Things to learn about Egyptian Myths, Norse Myths and Anglo Saxon Legend (Packet 3 of 12)

1. Osiris

Husband of Isis, father of Horus, and brother of Set, he served as god of the underworld, and protector of the dead. In addition to his role as the chief and judge of the underworld (as a result his murder by Set), he also served as a god of vegetation and renewal; festivals honoring his death occurred around the time of the Nile flood's retreat. Statues representing him were made of clay and grain, which would then germinate. He was represented either as a green mummy, or wearing the Atef, a plumed crown.

2. Set

Created in opposition to the forces of Ma'at, he (termed Typhon by Plutarch) fought the demon Apopis each day, emerging victorious, symbolic of the struggle of forces that brought harmony. In later times, this struggle led him to be associated with the serpent itself, and he became the personification of violence and disorder, and the cause of all disasters. Having killed his brother Osiris, he did battle with Osiris' son Horus, being emasculated in the fight. His cult was diminished over time, due to reaction against violence. His effigies were destroyed by some, while others were changed into representations of Amon, by replacing the ears with horns.

3. Isis

The daughter of Geb and Nut, she protected love, motherhood, and fate in the Egyptian mythos. Her roles are similar to the goddess Hathor, but she is often equated with the Greek Demeter. Her powers were gained through tricking the god Ra. By placing a snake in his path, which poisoned him, she forced him to give some power to her before she would cure him.

4. Conflict between Set and Osiris

Osiris took Isis, his sister, for his wife, and ruled over the earth. Set grew jealous of his brother and killed him, afterwards cutting his body into 14 pieces and hiding them in various places around Egypt. He then claimed kingship over the land. Isis searched the breadth of the land until she had recovered all of the pieces and, with the help of Anubis, embalmed the body. She then conceived a son, Horus, by the (still dead) Osiris and then resurrected him. Horus defeated Set to regain the kingship and all subsequent pharaohs were said to be aspects of him

5. Horus

The god of the sky and light and the son of Isis and Osiris. In earlier myth he was the brother of Set, and son of Ra. His mother impregnated herself with the dead Osiris, and he was hidden by his mother. When he was grown, he avenged his father's death, driving away Set. In the battle, he lost his eye, but regained it thanks to the god Thoth. Thus Horus came to rule over the earth. He was known to have two faces, that of the falcon, Harsiesis, and that of a child, Harpocrates.

6. Anubis

Son of Osiris and Nepthys, and god of embalming to the Egyptians, he was typically pictured with the head of a jackal. He also served as the god of the desert and the watcher of the tombs. He also served to introduce the dead to the afterlife, and as their judge. To decide the fate of the dead, he would weigh the heart of the dead against the feather of truth. He is sometimes identified with Hermes or Mercury.

7. Ra

 Personification of the midday sun, he was also venerated as Atum (setting sun) and Khepri (rising sun), which were later combined with him. He traveled across the sky each day and then each night, the monster Apep would attempt to prevent his return. Other myths held that he spent the night in the underworld consoling the dead. The god of the pharaohs, from the fourth dynasty onward all pharaohs termed themselves "sons of Ra," and after death they joined his entourage. He was portrayed with the head of a falcon, and crowned with the sun disc.

8. Amon

He began as a local god of Thebes, governing the air, fertility and reproduction, his wife was Mut, and his son Khon. Later, he became linked with the sun god Ra, and the two combined names. In this form, he became worshiped beyond Egypt, and identified with Zeus and Jupiter. His appearance in art was as a man in a loincloth, with a headdress topped by feathers, but other appearances show him with the head of a ram. His temple at Karnak was the largest ever built.

9. Thoth

Serving the gods as the supreme scribe, the ibis-headed god was known as the "tongue of Ptah" for his knowledge of hieroglyphics, and as the "Heart of Re" for his creative powers. His knowledge of science and calculation made him the creator of the calendar, and his symbol of the moon was due to his knowledge of how to calculate its path. His knowledge of magic led to his association with the Greek Hermes. He was consulted by Isis when attempting to resurrect Osiris, and was again consulted when the young Horus was stung by a scorpion.

