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Welcome to the Final Fantasy Forums’ Mythology Manual Noticeboard!

This shall serve as a hub for the Mythology Manual article series (2015-present). Any news relating to the Final Fantasy Forums Mythology Manual (FFFMM) shall be posted here so that it is easier to keep up to date.


What is the Mythology Manual?

The FFFMM is an article series which seeks to explore the mythological and historical origins of many of the Final Fantasy series’ most popular monsters, summons, characters, and concepts.

The intention is to investigate particular subjects and see what can be extracted from them. Every article is slightly different since the Final Fantasy creators have adapted material in very different ways. Some details will be more clearly grounded in fact, and other arguments may be more speculative in explaining what may have been done with the sources, intentional or otherwise.

The opinions expressed in each article are the author's own and may not represent the ‘official’ opinion of FFF, Square-Enix, or any other group or individual.

We would like discussion on your own opinions if they differ from (or are in accordance with) those expressed in these articles! You may respond to an article with your comments at any time. I appreciate everyone who has been with me on this journey in any form. Your support, comments, or likes mean a tremendous deal in an age when reading in-depth articles is no longer considered 'cool'.


Current Issues:

The Carbuncle (also see updated version in Timber Maniacs issue 1, pp. 11-16)
Ultros
Alexander
Wedge and Biggs
Red XIII
Phantom Train / Doomtrain
Shiva (also see updated version in Timber Maniacs issue 2, pp. 5-10)
Ixion
Faris
Odin - by guest writer M.J. Gallagher (see Timber Maniacs issue 3, pp. 5-14)
Brothers
Siren
Hades
Phoenix
Ixion - Shadowbringers Ramuh update 25/11/20
Gaia
Wedge and Biggs - Final Fantasy XV update 04/05/21
Minotaurs of Ala Mhigo - Brothers update 10/05/21
Titan
Talos

More are in production.


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Cavallo, T. 2020. “Lontane radici, lontane ferite. All’origine di Dominio e sottomissione”, in Teoria politica: Nuova serie Annali, 10, 381-389: http://journals.openedition.org/tp/1428

Cook, A. B. 1914. Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Volume I: Zeus God of the Bright Sky. Cambridge.

Dickie, M. 1990. 'Talos Bewitched: Magic, Atomic Theory and Paradoxography in Apollonius Argonautica 4.1638-88', in F. Cairns and M. Heath (eds.), Papers of the Leeds International Latin Seminar, 6, Leeds, 267-96.

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Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).
Suda On Line

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Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Hard, R. 2004. The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", London.

Hendrix, A.R., Yung, Y.L. 2017. ‘Energy Options for Future Humans on Titan’, in Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach, 5 (2), 1-4.

Hutchinson, R. 2018. ‘Nuclear Discourse in Final Fantasy VII: Embodied Experience and Social Critique’, in Freedman, A., Slade, T. (eds.), Introducing Japanese Popular Culture, London, 71-80.

Jones, C.P. 1987. ‘Stigma: Tattooing and Branding in Graeco-Roman Antiquity’, in The Journal of Roman Studies, 77, 139-155.

Khoo, A., Dinter, M.T. 2019. ‘“If Skin were Parchment”’: Tattoos in Antiquity’, in S. T. Kloß (ed.), Tattoo Histories: Transcultural Perspectives on the Narratives, Practices, and Representations of Tattooing, London, 85-102.

Liddell, H.G & Scott, R. 1940. A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford.

Mayor, A. 1999. ‘People Illustrated: Tattoos in Antiquity’, in Archaeology (March-April 1999), 54-57.

Mayor, A. 2018. Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology. Woodstock.

McKinnon, M. 2017. ‘Titan's conditions could be just right to power US-sized colony’, in New Scientist (7th July 2017): https://www.newscientist.com/articl...right-to-power-us-sized-colony/#ixzz6xefJ973F

Nisbet, G. 2008. Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture (2nd edition), Exeter.

Page, D.L. 1962. Poetae Melici Graeci. Oxford

Roberts, J. (ed.) 2005. The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World. Oxford.

Sandin, P. 2008. ‘Herodotus, Dionysus, and the Greek death taboo. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the construction of the “chthonic” in Greek literary tradition’, in Symbolae Osloenses, 83 (1), 2-17.

Schlesier, R. 1991/2. ‘Olympian versus Chthonian Religion’, in Scripta Classica Israelica, 11, 38-51,

Scullion, S. 1994. ‘Olympian and Chthonian’, in Classical Antiquity, 13, 75-119.

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West, M.L. 2014. The Making of the Odyssey. Oxford.

West, M.L. 2007. Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford.

West, M.L. 2002. ‘“Eumelos”: a Corinthian epic cycle?’, in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 122, 109 – 133.

Winkler, M. 2007. ‘Greek Myth on the Screen’, in R. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology, Cambridge, 453-480.

Woodard, R.D. 2007. 'Hesiod and Greek Myth', in R.D. Woodward (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology, Cambridge, 83-165.

Wright, D.J. 2018. Giants, titans, and civil strife in the Greek & Roman world down through the age of Augustus. [PhD Thesis submitted to Rutgers University, New Jersey].

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Anadolu-Okur, N. 2017. ‘From Cybele to Artemis: Motherhood and Great Mothers of Ancient Anatolia’, in Cooper D., Phelan C. (eds.), Motherhood in Antiquity, London, 197-221.

Blahuta, J.P. 2009. ‘Gaia and Environmental Ethics in The Spirits Within’, in Blahuta, J.P., Beaulieu, M.S. (eds.), Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough, Hoboken, 61-71.

Borgeaud, P. 2004. Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary. Baltimore

Bremmer, J. N. 2008. ‘Secularization: Notes Toward a Genealogy’, in de Vries, H. (ed.), Religion: Beyond a Concept, New York, 432-437.

