Arimaspi
The Arimaspi (also Arimaspians, Arimaspos, and Arimaspoi; , ) were a legendary tribe of one-eyed people of northern Scythia who lived in the foothills of the Riphean Mountains, variously identified with the Ural Mountains or the Carpathians. All tales of their struggles with the gold-guarding griffins in the Hyperborean lands near the cave of Boreas, the North Wind (''Geskleithron''), had their origin in a lost work by Aristeas, reported in Herodotus. Legendary Arimaspi The Arimaspi were described by Aristeas of Proconnesus in his lost archaic poem ''Arimaspea''. Proconnesus is a small island in the Sea of Marmora near the mouth of the Black Sea, well situated for hearing travellers' tales of regions far north of the Black Sea. Aristeas narrates in the course of his poem that he was "wrapt in Bacchic fury" when he travelled to the north and saw the Arimaspians, as reported by Herodotus: This Aristeas, possessed by Phoibos, visited the Issedones; beyond these (he said) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and Hindlimb">back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle">lion.html" ;"title="Hindlimb">back legs of a lion">Hindlimb">back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with its talons on the front legs. Overview Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions. In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and Arimaspians were associated with gold deposits of Central Asia. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hyperborean
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans (, ; ) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of the north wind). Some scholars prefer a derivation from (''hyperpherō'', "to carry over"). Despite their location in an otherwise frigid part of the world, the Hyperboreans were believed to inhabit a sunny, temperate, and divinely blessed land. In many versions of the story, they lived north of the Riphean Mountains, which shielded them from the effects of the cold north wind. The oldest myths portray them as the favorites of Apollo, and some ancient Greek writers regarded the Hyperboreans as the mythical founders of Apollo's shrines at Delos and Delphi. Later writers disagreed on the existence and location of the Hyperboreans, with some regarding them as purely mythological, and others connecting them to real-world peoples and places in northern Eurasia (e.g. Britain, Scandinavia, o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Issedones
The Issedones () were an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described in the lost ''Arimaspeia'' of Aristeas, by Herodotus in his ''History'' (IV.16-25) and by Ptolemy in his ''Geography''. Like the Massagetae to the south, the Issedones are described by Herodotus as similar to, yet distinct from, the Scythians. __TOC__ Location The exact location of their territorial span in Central Asia is unknown. The Issedones are "placed by some in Western Siberia and by others in Chinese Turkestan," according to E. D. Phillips. Herodotus, who allegedly got his information through both Greek and Scythian sources, describes them as living east of Scythia and north of the Massagetae, while the geographer Ptolemy (VI.16.7) appears to place the trading stations of ''Issedon Scythica'' and ''Issedon Serica'' in the Tarim Basin. Some speculate that they are the people described in Chinese sources as the ''Wusun''. J.D.P. Bolton places th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aristeas
Aristeas () was a semi-legendary Greek poet and Iatromantis, miracle-worker, a native of Proconnesus in Asia Minor, active ca. 7th century BC. The Suda claims that, whenever he wished, Astral Projection, his soul could leave his body and return again. In book IV.13-16 of ''Histories (Herodotus), The Histories'', Herodotus reports: :The birthplace of Aristeas, the poet who sung of these things, I have already mentioned. I will now relate a tale which I heard concerning him both at Proconnesus (city), Proconnesus and at Cyzicus. Aristeas, they said, who belonged to one of the noblest families in the island, had entered one day into a fulling, fuller's shop, when he suddenly dropt down dead. Hereupon the fuller shut up his shop, and went to tell Aristeas' kindred what had happened. The report of the death had just spread through the town, when a certain Cyzicenian, lately arrived from Artace (Mysia), Artaca, contradicted the rumour, affirming that he had met Aristeas on his road to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Riphean Mountains
In Greco-Roman geography, the Riphean Mountains (also Riphaean; ; '; Latin: ''Rhipaei'' or ''Riphaei montes'') were a supposed mountain range located in the far north of Eurasia. The name of the mountains is probably derived from ("wind gust"). The Ripheans were often considered the northern boundary of the known world. As such, classical and medieval writers described them as extremely cold and covered in perennial snow. Ancient geographers considered the Ripheans the source of Boreas (the north wind) and several large rivers (the Dnieper, the Don, and the Volga). The location of the Ripheans, as described by most classical geographers, would correspond roughly with the Volga region of modern-day Russia. History Early references to the Ripheans appear in the writings of the Greek choral poet Alcman (7th century BC) and the Athenian playwright Sophocles (5th century BC). Many other ancient Hellenic writers mentioned the Ripheans, including Aristotle, Hippocrates, Callimac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scythians