10. Ptah

Principal god of the city of Memphis, he was portrayed as a mummy, or wearing the beard of the gods on his chin. His godhood was achieved by himself, much like his creation power, done merely by act of will. A patron of craftsmen, he also was seen as a healer, in the form of a dwarf. In the death trilogy (with Anubis and Osiris), he was seen as the god of embalming. His wife was the cat headed Sekhmet and his son was the lotus god Nefertem.

11. Ma’at

The daughter of Ra, she predated the universe, and served over the creation of it, ensuring balance between everything. Primarily seen as the keeper of order, she was responsible for seasons, day and night, rainfall, and star movements. A symbolic offering of her, in the form a statuette was given to the gods, as she encompassed all other offerings. Her aspect as god of justice also showed through her role in death ritual, where her ostrich feather symbol was weighed against the hearts of the dead in the underworld. Judges wore effigies of her, and the supreme head of courts was said to be the priest of her.

12. Hathor

Also known asAthor or Athyr, she was the patron of women. She was the daughter of Ra, and wife of Horus. She fulfilled many functions as goddess of the sky, goddess of fertility, protector of marriage, and goddess of love and beauty. In that final role she became equated with Aphrodite and Venus. Pictures of her show the goddess with the head of a cow.

13. Nephthys

Termed the "lady of the castle," for her role as guardian of the tomb, she sided against her own husband, Set, in his battle against Osiris, but when Set was destroyed, she collected the bits of his body, and brought him back to life, much as Isis had done for Osiris. Isis' sister, she was also said to be Osiris' mistress, leading to much complaint from Isis. Due to her close ties to all the other gods, she was rarely associated with a cult of her own.

14. ka

One of the three parts of the soul according to ancient Egyptians. This is the part that stayed with the body. Because of its presence, mummification of corpses was required.

15. ba

One of the three parts of the soul according to ancient Egyptians. This is the part that went to the underworld, where it merged with aspects of Osiris. It was allowed to periodically return, which is why Egyptian tombs often contained narrow doors. In the underworld, it was subjected to the Judgement of Osiris in the Hall of Double Justice where the heart of the deceased was weighed against an ostrich feather representing Ma’at.

16. akh
One of the three parts of the soul according to ancient Egyptians. This part could temporarily assume different forms and wander the world as a ghost of sorts.

17. Akhenaton

Born as Amenhotep IV, he took his father’s worship of the god Aton (or Aten), a representation of the disc of the sun, to the extreme, declaring Aton to be the only god, and changing his name to mean Aton is satisfied. The worship of Aton was centered on the capital city of Tell-al-Amarna and was largely confined to upper classes and the pharaonic court and, in any case, did not survive the ruler’s lifetime. Under his successor, Tutankhamen (of King Tut fame), traditional religious practices were restored.

18. Ghana Empire
An empire of Africa from c. 300 CE to c. 1235, located in what is now southeastern Mauritania and western Mali. Responsible for the domestication of the camel. With this, they started a grand trans-Saharan trade route, often called the Sand Road, which allowed them to grow rich off the trade of gold, silver and salt. Since they didn’t write things down themselves, most of the details of their society starts to emerge when much of North Africa is conquered by Islam and they begin to take stock of the area. Perhaps the most through examination of their place in the world comes from the Cordoban Muslim scholar Abu Bakri, who collected stories from a number of travelers from the region and gave a detailed description in 1067 CE. He claimed they could put more than 200,000 men (40,000 of which would be archers) into the field, and that they had mounted cavalry.

19. Mali Empire
Sometimes referred to as the Manden Kurufaba or the Nyeni Empire (based off its capital of Niani), it was given its most familiar name by the Berber explorer Ibn Battuta. Founded in around 1230 CE by Sundiata Keita and lasting until around 1600, it was renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa. It existed along the Niger River in West Africa, and spread its language, laws and customs over a large area, which consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms and provinces. Many of its leaders, most notably Mansa Musa, embraced Islam as their religion.

20. Mansa Musa Keita I

The first word he is known by is actually a title taken by many rulers of Mali which literally means “king of kings”. So it basically declares his status as an emperor. He became the most famous of the rulers of the Mali Empire, largely because as a devout Muslim, he decided to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. He made this pilgrimage in 1324, with a procession of 60,000 men, including 12,000 slaves, who each carried four pounds of gold bars. He also had heralds dressed in silks with gold staffs, organized horses, 80 camels which each carried between 50-300 pounds of gold dust. He gave the gold to the poor he met along his route, donated to cities he passed on the way to Mecca (most notably Cairo and Medina), and he built a mosque every Friday along his journey. The influx of gold crashed the economy of Cairo, Medina and Mecca, basically devaluing the now abundant metal.