Condos, T. 1997. Star Myths of the Greek and Romans: A Sourcebook. Grand Rapids.

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Dalley, S. 2013. The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon; an elusive World wonder traced. Oxford.

Foster, J. 2009. ‘The Lifestream, Mako, and Gaia’, in Blahuta, J.P., Beaulieu, M.S. (eds.), Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough, Hoboken, 47-60.

Gallagher, M.J. 2020. Norse Myths That Inspired Final Fantasy VII, self-published.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Gasparro, G.S. 1985. Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis. Leiden.

Greaves, A. 2011. ‘The Greeks In Western Anatolia’, in Steadman, S.R. and McMahon, G. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia 10,000-323 B.C.E., Oxford, 500-514.

Jordan, P. 2014. Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Abingdon.

Kalogirou, K., Papachristoforou, A. 2018. ‘The Construction of Two Copies of Ancient Greek Clay Beehives and the Control of their Colonies’ Homeostasis’, in Hatjina, F., Mavrofridis, G., Jones, R., (eds.), Beekeeping in the Mediterranean: From Antiquity to the present, Nea Moudania, 69-78.

Kandemir, I. 2018. ‘Beekeeping in Turkey: Past to Present’, in Hatjina, F., Mavrofridis, G., Jones, R., (eds.), Beekeeping in the Mediterranean: From Antiquity to the present, Nea Moudania, 85-92.

Kraft, J.C., Bückner, H., Kayan, I., Engelmann, H. 2007. ‘The geographies of ancient Ephesus and the Artemision in Anatolia’, in Geoarchaeology, 22 (1), 121-149.

Larson, J.L. 2001. Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford.

Lovelock, J.E., Giffin, C.E. 1969. ‘Planetary Atmospheres: Compositional and other Changes Associated with the Presence of Life’, in Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, 25, 179-193.

Lovelock, J.E. 1972. ‘Gaia as seen through the atmosphere’, in Atmospheric Environment, 6 (8), 579- 580.

Lovelock, J.E., Margulis, L. 1974. ‘Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the gaia hypothesis’, in Tellus, 26 (1-2), 2-10.

Lovelock, J.E. 1979. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford.

Nielsen, M. 2009. ‘Diana Efesia Multimammia: The metamorphosis of a pagan goddess from the Renaissance to the age of Neo-Classicism’, in Fischer-Hansen, T. and Poulsen, B. (eds.), From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast, Copenhagen, 455-496.

Nisbet, G. 2016. ‘Mecha in Olympus: Shirow Masamune’s Appleseed’ in Kovacs, G., Marshall, C.W. (eds.), Sons of Classics and Comics, Oxford, 67-78.

Özmen, S.S. 2017. ‘The Ionians in Anatolia and the Mother Goddess Cybele Cult’, in Tilbe, F., Iskender, E., Sirkeci, I. (eds.), The Migration Conference 2017 Proceedings, London, 259-273.

Rogers, G.M. 2012. Mysteries of Artemis of Ephesos: Cult, Polis, and Change in the Graeco-Roman World. New Haven.

Roller, L.E. 1994. ‘Attis on Greek Votive Monuments; Greek God or Phrygian?’, in Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 63 (2), 245-62.

Roller, L.E. 1999. In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. Berkeley.

Roscoe, W. 1996. ‘Priests of the Goddess: Gender Transgression in Ancient Religion’, in History of Religions, 35 (3), 195–230.

Secor, T.W. 2020. ‘Crystals and Spiritual Attunement’, in Bean, A. (ed.), The Psychology of Final Fantasy: Surpassing the Limit Break, Texas, 61-75.

Wade, J. 2019. ‘The Castrated Gods and their Castration Cults: Revenge, Punishment, and Spiritual Supremacy’, in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 38 (1), advance online publication.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Allen, J.S. 2008. The Despoliation of Egypt: In Pre-Rabbinic, Rabbinic and Patristic Traditions. Leiden.

van den Broek, R. 1971. The Myth of the Phoenix: According to Classical and Early Traditions, trans. I. Seeger [Brill Archive](Leiden 1972).

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Gullberg, S.R., Malville, J.M. 2017. ‘Caves, Liminality and the Sun in the Inca World’, in Culture and Cosmos, 21 (1), 193-214.

Gullberg, S. R. 2020. Astronomy of the Inca Empire: Use and Significance of the Sun and the Night Sky, Cham.

Hart, G. 1990. Egyptian Myths (The Legendary Past). Austin

Hart, G. 2005. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. London.

Hafstein, V. 2018. Making Intangible Heritage: El Condor Pasa and Other Stories from UNESCO, Bloomington.

Hasabelnaby, M. 2019. ‘Bennu: Ecocriticism from an Egyptian Perspective’, in ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 26 (4), 1084-1087.

Hill, J.S. 1984. ‘The Phoenix’, in Religion and Literature, 16 (2), 61-66.

Jacobson, H. 2009. The Exagoge of Ezekiel. Cambridge.

Lane, E.W. 1863. An Arabic-English Lexicon: Derived from the Best and the Most Copious Eastern Sources. London.

Lanfranchi, P. 2018. ‘The Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian’, in Liapis, V., Petrides, A.K. (eds.), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca. 400 BC to ca. AD 400, Cambridge, 125-146.

Liddell, H.G & Scott, R. 1940. A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford.

Mundkur, B. 1983. The Cult of the Serpent: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Its Manifestations and Origins. Albany.

Niehoff, M. R. 1996. ‘The Phoenix in Rabbinic Literature’, in The Harvard Theological Review, 89 (3), 245-265.

Nigg, J. 2009. ‘Transformations of the Phoenix: from the Church Fathers to the Bestiaries’, in IKON: Journal of Iconographic Studies, 2, 93-102.

Nozedar, A. 2006. The Secret Language of Birds: A Treasury of Myths, Folklore & Inspirational True Stories, London.

