Greek mythology
Apollo and Daphne: The Myth Behind the Laurel Tree
The story of Apollo and Daphne: Cupid's golden and lead arrows, the chase, the nymph turned into a laurel tree, Greek variants and Bernini's famous statue.
Metamorphoses
Metamorphosis is never decorative: it punishes, it protects, or it fixes a state forever. Daphne becomes a laurel to escape Apollo, Actaeon a stag for seeing Artemis bathe, Arachne a spider for weaving better than Athena. These stories follow the attested transformations and set Ovid, who systematises them, against the earlier Greek versions that told them otherwise.
Greek mythology
Perseus and Medusa: the myth of the hero and the Gorgon
The Perseus and Medusa myth: how the hero beheads the Gorgon with divine aid, gives birth to Pegasus, rescues Andromeda, and creates the Gorgoneion of Greek art.
Greek mythology
The Myth of Narcissus: Fatal Love of One's Own Reflection in Greek Mythology
The myth of Narcissus: Echo's punishment by Hera, the beautiful hunter's fatal obsession with his own reflection, and his transformation into a flower in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Greek mythology
The Myth of Niobe: The Weeping Mother Turned to Stone
Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, mocked Leto for having only two children. Apollo and Artemis killed hers, and the queen of Thebes became a weeping rock.
Norse mythology
The Theft of Mjolnir: Thor disguised as a bride in Norse mythology
The theft of Mjolnir by the giant Thrym: Thor's disguise as a bride, Loki's scheme, and the bloody vengeance that closes the most comic story in the Eddas.