Bhima is one of the five Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata. He is famed for appetite, physical strength, loyalty, anger, and mace fighting, but the epic also shows his vulnerability to vows, family duty, and moral compromise. Bhima in the surviving tradition Bhima is the son of Kunti and the wind god Vayu. As a […]
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Pegasus is the winged horse of Greek mythology, best known through stories about Medusa, Bellerophon, the Chimera, and the gods of Olympus. Modern retellings often combine details from authors who wrote centuries apart. The main episodes are ancient, but their order and emphasis vary among the sources. The birth of Pegasus Hesiod’s Theogony says that
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Ares is the ancient Greek god of violent battle, battle fury, and the physical danger of war. He is an Olympian son of Zeus and Hera, but Greek literature often treats him with suspicion rather than making him the ideal commander. Ares in the surviving tradition In the Iliad, Ares changes sides, joins combat directly,
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William Tell is the legendary Swiss marksman who refuses submission to an official of Habsburg rule. The story became a national symbol, but historians have not verified Tell as a documented person. William Tell in the surviving tradition In the familiar account, the bailiff Gessler places a hat on a pole and demands that passersby
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Indra is the most frequently praised deity in the Rigveda, where he is a warrior, rain-bringer, drinker of soma, and leader among the gods. Later Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain texts retain him but often give him a more limited and sometimes morally fallible role. Indra in the surviving tradition Rigvedic hymns celebrate Indra’s defeat of
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Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicized as Finn MacCool, is the leader of the Fianna in the Fenian Cycle of Irish and Scottish Gaelic tradition. His stories combine hunting, poetry, warfare, landscape, wisdom, and comedy. Fionn mac Cumhaill in the surviving tradition Fionn is the son of Cumhall and Muirne. After Cumhall’s death he is raised
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Arjuna is a leading warrior of the Mahabharata and the listener addressed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. He belongs to the five Pandava brothers and is famed for archery, discipline, uncertainty, and a demanding relation to duty. Arjuna in the surviving tradition Arjuna is the son of Kunti and the god Indra. He studies
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Samurai were members of Japan’s warrior class, not one unchanging type of swordsman. Warriors first become clearly visible in written records during the tenth century. Their institutions, weapons, work, and ideals then changed across the late Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, Sengoku, and Edo periods. What the Words Samurai and Bushi Mean Samurai comes from a verb
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Sigurd is the dragon-slayer of Old Norse Völsung tradition, closely related to Siegfried in Middle High German epic. The Norse and German narratives share core material but differ in names, relationships, and plot. Sigurd in the surviving tradition In the Völsunga saga and eddic poems, Sigurd is the son of Sigmund and Hjördís. The smith
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Amaterasu Omikami is the sun kami and one of the central figures in Japan’s earliest surviving mythic chronicles. The Kojiki, completed in 712, and the Nihon Shoki, completed in 720, preserve related but not identical accounts of her birth, conflict with Susanoo, withdrawal into a rock cave, and connection with imperial rule. Birth of Amaterasu
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