21. Ibn Battuta

An explorer of Berber descent, he lived from 1304-1369 and is widely recognized as one of the greatest travelers of all time. He wrote about these travels in his Rihla, which is also a classic Islamic term for a quest undertaken for the sake of divine knowledge of Islam.  Over the course of 30 years, he visited most of the known Islamic world, and many non-Muslim worlds as well. His journeys include trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China.

22. Songhai Empire

The third great empire of Western Africa, it lasted from 1464-1591 in much the same area as the previous Ghana and Mali Empires. It took it’s name from the dominant people group of the empire. The capital of the empire was Gao, long an important city in the region, but it is also noted for the elevation of two conquered cities – Timbuktu and Djenne, both noted for their mosques and architecture today. They took much of their lands from the declining Mali Empire early own, but eventually came into conflict with the powerful Moroccan sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, who wanted taxes from their lucrative salt trade. After the death of the strong king Askia Daoud, the sultan sent Judar Pasha to conquer them and gain control of the Trans-Saharan trade. When Pasha defeated Askia Ishaq II at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591, it marked the end of the empire.

23. Timbuktu

A city, once apart of the Mali and Songhai empires, that became known as the center of Islamic scholarship during its Golden Age, hosting a university as early as the 12th century. It is located where the Niger river flows northward into the Sahara desert, making it the perfect trading outpost between the Trans Saharan Trade routes and West Africa. It has thus been described as where camels meet canoes. Because of its place as the center of learning, it became more of a mystical place in Europe than synonymous with the riches of the region. In fact, because of this association, it became its name became popular as a saying for any seemingly magical or far off land, to the point where many people in modern Europe and America did not realize the city actually exists.

24. Great Zimbabwe

A ruined city in the southeastern hills of the country of the same name (the country was named after the ruins). It was the capital of a kingdom of the same name in the late Iron Age. The ancestors of the Shona people began constructing it in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century, spanning an area of 1,780 acres at its peak, and at that time it could have housed up to 18,000 people. It served as a royal palace for the monarch and would have been used as the seat of political power. Its most prominent feature is its walls, which are over five meters high and were constructed without mortar. Eventually the city was abandoned and fell into ruins, but it is now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

25. Ymir

A primordial giant who formed in the void of Ginnungagap from fire and ice. He gave birth to the frost giants and created the primordial cow Audhumla. He was killed by Odin and his brothers, who used his body to construct most of the universe.

26. Aesir

The term denoting a member of the principal pantheon of Norse gods. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. This pantheon feuded with the rival Vanir section of gods, which eventually resulted in a united pantheon of Gods. Unlike the Greek gods where the warring factions (the Titans and the Olympians) were of different generations, they were contemporaries with the Vanir.

27. Odin

The All-Father, he is the leader of the Aesir, the principal group of Norse gods. He is a god of war, death, wisdom, poetry, and knowledge, and rides the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. He hung himself for nine days on the world tree Yggsdrasil, pierced by his own spear, to gain knowledge, and traded one of his eyes for a drink from Mimir's well to gain wisdom. He is sometimes called Wodin or Wotan.

28. Frigg

The wife of Odin, and mother by him of Balder, Hoder, Hermod, and Tyr. She is the goddess of the sky, marriage, and motherhood, and often works at her loom spinning clouds.  

29. Frey (Freyr)

The son of Njord, and twin brother of Freya. He is one of the Vanir, a second group of Norse gods, but lives with the Aesir as a hostage. The god of fertility, horses, sun, and rain, his possessions include the magic ship Skidbladnir. He travels in a chariot drawn by the golden boar Gullinbursti, and had to give away his magic sword to win the hand of the giantess Gerda.

30. Freya

The daughter of Njord and twin sister of Frey, she is also a Vanir hostage living with the Aesir. The goddess of love, passion, and human fertility, her possessions include a cloak that allows her to turn into a falcon, and the necklace Brisingamen. She travels in a chariot drawn by two cats.

