Hindu Gods and Goddesses Brahma In Hindu mythology, Brahma is the senior member of the triad of great gods, which also includes Vishnu and Shiva. In later Hindu mythology, he became symbolized as the supreme eternal deity whose essence makes up the cosmos. But that was not to be. Like...

Human Suffering in Ancient Civilizations Suffering is a facet of life that all cultures must learn to deal with. Whether it is religion or mythology, humans must find a way to explain suffering and more importantly, death. Death is the single most unifying aspect of all cultures – after...

As William Blake wittily comments, "those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained," The Marriage of Heaven and Hell sneers at restrictions and advocates appeasing sensuous desires that are condemned by orthodox Christian belief. Blake masterfully makes a...

The Leviathan and The Behemot: Dinosaur, Dialect, or Diety From the Romans to the Greek to the Kush to the Egyptians, folklore has been handed down from generation to generation. In most cases this folklore transcends any one religion and carries over into the next. Much like the Romans ad...

Myths from many different cultures seem to tell the same story. Themes from Babylonian myth can be seen in Egyptian stories; elements of Christian theology are evident in some ancient Chinese texts, and so on. How is this possible? How can cultures that have had little physical contact present us wi...

May 15, 2000 The Symbolism of the Serpent . The most prominent serpent story in our culture is of Christian tradition, that story happens to be the creation story of Adam and Eve. It is often suggested that the serpent is symbolic of the devil or evil in Genesis. Assuming that the serpent exem...