Ancient Griffin-lion relief

Myths and legends

Greek myths: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History’s greatest mysteriesWas the Trojan War fact or fiction?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An Etruscan scarab made of Carmelite featuring a winged Daidalos

The mythical genius of Daidalos, the first polymath. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of folk figure Dick Whittington

Dick Whittington, the Loch Ness Monster and a talking mongoose: 8 mythical figures of British history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The fabled ‘Vegetable Lamb of Tartary’ was a plant said to grow sheep as its fruit.

Q&AWhat was the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary?

Illustration of the man in the iron mask standing by the window of his cell and guarded by two musketeers

Unmasking the 'man in the iron mask': do we know the identity of the famous prisoner?

Greek soldier Pheidippides arrives in Athens with news of the Greek victory over the Persians at Marathon, only to die on the spot

Pheidippides: is the ancient Greek marathon runner remembered for the wrong run?

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: what’s the story?

Perceval meets the Fisher King in an illustration for Chrétien de Troyes’ 12th-century Perceval, The Story of the Grail

How to write a medieval romance. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A stone bust of the Greek god Dionysius

The gods and their whims: your guide to ancient Greek religion

A stone statue of Achilles

Q&AWhy do we say ‘Achilles Heel’?

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

“A eulogy to the cult of chivalry”: what can Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tell us about Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight an adaptation of the Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Green Knight on screen: what can we expect from the retelling of an Arthurian epic?

Medieval romances were sometimes considered subversive material. This scene from the Roman de la Rose, written in the 13th century, depict two lovers. In later centuries, it was said romances “inflamed beastly and filthy desire”

The Mills & Boon of the Middle Ages? Unpicking the mysteries of medieval romances. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kissing the Blarney Stone: a women hangs over the precipice with the aid of a friend as she attempts the feat at Blarney Castle in 1935

What is the Blarney Stone, where did it come from and why do people kiss it?

Actor Errol Flynn as Robin Hood in the film 'The Adventures of Robin Hood', 1938. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

What's the most accurate Robin Hood film?

Knights, dragons and beasts: the strange world of medieval romances. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ‘Eye of Providence’, a symbol linked to the Illuminati, stares out from the reverse side of all US one-dollar bills

The Illuminati: 13 questions about the clandestine secret society answered

Basilisks, manticores and more: medieval fantastic beasts (and where to find them)

Henry the Young King is crowned in 1170. (Wikimedia Commons)

The real King Arthur and his Lancelot? Henry the Young King's remarkable friendship with William Marshal. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of Robin Hood, the heroic archer in English folklore who supposedly robbed the rich and gave to the poor. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Robin Hood: 7 myths about the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest

A guide to the Norse gods. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Werewolves of the ancient world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Vahalla is depicted as a round-topped building in this funerary stone from 8th-century Sweden

Valhalla: fighting and feasting in the Viking warrior afterlife

A helmet from a chieftain's grave in 10th-century Norway. (Images by Getty)

Inside the Viking mind: the view of the Vikings' world from 5 perspectives. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ‘lost’ city of Atlantis. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ancient Babylon: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Trojan Horse – seen in the 2004 film Troy

How much of the legend of Troy is real?

King Arthur triumphs over the Saxons at the battle of Mount Badon

How much of the story of King Arthur is true?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Knights of the Round Table are that the heart of many Arthurian legends

Who were the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, and where does the Holy Grail fit in?