31. Thor

A son of Odin and the giantess Jord, he is the god of thunder, weather, and crops. One of the most popular of the Norse gods, he travels in a chariot pulled by two goats, and wields the hammer Mjolnir. He is married to Sif, and his special nemesis is the Midgard Serpent.

32. Loki

He's actually giant-kin, but lives with the Aesir and is Odin's blood-brother. The god of fire and trickery, his many pranks include duping Hoder into killing Balder. His children include the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent Jormungandr, Hel (the ruler of the underworld), and Sleipnir. After killing Balder he was chained to three boulders with snakes dripping poison onto him.

33. Heimdall

The son of nine sisters, he is the god of light and guardians. He guards Bifrost, the rainbow bridge into Asgard. His senses are so sharp, he can see 100 miles by night or day and hear grass growing. He will call the Aesir into battle at Ragnarok with his horn Gjall (or Gjallerhorn).

34. Balder

The fairest of the Aesir, he is the god of light, joy, and beauty. He dreamed of his own death, so Frigga extracted promises from everything not to harm Balder, but she skipped mistletoe. Loki tricked Balder's blind brother Hoder into killing him with a spear of mistletoe.

35. Norns

The goddesses of destiny, represented as the three sisters Urd (or Wyrd), Verdandi (or Verthandi), and Skuld. The counterparts of the Greek Fates, they tend the Well of Fate at the roots of Yggdrasil.

36. Vanir

One of the two groups of gods in the Norse pantheon. They are associated with fertility, wisdom, nature, magic and the ability to see the future. After the great battle with the rival Aesir, they become a subgroup of the Aesir and some of their members are referred to as Aesir    . The most well known among them are Frey and Freya, but Njoror and Kvasir are often listed as well.
37. Asgard

One of the nine worlds in Norse mythology, most important because it is the home of the Aesir. It is surrounded by an incomplete wall. Odin and Frigg are the rulers of it, and the most famous location in it is likely Valhalla.

38. Valhalla

An enormous and majestic hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half those who die in combat go here upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freya’s field Folkvangr. The dead join the masses of those who have died in combat (called the Einherjar) as well as various legendary Germanic heroes and kings, as they all prepare to aid Odin during the events of Ragnarok.

39. valkyries

Female figures in Norse mythology who choose those who may die in battle and those why may live. They select half of those who die in battle to bring to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. There, the deceased become Einherjar, preparing for the final battle of Ragnarok. In between training, these figures bring the Einherjar mead. They sometimes appear in Norse myth as lovers of heroes and other mortals. They are oft accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected to swans or horses.

40. Fenrir
The most infamous of the many wolves in Norse mythology. He’s the son of the god Loki and the giantess Angrboda, which makes him the brother of the Midgard serpent Jormungandr and the underworld goddess Hel. The Aesir gods raised him themselves in order to keep him under their control and prevent him from wreaking havoc throughout the Nine Worlds. He grew at an astonishingly fast pace, however, and eventually the troubled gods decided to chain him up. Their first two attempts were unsuccessful; while the cunning gods convinced Fenrir that it was only a game, a test of his strength, he broke through the fetters easily. For their third attempt, the gods had the dwarves forge the strongest chain ever built, which nevertheless gave the appearance of being very light and even soft to the touch. When the gods presented Fenrir with this third fetter, he became suspicious, and he refused to be bound with it unless one of the gods would stick his or her hand in his mouth as a pledge of good faith. Only Tyr was brave enough to do this, knowing that it would mean the loss of his hand. And, sure enough, when Fenrir found himself unable to break free of his bonds, he ripped Tyr’s hand from its arm. The chain was then tied to a boulder and a sword was placed in Fenrir’s jaws to hold them open. As he howled wildly and ceaselessly, a foamy river called “Expectation” from his drooling mouth.

41. Hel  

A giantess and goddess in Norse mythology who rules over the underworld where the dead dwell. She is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, making her the sister of Fenrir and the Midgard serpent Jormangandr. She is generally presented as being rather greedy and indifferent to the concerns of both the living and the dead, but she’s mostly mentioned in passing.

42. Jormangandr

Also known as The Midgard Serpent, his name is Old Norse for Great Beast. He is a snake or dragon who lives in the ocean that surrounds Midgard, the visible world. So enormous is he that his body forms a circle around the entirety of Midgard. He’s one of the three children of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, along with Hel and Fenrir. The god Thor is his particular enemy.  When Ragnarok arrives, Thor and the Midgard Serpent are destined to slay each other.

