The Monsters

  • The Tupilaq: Ancient Vengeance Monster of the Inuit

    In Inuit mythology, which dates back 4,000 to 5,000 years, the tupilaq was originally conceived of as a hybrid avenging monster-spirit created by an angakkuq, an Inuit shaman.

  • Cerberus, the Incompetent Watchdog of Hades

    From fifty-headed primordial monstrous canine to three-headed pet of Hades, Cerberus is renowned for being the vicious guard dog of the Greek and Roman underworld, tasked with keeping the dead in and the living out. But his reputation seems largely unearned, given the rather large number of live humans who managed to infiltrate Hades.

  • Monstrous Insects in the Ancient Imagination

    What do you think of when you hear the phrase “monstrous insects”? Do you get a mental picture of prehistoric giant dragonflies from the works of Jules Verne? Or of the giant, radiation-mutated bugs omnipresent in films from the 1950s that arose in the wake of atomic testing? Would it interest you to know that…

  • Medusa and the Monstrous Feminine

    Perception of the Gorgons as monsters, both in antiquity and in later reception, comes as a result of these early literary and artistic representations that effectively “other” the sisters’ appearances. They are fearsome, dangerous, and—despite having the shape of women—inhuman, which makes them monstrous.

  • The Playful Nature of Ancient Sea Monsters

    Here Professor Denson, who previously spoke with us about Charybdis, has a very new take on some extremely old sea monsters.