon
19
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2 answers
What is the meaning of not giving clothes to supernatural helpers?
There is a theme that I found in several folk tales from Ireland to Russia - although mostly in Irish/Celtic stories. It is where a house has supernatural helpers, who do work overnight. However, the rule is to not give them clothes, or they will go…
Vixen Populi
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Is Robert Graves' Greek Myths considered trustworthy?
Robert Graves wrote the widely published book Greek Myths.
I have heard that classicists dispute that his account of the myths is valid1, in the sense that either:
Graves' editing, translation and collation of the source texts lacks fidelity to…
Samuel Russell
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Why does Inanna rejoice at her wondrous vulva?
In Wolkstein and Kramer's telling of "Inanna and the God of Wisdom" (ISBN 978-0060908546)
Inanna placed the shugurra, the crown of the steppe, on her head.
She went to the sheepfold, to the shepard.
She leaned back against the apple tree.
…
femtoRgon
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What happens after Ragnarök?
In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), the occurrence of various…
Anthony Pham
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19
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Is there a creature in mythology that is a frost bird or a frost phoenix?
I searched a lot but I couldn't find a creature that is similar to a frost phoenix or a frost bird, or a giant creature similar to a frost bird for example.
It's for a project (I like to keep real mythology in my story) and I want something as close…
Yann Chabot
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What is the story behind Thor wearing a wedding dress to get Mjölnir back?
I often hear of a story of Loki taking Mjölnir away from Thor and selling it to giants. Thor then gets angry and makes Loki join him in wearing wedding dresses to enter the giants place unnoticed to get it back.
What is the actual story behind this…
AlienDev
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Was the story of Adam and Eve influenced by Sumerian Ninti and Enki?
Was the story of Adam and Eve from Book of Genesis influenced by the Sumerian story of Enki and Ninti?
On Wikipedia page about Ninti we can read:
Some scholars suggest that this served as the basis for the story of Eve created from Adam's rib in…
kenorb
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Who created the Primordials?
According to Hesiod's Theogony, at first there was Chaos; from Chaos came Eros and Tartarus, Erebus and Aether; from Aether came Gaia; and from Gaia came Uranus, Ourea and Pontus.
Who created Chaos? How did Chaos create its children?
John Demetriou
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Do we know of the existence of Japanese mythological texts that predate the Kojiki?
The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) is the oldest surviving work of Japanese mythology (and, indeed, the oldest surviving work in the Japanese language, period), and as I understand it, much of our understanding of early Japanese mythology (the…
senshin
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