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC from Central Asia to the Pontic Steppe in modern-day Ukraine and Southern Russia, where they remained established from the 7th century BC until the 3rd century BC. Skilled in Horses in warfare, mounted warfare, the Scythians replaced the Agathyrsi and the Cimmerians as the dominant power on the western Eurasian Steppe in the 8th century BC. In the 7th century BC, the Scythians crossed the Caucasus Mountains and frequently raided West Asia along with the Cimmerians. After being expelled from West Asia by the Medes, the Scythians retreated back into the Pontic Steppe in the 6th century BC, and were later conquered by the Sarmatians in the 3rd to 2nd centuries ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of One-eyed Creatures In Mythology And Fiction
There are many creatures in the mythology, folklore, and fiction of many cultures who are one-eyed, this page lists such one-eyed creatures. In mythology, folklore and religion * Arimaspi, legendary people of northern Scythia, "always at war with their neighbours" and stealing gold from griffins. They had a single eye in the centre of the forehead. * Balor, a giant in Irish mythology, with one eye in his forehead that would wreak destruction when opened * Bungisngis, one-eyed giants of Philippine folklore * Cyclopes (singular: Cyclops), one-eyed giants in Greek mythology, including Polyphemus. They had a single eye in the centre of their forehead. ** Polyphemus, a giant Cyclops shepherd in Greek mythology ** Arges, one of the three Cyclops smith gods in Greek mythology ** Brontes, one of the three Cyclops smith gods in Greek mythology ** Steropes, one of the three Cyclops smith gods in Greek mythology * Dajjal, a figure in Islam akin to the Antichrist, who has one eye * D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Protoceratops
''Protoceratops'' (; ) is a genus of small protoceratopsid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, around 75 to 71 million years ago. The genus ''Protoceratops'' includes two species: ''P. andrewsi'' and the larger ''P. hellenikorhinus''. The former was described in 1923 with fossils from the Mongolian Djadokhta Formation, and the latter in 2001 with fossils from the Chinese Bayan Mandahu Formation. ''Protoceratops'' was initially believed to be an ancestor of ankylosaurians and larger ceratopsians, such as ''Triceratops'' and relatives, until the discoveries of other protoceratopsids. Populations of ''P. andrewsi'' may have evolved into ''Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi'' through anagenesis. ''Protoceratops'' were small ceratopsians, up to long and around in body mass. While adults were largely quadrupedal, juveniles had the capacity to walk around Facultative bipedalism, bipedally if necessary. They were characterized by a proportionally large skull, short and s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mari People
The Mari ( ), also formerly known as the Cheremis or Cheremisses, are a Finno-Ugric peoples, Finno-Ugric people in Eastern Europe, who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama River, Kama rivers in Russia. They live mostly in the Mari El republic, with significant minorities in Bashkortostan, Perm Krai, Tatarstan and Udmurtia. Name The ethnic name ''mari'' derives from the Proto-Indo-Iranian root *''márya''-, meaning 'human', literally 'mortal', which indicates early contacts between Finno-Ugric languages, Finno-Ugric and Indo-Iranian languages. Subgroups There are two main ethnographic subgroups of Mari people: Meadow Mari people, Meadow Mari, who live on the right bank of the Volga river, and Hill Mari people, Hill (or Mountain) Mari, who live on the left bank. The ethnogenesis of these two subgroups, and formation of distinct dialects, probably took place in the 14th century. Meadow Mari comprise the majority of Mari, and Meadow Mari language, their language va ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iranian Languages
The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped in three stages: Old Iranian (until 400 BCE), Middle Iranian (400 BCE – 900 CE) and New Iranian (since 900 CE). The two directly attested Old Iranian languages are Old Persian (from the Achaemenid Empire) and Old Avestan (the language of the Avesta). Of the Middle Iranian languages, the better understood and recorded ones are Middle Persian (from the Sasanian Empire), Parthian (from the Parthian Empire), and Bactrian (from the Kushan and Hephthalite empires). Number of speakers , '' Ethnologue'' estimates that there are 86 languages in the group. Terminology and grouping Etymology The term ''Iran'' derives directly from Middle Persian , first attested in a third-century inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tadeusz Sulimirski
Tadeusz Józef Sulimirski (1 April 1898 – 20 June 1983) was a Polish-born British historian and archaeologist, who emigrated to the United Kingdom soon after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Sulimirski was a pioneer and leading expert in the study of the archaeology of steppe nomads, particularly the Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians. Early life Tadeusz Joseph Sulimirski was born on 1 April 1898 in the town of Kobylany, which was then part of the Austria-Hungary. He belonged to Polish nobility, the szlachta. He received his primary education in Chyrów. From 1916 to 1920, Sulimirski served in the Polish Legions, fighting initially against the Russian Empire in World War I, and then against the Russian SFSR in the Polish-Soviet War. After the peace, Sulimirski enrolled at the University of Lwów, acquiring a Doctor of Law in 1924. In 1929 he acquired a PhD in archaeology. He received a higher doctorate in 1931. Since 1931 he was Head of the Prehistory Department of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |