189 Fun Facts About Mythology

In Norse mythology, what kind of birds are Huginn and Muninn, who perch on Odin's shoulders?

Huginn and Muninn are ravens: Odin sends them over the whole world each morning to bring back the news, yet in one poem he frets that they may not return.

What creature did Theseus slay in the labyrinth of Crete?

The Minotaur was half man, half bull; Theseus escaped its maze by following the ball of thread that King Minos's daughter Ariadne gave him.

According to Greek myth, what was released when Pandora opened her box (actually a jar)?

All the world's evils, such as toil and sickness, escaped the jar; she shut the lid too late, and only Hope, as the word is usually translated, stayed inside.

Which Greek musician lost Eurydice a second time by looking back on the way out of the underworld?

Orpheus was later torn apart by frenzied Maenads, yet his severed head floated all the way to the island of Lesbos, still lamenting.

Which Trojan prince took Helen from Sparta to Troy, sparking the Trojan War?

Paris, also called Alexandros, later killed the Greek hero Achilles with an arrow that the god Apollo guided to its mark.

In Japanese myth, what did a god use to get the serpent Yamata no Orochi drunk?

Sake: he had a vessel placed for each of the eight heads, and once the serpent was drunk, he cut it apart with his sword.

Which ancient Egyptian god was represented as a crocodile or a man with a crocodile's head?

Sobek's sacred crocodiles were tamed, fitted with gold earrings and anklets, hand-fed by priests and visitors, and embalmed when they died.

Which legendary twins were left to die by the river Tiber and then suckled by a she-wolf?

Romulus and Remus later quarrelled over which hill to build their city on, and in most versions Romulus killed his brother and founded Rome.

Which Norse god could eat the goats that pulled his chariot and bring them back to life the next day?

Thor revived the goats with his hammer, but one came back lame because a farm boy had cracked its bone for the marrow, and Thor took the boy as his servant.

Which Trojan prince, Troy's greatest warrior, was killed in single combat by Achilles?

Hector had killed Achilles's friend Patroclus, so Achilles dragged his corpse behind a chariot until King Priam slipped into the Greek camp to beg for his son's body.

Which Hindu god, "The Preserver", has ten primary avatars including Rama and Krishna?

Vishnu's tenth avatar, Kalki, has yet to come: he is expected to appear at the end of the present dark age and usher in a new golden age.

What is the name of the Norse end-of-the-world event where gods and giants fight a final battle?

Ragnarok is the Norse doom of the gods, in which Odin and Freyr fall; the world sinks beneath the sea, then rises again green and is repopulated by two human survivors.

Which Greek hero's long journey home after the Trojan War is told in Homer's epic?

Odysseus came home disguised as a beggar, strung the great bow that none of his wife's suitors could, and then turned it on them.

Which Egyptian god was murdered by his brother, then restored to life to rule the underworld?

Osiris was tricked at a banquet into lying in a chest built to his exact measurements; his brother slammed it shut and threw it into the Nile.

Which mythical bird, Herodotus heard, carried its dead parent to Egypt encased in myrrh?

Phoenix: Herodotus had seen the bird only in pictures, and while he passed the tale on, he wrote that he could not believe it.

In Greek mythology, which snake-haired Gorgon petrified anyone who looked upon her?

Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon, was beheaded by a hero who watched her reflection in a polished shield; her severed head kept its petrifying power and was set on Athena's aegis.

Which two-faced Roman god of beginnings and doorways gave his name to a month of the year?

Janus, shown with two faces looking forward and back, gave his name to January; the doors of his shrine in the Forum stood open in wartime and were shut only in peace.

In Norse mythology, what name is given to the warriors who died in battle and dwell in Valhalla?

The Einherjar, chosen by the Valkyries, fight each day in Valhalla and feast each night on the boar Sæhrímnir, which is cooked and comes back to life the next day.

In Japanese mythology, who is the sun goddess and ancestor of the Imperial line?

Amaterasu, the sun goddess enshrined at Ise, hid in a cave after her brother's rampage, darkening the world until the gods lured her out with a mirror and a dance.

Which Hindu epic tells of a prince's quest to rescue Sita from the demon king Ravana?

The Ramayana, credited to the sage Valmiki, turns on a palace plot that cheats Rama of his throne and sends him into forest exile for fourteen years.

Which trickster of Chinese legend caused such havoc in Heaven that the Buddha trapped him under a mountain?

Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, was only let out of his stone prison to protect a monk on a pilgrimage to fetch Buddhist scriptures.

Which Greek Titan was condemned to hold up the sky on his shoulders for eternity?

Atlas is often shown carrying a globe, but the early poets describe him bearing the heavens themselves; the Atlas Mountains in North Africa carry his name.

In Norse mythology, what did Odin sacrifice to gain wisdom from the Well of Mimir?

His eye was the price, so Odin is pictured one-eyed; to win the runes, he also hung on a windy tree as a sacrifice of himself to himself.

