Youngest of four sons, Hattusilis (Hattusili) doesn't expect to take the throne. In fact he's not expected to live. Weak and sickly as a...

Puduḫepa ( Puduḫepa, Pudu-Kheb ) is one of the greatest women of the ancient world. In the 13th century BCE she rules beside her...

Šauška (Shaushka) is the Great Goddess of the ancient Hurrian pantheon. She's cognate with goddesses Ishtar and Inanna . Her domains are...

With the favored practice of naming early civilizations after their grave types, here is the Catacomb culture. The progressive and...

Afterlife beliefs affect burial practices of the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age emerges at various times cross-culturally, such as Indus...

Mary the Jewess, Maria the Jewess or Maria Prophetissa is considered the world's first alchemist. Working in Alexandria, Egypt, she's...

Cleopatra the Alchemist is an intriguing figure in the hazy history of science and magic. She works and writes in the 3rd or 4th...

The Elixir of Life sparks fascination and wanderlust. A fountain of youth or elixir of immortality, it's desperately sought by the first...

Under Alaric in 410 AD, the Visigoths invade Italy and attack Rome, the nerve center of the civilized world. Before that, with Visigoths...

Brunhilde is the Queen of Isenland in German mythology. Her tale is written in the Middle Ages and centers on her tragic deception by...

House spirits such as Kobolds , domestic elves , gnomes and the earth hen are popular figures in Germanic myth and folklore. They have...

Belsnickel comes from the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. Part of the spirit of the season, Belsnickel is male but often dresses...

Kriemhild marries Germanic hero Siegfried of Xanten . A princess of Burgundy, she grows up in the halls of royal plots and suspicious...

One-horned hare Al-Mi'raj or Almiraj appears in popular Arabic mythology. Most famously the unicorn hare is part of the legendary tale of...

Legends of a corpse-swiping alchemist, fountain of immortality, witches, treasure and a dragon-killer are part of the history of Castle...

The Nachzehrer or German vampire is a type of Wiedergänger , a ghoul of the Undead who rises from the grave to terrorize mortals. A...

The mighty Rhine River is famous for legends, mystic secrets and hidden treasure, including small sparkling rock crystals known as Rhine...

Käthe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945) is a stellar German artist. A doctor's wife among the less privileged of society, she works with her husband...

In the nineteenth century , Victorians are outdoors more than ever before as health spas flourish, fresh air vacations came into vogue...

Of the many flowers in Germanic folk medicine and herbology, none capture the romantic imagination more than the modest edelweiss (...