Gilgamesh and Enkidu
A king, a wild man, friendship, fame, grief, and the oldest surviving heroic epic.
Mythology
Hypnos and Thanatos: Sleep and His Half-Brother Death
Twin sons of Nyx carry mortals from the waking world: one for a night, the other forever.
Loki and the Death of Baldr
A missed oath, a sprig of mistletoe, and one of the great turning points of Norse myth.
Odin's Sacrifice at Yggdrasil
The Allfather hangs from the world-tree and wins the secret of the runes.
Persephone and the Seasons
Pomegranate seeds bind Persephone to the underworld and explain the grief of winter.
Ra and the Solar Journey
Ra wasn't one fixed figure the way later mythologies like their gods to be. He was a name attached to a process, and the process had stages.
Romulus, Remus, and the She-Wolf
Twin sons of Mars, a river rescue, a she-wolf, and the violent foundation of Rome.
The Twelve Labors of Heracles
Atonement, impossible tasks, and the making of the best-known Greek heroic cycle.