Other Myth y Legend Flashcards
Fisher King
Aka the Wounded King - In Arthurian legend, the last in a long line charged with keeping the Holy Grail - Wounded in the groin, so unable to have an heir inherit the Grail - Healed by Percival in early stories, but Galahad in later ones
Trimurti
Brahma, the creator - Vishnu, the preserver - Shiva, the destroyer
Indra (Hinduism)
The leader of the Devas y lord of Svargaloka (a heaven) - Deva of rain y thunderstorms - Wields a thunderbolt y rides a white elephant called Airavata - Slew the evil asura serpent Vritra
Isis
Egyptian goddess of health, marriage, y wisdom - Mother of Horus - Wears a throne for a headdress - Married her brother Osiris, y restored him to life after his murder - Became revered in Greco-Roman religion
Reynard
An anthropomorphic red fox and trickster figure from a literary cycle of allegorical European fables written during Middle Ages - Stories usually involve him deceiving other animals for his own advantage or trying to avoid retaliations from them - His main enemy and victim is his uncle, the wolf Isengrim
Enlil
Chief deity of the Ancient Sumerian religion - God of storms, wind, earth, y air - Married to goddess Ninlil - Later adopted by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, y Canaanites
Don Juan
A legendary, fictional libertine featured in many works of fiction - First described in The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest (1630) by Spanish author Tirso de Molina - Other works are Molière’s play Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre (1665); Byron’s epic poem Don Juan (1821); y Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni or the Rake Punished (1787) - Don Juan devotes his life to seducing women with reckless abandon, but ends up dying without salvation
Mahabharata
One of two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India (other is Ramayana) - Written by the sage Vyasa approx 400 BCE - A narrative of the Kurukṣetra War y the fates of the Kaurava y the Pāṇḍava princes - Features Krishna, Arjuna, Bhishma, y other major figures of Indian myth - The Bhagavad Gita is told in part of the 6th book - One of longest epics in history at 200,000 verse lines, 10 times longer than Odyssey y Iliad combined
Ramayana
Ancient Indian epic poem - Narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana - Written by the sage Valmiki around 100 BCE - Many scenes depicted in bas-relief on sides of Angkor Wat
Vedas
A large body of texts originating in India - Oldest Hindu y Sanskrit literature, dating to around 1000 BCE - Four Vedas: the Rigveda (hymns), the Yajurveda (prose mantras), the Samaveda (songs), y the Atharvaveda (knowledge) - Each composed of four text types: Upanishads (meditation y philosophy), Samhitas (mantras), Aranyakas (rituals), y Brahmanas (commentaries)