Petersen, H.F. 2000. ‘The Phoenix: The Art of Literary Recycling’, in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 101, 375–386.

Slifkin, N. 2007. Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash. New York.

Tello, J. C. 2009. ‘The Feline God and Its Transformations in Chavín Art’, in Burger, R.L. (Ed.), The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello: America's First Indigenous Archaeologist, Iowa City, 165-234.

Tilton, H. 2003. The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (1569-1622). Berlin.

Werness, H.B. 2004. The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art. London.


Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Amory, A. 1966. 'The Gates of Horn and Ivory', in Yale Classical Studies, 20.

Ainalis, Z. D. 2018. ‘From Hades to Hell: Christian Visions of the Underworld (2nd-5th Centuries CE)’, in Ekroth, G., Nilsson, I. (eds.), Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition: Visits to the Underworld from Antiquity to Byzantium, Leiden, 273–286.

Carod-Artal, F. J. 2013. ‘Psychoactive plants in ancient Greece’, in Neurosciences and History, 1 (1), 28-38.

Dova, S. 2012. Greek Heroes in and out of Hades. Plymouth.

Ekroth, G. 2018. ‘Hades, Homer and the Hittites: The Cultic-Cultural Context of Odysseus’ ‘Round Trip’ to the Underworld’, in Ekroth, G., Nilsson, I. (eds.), Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition: Visits to the Underworld from Antiquity to Byzantium, Leiden, 37-56.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Gazis, G.A. 2018. Homer and the Poetics of Hades. Oxford.

Haller, B. 2009. 'The Gates of Horn and Ivory in Odyssey 19: Penelope's Call for Deeds, Not Words', in Classical Philology, 104 (4), 397-417.

Harris, W.V. 2009. Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge.

Heitman, R. 2005. Taking Her Seriously: Penelope and the Plot of Homer’s Odyssey. Ann Arbor.

Highbarger, E.L. 1940. The Gates of Dreams. An Archaeological Examination of Vergil, Aeneid VI.893-9, Baltimore.

Highet, G. 1942. ‘The Gates of Dreams: An Archaeological Examination of Vergil, Aeneid VI, 893-899 by Enest Leslie Highbarger’, in The American Historical Review, 47 (4), 828-829.

Ljungberg, C. 2018. ‘Mapping Utopia’, in Riquet, J., Kollmann, E. (eds.), Spatial Modernities: Geography, Narrative, Imaginaries, Abingdon, 42-56.

Mackie, C.J. 1999. ‘Scamander and the Rivers of Hades in Homer’, in The American Journal of Philology, 120 (4), 485-501.

Nelson, E. 2001. ‘Greek Nonsense in More’s Utopia’, in The Historical Journal, 44 (4), 889-917.

Papalexandrou, N., Papalexandrou, A.C. 2005. The Visual Poetics of Power: Warriors, Youths, and Tripods in Early Greece. Oxford.

Papalexandrou, N. 2008. ‘Boiotian Tripods: The Tenacity of a Panhellenic Symbol in a Regional Context’, in Hesperia, 77, 251-282.

Liddell, H.G & Scott, R. 1940. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford.

McNeill, D.N. 2001. ‘Human Discourse, Eros, and Madness in Plato’s “Republic”’, in The Review of Metaphysics, 55 (2). 235-268.

Mihai, A. 2018. ‘Hades in Hellenistic Philosophy (The Early Academy and Stoicism)’, in Ekroth, G., Nilsson, I. (eds.), Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition: Visits to the Underworld from Antiquity to Byzantium, Leiden, 194-214.

Rozokoki, A. 2001. 'Penelope's Dream in Book 19 of the Odyssey', in Classical Quarterly, 51 (1), 1-6.

Vlahos, J.B. 2007. 'Homer's Odyssey, Books 19 and 23: Early Recognition; A Solution to the Enigmas of Ivory and Horns, and the Test of the Bed', in College Literature, 34 (2), 107-131.

Vlahos, J.B. 2011. 'Homer's Odyssey: Penelope and the Case for Early Recognition' in College Literature, 38 (2), 1-75.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Austern, L.P., Naroditskaya, I. 2006. ‘Introduction: Singing Each to Each’, in Austern, L.P., Naroditskaya, I. (eds.), Music of the Sirens, Bloomington, 1-15.

Cooney, J. 1968. ‘Siren and Ba, Birds of a Feather’, in The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 55 (8), 262-271.

Fauser, A. 2006. ‘Rheinsirenen: Loreley and Other Rhine Maidens’, in Austern, L.P., Naroditskaya, I. (eds.), Music of the Sirens, Bloomington, 250-272.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Holford-Strevens, L. 2006. ‘Sirens in Antiquity and the Middle Ages’, in Austern, L.P., Naroditskaya, I. (eds.), Music of the Sirens, Bloomington, 16-51.

Hughes, J., Buongiovanni, C. (eds.). 2015. Remembering Parthenope: The Reception of Classical Naples from Antiquity to the Present, Oxford.

Lee, M.M. 2015. ‘Other “Ways of Seeing”: Female Viewers of the Knidian Aphrodite”, in Helios, 42 (1), 103-122.

Leone, M. 2013. ‘Signs of the Soul: Toward a Semiotics of Religious Subjectivity’, in Signs and Society, 1 (1), 115-159.

Liddell, H.G & Scott, R. 1940. A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford.

van Liefferinge, C. 2012. ‘Sirens: From the Deadly Song to the Music of the Spheres. Homeric readings and Platonic interpretations’, in Revue de l’histoire des religions, 229 (4), 479-501. [trans. Cadenza Academic Translations]

Lomas, K. 2015. ‘Colonizing the Past: Cultural Memory and Civic Identity in Hellenistic and Roman Naples’, in Hughes, J., Buongiovanni, C. (eds.), Remembering Parthenope: The Reception of Classical Naples from Antiquity to the Present, Oxford, 64-84.

