Tales

Achilles fastens a shoulder strap on the bronze armor worn by Patroclus in the Greek camp.

GreekAchilles and PatroclusWith the Greek ships burning, Patroclus asks to fight in Achilles’s armor.

Arachne and helmeted Athena stand beside a blue tapestry depicting Europa on a white bull in a sunlit weaving workshop.

GreekArachne and AthenaArachne challenges Athena at the loom, choosing the gods’ own deeds as her subject.

Atum wearing a red-and-white crown stands on a golden mound surrounded by dark primordial water.

EgyptianAtum and the First DawnAlone in the dark waters, Atum searches for ground beneath his feet.

Zeus raises a blazing thunderbolt across a mountain ravine towards three Titans, one holding a boulder overhead.

GreekClash of TitansAfter ten years of war, Zeus seeks allies strong enough to challenge the Titans.

Daedalus checks the bindings of Icarus’s feather wings on a stone terrace overlooking the blue sea.

GreekDaedalus and IcarusTrapped on Crete, Daedalus gathers feathers for an escape no ship can offer.

Persephone reaches towards white narcissus flowers as a dark cleft opens in the sunlit meadow.

GreekDemeter and PersephoneDemeter searches for her stolen daughter while the fields of the living world fall barren.

Egil and King Athelstan extend their swords over a hearth to pass a gold arm ring between them.

NorseEgil and the King’s RingGrieving for his brother, Egil sits before the king who sent them into battle.

Egil holds a cracked drinking horn spilling ale, with a small knife in his other hand and an alarmed man behind him.

NorseEgil and the Poisoned HornAt a royal feast, Egil’s mocking verse earns him a horn of poisoned ale.

Egil composes aloud in a lamplit room while Arinbjorn keeps watch outside the window on the roof.

NorseEgil’s Head RansomShipwrecked in his enemy’s kingdom, Egil has one night to compose a poem that might save him.

Red-haired Grettir waits beneath a cloak on a bench as the towering revenant Glam peers into a lamplit timber hall.

NorseGrettir and the RevenantGrettir spends the night at a ruined farm, waiting for its dead shepherd to return.

Red-haired Grettir slides a wooden bolt across a storehouse door overlooking a snowy Norwegian shore.

NorseGrettir and the Yule RaidersTwelve raiders arrive at an unguarded farm, and Grettir invites them inside.

Priam kneels before Achilles and clasps his hands in a lamplit wooden shelter.

GreekHector and AchillesHector stands outside Troy’s gates as Achilles approaches, seeking vengeance for Patroclus.

Falcon-headed Horus listens as ibis-headed Thoth raises a hand to speak beside an empty royal seat.

EgyptianHorus and the ThroneTrained by his dead father, Horus prepares to challenge Seth for Egypt’s throne.

Iphigenia clasps Agamemnon’s arm beside an altar overlooking the fleet at Aulis.

GreekIphigenia at AulisIphigenia travels to the Greek camp expecting a wedding, unaware of her father’s bargain.

Isis rests her hand on a great wooden palace pillar while a swallow flies beneath the roof beam.

EgyptianIsis and the Hidden ChestIsis follows a missing chest across the sea, searching for the husband sealed inside.

Isis guides a papyrus boat through a reed-lined marsh while a crocodile swims away beside the hull.

EgyptianIsis and the Scattered BodySeth scatters Osiris’s body across Egypt, sending Isis out to search for him once more.

Medea raises a juniper sprig toward a giant serpent while Jason follows beneath the Golden Fleece in an oak tree.

GreekJason and the Golden FleeceTo claim the Golden Fleece, Jason must face fire-breathing bulls with Medea’s secret help.

Bolli offers the reins of a pale horse to Kjartan, who turns away in a red cloak outside a turf-roofed hall.

NorseKjartan and BolliKjartan returns to Iceland to find Guðrún married to his foster-brother Bolli.

Circe offers Odysseus a golden cup as he holds a white flower with dark roots; a pig stands in the court behind them.

GreekOdysseus and CirceOnly one man returns from Circe’s house, and Odysseus sets out to find the others.

Odysseus offers a bowl of wine to the one-eyed Polyphemus beside a fire in a cave sealed by a great stone.

GreekOdysseus and the CyclopsA boulder seals the cave, leaving Odysseus and his men trapped with a hungry Cyclops.

Odysseus is bound to a ship’s mast while two men row past two distant Sirens seated in a meadow.

GreekOdysseus and the SirensOdysseus asks his crew to bind him to the mast before the Sirens begin to sing.

Orpheus carries his lyre toward daylight on a rocky path while Eurydice follows behind in the shadowed underworld.

GreekOrpheus and EurydiceCarrying his lyre, Orpheus enters the kingdom of the dead to ask for Eurydice’s return.

Pandora lifts the heavy lid of a large clay jar as dark wisps escape into a sunlit Greek courtyard.

GreekPandora’s BoxZeus sends Pandora to humankind as a gift, hiding his anger behind her welcome.

Perseus studies the sleeping, snake-haired Medusa reflected in a bronze shield above a rocky coast.

GreekPerseus and MedusaPerseus promises a king Medusa’s head, though one look at her can turn him to stone.

Ptah in a blue cap faces Atum as he takes form in golden light above newly formed ground.