Which mythological creature has the head of an eagle and the body of a lion?

Griffins were said to guard gold in the far north, and Herodotus heard that a one-eyed people, the Arimaspians, stole it from them.

In the ancient Egyptian judgment of the dead, which organ was weighed against a feather?

A heart lighter than the feather meant passage into the afterlife; a heavier one was eaten by a monster.

Which river bounds the Greek underworld and was the one the gods swore their most solemn oaths by?

The Styx, Homer's 'dread river of oath', bound even the gods: Hesiod says a god who swore falsely by its water lay breathless for a full year.

Which Norse god once cut off all of the goddess Sif's golden hair?

Loki escaped the fury of Sif's husband only by having new hair made for her from real gold.

Which lame Greek god took revenge on his mother Hera by building her a throne that trapped her?

Hephaestus freed Hera only after the gods coaxed him back to Olympus, in one telling by getting him drunk.

The Hindu epic Mahabharata centres on which war of succession between two groups of princely cousins?

Kurukshetra War: on its eve Arjuna balked at killing his own kin, until Krishna's counsel, the Bhagavad Gita, persuaded him to fight.

What does the name of the Irish Otherworld Tír na nÓg literally mean?

Tír na nÓg means 'Land of the Young': Oisín thought he had spent three years there, but it had been three hundred, and when he touched Irish soil he became an old man.

Which Titan stole fire from Olympus and gave it to humanity, and was chained to a rock as punishment?

Prometheus, whose name means 'forethought', was chained to a rock where an eagle ate his regrowing liver each day, until Heracles shot the bird.

Which Egyptian god stopped his vengeful Eye from wiping out humankind by getting her drunk on red-dyed beer?

Ra had the beer dyed to look like blood; the goddess drank it and got so drunk she gave up the slaughter.

Which Chinese novel features the Monkey King escorting a monk on a pilgrimage to India?

Journey to the West gives the monk a white horse that is secretly a sea king's son, turned into a horse to carry him on the pilgrimage.

In Norse mythology, which goddess is Odin's wife, associated with marriage and motherhood?

Frigg, whose name lives on in Friday, once had Odin's foster son warned about a visiting wizard, so the king tortured the disguised Odin between two fires.

Which Hindu god is often depicted with a third eye and a trident?

Shiva caught the river goddess Ganga in his matted hair to break her fall, so her waters would not destroy the earth.

In Japanese mythology, who created the islands of Japan by stirring the ocean with a jeweled spear?

Izanagi and Izanami stirred the sea with a jewelled spear; brine dripping from its tip formed the first island, Onogoro, where they circled a pillar and wed.

Which Greek hero led the Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece?

Jason's prize hung in a grove in Colchis on the Black Sea, guarded by a sleepless serpent; the sorceress Medea helped him take it.

In Chinese mythology, what creature symbolises imperial power, wisdom and good fortune?

Unlike the villains of Western legend, Chinese dragons were kindly rain-bringers, believed to make the winds blow and the rains fall.

Which Greek god stole Apollo's cattle while he was still a newborn baby?

Hermes was allowed to keep the herd by giving Apollo the lyre he had just invented, and he became a patron of thieves.

In Norse mythology, which giant wolf is prophesied to swallow Odin at the end of the world?

Fenrir snapped the gods' first two chains, so dwarfs made Gleipnir from impossible things such as a cat's footsteps and a woman's beard, and it held him.

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, what monster devours those who fail the judgment of the dead?

Ammit, 'devourer of the dead', swallowed those who failed the judgment, and a soul she devoured simply ceased to exist.

In Greek mythology, what three-headed dog guards the entrance to the underworld?

Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the dead, was dragged up alive as the last of the twelve labours; in the Aeneid the Sibyl drugs him with a honeyed cake.

In Norse mythology, which giant sea serpent lies coiled around the whole of Midgard?

Jörmungandr and Thor are fated to kill each other: at the final battle Thor fells the serpent, then walks nine steps and drops dead from its venom.

Which Greek figure was punished in Tartarus with water that receded when he tried to drink?

Tantalus stood in a pool that drained whenever he bent to drink, with fruit blown from his reach whenever he grasped at it; his name gives us the word 'tantalise'.

In Hindu mythology, which monkey god crossed the sea to find the captive Sita?

Hanuman, child of the wind god, set the demon king's fortress on fire while he was searching for Sita.

What was the answer to the riddle the Sphinx guarding Thebes asked travelers?

The answer was man, a human who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two feet, then leans on a stick; when Oedipus solved it, the Sphinx, in most tellings, leapt to her death.

In Norse mythology, what burning rainbow bridge connects Midgard to the gods' realm?

At the end of the world the giants will cross Bifrost to storm the gods' realm, and the bridge will be destroyed.

Which king of Uruk sought immortality in one of the oldest known works of literature?

Gilgamesh was probably a real king of Uruk; in the epic he wins a plant that makes the old young again, only for a snake to steal it.