Magri, K.S. 2009. ‘Finding Nemo: Puzzling Maltese Identity in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"’, in Barthet, S.B. (ed.), Shared Waters: Soundings in Postcolonial Literatures, Amsterdam, 207-215.

Meyer-Baer, K. 1970. Music of the Spheres and the Dance of Death: Studies in Musical Iconology, Princeton.

Miletti, L. 2015. ‘Setting the Agenda: The Image of Classical Naples in Strabo's Geography and Other Ancient Literary Sources’, in Hughes, J., Buongiovanni, C. (eds.), Remembering Parthenope: The Reception of Classical Naples from Antiquity to the Present, Oxford, 19-38.

Milne, L. 2006. ‘Mermaids and Dreams in Visual Culture’, in Cosmos, 22 (1), 65-104.

Robson, J. 2007. ‘Sirens and Tuneful Weeping’, in The Open Page: Theatre – Women – Song, 12, 76-87.

Schreurs-Morét, A. 2018. ‘Looking for Sirens: Ancient Sites in Naples According to Pirro Ligorio’, in Loffredo, F., Vagenheim, G. (eds.), Pirro Ligorio’s Worlds: Antiquarianism, Classical Erudition and the Visual Arts in the Late Renaissance, Leiden, 146-178.

Spivey, N. 1996. Understanding Greek Sculpture: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings. London.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Bennett, M. J. 1992. ‘Borges’s the House of Asterion’, in The Explicator, 50 (3), 166-170.

Bonfante, L., Swaddling, J. 2006. Etruscan Myths (The Legendary Past). London.

Borges, J.L. 2004 [1949]. The Aleph and Other Stories. London.

Cline, E. 1987. ‘Amenhotep III and the Aegean: A Reassessment of Egypto-Aegean Relations in the 14th Century B.C.’, in Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, 56 (1), 1-36.

Cline, E. 1990-1991 [1993]. ‘Contact and Trade or Colonization?: Egypt and the Aegean in the 14th-13th Centuries B.C.’, in Minos: Revista de filología egea, volume 25-26, 7-36.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Gere, C. 2011. Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism. Chicago.

Hamilakis, Y. (ed.). 2002. Labyrinth revisited: rethinking 'Minoan' archaeology, Oxford.

Karageorghis, V. 2003. ‘The Cult of Astarte in Cyprus’, in Dever, W.G., Gitin, S. (eds.), Symbiosis, Symbolism, and the Power of the Past: Canaan, Ancient Israel, and Their Neighbors from the Late Bronze Age Through Roman Palaestina, Ann Arbor, 215-221.

Lichtheim, M. 2006 [1976]. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume II: The New Kingdom. London.

MacGillivray, J. A. 2000. ‘Labyrinths and Bull-Leapers’, in Archaeology, 53 (6), 53-55.

Marcovich, M. 1996. ‘From Ishtar to Aphrodite’, in Journal of Aesthetic Education, 30 (2), 43-59.

Michaelidou-Nicolaou, I. 2015. ‘The Cult of Oriental Divinities in Cyprus: Archaic to Graeco-Roman Times’, in Tributes to Maarten J. Vermaseren, Volume 2, Leiden, 791–800.

Norrie, P. 2016. A History of Disease in Ancient Times: More Lethal than War. Basingstoke.

Papantoniou, G. 2012. Religion and Social Transformations in Cyprus: From the Cypriot Basileis to the Hellenistic Strategos. Leiden.

Richter, G.M.A. 1987. A Handbook of Greek Art (9th edition). Oxford.

Sansone, D. 2013. ‘Euripides, Cretans Frag. 472e.16-26 Kannicht’, in Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, 184, 58-65.

Shaw, M.C. 1970. ‘Ceiling Patterns from the Tomb of Hepzefa’, in American Journal of Archaeology, 74 (1), 25-30.

Shelmerdine, C.W. (ed.). 2008. The Cambridge Companion To The Aegean Bronze Age. Edited by Cynthia W. Shelmerdine. Cambridge.

Stafford, E. 2013. Herakles. Abingdon.

Young, P.H. 2005. ‘The Cypriot Aphrodite Cult: Paphos, Rantidi and Saint Barnabas’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 64 (1), 23-44.

Ziolkowski, T. 2008. Minos and the Moderns: Cretan Myth in Twentieth-Century Literature and Art. Oxford.


Minotaurs of Ala Mhigo Update:
Berkowitz, S.K. 2017. ‘Staging Death: Performing Greek Myths in Roman Arena Executions’, in Chronika, Volume VII, 40-54.

Coleman, K.B. 1990. ‘Fatal Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments’, in Journal of Roman Studies, 80, 44-73.

Devoto, C. 2019. ‘Some Remarks on the Chronology of the First Coins of Knossos, Crete’, in Adalya, 22, 145-165.

Hard, R. [trans.] 1997. Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology. Oxford [Oxford World’s Classics]

Huys, M. 1997. ‘125 Years of Scholarship on Apollodoros the Mythographer: A Bibliographical Survey’, in L'Antiquité Classique, 66, 319-351.

Kerenyi, C. 1951. Gods of the Greeks. London. [Trans. Cameron, N.]

Kerényi, K. 1976 [1996]. Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life. Princeton [Trans. Manheim, R.]

MacGillivray, A. 2004. ‘The Astral Labyrinth at Knossos.’, in British School at Athens Studies, 12, 329-38.

Svoronos, J.N. 1890. Numismatique De La Crète Ancienne. Mâcon.

Wroth, W. 1886. Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Crete and the Agean Islands. London.


Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Cordingly, D. (ed.). 2014 [2002]. Captain Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. London [Bloomsbury].

Ellis, R. 2003. Sea Dragons Predators of the Prehistoric Oceans. Lawrence.