EgyptianPtah and the Words of CreationPtah holds a world in his thoughts, then speaks its first name into the silence.

Ram-headed Ra and Isis aboard a glowing solar barque face the enormous serpent Apep in a dark underworld channel.

EgyptianRa’s Journey Through the UnderworldEach night, Ra enters the underworld, where Apep waits to stop his passage.

Sigurd crouches in an earthen pit with his sword while the enormous wingless dragon Fafnir approaches across the heath.

NorseSigurd and FafnirGuided by the smith Regin, Sigurd digs a pit beneath the dragon Fafnir’s path.

Ajax and Odysseus face each other across Achilles’s shield and helmet in the Greek camp.

GreekThe Arms of AchillesAjax and Odysseus each claim Achilles’s armor as the Greeks struggle to break Troy’s defenses.

A sailor reaches towards the silver cord of a closed leather bag while Odysseus sleeps and land lies nearby.

GreekThe Bag of WindsIthaca is in sight when Odysseus falls asleep beside a bag his crew longs to open.

Tyr places his right hand inside Fenrir’s open mouth beside a dark lake, with the pale ribbon Gleipnir lying near the wolf’s paws.

NorseThe Binding of FenrirFenrir agrees to test the gods’ silken bond, but demands a hand between his jaws.

Ajax carries the fallen Achilles away from Troy while Odysseus guards their retreat.

GreekThe Death of AchillesNew champions arrive to defend Troy, drawing Achilles back into battle beneath its walls.

Lioness-headed Hathor as Sekhmet stands beside a field flooded with red beer at dawn, with an empty clay jar on the bank.

EgyptianThe Destruction of MankindWhen humanity plots against Ra, he sends Hathor to punish the rebels.

Frog-headed Nu and serpent-headed Naunet stand in dark water beside a blue lotus opening around golden light.

EgyptianThe Eight and the First SunEight gods gather in waters without a shore, where a closed lotus begins to rise.

Osiris stands beside an open wooden chest as Seth extends a welcoming hand in a lamplit Egyptian hall.

EgyptianThe Fall of OsirisAt Seth’s feast, a beautiful chest is promised to the guest who fits inside.

Paris offers a golden apple to Aphrodite while Hera and Athena watch on a wooded hillside.

GreekThe Judgment of ParisThree goddesses offer Paris rival gifts, each demanding that he name her the fairest.

Hathor as a golden lioness on a rocky ledge faces Thoth, a small baboon raising his hands beneath her sunlit head.

EgyptianThe Return of HathorThoth follows Hathor into Nubia, hoping to persuade the angry goddess to come home.

Ra faces his returning, fiery Eye above the dark primeval waters, standing on a bare ridge of newly formed earth.

EgyptianThe Return of Ra’s EyeRa’s Eye returns from the dark waters to find that someone has taken her place.

Shu and lioness-headed Tefnut stand hand in hand in dark primordial waters as a luminous Eye approaches Shu’s raised, glowing palm.

EgyptianThe Search for Shu and TefnutAtum sends his Eye into the dark waters to search for his missing children.

GreekThe Sisters of FateThree sisters declare that a newborn will live only as long as the wood burning beside him.

Sigmund grasps the hilt of a sword embedded in a living tree while King Siggeir watches from the hall.

NorseThe Sword in the TreeA one-eyed stranger interrupts a wedding, driving a sword into the hall’s living tree.

Ra bows his head with a tear running down his cheek, a hand resting on his shoulder and dark water beyond.

EgyptianThe Tears of RaRa waits beside the primeval waters, longing for his lost children to return.

Prometheus shields a glowing ember inside a fennel stalk on a rocky slope above a blue coastal valley at dusk.

GreekThe Theft of FirePrometheus steals fire for the people he has shaped from clay, defying Zeus.

A huge wooden horse stands beside Troy’s open stone gateway as small figures hold a hauling rope.

GreekThe Trojan HorseThe Greeks hide warriors inside a wooden horse and leave it before Troy’s gates.

Heracles braces beneath a vast starry sky, wearing a lion skin on a rocky mountain ledge.

GreekThe Twelve Labors of HeraclesHeracles must serve a king who sends him against monsters, beginning with the lion of Nemea.

Amun as a calling goose stands on a small mound amid blue primordial waters as golden sunlight spreads across the horizon.

EgyptianTheban Creation MythHidden in the unmade world, Amun prepares to break the silence with the first cry.

Unarmed Theseus faces the bull-headed Minotaur in a stone labyrinth, with Ariadne’s thread at his feet.

GreekTheseus and the MinotaurTheseus joins Athens’ young captives on the voyage to Crete, determined to face the Minotaur.

Thor sits beneath a bridal veil while Loki, disguised as his attendant, addresses the startled giant Thrym across a feast table.

NorseThor and the Stolen HammerA giant demands Freyja as his bride, and Thor must dress for the wedding to recover Mjollnir.

Thor strains beneath a huge gray cat’s belly, lifting one front paw while its other three paws remain on the hall floor.

NorseThor and the Trials of Utgard-LokiIn a giant’s hall, Thor is challenged to drain a cup and lift a cat.

Ani raises his hands beside Anubis, who kneels at a balance holding a heart and a pale feather in an Egyptian hall.

EgyptianWeighing of the HeartAni watches his heart balanced against a feather while a creature waits to devour it.