Pillar
Myths
Interpretations of archetype, ritual, order, and the stories institutions tell about themselves.
Talos Had the Forge but Not the Mind
The bronze guard of Crete is having a moment as the first robot. The older sources tell a better story: the Greeks gave the patrol to bronze and kept judgement for Minos and Athena.
Read the essayFrom God to Man: Gilgamesh's Descent into Humanity
The Epic of Gilgamesh traces a semi-divine king's slow acceptance of mortality: from tyrannical excess through Enkidu's death to a truer, human idea of what endures.
Read the essayKlumpe-Dumpe and the Tragedy of Grantræet
Andersen gave Denmark's own Humpty Dumpty a happy ending borrowed from the untitled fragment that would become his Klods-Hans tale eleven years later, and The Fir Tree dies of mistaking that borrowed plot for how the world actually works.
Read the essayAthena: From Ancient Goddess to Divine Intelligence of the Polis
Athena's eclectic domains (war, wisdom, craft, and the city) trace a single thread: the disciplined, skilled application of human intelligence, evolving alongside Greek society itself.
Read the essay