Markle, M.M.1977. ‘The Macedonian Sarissa, Spear, and Related Armor’, in American Journal of Archaeology 81, 3, 323-39.

Ormerod, H.A. 1997 [1924]. Piracy in the Ancient World: An Essay in Mediterranean History. Baltimore.

de Souza, P. 2002 [1999]. Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge.

Woodard, C. 2007. The Republic of Pirates: Being the true and surprising story of the Caribbean pirates and the man who brought them down. London.


Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Alexander, S. 2015. Unicorns: The Myths, Legends, & Lore. Avon.

Bremmer, J.N. 2012. 'Greek Demonds of the Wilderness: the case of the Centaurs'. in Feldt, L. (ed.), Wilderness in Mythology and Religion: Approaching Religious Spatialities, Berlin, 25-53

Dova, S. 2012. Greek Heroes in and out of Hades. Plymouth.

duBois, P. 1991 [1982]. Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being. Ann Arbor.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Graves, R. 1960. Food for Centaurs: Stories, Talks, Critical Studies, Poems. New York.

Hansen, W. 2004. Handbook of Classical Mythology (Handbooks of World Mythology). Oxford.

Jeffrey, D.L. 1992. A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Grand Rapids.

Lavers, C. 2014 [2009]. The Natural History Of Unicorns. London.

Morgan, A. 1995. Toads and Toadstools: The Natural History, Mythology and Cultural Oddities of This Strange. Berkeley

Shepard, O. 1993 [1930]. The Lore of the Unicorn. New York.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Bailey, G. 1979. ‘Trifunctional Elements in the Mythology of the Hindu Trimūrti’, in Numen, 26 (2), 152-163.

Berkson, C. (ed.). 1999 [1983]. Elephanta: The Cave of Shiva. Delhi.

Chatterjee, G. 2001 [1996]. Sacred Hindu Symbols. New Delhi.

Colledge R. 1999. ‘The Hindu gods and goddesses, holy rivers’, in Mastering World Religions. London.

Foster, M., Cummings, A.B. 1901. Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology. New York.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Kramrisch, S. 1981. The Presence of Śiva. Princeton.

Loseries-Leick, A. 1998. ‘On the Sacredness of Mount Kailasa in the Indian and Tibetan Sources’, in McKay, A. (ed.) Pilgrimage in Tibet, Abingdon, 143-164.

Organ, T.W. 1998 [1970]. The Hindu Quest for the Perfection of Man. Eugene.

Shendge, M. 1995. ‘The Primordiality of Śiva: Some New Linguistic Evidence’, in Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 76 (1/4), 119-128.

Siudmak, J. 2013. The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and its Influences. Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section Two, South Asia, vol. 28. Leiden.

Zimmer, H. 1974. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. Princeton.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Christensen, J. 1995. Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan. Toronto.

Crowley, A. [ed.], Liddell, S., Mathers, M. [Trans.]. 1997 [1995]. The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon Clavicula Salomonis Regis. Boston.

Duling, D. 1975. ‘Solomon, Exorcism, and the Son of David’, in Harvard Theological Review, 68 (3-4), 235-252.

Frost, W. Laing, J. 2014. ‘The Magic of Trains and Travel in Children's Stories’, in Conlin, M.V., Bird, G.R. (eds.), Railway Heritage and Tourism: Global Perspectives, Bristol, 42-54.

Johnston, S. I. 2007. ‘Magic’, in Johnston, S. I. (ed.) Ancient Religions, Cambridge (MS), 139-154

Selzer, A. 2013. The Ghosts of Chicago: The Windy City's Most Famous Haunts. Woodbury.

Schenkel, E. 2010. ‘The Haunted Train. Ghostly Technology as an International Theme in Fiction’, in VESTNIK of Nizhny Novgorod Linguistics University, 12, 107-119.

Spoer, H. 1935. ‘Arabic Magic Medicinal Bowls’, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 55 (3), 237-256.

Torijano, P.A. 2013. ‘Solomon and Magic’, in Joseph Verheyden (ed.), The Figure of Solomon in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Tradition: King, Sage and Architect, Leiden, 107–125.

Yanko, D. 2002. ‘Mystery Solved?’, in Virtual Saskatchewan - Online Magazine. http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/mystery.html

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Albenda, P. 1972. ‘Ashurnasirpal II Lion Hunt Relief BM124534’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 31, No. 3. 167-178.

Austin, A.L. 1996. The Rabbit on the Face of the Moon: Mythology in the Mesoamerican Tradition. [Trans. B.R. Ortiz de Montellano and T. Ortiz de Montellano]. Salt Lake City.

Blahuta, J.P. 2009. ‘Gaia and Environmental Ethics in The Spirits Within’, in Blahuta, J.P., Beaulieu, M.S. (eds.), Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough, Hoboken, 61-71.

Curtis, J. E. 1992. 'The Dying Lion', Iraq 54, 113-117, pls. XV-XIX.

Foster, J. 2009. ‘The Lifestream, Mako, and Gaia’, in Blahuta, J.P., Beaulieu, M.S. (eds.), Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough, Hoboken, 47-60.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Grayson, A.K. 1991. Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC. 1, (1114-859 BC). Toronto.

Grayson, A.K. 1996. Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC. 2, (858-745). Toronto.

Mann, C.C. 2006. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York.

Millard, A.R. 1965. ‘The Assyrian Royal Seal Type Again’, in Iraq, Vol. 27, No. 1. 12-16.

Mitropoulos, J. 2009. ‘Shinto and Alien Influences’, in Blahuta, J.P., Beaulieu, M.S. (eds.), Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough, Hoboken, 125-141.

Watanabe, C.E. 1989. A Study of Royal Lion Hunt Scenes in the Neo-Assyrian Period. Birmingham.

Watanabe, C.E. 2002. Animal Symbolism in Mesopotamia: A Contextual Approach. Vienna.