43. Bifrost
        
The rainbow bridge that connects Asgard, the world of the Aesir tribe of gods, with Midgard, the world of humanity. It is guarded by the ever-vigilant god Heimdall. During Ragnarok, the giants breach Heimdall’s defenses and cross the bridge to storm Asgard and slay the gods.

44. Mjolnir

The hammer of Thor, it was crafted by the dwarves Sindri and Brokkr as part of a bet with Loki. A hammer of unsurpassed quality, which never missed its mark and would boomerang back to its owner after being thrown, but it had one flaw: the handle was short. Literally, it’s name means lightning.

45. Sleipnir

The eight-legged horse of the god Odin. He is one of Odin’s many shamanic helping spirits, ranks that also include the valkyries and Hugin and Munin, his ravens that are simultaneously semi-autonomous and projections or extensions of Odin’s on being. Odin rides him on his frequent journeys throughout the Nine Worlds. He was born when the god Loki shape-shifted into a mare and became pregnant by the stallion of a giant.

46. Yggdrasil

An ash tree at the center of the Norse spiritual cosmos that grows out of the Well of Urd. The Nine Worlds are held in the branches and roots of the tree. In addition to the inhabitants of the Nine Worlds, several beings live in, on, or under the tree itself. A number of dragons or snakes, most notably Nidhogg, gnaw at the roots from below. A squirrel, Ratatosk, carries messages (presumably malicious ones) between Nidhogg and the eagle. Four deer, Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr, and Dyrathror, nibble the highest shoots.[

47. Ragnarok

The name the Norse gave to the end of their mythical cycle, during which the cosmos is destroyed and is subsequently re-created. Ominous prophecies and dreams had long foretold the downfall of the cosmos and of its gods and goddesses along with it. When the first of these prophesied events came to pass – the beloved god Balder was killed by Loki and sent to the underworld – the gods tragic destiny was sealed. In the realm of human civilization, people abandoned their traditional ways, disregarded the bonds of kinship, and sank into a wayward, listless nihilism. At last, the pseudo-god Loki and his son, the dreaded wolf Fenrir, who had both been chained up to prevent them from wreaking further destruction in the Nine Worlds broke free of their fetters and set about doing precisely what the gods who had imprisoned them had feared. Heimdall was the first to spy a vast army of giants headed for the celestial stronghold. Among the gruesome mass was the gods’ fickle friend, Loki, at the helm of the ship Naglfar (“Ship of the Dead”). Heimdall sounded his horn Gjallarhorn (“Resounding Horn”) to alert the gods, who were no doubt alarmed and despairing. The giants set about destroying the abode of the gods and the entire cosmos along with it. Fenrir, the great wolf, ran across the land with his lower jaw on the ground and his upper jaw in the sky, consuming everything in between. Even the sun itself was dragged from its height and into the beast’s stomach. Surt, a giant bearing a flaming sword, swept across the earth and left nothing but an inferno in his wake. The gods fought valiantly to the end. Thor and Jormangandr slew each other, as did Surt and Frey, and likewise Heimdall and Loki. Odin and Tyr both fell to Fenrir, who was then killed by Vidar, Odin’s son. The ravaged land sank back into the sea and vanished below the waves.

48. saga

They are stories mostly about ancient Nordic and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, mainly in Iceland. The texts are tales in prose which share some similarities with the epic, often with stanzas or whole poems in alliterative verse embedded in the text, of heroic deeds of days long gone, "tales of worthy men," who were often Vikings, sometimes pagan, sometimes Christian. The tales are usually realistic, except legendary sagas, sagas of saints, sagas of bishops and translated or recomposed romances. They are sometimes romanticized and fantastic, but always dealing with human beings one can understand

49. Geoffrey of Monmouth

A Welsh historian who lived in the early 12th century and is one of the chief reasons for the rise of Arthurian legends. He wrote the Historia Regum Brianniae (History of the Kings of Britain) around 1135 C.E. His work tells 2000 years of British history, chronicling history from the Trojans all the way to the 7th century C.E. and the rise of the Anglo Saxons. However, this work is greatly seen as inaccurate today, as the characters from King Arthur’s court behave much more like people bound by 12th century chivalry than 5th-6th century characters. His work also contains the earliest known account of King Lear and his three daughters, made much more famous by Shakespeare, and it is considered an important work of medieval literature, even if it is not good history.

