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Explore myths, traditions and legendary beings grouped under Europe.
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Gae Assail
Gáe Assail is a magical spear associated with Lugh, the renowned hero and champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish mythological literature. It is usually counted among the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group…
Lempo
Lempo is a figure of Finnish mythology whose identity changed significantly across time. In older layers of Finnish oral tradition, the name may have been connected with love, sexual attraction, or a powerful spirit of t…
Ran
Rán is a female figure associated with the sea in Norse mythology. She is best known as the wife of Ægir, a personification or divine being connected with the ocean, and as the owner of a net used to seize people who ven…
Goibhniu
Goibhniu is a divine smith of Irish mythology and one of the most important craftsmen of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural people who appear in medieval Irish literature as rulers of Ireland before the coming of the…
Kalevala
The Kalevala is Finland’s national epic and one of the most important written records of Finnic oral poetry. It presents a world of powerful singers, smiths, spirits, enchanted objects and rival communities, especially t…
Ratatoskr
Ratatoskr is a squirrel-like creature in Norse mythology, known for running up and down the world tree Yggdrasil. According to the surviving medieval poems and prose, Ratatoskr carries hostile messages between the great …
Lugh
Lugh is one of the most prominent figures in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural people who become associated with Ireland’s pre-Christian divine world, he is celebrated as a warrior, rule…
Kalma
Kalma is a death-related figure or supernatural presence in Finnish mythology and folklore. The name is associated with death, graves, corpses and the smell of decay. In modern summaries of Finnish mythology, Kalma is of…
Regin
Regin is a legendary smith, counsellor and foster father in the Norse story of Sigurd and the dragon Fafnir. He belongs to the heroic tradition surrounding the Völsung family rather than to the group of worshipped Norse …
Irusan
Irusan is a legendary cat associated with Irish folklore and with the tradition of the King of the Cats. He is generally described in later retellings as an unusually large or powerful cat who rules over other cats. Unli…
Lemminkäinen
Lemminkäinen is one of the best-known heroes of Finnish mythology, especially through the Kalevala, the nineteenth-century epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral poetry. He is portrayed as handsome…