The Egyptian god Horus was most often depicted as, or with the head of, which bird?

Horus, the falcon god, was so bound up with kingship that each living pharaoh was regarded as Horus on earth.

Which Greek mythological craftsman built the labyrinth and made wax-and-feather wings for himself and his son?

Daedalus also built the hollow wooden decoy that let Queen Pasiphaë get close to the bull she had fallen for.

Which Greek god was so feared that people often called him by a milder title, Plouton, 'the rich one'?

Hades won the underworld when he and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon drew lots to divide the world between them.

In Norse mythology, which beloved god was killed by a mistletoe spear thrown by his blind brother?

Baldr's mother had made every other thing swear never to harm him, but thought the mistletoe too small to matter.

Which ancient Egyptian god of writing and wisdom was depicted with the head of an ibis?

Thoth, scribe of the gods, also reported the result when the dead were weighed at their judgment.

Which Roman god was regarded as the equivalent of the Greek king of the gods?

Jupiter, also called Jove, was where a Roman triumph ended: victorious generals paraded through Rome to his temple on the Capitoline Hill.

Which Chinese goddess lives on the Moon with a rabbit after swallowing an immortality elixir?

Chang'e gave her name to China's Moon missions, and its first two lunar rovers were named Yutu, 'Jade Rabbit'.

What multi-headed serpent was killed as the second of the twelve labours in Greek mythology?

The Hydra, in later tellings, grew two heads for each one cut off, so the hero's nephew Iolaus seared each stump with fire.

In Norse mythology, what is the name of Odin's eight-legged horse?

Sleipnir, 'best of all horses', was born when a trickster god in mare form lured away the stallion Svaðilfari from the giant building Asgard's wall; Odin rides him between the worlds.

In the Egyptian afterlife, the feather on the judgment scales belonged to which goddess?

Ma'at was the order of the cosmos, and Egyptians believed a king who failed to uphold Ma'at let chaos return.

Which Roman goddess did Julius Caesar claim as his family's divine ancestor?

Venus was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas, and Caesar's family, the Julii, traced their line back to his son Iulus.

Which Greek hero beheaded a Gorgon and later rescued Andromeda from a sea monster?

Perseus later used the Gorgon's head to turn King Polydectes, who had sent him on the quest, to stone.

Which legendary king of Phrygia was given donkey's ears for judging a music contest badly?

Midas also had the golden touch, and he soon cursed it once even his food and drink turned to gold.

In Greek myth, what lion-goat-snake creature did Bellerophon slay?

The Chimera, lion in front, goat in the middle and serpent behind, breathed fire; Hesiod says Bellerophon killed it from the back of the winged horse Pegasus.

Which Greek goddess is primarily associated with the harvest, grain, and agriculture?

The Romans called Demeter Ceres, which is where the word 'cereal' comes from.

Which Norse god keeps watch with the resounding horn Gjallarhorn?

Heimdall, sharp of hearing, guards the gods' bridge and will blow Gjallarhorn to signal the final battle.

Which jackal-headed Egyptian god is associated with mummification and guiding souls to the afterlife?

Anubis probably took a canine form because jackals and wild dogs prowled desert graves, so Egyptians looked to a canine god to protect the dead.

Which Greek goddess turned the hunter Actaeon into a stag?

Artemis's victim was then torn apart by his own hunting dogs; the myths disagree on his offence, whether spying on her bath or boasting he hunted better.

In Norse mythology, which goddess keeps the apples that grant the gods eternal youth?

Iðunn keeps the apples that hold off old age; when the giant Þjazi in eagle form carried her off, the gods grew old and grey until she was brought back.

In Egyptian mythology, which giant serpent of chaos was regarded as the greatest enemy of the sun god?

Apep, also called Apophis, was the serpent of chaos; every night the sun god's barque had to fight past him in the underworld so that dawn could come.

In Japanese mythology, which kami rules the moon?

Tsukuyomi, in one telling, so angered his sister the sun goddess that she refused to see him face to face, which is why day and night are apart.

Which Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity is the consort of the Preserver of the Trimurti?

Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and fortune; households light lamps for her at Diwali, and she is usually shown standing on a lotus flanked by elephants pouring water.

Which Egyptian goddess came to be depicted as a cat?

Bastet's festival at Bubastis drew 700,000 pilgrims, Herodotus claimed, and more wine was drunk there than in all the rest of the year.

What is the name of the immense, sacred tree that connects the nine worlds in Norse cosmology?

Yggdrasil is under attack even now, with Níðhöggr gnawing at its roots from below.

In the Mesopotamian epic about the king of Uruk, who is the wild man the gods create as his companion?

Enkidu, tamed by Shamhat, becomes the king's closest friend, and his death sends the king on a quest for immortality.

Which Roman god is the counterpart of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea?

Neptune was probably a god of springs and fresh water before being equated with Poseidon; his festival, the Neptunalia, fell in the heat of late July.

