Every culture on earth has a creation myth–we all want to know where we came from. Popol Vuh, the K’ichee Maya book of creation, was recorded in glyphic writing, transmitted orally, and eventually transcribed by Dominican missionaries in the sixteenth century, a few years after the European irruption. It is an extraordinary document of the […]
Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Marvel Comics all owe a debt to Gilgamesh, a hero in Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the world’s first epic story. Gilgamesh was a historic king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk and probably ruled sometime between 2800 and 2500 BCE. His story has been immortalized as […]
Death, burial, and the afterlife were as important to ancient Egyptians as how they lived. Art, monumental architecture, rituals, and magical incantations were used by Egyptians to create a story that helped them confront the unknowable. Today, we know about their fascination with death through the study of mummies. A foremost expert on mummification takes […]
