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Princeps

Favourite Mythical Beast / Monster

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It amazes me how the Greeks thought of such monsters, but then one day I saw a history documentary that had strong finds and reasons for such mythical beings. The answer was that the Greek imagination came from the fossils and bones of extinct animals whom roamed the land of Graecus long ago( dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, etc.). The bones of dinosaurs happened to be bountiful in Graecus and many areas had the kind of soft terrain so that bones belong to the dinosaurs became exposed or protrude out of the sound ground and exposed sides of hills resulting from landslides. were a common site. Inevitably, someone's gotta notice it and be perplexed by it. What explanation would they give, thus the creation of mythical beasts. For example, a skull of one extinct organism a had huge nasal cavity, and from it resulted the creation of the cyclopes because they thought the nose are was the eye. There are other explanations for the mythical beasts using the bones of extinct animals. I can't seem to remember the name of the documentary, but it appears on the discovery channel once in awhile.

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I can't seem to remember the name of the documentary, but it appears on the discovery channel once in awhile.

 

It was based on this book: The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times

 

It started with the finding of fossil bones in an excavation of a Greek temple I believe. They used to think these large bones were that of their ancient Heroes.

Edited by Pantagathus

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You say beast/monster... I am adding creature and saying the "Pegasus".

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I love pagasai.

LW, a necro response just for you...

 

After pouring through fascicule after fascicule in the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum I have to add one to the list that may (according to some scholars) have a bearing on what (Archaic era) artistic depiction Pegasus may have evolved from:

 

The Hippalektryon! or the "Cock-Horse"

 

They were depicted on archaic Attic black figure ware often enough that they must have had some mythological importance but the ancient sources on mythology are mute. The only person who ever wrote about them was Aristophanes (5th-4th Century BC), but their significance to the by-gone Archaic was lost even to him...

 

"Aye, by the Powers, and full many a sleepless night have spent in anxious thought, because I'd find the tawny Hippalektryon out, what sort of bird it was!" - Frogs, 929

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...

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Nephele,

 

For you and your lovely poem: Hippocamus & Rider

 

:D

 

Thank you, Pan!

 

The hippocamp really is my favorite beastie, and it's no coincidence that my favorite Nephele from ancient legend is the Nephele of Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book III), an Oceanid and attendant of the goddess Diana.

 

As the Oceanid Nephele, I should have had a hippocamp of my very own to ride. :D

 

-- Nephele

Edited by Nephele

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All my faves are actually from Norse mythology ... Fenris Wolf, Midgard Serpent, Garm.

 

For purposes of the topic at hand I'll go with Medusa.

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