Which Aztec creator god, patron of priests, also appeared as the wind god Ehecatl?

Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, went down to the underworld Mictlan for the bones of earlier peoples, and his own blood helped turn them into humans.

Which Greek goddess ate pomegranate seeds in the underworld, binding her to return there every year?

Persephone: in the Homeric Hymn, her captor secretly fed her the seed so that she could not stay with her mother for good.

In the Babylonian Enuma Elish, which god becomes king by defeating the sea goddess Tiamat?

Marduk agreed to fight Tiamat only if the gods first proclaimed him their king, and he went on to become the patron god of Babylon.

Which Egyptian goddess of magic and motherhood wore a headdress shaped like a throne?

Isis once poisoned the sun god with a magic serpent and would cure him only after he told her his secret name.

In the Hindu Trimurti, which deity is primarily known as the Creator?

Brahma, for all his role as Creator, draws little popular worship, and his best-known shrine stands at Pushkar in Rajasthan.

Which mythical king of Corinth was condemned to push a boulder uphill, only for it to roll back down every time?

Sisyphus, in one telling, earned it by twice cheating death, once by chaining up Thanatos himself; Camus made him a symbol of the absurd.

Which realm holds Odin's hall Valhalla in Norse mythology?

Asgard holds Valhalla, yet Snorri's Prose Edda also recasts the gods as Trojans who left Troy and travelled north.

After the sword from the stone breaks, who gives King Arthur the sword Excalibur?

The Lady of the Lake gave Arthur Excalibur on Merlin's advice, and as Arthur lay dying, Sir Bedivere returned the sword to the lake.

What mythological creature has the upper body of a person and the lower body of a horse?

Most were wild and unruly, but the centaur Chiron was a wise healer who tutored heroes such as Achilles.

Which Greek god is known as the god of wine, revelry, and ecstasy?

Dionysus was once seized by pirates, so he filled their ship with vines and became a lion; the terrified sailors leapt overboard and turned into dolphins.

Which lion-headed Egyptian goddess of war and plague was also invoked as a healer?

Sekhmet: Amenhotep III had hundreds of statues of her erected at Thebes.

Which Greek youth flew too close to the Sun and lost his beeswax wings?

Icarus ignored his father's warning not to fly too high as they escaped Crete, so the sun melted the wax holding his feathers and he fell into the sea.

Which Norse goddess of love rides a cat-drawn chariot and takes half the slain in her hall?

Freyja weeps tears of red gold whenever her husband Óðr goes away on his long journeys.

What legendary island, described by Plato as a mighty naval power, is said to have sunk beneath the sea?

Atlantis appears only in Plato's Timaeus and Critias, and most scholars read it as fiction: a proud empire that lost the gods' favour and sank.

Which popular Hindu deity is recognizable by his elephant head?

Ganesha got his elephant head after his father, not recognising the boy guarding his mother's door, cut off his head and replaced it with an elephant's.

Which Greek goddess was born fully grown, and in armour, from the forehead of her father Zeus?

Athena, in Hesiod's telling, grew inside Zeus because he had swallowed her pregnant mother, Metis, fearing a son who would overthrow him.

In Norse mythology, the underworld realm ruled by Hel lies within which of the nine worlds?

Snorri says Odin cast Hel into Niflheim, a world of ice and cold, to rule over those who died of sickness or old age.

In Chinese mythology, which goddess moulded the first humans and later repaired the broken sky?

Nüwa patched the broken sky with melted stones of five colours and propped it up on the legs of a giant turtle.

The West African trickster god Anansi is often depicted as what type of animal?

Anansi is a spider; his tales began among the Akan of Ghana and crossed the ocean with enslaved Africans to the Caribbean.

Which Trojan priestess was fated by Apollo to utter true prophecies that no one would ever believe?

Cassandra was cursed by Apollo after she refused him; her name became a byword for anyone whose accurate warnings of disaster go unheeded.

Which ancient Egyptian god is associated with chaos, deserts, storms, and violence?

Set, god of the desert and storms, was not purely a villain: each night he rode at the prow of the sun god's barque to fend off the serpent of chaos.

In Buddhist tradition, Queen Maya dreamt of an elephant of what colour before the Buddha's birth?

Maya dreamt that a white elephant holding a lotus entered her right side, and her son was foretold to become either a great king or a Buddha.

In Japanese myth, which storm god is the tempestuous younger brother of the sun goddess?

Susanoo, banished from heaven for his rampages, slew a monstrous eight-tailed serpent and found the sword Kusanagi inside it.

Which Greek hero completed twelve seemingly impossible labors?

Heracles did the labours as penance after a madness sent by Hera made him kill his own wife and children; the Romans called him Hercules.

In Norse mythology, what kind of animal is Ratatoskr, who carries insults up and down the world tree?

Ratatoskr, a squirrel whose name means 'drill-tooth', stirs up strife by carrying slanderous gossip between the eagle atop the tree and Níðhöggr at its roots.

