TeaPagan

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.

The unbroken seal on King Tut’s Tomb

The tomb of the boy-king was opened by the famous archaeologist and egyptologist Howard Carter in the early 20’s. The tomb had not been pillaged since ancient times, and contained treasure more spectacular than any previous discoveries. The story goes that he also found an ancient clay tablet in the antechamber. When he later translated it, the inscription read:

In 1993 the ancient mummy of a mysterious young woman, known as the Ukok Princess was discovered. 2,500 years old, she is believed to be from the Pazyryk people - a nomadic people described in the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus - and the colourful body artwork is seen as the best preserved and most elaborate ancient tattoos anywhere in the world. 

Buried around her were six horses, saddled and bridled, her spiritual escorts to the next world, and a symbol of her evident status, perhaps more likely a revered folk tale narrator, a healer or a holy woman than an ice princess.

The tattoos on the left shoulder of the ‘princess’  show a fantastical mythological animal: a deer with a griffon’s beak and a Capricorn’s antlers. The antlers are decorated with the heads of griffons. The mouth of a spotted panther with a long tail is seen at the legs of a sheep. She also has a deer’s head on her wrist, with big antlers. There is a drawing on the animal’s body on a thumb on her left hand. 

Adlerweg waterfalls - Adlerweg, Tirol, Austria, October 2022

photo by: nature-hiking

Day 1483 of posting pictures of elephants.

Earthenware funerary sculpture in the form of a dog, China, Sichuan Province, Eastern Han Dynasty, 25-220 AD