50. King Arthur

The most legendary king of early England, there is some question whether he ever existed at all, and it is extraordinarily unlikely that he behaved as his legends are described by Geoffrey of Monmouth and in Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. In those legends, he was said to be the almost mythical son of Uther Pendragon, who was raised in secret by Hector before pulling out the Sword in the Stone, signifying that he should be king. He then ruled over the Knights of the Round Table, a group of heroes that followed Medieval chivalry, before he ultimately died in battle with his nephew Modred. There likely was an actual Arthur who battled barbarians and eventually the Romans, but if he lived, it was hundreds of years before chivalric principles, and therefore the chivalry described, especially in Malory’s work, is exceptionally anachronistic.

51. Le Morte d’Arthur

Written by Sir Thomas Mallory and first published in 1485 C.E., the title literally means “The Death of Arthur”. This work, more than any other, is the go to book for Arthurian legends. Most things now associated with King Arthur’s Court – the Round Table, Excalibur, Sir Lancelot, Merlin – are taken from this account. Later famous Arthurian works like T.H. White’s The Once and Future King and Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Idylls of the King use this work as their primary source.

52. Anglo Saxons
        
A people who inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. They included people from Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe, and their descendants; as well as indigenous British groups who adopted some aspects of their culture and language. They were dominant in England from about 450-1066 C.E. from their initial settlement to the Norman conquest. They time period includes the creation of an English nation, with many of the aspects that survive today including regional government of shires,  the re-establishment of Christianity, a flowering in literature and language and the establishment of charters and law. The language they spoke is usually called Old English, before the infusion of French influences from the Norman Conquest. It is so different from modern English that it might as well be a foreign language. Beowulf was written in Old English.

53. Uther Pendragon

A legendary king of Britain and the father of King Arthur. Legend has it that he took his surname from a comet of unique shape that he saw, adopting it into his crest.While he is mentioned is some old Welsh poems, his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae, an account used in most later versions of the character. He is described as a strong king and a defender of the people. Uther, with Merlin's help, tricks the wife of his enemy Gorlois, Lady Igraine, and sleeps with her. Thus Arthur is an illegitimate child. Later, Sir Thomas Malory emphasizes that the conception occurred after Gorlois's death prior to Uther's subsequent marriage to Igraine, which legitimized Arthur.

54. Excalibur

The sword of King Arthur, sometimes mistakenly referred to as the sword he pulled out of the stone, it was actually given to him by the Lady of the Lake. Some sources suggest that Arthur gave it to Gawain. The Welsh name for it was Caladvwlch. Its scabbard prevented the wearer from losing blood. When Gawain fought the magician Mabon over the fairy Marsique, she obtained the scabbard for him but it subsequently disappeared. Most sources however, say after the battle of Camlann, when Arthur knew he was dying, he instructed Bedivere return it to the water. Bedivere couldn’t bear to toss it in, so he hid it. When he returned, Arthur asked him what had happened when he tossed it in. When he described a splash, Arthur knew he was lying, and instructed him to actually go back. When Bedivere actually through it in, a hand rose from the water and caught it, drawing it under the water.

55. Guinevere

The wife of King Arthur. She has been portrayed as everything from a weak and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous gentlewoman. She had an affair with both Lancelot and Mordred, either by being tricked, forced or willingly, depending on whose version of the story you read. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, she is left in Mordred’s care while Arthur leaves the island to fight the fictional Roman Procurator Lucius Hiberius. While Arthur is gone, she starts an affair with and then married Mordred, as he claims the throne. This sets the stage for the final battle between Arthur and Mordred at the battle of Camlann. Her final fate ranges from her being sent to a nunnery, to the most extreme version, which sees Lancelot kill her after Arthur’s death and entomb her with Modred, leaving him there until he resorted to cannibalizing her body.

56. Merlin

Arthur's adviser, prophet and magician. He is a ccreation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who combined tales of a bard and a prophet with other legends and wrote about his prophecies even before his history. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s version mostly has the character working with Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon, even helping the kind set up Stonehenge with stones from Ireland. He became very popular in the Middle Ages. Sir Thomas Malory presents him as more of an adviser to Arthur than to Uther Pendragon. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain makes him a villain, while poking fun at contemporary Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. He is perhaps the most frequently portrayed Arthurian character.