Which Ulster hero earned his name as a boy by killing a smith's guard dog and offering to take its place?

Cú Chulainn, 'Culann's hound', served in the dog's place until a new one was reared, and later held off Queen Medb's armies single-handed in the Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Which Aztec war god, patron of Tenochtitlan, had a name meaning 'hummingbird of the left'?

Huitzilopochtli told the Aztecs to build their city where they saw an eagle on a cactus, and warriors who died in battle were said to return as hummingbirds.

What was the nagual, or animal counterpart, of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca?

Tezcatlipoca, the 'smoking mirror', took the jaguar as his animal self, and he lost a foot fighting the earth monster at creation.

After failing with mud and wood, what did the Popol Vuh's gods finally make humans from?

Maize finally worked: the mud people had crumbled, and the wooden people were swept away in a flood, their survivors becoming monkeys.

What game were the Popol Vuh's first twins summoned to Xibalba to play?

A ballgame: the lords of Xibalba lured Hun Hunahpú and Vucub Hunahpú there with an invitation to play ball and murdered them; Hun Hunahpú's sons, the Hero Twins, later avenged them.

In Inca myth, from which lake's islands did Viracocha bring forth the sun and moon?

Lake Titicaca's islands gave the world its sun and moon, and Viracocha, after teaching humankind, walked away across the Pacific Ocean.

Where is the fire pit believed to be the home of the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele?

Halemaʻumaʻu at Kīlauea is Pele's home in Hawaiian tradition, reached after her sea-goddess sister Nāmaka drove her from island to island.

Which tree is sacred to Perun, the Slavic god of thunder?

Perun's tree was the oak, and Prince Vladimir set up a silver-headed idol of him in Kiev, then after converting had it thrown into the Dnieper.

How does the Slavic witch Baba Yaga fly?

Baba Yaga flies in a wooden mortar, steering with a pestle and sweeping away her tracks with a broom; she lives in a hut on chicken legs.

Which epic did Elias Lönnrot compile from Finnish and Karelian folk poetry?

The Kalevala gave Tolkien the doomed hero Kullervo, whom he reworked as Túrin Turambar in The Silmarillion.

What can the Dagda's magic club do with its handle after killing with its head?

The Dagda's club could bring the slain back to life with its handle, and when the Fomorians carried off his magic harp, he won it back.

As which bird does the Irish war goddess the Morrígan often appear?

The Morrígan often took a crow's form, and her bird landing on a dying hero's shoulder was the sign that told his enemies he was dead.

Which Fomorian king, warned that his grandson would kill him, locked his only daughter in a tower?

Balor's precaution failed: his grandson Lugh drove a sling-stone through his deadly eye at the second Battle of Mag Tuired.

The Rainbow Serpent is a creator deity in the traditions of which people?

For Australian Aboriginal peoples the Rainbow Serpent shaped the land, and Noongar tradition says it carved waterways such as the Swan and Avon rivers.

Which Yoruba orisha of thunder carries a double-headed axe as his emblem?

Shango was, by tradition, the third king of Oyo, and he was deified as the god of thunder after his death.

Who rules the underworld that Inanna descends into in her most famous myth?

Her sister Ereshkigal had the seven gates bolted, stripped Inanna at each one, then killed her and hung her corpse on a hook.

Which Babylonian goddess of love and war was the counterpart of the Sumerian Inanna?

German archaeologists dug up Babylon's Ishtar Gate, dedicated to Ishtar, and rebuilt its front section in Berlin's Pergamon Museum.

Ahura Mazda is the principal god of which religion?

Zoroastrianism's Ahura Mazda gave Japan's Mazda car company its name, the company says, echoing its founder Jujiro Matsuda's surname.

Which giant benevolent bird of Persian myth raised the abandoned albino prince Zal?

The Simurgh raised Zal in her nest on Mount Alborz, and years later her guidance saved his wife and newborn son Rostam in a dangerous birth.

Korea's legendary founder Dangun is said to be the son of which animal?

Dangun's mother was a bear magically turned into a woman and his father the god Hwanung, and by legend he founded Gojoseon in 2333 BC.

According to Hesiod, the nine Muses were daughters of Zeus and which Titaness?

Mnemosyne was also a pool of memory in the underworld, and Orphic initiates were taught to drink from it instead of from Lethe.

Which of the three Moirai, or Fates, was 'the spinner' of the thread of life?

Clotho spun the thread of life that her sisters measured and cut, and even Zeus, some ancient writers said, could not overrule the Fates.

What did Rhea give Cronus to swallow in place of the infant Zeus?

Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes, Cronus swallowed it, and the infant Zeus was hidden away on Crete.

Low-value coins placed in the mouths of the Greek dead to pay the ferryman are called what?

Charon's obols left their mark on real graves, where archaeologists have found coins still lodged in the skulls of the dead.

