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ssociated with the ASun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoe- nix dies in a show of flames and combus- tion, although there are other sources that claim that the leg- endary bird dies and simply decomposes Isidore of Seville are among those who before being born have contributed to the retelling and again. There are dif- transmission of the phoenix motif. ferent traditions con- In ancient and Rome, the cerning the lifespan phoenix was associated with Phoeni- of the phoenix, but cia, (modern Lebanon), a by most accounts the famous for its production of purple phoenix lived for 500 dye from conch shells. In the historical years before rebirth. record, the phoenix “could symbolize ] Herodotus, Lucan, renewal in general as well as the sun, , Pope time, the Empire, metempsychosis, Clement I, Lactantius, consecration, resurrection, life in the oSeville. heavenly Paradise, , Christ, Mary, virginity, the exceptional , and certain aspects of Christian life”. The modern English noun phoenix derives from Middle English phenix (before 1150), itself from fnix (around 750). A once-common typological variant is phœnix. Old English fnix was borrowed from Medieval phenix, which is derived from Classical Latin phoenx. The Classical Latin phoenix rep- resents Greek phoinx. In ancient Greece and Rome, the phoenix was sometimes associated with the similar-sounding Phoenicia (modern Leba- non), a civilization famous for its production of purple dye from conch shells. A late antique etymology offered by the 6th- and 7th-century CE archbishop Isidore of Seville accordingly derives the name of the phoenix from its allegedly purple-red hue. Because the costly purple dye was associated with the upper classes in antiquity and, later, with royalty, in the medieval period the phoenix was considered “the royal bird” In spite of these folk etymologies, with the deciphering of the Linear B script in the 20th century, the original Greek was decisively shown to be derived from Mycenaean Greek po-ni- ke, itself open to a variety of interpretations. Classical discourse on the subject of the phoenix points to a potential origin of the phoenix in Ancient Egypt. In the 19th century scholastic suspicions appeared to be confirmed by the discovery that Egyptians in Heliopolis had venerated the Bennu, a solar bird observed in some respects to be similar to the Greek phoenix. However, the Egyptian sources regarding the bennu are often problematic and open to a variety of interpretations. Some of these sources may have actually been influenced by Greek notions of the phoenix, rather than the other way around Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, gives a somewhat skeptical account of the phoenix.

In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic crea- ture with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings. In other folk traditions ( sometimes within the same tradition), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans. The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and her- aldry. Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts. Some of the attributes of mermaids may have been influenced by the Sirens of . Historical accounts of mermaids, such as those reported by Christopher Columbus during his explo- ration of the Caribbean, may have been inspired by manatees and similar aquatic mammals. While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside folklore, reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day, including 21st century examples from Israel and Zimbabwe. Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature in recent centuries, such as in Hans Christian Andersen’s well-known fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” (1836). Mermaids have been a popu- a paddle used for propul- lar subject of art and literature sion, and remnants of hind in recent centuries, such as in limbs (legs) in the form of Hans Christian Andersen’s well- two small bones floating known fairy tale “The Little deep in the muscle. They Mermaid” (1836). They have look ponderous and clumsy subsequently been depicted in but are actually fusiform, operas, paintings, books, films hydrodynamic and highly and comics. muscular, and mariners The word mermaid is a com- before the mid-nineteenth pound of the Old English mere century referred to them as (sea), and maid (a girl or mermaids. young woman).[1] The equiv- Sirenomelia, also alent term in Old English was called “mermaid syn- merewif.[2] They are conven- drome”, is a rare congenital tionally depicted as beautiful disorder in which a child with long flowing hair.[1] As is born with his or her legs cited above, they are some- fused together and small times equated with the sirens genitalia. This condition is of Greek mythology (especially about as rare as conjoined the Odyssey), half-bird femmes twins, affecting one out of fatales whose enchanting every 100,000 live births[5] voices would lure soon-to-be- and is usually fatal within a shipwrecked sailors to nearby day or two of birth because rocks, sandbars or shoals. of kidney and bladder Sirenia is an of fully complications. Four survi- aquatic, herbivorous mammals vors were known as of July that inhabit rivers, estuaries, 2003. coastal marine waters, swamps As the anthropologist A. and marine wetlands. includ- Asbjørn Jøn noted: “these ing manatees and dugongs, ‘marine beasts’ have fea- possess major aquatic adapta- tured in folk tradition for tions: arms used for steering, many centuries. RENDEL, the best of Gorthar

Grendel is a character in the antagonists (along with Gren- Anglo-Saxon epic poem Be- del’s mother and the drag- owulf (AD 700–1000), which on), all aligned in opposition is found in the Nowell Codex. against the protagonist Beow- This manuscript is so-called ulf. Grendel is feared by all in because its first known owner Heorot but Beowulf. Grendel was the antiquary Laurence is described as “a creature of Nowell, whose name can be darkness, exiled from happi- found written on the first leaf ness and accursed of God, the with the date 1563. Grendel is destroyer and devourer of our one of the poem’s three human kind”. e is usually depicted as a or a giant, although his status as a monster, giant, or other Hform of supernatural being is not clearly described in the poem and thus remains the subject of scholarly de- bate. There are numerous different interpretations and re-imaginings of the character of Grendel and his role in the story of Beowulf. Grendel is originally found in the poem Beowulf, which is contained in the Nowell Codex. Grendel, being cursed as the descendant of the Biblical Cain, is “harrowed” by the sounds of singing that come ev- ery night from the mead-hall of Heorot built by King Hrothgar. He is unable to it anymore and attacks Heorot. Grendel continues to attack the Hall every night for twelve years, killing its inhabitants and mak- ing this magnificent mead-hall unusable. To add to his monstrous description the poet details how Grendel consumes the men he kills; “now that he could hope to eat his fill.” Beowulf hears of these attacks and leaves his native land of the Geats to destroy Grendel. He is warmly welcomed by King Hrothgar, who gives a banquet in celebration. Afterwards Beowulf and his warriors bed down in the mead hall to await the inevi- table attack of the creature. Grendel stalks outside the building for a time, spying the warriors inside. He then makes a sudden attack, bursting the door with his fists and continuing through the entry. BIG FOOT