I owe the root of some of my thoughts on Set/Seth to a talk by Ian Taylor at the Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology (CAHA) 2014 Colloquium at the University of Birmingham, where he presented his research. He has since completed his PhD on the subject: Deconstructing the iconography of Seth.


Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Bagnall, R. S. 2002. ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 146 (4), 348-362.

Berger, A.S. 2012. ‘The Evil Eye: An Ancient Superstition’, in Journal of Religion and Health, 51, 1098–1103.

Cracraft, J., Rowland, D.B. (eds.). 2003. Architectures of Russian Identity: 1500 to the Present. Ithaca.

Dundes, A. 1992 [1981]. The Evil Eye: A Casebook. London.

Elworthy, F.T. 2004 [1895]. The Evil Eye: The Classic Account of an Ancient Superstition. Mineola.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Green, P. 2007. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. London.

Hatzimichali, M. 2013. ‘Ashes to ashes? The library of Alexandria after 48 BC’, König, J., Katerina Oikonomopoulou, K., Woolf, G. (eds.), Ancient Libraries, Cambridge, 167-182.

Heller-Roazen, D. 2002. ‘Tradition's Destruction: On the Library of Alexandria’, in Obsolescence, 100, 133-153

Mayor, A. 2007. ‘Mythic Bio-Techne in Classical Antiquity: Desire, Hope, and Dread’, in Biotechnique Exhibit Catalog, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 1-27.

Phillips, H. 2010. ‘The Great Library of Alexandria?’, in Library Philosophy and Practice (September).

Powers, N. 2002. ‘Magic, Wonder and Scientific Explanation in Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1638-93’, in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, 48, 87-101.

Winkler, M. 2007. ‘Greek Myth on the Screen’, in R. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology, Cambridge, 453-480.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Bruin, F. 1967. ‘Royal Purple and the Dye Industries of the Mycenaeans and Phoenicians’, in F. Sarruf & S. Tamim (eds.), American University of Beirut Festival Book, 295-324.

Davies, M. 2014. ‘Pediasimus, Heracles, and the mid-day heat’, in Prometheus: Rivista di studi classici, 40 (1), 279-282.

Gantz, T. 1993. Early Greek myth: a guide to literary and artistic sources. London.

Iluz, D. 2014. Mediterranean Royal Purple: Biology Through Ritual’, in Goffredo S., Dubinsky Z. (eds.) The Mediterranean Sea. Dordrecht.

Neilson, H.R. 2006. ‘Herakles the Navigator’, in Classical Bulletin, 82 (1), 5-26.

Padgett, J.M. 2003. The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art. Princeton.

Plácido, D. 2007. ‘Mythical Origins of Greek Toponimy In the Northwest Iberian Peninsula’, in Electronic Antiquity, 11 (1), 191-207.

Rees, A. 1819. The Cyclopædia, Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (Volume 27). London.

Smith, A.M. 2010. ‘From Murex shells to purple cloth’, in Journal for Semitics, 19 (2), 599–611.

Theodossiou, E., Manimanis, V.N., Dimitrijevic, M.S., Mantarakis, P. Z. 2011. ‘Sirius in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature: From the Orphic Argonauts to the Astronomical Tables of Georgios Chrysococca’, in Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 14 (3), 180-189.

Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Austin, A.L. 1996. The Rabbit on the Face of the Moon: Mythology in the Mesoamerican Tradition. Salt Lake City. [Trans. by B.R. Ortiz de Montellano and T. Ortiz de Montellano, University of Utah Press].

Barco Centenera, Martín del. 1602. La Argentina: poema histórica, Volume 2. Junta de Historia y Numismática Americana. [Digitised in 2006 by the University of Michigan]

Barney, A., Lewis, W.J., Beach, A., Berghof, O. [trans.] 2006. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville: Translated with Introduction and Notes. Cambridge.

Boomert, A. 2001. ‘Names for Tobago’, in Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 87, 339-349.

Boomert, A. 2002. ‘Amerindian-European encounters on and around Tobago (1498–ca. 1810)’, in Antropológica, 97-98, 71-208.

Borges, J.L. 1967 [2002]. The Book of Imaginary Beings. London. [Trans. by N. T. di Giovanni, Vintage Books, London].

Mayor, A. 2000. The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman times. Princeton.

Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo Fernández de. 1535 [1852]. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Volume II. Madrid. [Digitised by the Internet Archive in 2013]

Verdesio, G. 2001. Forgotten Conquests: Rereading New World History from the Margins. Philadelphia.


Websites:
Final Fantasy Wikia (various images).

Cliff (Flickr): Pink Fairy Armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus) photograph
Smokeybjb: ‘Skeleton of Interatherium excavatus in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago’ used in the magazine version of this article.

Ancient Greek and Latin texts are available in translation in the Loeb Classical Library, in accessible Cambridge, Oxford or Penguin translations, etc, or online unless a specific version is otherwise noted.

For some useful resources, see:
Topostext
Theoi
Perseus


Posts and Activities:
To benefit from the forum's currency system on FFF there will now be Mako Points (MP) rewards handed out to people who comment on a Mythology Manual article. The post must contribute towards a discussion, but if it qualifies then the member shall earn 1 MP!

There shall also be ‘Activities’ posted as comments in various Mythology Manual articles. The nature of these ‘Activities’ will vary depending on the subject matter. As examples they may include crosswords, sketches, or ‘What if?’ scenarios. Complete the task and you shall gain a reward (i.e ranging from between 1-5 MP).

For those who want to go the extra mile and earn more MP, keep an eye out for updates in old articles. New 'Activities' will always be announced in this thread too.

-

Send a PM to Dionysos if you have any questions regarding the Mythology Manual.


If you like what you see and want to support me, feel free to visit my Ko-Fi page. Any support will be warmly appreciated!
 