Which mortal challenged Minerva to a contest of skill in Ovid's Metamorphoses?

Arachne's tapestry of the gods' misdeeds outdid the goddess's own, so Minerva flew into a rage, and Arachne hanged herself in despair.

Pygmalion, the Cypriot sculptor who fell in love with his own statue, carved her from what?

Pygmalion carved his statue from ivory, and after he prayed at the goddess's festival, it slowly came to life under his touch.

Which two dwarf brothers forged the hammer Mjölnir, according to Skáldskaparmál?

Eitri forged Mjölnir while Brokkr worked the bellows; a fly bit Brokkr's eyelid and made him pause, so the handle came out short.

In Norse myth, the Mead of Poetry was brewed from the blood of which wise being, born from the gods' spit?

Kvasir travelled the world sharing his wisdom until the dwarfs Fjalar and Galar killed him and brewed his blood into mead.

Which fire giant of Norse myth will set the world ablaze with his flaming sword?

Surtr will kill the god Freyr in the last battle, because Freyr had given away his own sword to win the giantess Gerðr.

Which Norse god placed his hand in a giant wolf's jaws as a pledge while the gods bound the beast?

Týr lost the hand when the wolf realised it had been tricked into its bonds, and Tuesday, Old English Tiw's day, is named after him.

Which Egyptian sky goddess swallows the sun each dusk and gives birth to it at dawn?

Nut once took the form of a heavenly cow and lifted the sun god up into the sky.

Which Egyptian god, 'the hidden one', rose from a Theban deity to king of the gods?

Amun's rise was reversed for a time when the pharaoh Akhenaten promoted the Aten and had Amun's name and images removed from monuments.

Garuda, the giant bird of Hindu and Buddhist myth, is the national emblem of Thailand and which other country?

Indonesia even named its national airline after the bird, Garuda Indonesia, and its state emblem is the Garuda Pancasila.

In the Hindu churning of the ocean, which elixir of immortality were the gods and demons seeking?

Amrita rose from the churned ocean, but a god disguised as the enchantress Mohini charmed the demons into letting only the gods drink it.

Which fierce Hindu goddess drank a demon's blood before it could spawn new copies of him?

Kali drank the blood of the demon Raktabija, because every drop that reached the ground sprang up as another demon.

What punishment did a Roman Vestal Virgin face for breaking her vow of chastity?

Buried alive was the penalty: she was sealed in an underground chamber near the Colline Gate with a lamp and a little food, so the city would not seem responsible for her death.

Which shape-shifting spirit of Japanese folklore grows extra tails as it ages, up to nine?

Kitsune gain tails as they age and grow in power, and the nine-tailed Tamamo-no-Mae is said to have posed as a woman at court and made the emperor gravely ill.

In Chinese folklore, which heavenly ruler held the Great Race that set the order of the zodiac animals?

The Jade Emperor named the years after the animals in the order they reached him, and the Rat won its place by cheating the Cat out of the race.

In Chinese myth, what did Pangu emerge from before pushing sky and earth apart?

A cosmic egg formed from chaos over 18,000 years before Pangu emerged, and when he died, his body became the world, his blood turning into rivers.

A lithograph of which kind of performer shaped the iconography of the water spirit Mami Wata?

A snake charmer's poster, art historians argue, became a principal model for Mami Wata: Nala Damajanti's image made her a woman wreathed in a snake.

What giant gift did the Greek army leave outside the gates of Troy, with soldiers hidden inside it?

A wooden horse ended a ten-year siege once the Trojans hauled it inside themselves. Virgil's priest Laocoön had warned them: 'I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts.'

Which Old English form of the name of the Norse god Odin survives in a day of the week?

Woden's day is what Old English speakers called Wednesday. German has no god in its name for the same day: Mittwoch simply means 'mid-week'.

Which handsome youth of Greek myth wasted away beside a pool after falling in love with his own reflection?

Narcissus left behind the narcissus flower, said to have sprung up on the spot where he died, and much later gave his name to the word 'narcissism'.

Later legend says the sea nymph Thetis dipped baby Achilles in a magic river, leaving which body part unprotected?

Heel is where she gripped him, so the water never touched it. As a phrase for a fatal weak spot, 'Achilles' heel' is surprisingly young: it is first recorded in the 19th century.

Which legendary castle and court of King Arthur is first named in a 12th-century poem by Chrétien de Troyes?

Camelot is missing from the earliest Arthur stories altogether. It first turns up, almost in passing, in a French romance of the 1170s, centuries after the first tales of the king.

Which legendary city of gold, sought by Spanish conquistadors, grew out of tales of a Muisca ruler coated in gold dust?

El Dorado means 'the golden one' and at first described a person, not a place. The ruler was said to wash the gold off in sacred waters as an offering.

In Norse mythology, which female figures picked out the warriors slain in battle and led them to Odin's hall?

