Nyai Roro Kidul: The Queen of the Southern Seas

The legends around the mermaid goddess Kidul – also Ratu Kidul – are mostly linked to the 16th century Javanese Mataram Sultanate. However, anthropological studies suggest that the myth of the Queen of Java’s Southern Seas probably originated from older prehistoric animistic beliefs in the pre-Hindu-Buddhist female deity of the southern ocean. The fierce waves of the Indian Ocean on southern Java’s coasts, its storms and sometimes tsunamis, probably had raised in the locals awe and fear of natural power, and locals attributed it to the spiritual realm of deities and demons that inhabit the southern seas ruled by their queen, a female deity, later identified as “Queen Kidul”. (from wikipedia)

Rebuilding Mankind out of rocks

In the Greek myth of Decalion and Pyrrha, the couple recreates mankind after the universal deluge by throwing rocks over their shoulders to let them grow into men and women. Why rocks? And why over their shoulders? Is this how a community, a city is rebuilt?
Ovid concludes in his Metamorphosis that mankind – the second one, so to say – is hard and enduring becasue it is made out of rock.

Painting by Domenico Beccafumi from the 16. Century

Italy; 16. Century; 1. Century AD; Pagan; Painting; Text; Myth

All Saints Flood

The All Saints’ Flood (Dutch: Allerheiligenvloed) of 1570 was a disaster which happened on November 1, on the Dutch and German coast. Affected cities include Egmond, Bergen op Zoom and Saeftinghe. The print by Hans Moser depicts the Scheldt river overflowing.

According to a popular legend, the bells of the church of the city Saeftinghe can be heard calling for help on foggy days.

Netherlands; 16. Century; Christian; Print; City: Saeftinghe

The Lord Krishna in the Golden City

The painting (circa 1585) depicts the blue-skinned Krishna, an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, enthroned on a golden palace and surrounded by his kinsmen in the Golden City Dwarka.

The mythical city Dwarka, also known as Dvārakā or Dvāravatī (Sanskrit द्वारका “the gated [city]”), one of the seven holy cities for Hindus, is believed to have sunken beneath the Arab Sea. Since the late 1980s scientists have been searching for it’s remains off the coast of Gujarat. There is also a modern city on the coast with the same name, Dwarka.