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Mythology Manual Mako Points Table.
UsernameReason: Comment / ActivityMP Date earned
LinnaeteComment - Talos103/12/21
LinnaeteComment - Titan128/07/21
MolosevComment - Gaia104/03/21
MolosevComment - Gaia102/03/21
Paddy McGeeComment - Gaia101/03/21




[OBSOLETE DUE TO CURRENCY CHANGES]
Mythology Manual Community Tokens Table.

UsernameReason: Comment / ActivityCT Date earned
MolosevComment - Hades317/09/20
MolosevComment - Hades326/08/20
DaggerTribalComment - Ixion303/08/20
IlyenaComment - Brothers320/06/20
MolosevComment - Siren114/05/20
BrandonSamuelComment - Red XIII123/04/20
DaggerTribalComment - Siren125/03/20
shivasComment - Phantom Train / Doomtrain103/04/19
MythoticalComment - Phantom Train / Doomtrain103/04/19
Erumollien
Activity - Faris - Hoist the Colours!
522/03/18
sly Activity - Faris - Hoist the Colours!518/02/18
daredevilComment - Red XIII1 29/12/17
JigoKuuComment - Ixion121/08/16
JigoKuuActivity - Ixion Crossword216/08/16
MitsukiActivity - Ixion Crossword315/08/16
MitsukiComment - Ixion102/08/16
CabbageComment - Phantom Train / Doomtrain101/11/15
Razberry KnightComment - Wedge and Biggs122/07/15
AuronXComment - Wedge and Biggs118/07/15
MitsukiComment - Alexander107/05/15
AuronXComment - Alexander106/05/15
MitsukiComment - Ultros122/03/15
IlyenaComment - The Carbuncle112/01/15

-
A note about Mako Points in Mythology Manual.

Any comment which contributes to a discussion of the article shall be counted.
Praise of the articles (whilst welcome and appreciated) will not qualify for MP unless a contribution to the subject matter is also made. Future posts must genuinely contribute to the topic to qualify.
Activity based MP will be counted separately as and when activities are posted. Keep an eye out for updates!
 
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Here is the first activity. I decided to create a quick crossword for the latest article. I will go back to other articles for other activities.


Ixion Activity 1:

Complete the following crossword and send your entry by PM to Dionysos.
Save the image and work on it in an image editing program or on paper if you wish.

Reward for completion = 3 CT
Reward for near-completion = 2 CT
Reward for an attempt = 1 CT

YD6RHdh.png

Crossword created with Puzzlemaker at DiscoveryEducation.com

Clues:
Across:

4. Wild mares live here
6. Binder of Ixion
7. The name of Ixion's rape victim translates into this familiar word
11. Tribe of Ixion
13. Mountain abode of Ixion's brood
14. Greek Hell
15. True name of a weapon which lends its name to an Ixion attack
17. Ixion's element
20. A more familiar ally


Down:
1. Father-in-Law of Ixion
2. Ixion's common attack
3. Feathered serpent
4. Geological formation where Ixion's temple is located
5. Ixion's punishment
7. Mythical hippo-hominids
8. Ixion's temple
9. Weather phenomenon which is sometimes imagined as the way certain equine monsters were born
10. Chiron's mother
12. Misidentified rhinoceros
16. All Fayths have these
18. Wife of Zeus
19. Cloud animated by Zeus


If you have any questions feel free to PM Dionysos.
 
Want to earn CT? We have a different sort of activity this time!

Red XIII Activity 1:
Species Swap: Red XIII as a human.


Considering the themes discussed in the article, what might Red XIII / Nanaki have looked like if he was a human character? Design and draw him (using any method you wish) and post your drawing in the Red XIII article comments or in a Private Message to Dionysos.

This is not a competition. Do not worry if you do not consider yourself an artist. The quality of your drawing will not be judged! You will still earn 5 CT for your efforts in completing the task.

If you do not want to draw and would prefer to post a written description, you can do so and earn 2 CT instead of 5 CT.

As with all Mythology Manual activities, there is no deadline.
 
Want to earn CT? Here is the latest Mythology Manual activity!

Click here for the related article.


Faris Activity 1:
Hoist the Colours!

Captain Faris’ crew does not appear to have a very creative pirate flag. The secret pirate headquarters uses a variant of the Jolly Roger (with a skull and cutlasses) to adorn their walls.

This the most recognisable form of flag to signify a ‘pirate’ in popular culture, but in the historical ‘Golden Age’ pirates often designed their own flags to promote their own message. Sometimes they did use a black background (signifying that they would give quarter), but many used the red background to signify that no quarter will be given.

To see an idea of real pirate flags see:

Captain Blackbeard's flag:
pirate-flag-of-edward-teach-blackbeard.jpg



Captain Bartholomew Roberts' flag:
pirate-flag-of-bartholomew-roberts.jpg



Christopher Moody's flag:
pirate-flag-of-christopher-moody.jpg


Thomas Tew's flag:
pirate-flag-of-thomas-tew.jpg


See here for others: http://historylists.org/other/top-10...of-piracy.html






Your task is to design a pirate flag. This can be a flag for Faris’ crew, or a flag for your own piratical endeavours (I take no responsibility for these…).

This is not a competition. Do not worry if you do not consider yourself an artist. The quality of your drawing will not be judged! You will still earn 5 CT for your efforts in completing the task.

If you do not want to draw and would prefer to post a written description, you can do so and earn 2 CT instead of 5 CT.

As with all Mythology Manual activities, there is no deadline.


There is more of a reason behind this one… Any flags that you produce may be used in an upcoming event(s)!
 
Timber_Maniacs_Teaser_3 cropped.png


FFF's Mythology Manual's first guest article, Odin, has recently released in issue 3 of FFF's free digital magazine, Timber Maniacs (pages 5-14).

Written by M.J. Gallagher, it explores how Final Fantasy engages with the lore of Odin.