Valkyries means 'choosers of the slain' in Old Norse. Once inside the hall they swapped the battlefield for table service, carrying mead and ale to the fallen.

Which Polynesian trickster hero fished up whole islands with a magic hook and snared the Sun to slow it down?

Maui baited that hook with blood from his own nose, in the Māori telling, because his older brothers refused to lend him any bait.

In Irish folklore, the wailing of which female spirit warns a family that one of its members is about to die?

Banshee comes from the Irish for 'woman of the fairy mound'. Her cry echoes real Irish funerals, where keening women, some of them professionals, wailed laments for the dead.

Which creatures of Greek myth lured passing sailors to shipwreck with a song that no listener could resist?

Sirens were usually painted by early Greek artists as birds with women's heads. Only later did they merge with mermaids and gain fish tails.

Which Greek god of war was said to have stood trial for murder on the Athenian hill named after him?

Ares was acquitted by a jury of his fellow gods on the Areopagus, the 'hill of Ares'. Real Athenians went on to hold their own homicide trials on the same rock.

Which month, named after the Roman god of war, was the first month of the earliest Roman calendar?

March is named for Mars, and it was the season when Roman armies went back on campaign. September to December still carry their numbers, seven to ten, counted from March.

Which Greek goddess of love and beauty rose from the sea foam in the poet Hesiod's account of her birth?

Aphrodite was claimed as a native by two islands, Cythera and Cyprus, which each insisted it was the place where she first came ashore.

Which Greek goddess of the hearth was honoured with the first offering at every household sacrifice?

Hestia also travelled with every new Greek colony: settlers carried a flame from her public hearth in the mother city to light the one in their new home.

Which Roman god of fire and the forge was believed to keep his smithy beneath Mount Etna in Sicily?

Vulcan gave English the word 'volcano', by way of Italian. To the Romans, the smoke and flames of Etna were the god hard at work at his forge.

Which Roman god of trade and travellers wears a winged hat and carries a staff twined with two serpents?

Mercury watched over merchants and thieves alike, and he had a darker job too: guiding the souls of the dead down to the underworld.

Which Roman goddess of the hunt and the Moon was worshipped in a sacred grove beside Lake Nemi?

Diana was honoured there as three goddesses in one: the huntress, the Moon and a power of the underworld.

Which Roman queen of the gods kept sacred geese that warned Rome of a night attack by the Gauls?

Juno had a temple on the Capitoline Hill with Rome's mint beside it, and her title there, Moneta, is where the words 'money' and 'mint' come from.

Which Roman god was honoured each December with a festival where masters waited on their own slaves?

Saturn's festival, the Saturnalia, also allowed gambling and ended in an exchange of small gifts, often joke presents or little wax and pottery figurines.

Which Roman goddess of grain and the harvest was honoured with a seven-day festival and public games every April?

Ceres gave English the word 'cereal', which meant any edible grain for decades before Americans applied it to breakfast food in 1899.

Which Roman god of wine was worshipped in secret rites that the Senate restricted on pain of death?

Bacchus had festivals, the Bacchanalia, that gave English a word for any drunken revel. The historian Livy claimed more than seven thousand people were caught up in the cult.

Which winged Greek goddess of victory is pictured on the medals handed out at the Summer Olympic Games?

Nike also lent her name to the sportswear giant, which adopted it in 1971 after seven years of trading as Blue Ribbon Sports.

Which goat-legged Greek god of shepherds and the wild played pipes cut from hollow reeds?

Pan was blamed for the sudden, groundless terror that could seize people in lonely places, which is why that feeling is still called 'panic'.

The Colossus of Rhodes, a wonder of the ancient world, was a giant bronze statue of which Greek sun god?

Helios towered over the harbour town for just 54 years before an earthquake snapped the statue at the knees. Rhodes paid for it by selling a defeated enemy's abandoned siege gear.

Which Greek goddess punished mortals for hubris, their arrogance before the gods?

Nemesis stood for retribution, the payback that followed hubris. English was using her name for 'retributive justice' by the 1590s, long before it came to mean an arch-enemy.

Which Greek goddess of strife threw a golden apple marked 'For the fairest' among the guests at a wedding?

Eris had been left off the guest list, in the usual telling. Three goddesses each claimed her apple, and their quarrel led step by step to the Trojan War.

Which Greek goddess of the rainbow served as a messenger of the Olympian gods?

Iris was said to travel along the rainbow itself. Her name survives in the coloured ring of the eye and in 'iridescent', coined for anything rainbow-coloured.

In which animal disguise did Zeus carry the Phoenician princess Europa across the sea on his back?

A bull, tame enough to stroke, tempted the princess to climb on before it swam away with her. The continent of Europe may take its name from her.

Which tree did the nymph Daphne turn into to escape the god Apollo, who then made it his sacred plant?

Laurel wreaths became the prize at Apollo's Pythian Games in Delphi, and Rome later crowned its victorious generals with them too.