    57. Mordred

In most Arthurian legends, he is Arthur’s nephew. On occasion, he is referred to as Arthur’s illegitimate son. In any case, he is the villain of the Arthurian legend, and Arthur’s adversary in his final battle at Camlann. Arthur tasked him with guarding Guinevere while Arthur campaigned against the Romans. Instead, he seduced her, married her and by some accounts had two children with her, then claimed Arthur’s throne. Arthur returned to battle him at Camlann, dying in the process. Some have him outliving that battle and being defeated by Lancelot later, though the most popular versions have Arthur killing him, but being mortally wounded in the process.

58. Lancelot

One of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He typically features as King Arthur's greatest champion, the lord of Joyous Gard and the greatest swordsman and jouster of the age - until his adultery with Queen Guinevere is discovered, causing a civil war exploited by Mordred which brings about the end of Arthur's kingdom. Legend tells us that as a child, he was left by the shore of the lake, where he was found by Vivien, the Lady of the Lake. She fostered and raised him, and in time Lancelot became one of history's greatest knights. In the tales that describe Guinevere as becoming a nun, he spends the rest of his life as a hermit in penitence.

59. Morgan Le Fey

Arthur's half sister, the daughter of Arthur's mother Igraine and her first husband, the Duke of Cornwall. She is also presented as an adversary of Arthur's. At one point, she gives Excalibur to her lover Accolon so he can use it against Arthur, and, when that plot fails, she steals the scabbard of Excalibur which protects Arthur and throws it into a lake. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she is presented as the instigator of the Green Knight's visit to Arthur's court, partly motivated by her desire to frighten Guinevere. According to legend, she was able to fly and transform herself into shapes.

60. Round Table

King Arthur's famed table around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 C.E.. The symbolism of the table developed over time. By the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order.

61. Galahad

The natural son of Launcelot. He was a fairly late addition to the Arthurian legends, although he had long since been included by the time Sir Thomas Malory was writing. He was placed in a nunnery as a child, being that the abbess there was his great aunt. Most known for his association with the Holy Grail. When the Grail appeared in a vision at Arthur's court that he was one of the three knights chosen to undertake the Quest for it. He was given a white shield, with a red cross which Joseph of Arimathea had drawn in blood. In the course of the Quest he joined up with Percival, Bors, and Percival's sister. On board Solomon's ship, he obtained the Sword of David, and after the death of Percival's sister the trio split up for a while and he traveled with his father, Lancelot. Some legends associate him with the sword in a stone. In this alternate form of that legend, the sword was seen in a river by Arthur's knights, and it was said that only the world's best knight could pull out the sword. He was led into Arthur's court where he sat in the Siege Perilous and then drew the sword out (though this is usually attributed to Arthur, especially in the T.H. White book The Sword in the Stone and the Disney movie that is based on it).


62. The Holy Grail

A dish, plate, stone, or cup that is part of an important theme of Arthurian literature. According to legend, it has special powers, and is designed to provide happiness, eternal youth and food in infinite abundance. In early tales, it did not have a Biblical significance, but later it became the cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper, handed to Joseph of Arimathea in a vision. Building upon this theme, later writers added that Joseph had used the Grail to catch Christ’s blood. This theme carries through to modern films such as “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, where it retains it’s holy significane.

63. Percival

One of the Knights of the Round Table and the original hero in the quest for the Holy Grail before he was replaced in later literature by Galahad. In legend, after the death of his father, hiss mother takes him to the forests where she raises him ignorant to the ways of men until the age of 15. Eventually, however, a group of knights passes through his wood, and he is struck by their heroic bearing. Wanting to be a knight himself, the boy leaves home to travel to King Arthur's court. In some versions his mother faints in shock upon seeing her son leave. After proving his worthiness as a warrior, he is knighted and invited to join the Knights of the Round Table. In his tale, he deal with the Fisher King (the last in a long line charged with guarding the grail). The Richard Wagner opera Parsival is based on his tale.