M.J. Gallagher is the author of the popular unofficial Final Fantasy VII Novelisation, the KupoCon exclusive The Nibelheim Incident, Axtelera Ray™: The Chronicles of Astrone and lead editor of Micah Rodney's FFVIII Unofficial Novelization (which is also advertised in Timber Maniacs issue 3, page 125).

Mo is an experienced author and it has been a great experience working with him for this project. Personally, seeing Mo sharing my interest in mythology and Final Fantasy proves to me that there's so much to discuss about our favourite franchise and we can really learn a lot by exploring it.

You can find him here:



What's next?


A bit of an update from myself. I've been working on completing the drafts I had on the go for a while before taking a long break.

I've nearly finished a new article, but I'll wait for the magazine to settle before posting it here on the forum.

No spoilers yet, but Final Fantasy VIII fans might be interested.
 
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Update

I've realised lately that I need to be more human and approachable instead of just cold-dropping articles whenever I'm done. These articles cover deep themes and take a long time to prepare so I can understand that they sometimes appear a bit random.

So, hello! :argor:

There is an article very close to completion. A few people have an idea about what it is already but I'm not going to leave too many hints. I'm popping in to give an update, but I'm still an infernal nuisance. :thehead:


While you wait, if you are into this sort of thing do check out the most recent articles in the Mythology Manual series.
Brothers
Siren

Also check out a Mythology Manual guest article about Odin by esteemed writer M.J. Gallagher (see Timber Maniacs issue 3, pp. 5-14).
We published it last year and it has been well-received.

Feel free to let me know how you feel about them in the comments sections on any of the articles, or in a private message. Any feedback would be welcome (and you earn forum currency for posts in the article threads - not a bribe, just a benefit!).

In fact, here is some actual news in this 'update'. Effective immediately I have increased the Community Tokens gained by posting a comment in a Mythology Manual article from 1 CT to 3 CT. Since some of these articles can be quite long and require thinking in order to respond, I think the replies deserve more for their efforts. From now on that will be reflected in an increased amount of CT.

Further articles are also in the works in various states of draft form, but for now I'll focus on finishing my current project before it becomes the death of me.
 
Update
(Because I appear to have neglected to update
since the last time I'd said I would... Oh)

A new article is pretty much completed and should be posted by the end of the week. I went down multiple rabbit holes, but hopefully I remained somewhat grounded on Earth at least.

In the meantime, if anyone has missed them and is interested, here are the latest entries:
Hades
Phoenix
Ixion - Shadowbringers Ramuh update 25/11/20


With the recent forum currency update (particularly the removal of Community Tokens), I shall be giving some thought about currency rewards for replies, etc, going forward. The new rewards shall reflect the new currency changes.
 
🏺Update🏺

I've been working on a new full article in recent months (albeit postponed for a bit to deal with Birthweek stuff). Once I've trimmed it a bit, I should be good to post it. You could say, right now, I'm trapped under the weight.


While we wait, I relatively recently released some mini-updates to older articles and also completed a full article. If anybody is interested, here they are:
Gaia (Examines the use of Gaia as a planet and character throughout the entire franchise)
Wedge and Biggs - Final Fantasy XV update 04/05/21 (examines how FFXV contributes to FF's trends for Wedge and Biggs)
Minotaurs of Ala Mhigo - Brothers update 10/05/21 (explores how FFXIV's Raubahn might have taken inspiration from the myths of his homeland)


:polyphemos2:
 
:dantelope:🏺Update🏺:dantelope:
(Attempt to keep people in the loop 5.0)​


My creative gears are turning and I am working on another article. It is planned to be a bit shorter than the usual articles I produce. It is still well-researched, etc, and I'm not planning on cutting corners, but the figure I have chosen simply appears less frequently in the franchise. There's still a lot to analyse though!


Also there is another personal project a bit separate from the Mythology Manual that I have started. I will not announce what that is until I am far enough into it to know that it is actually possible/worthwhile.


For now, the most recent article I created was about the entity we call 'Titan' in the Final Fantasy franchise, and how this figure is a fascinating amalgamation of a number of Titans from Greek mythology. If you like that sort of thing, you can read that here:
https://www.finalfantasyforums.net/threads/fff-mythology-manual-titan.65692/


As always, feel free to let me know if you agree/disagree with any of my points, like/dislike the content, or have any feedback to make, and I'll seek to improve.
 
🍇🎅:dantelope:🏺Update🏺:dantelope:🎅🍇


Image / Imgur Problem:

Today I noticed a number of broken images in two of my articles (Hades and Brothers).

I’m not sure how long they’ve been like that, but I don’t think it has been very long. In any case, sorry to any lurkers out there who may be trying to read one of those articles while the images are broken. I’m still not certain of the cause, but it might be on Imgur’s end.

In fact, this is a deeper issue which is affecting other places on this site. Even my signature has fallen victim to it, apparently.

Perhaps not on Christmas Day, but sometime soon I'll look into it. It's pretty important to me tbh!


Latest article:
In more positive news, my most recent article was published at the beginning of the month. No image issues here at the time of writing this post.
It concerns Talos, Greek mythology's ‘ancient robot’ (as he has been imagined in recent years), and the interesting ways that Final Fantasy XIV has represented him.

You can read it here:
https://www.finalfantasyforums.net/threads/fff-mythology-manual-talos.65780/


The Future:

I’ll be endeavouring to be better at promoting these articles offsite (and being more transparent with people here too). I’ve discovered that months of research and writing on these articles doesn’t necessarily equal views and engagement on the back of its own merits (on social media, etc), so I need to be a lot better at social media so that any gains can more fairly reflect the effort I put into them!
Call it a New Year’s resolution, if you like.

But for now, let us all enjoy Christmas!
I could say "Happy Saturnalia!" to be cool, but that should have ended on the 23rd December… I guess part of it was extended to the 25th at some times, though.

:gizmodeer:
 
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