Which bird, said to carry the hundred eyes of the slain giant Argus in its tail, was sacred to Hera?

Peacock tails were Hera's memorial to Argus, the watchman who never closed all his eyes at once. When he was killed on Zeus's orders, she is said to have set them in the feathers.

Taweret, the Egyptian goddess who protected mothers in childbirth, was shown as which animal standing upright?

Hippopotamus mothers defend their calves ferociously, which is why Egyptians trusted the goddess to guard theirs. Male hippos, by contrast, were hunted as creatures of chaos.

Which Hindu warrior goddess rides a lion or tiger and is celebrated for slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura?

Durga carries a weapon in each of her many arms. Her victory is replayed every year at Durga Puja, a major festival across Bengal, Odisha and Assam.

Which Hindu goddess of learning and music, shown holding a veena and a book, is honoured by students at Vasant Panchami?

Saraswati began as the goddess of a sacred river praised in the Rigveda. As her link to the water faded, she became the patron of speech, poetry and music instead.

Which Japanese thunder god is shown standing on a cloud, beating a ring of drums with hammers?

Raijin is usually shown beside Fujin, the god of wind. Some Japanese parents still warn children to hide their belly buttons in a storm so that he cannot eat them.

Which Aztec god of rain held one of the twin shrines on top of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan?

Tlaloc was feared as much as loved, because he also commanded hail and lightning. Artists marked him out with goggle-like rings on his face and long fangs.

Which Irish goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft shares her name and feast day with a saint of Kildare?

Brigid may simply have turned into the saint: both are honoured on 1 February, the old spring festival of Imbolc, and they share many of the same powers.

Which Yoruba orisha of iron and war is the patron of blacksmiths, hunters and even modern drivers?

Ogun stands for truth as well as metal: followers of Yoruba religion can swear an oath in court by kissing a piece of iron in his name.

Which East Asian goddess of mercy began as Avalokiteshvara, a bodhisattva first pictured as male in India?

Guanyin is short for a name meaning 'the one who perceives the sounds of the world'. In China she has been shown mostly as a woman since about the 12th century.

Which Inca sun god was said to be the father of Manco Cápac, the founding ancestor of the Inca rulers?

Inti is still honoured in Cusco every June at Inti Raymi, the old Inca midwinter festival, which has been staged each year since 1944 as a costumed re-enactment.

Which Norse sea god did the giantess Skadi pick as her husband when allowed to see only the gods' feet?

Njord had the best-looking feet, so she picked him by mistake. The match soon soured: she could not stand the gulls on his shore, nor he the wolves howling in her mountains.

Which queen of Ithaca held off more than a hundred suitors by secretly unpicking her weaving every night?

Penelope had promised to pick a husband once she finished a burial shroud for her father-in-law. The trick worked for three years, until a slave gave her away.

Which king of Thebes unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, just as an oracle had foretold?

Oedipus had left home precisely to escape the prophecy, not knowing he was adopted, and met his real father on the road. Freud later named a famous complex after him.

Which monster, described as a descendant of Cain, does the hero Beowulf kill by tearing off its arm?

Grendel had terrorised the Danish king's mead hall for twelve years. Beowulf fought him bare-handed, refusing any weapon, and then had to face the creature's avenging mother.

Which master archer of the Mahabharata hears the Bhagavad Gita from Krishna, who is serving as his charioteer?

Arjuna had been gripped by a moral crisis on the brink of battle. Krishna's counsel to him on duty and devotion became a central scripture of Hindu philosophy.

Which Irish hero gained great wisdom after burning his thumb on the Salmon of Knowledge while cooking it?

Finn MacCool sucked the scalded thumb and the fish's wisdom passed to him. Legend also says he built the Giant's Causeway as stepping stones to Scotland.

Which knight of the Round Table has a love affair with Queen Guinevere that helps to destroy Arthur's kingdom?

Lancelot fails in the quest for the Holy Grail because of that affair. It is his own son Galahad, the perfect knight, who achieves it instead.

Whose death at Troy, while he was wearing the armour of Achilles, drove Achilles back into the fighting?

Patroclus had borrowed the armour to impersonate his friend, who was refusing to fight. His body, stripped of the famous gear, had to be fought over before it could be recovered.

Which Trojan hero carries his aged father out of burning Troy and becomes the ancestor of the Romans in Virgil's epic?

Aeneas also saved the statues of Troy's household gods and carried them to Italy, after a detour to Carthage where he won and then abandoned Queen Dido.

Which Cretan princess gave Theseus a ball of thread so that he could find his way back out of the Labyrinth?

Ariadne got little thanks: in most accounts he sailed off and left her on the island of Naxos. Her ball of thread, once called a 'clew', gave English the word 'clue'.

Which Swiss folk hero was forced to shoot an apple off his own son's head with a crossbow?

William Tell had taken two bolts from his quiver, and admitted the second was meant for the tyrant Gessler had the first killed his son. Historians still debate whether he ever lived.