64. Tristan

He was a Cornish knight of the Round Table. He is sent to fetch Iseult (often spelled Isolde, most notably in Richard Wagner’s version of the story) back from Ireland to wed the Cornish King Mark, who is his uncle. However, he and Iseult accidentally consume a love potion while en route and fall helplessly in love. The pair undergo numerous trials that test their secret affair. In the courtly version, the potion's effects last a lifetime; in the common versions, the potion's effects wane after three years. Although Iseult marries Mark, he and Iseult are forced by the potion to seek one another as lovers. While the typical noble Arthurian character would be shamed by such an act, the love potion that controls them frees him and Iseult from responsibility. The king's advisors repeatedly endeavor to have the pair tried for adultery, but the couple continually use trickery to preserve their façade of innocence. The tale had a substantial impact on Western art, the idea of romantic love and literature.

65. Gawain and The Green Knight

Written by The Pearl Poet, it is a late 14th century chivalric romance. It describes how the title character, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious knight who challenges any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. The title character accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the mystery knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds the title character of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, the title character demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honor is called into question by a test involving Lady Bertilak, the lady of the mystery knight's castle. In the end, the entire series of events turns out to be have put into motion by Morgan Le Fay.

66. Battle of Camlann

The final battle of King Arthur, in which he either died or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy Mordred (who was, in some later versions of the tale, his son or his nephew). Some sources state that the battle was caused by King Arthur's return to Camelot, after his quest to hunt down Sir Lancelot. King Arthur had learned of Guenevere and Sir Lancelot's affair, and Sir Lancelot fled to France. Arthur pursued him in an effort to get revenge; and his enemy, Mordred, took over Britain. When Arthur returned and tried to take back his kingdom, Mordred refused. A battle erupted, and Arthur was severely wounded. He journeyed to the isle of Avalon, which is said to have magical properties, in hope that he could be healed. Some say he died there, and some say his wounds healed and he is waiting to be reincarnated. In other versions, Arthur was fighting the Romans in Britain rather than chasing Lancelot.

67. Avalon

A legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend.  The place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. It was associated from an early date with mystical practices and people such as Morgan le Fay.

68. Beowulf

An Old English epic poem and the hero of said poem. commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature. It was written by an anonymous Anglo Saxon poet. The poem is set in Scandinavia. The title character is a hero of the Geats who comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After he slays Grendel, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, he goes home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, he defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory.

69. Hrothgar

A character who appears in the Anglo-Saxon epics Beowulf and Widsith, in Norse sagas and poems, and in medieval Danish chronicles. His most famous mention is in Beowulf, where his mead hall is under attack from the monster Grendel until Beowulf lends aid and kills the monster.

70. Heorot

A mead-hall described in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf as "the foremost of halls under heaven." It served as a palace for King Hrothgar, a legendary Danish king of the sixth century. It’s name means "Hall of the Hart" (male deer). The Geatish (Swedish) hero Beowulf defends the royal hall and its residents from the demonic Grendel.

71. Grendel

He is one of three antagonists (along with his mother and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (AD 700–1000). He is usually depicted as a monster or a giant, although this is the subject of scholarly debate. In the poem, he is feared by all but Beowulf. His exact appearance is never directly described in Old English by the original Beowulf poet, though it is said that he is descended from the Biblical Cain, the first murderer. In 1971, John Gardner wrote a novel from the monster’s perspective named after him. In it, the titular character tells his side of the epic poem Beowulf. The novel goes deep into the philosophies of existentialism and nihilism, which philosophies Gardner challenges by juxtaposing them against the heroic values that are held by those in Hrothgar's kingdom, which give people of the kingdom meaning in life. The title character is constantly torn between the philosophies he is forced to live by in his isolation (existentialism and nihilism) and the heroic values the people live by. Gardner proposes that these heroic values are innately human, and thoughthe title character is descended of man, they are unattainable for him due to his exile from society and perceived monstrosity.

72. Grendel’s mother

One of three antagonists (along with her son and the dragon) in the anonymous Old English poem Beowulf (c. 700–1000 AD). She is never given a name in the text. After her son is killed, she attacks Heorot in revenge. Beowulf ventures into her cave under a lake, where she nearly defeats Beowulf until he sees an antique sword, with which he kills her and beheads the dead Grendel. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour". Her showing up as an even more dangerous foe than the one who had been terrorizing Heorot is one of the most imitated plot twists of literature.