In North American folklore, or Sasquatch are said to be hairy, upright-walking, -like creatures that dwell in the wil- derness and leave footprints. They are strongly associated with the Pacific Northwest (particularly Oregon, Washington and British Columbia), and individuals claim to see the creatures across North America. Over the years, these creatures have inspired numerous commercial ventures and hoaxes.[1] The plural nouns ‘Bigfoots’ and ‘Bigfeet’ are both acceptable.[2] Folklorists trace the figure of Bigfoot to a combination of factors and sources, including folklore surrounding the Euro- pean wild man figure, folk belief among Native Americans and loggers, and a cultural increase in environmental concerns.[3] A majority of mainstream scientists have historically discount- ed the existence of Bigfoot, considering it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than living ani- mals.[4][5] A minority, such as anthropologists Grover Krantz and Jeffrey Meldrum, have expressed belief in the creatures’ existence. According to David Daegling, the legends predate the name “big- foot”.[10] They differ in their details both regionally and between families in the same community.[10] Ecologist Robert Pyle says that most cultures have accounts of human-like giants in their folk history, expressing a need for “some larger-than-life creature.”[11] Each language had its own name for the creatures featured in the local version of such legends. Many names meant something along the lines of “wild man” or “hairy man”, although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees.[12] Mischelle of the Nlaka’pamux at Lytton, British Columbia told such a story to Charles Hill-Tout in 1898; he named the creature by a Salishan variant meaning “the benign-faced-one”.[citation needed] Members of the Lummi tell tales about Ts’emekwes, the local ver- sion of Bigfoot. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of Ts’emekwes, but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creatures’ diet and activities.[13] Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures. The stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race.

Argus Panoptes (All-seeing) (Ancient Greek: Ἄργος Πανόπτης) or Argos (Ancient Greek: Ἄργος) is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. The figure is known for having spawned the say- ing “the eyes of Argus”, as in to be “followed by”, “trailed by”, “watched by”, et cetera, the eyes; the saying is used to describe being subject to strict scrutiny in one’s actions to an invasive, distressing degree.[citation needed] The monstrous entity has been either directly included or indirectly alluded to in a wide variety of works influenced by Gre- co-Roman thought over the past several centuries.

Argus Panoptes (Ἄργος Πανόπτης), guardian of the heifer- Io and son of Arestor[1] and probably ,[2] was a primordial giant whose epithet, “Panoptes”, “all-seeing”, led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred, eyes. The epithet Panoptes was applied to the Titan of the Sun, Helios, and was taken up as an epithet by Zeus, Zeus Panoptes. “In a way,” Walter Burkert observes, “the power and order of Argos the city are embodied in Argos the neatherd, lord of the herd and lord of the land, whose name itself is the name of the land. The epithet Panoptes, reflecting his mythic role, set by Hera as a very effective watchman. n the 5th century eye in the center of and later, Argus’ his forehead, allegedly wakeful alertness Priam’s Zeus Herkeios was explained for an purloined from Troy. increasingly literal [5] culture as his having Argus was Hera’s so many eyes that servant. His great ser- only a few of the eyes vice to the Olympian would sleep at a time: pantheon was to slay there were always the chthonic ser- eyes still awake. In pent-legged monster the 2nd century AD Echidna as she slept Pausanias noted at in her cave.[6] Hera’s Argos, in the temple defining task for Ar- of Zeus Larissaios, gus was to guard the an archaic image of white heifer Io from Zeus with a third Zeus.

The unicorn is a legendary animal with a long horn creature that has been and cloven hooves (some- described since antiquity times a goat’s beard). as a beast with a single In the and large, pointed, spiraling , it was com- horn projecting from its monly described as an forehead. The unicorn was extremely wild woodland depicted in ancient seals creature, a symbol of of the Indus Valley Civili- purity and grace, which zation and was mentioned could be captured only by by the ancient Greeks in a virgin. In the encyclope- accounts of dias, its horn was said to by various writers, includ- have the power to render ing Ctesias, Strabo, Pliny poisoned water potable the Younger, and Aelian. and to heal sickness. In The Bible also describes an medieval and Renaissance animal, the re’em, which times, the tusk of the nar- some versions translate whal was sometimes sold as unicorn. In European as unicorn horn. folklore, the unicorn is Even in the twenty-first often depicted as a white century, the unicorn holds horse-like or goat-like a place in popular culture. A number of seals seemingly depicting have been found from the Indus Valley Civilisation. These have also been interpreted as representations of aurochs—a type of large wild that formerly inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa— or derivatives of aurochs, because the animal is always shown in profile, indicating there may have supposed to have been anoth- er horn, which is not seen.[4] Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in the accounts of natural history, India”) described them as wild asses, fleet of foot, having a horn a cubit and a half (700 mm, 28 inches) in length, and colored white, red and black.[