This edited article about Theseus originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 700 published on 14 June 1975.

Theseus slays the Minotaur by Lancelot Speed

Theseus, the son of Aegeus, the King of Athens, was one of the greatest of the many heroes in the legends of ancient Greece.

Theseus was born and grew up in a place called Troezene, and it was not until he had grown up that he set out on the long journey to his father’s palace in Athens.

When he arrived there, he found to his horror that his father had married an evil temptress named Medea. She tried to have Theseus poisoned as soon as he arrived, but fortunately Aegeus arrived on the scene in time to stop the murder.

It is as the conqueror of the Minotaur, however, that Theseus is famous in legend. The Minotaur, a terrible monster, half-man, half-bull, was the child of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, King of Crete. In order to hide the monster from his eyes, Minos shut it up in a maze called the Labyrinth. Every year he forced Aegeus, father of Theseus, to send him seven boys and seven girls to shut up in the Labyrinth with the monster. Every year their fate was the same: they were either killed and eaten by the Minotaur or they starved to death.

On hearing of this terrible ordeal, and resolving to kill the monster, Theseus set sail for Crete with the next 14 victims. The ship on which he sailed had black sails and Theseus promised his father that if he were successful he would hoist the white ones instead when they returned.

When the ship arrived at Crete, Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, saw Theseus and immediately fell in love with him. She gave him a long thread to unroll as he went to and fro in the Labyrinth in search of the monster. He was thus able to guide himself back out of the maze again after he had killed the monster.

On the way home to Athens Theseus forgot to change the sails on his ship. Aegeus, thinking his son dead, threw himself into the sea. That sea has been called the Aegean ever since.

After his father’s death, Theseus became King of Athens and married Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.

For trying to capture the wife of Pluto, god of the underworld, Theseus was imprisoned. Though he was later rescued by Hercules, the Athenians refused to have him as their king again after being away for so long, and Theseus went to Scyros, where he later died.

This edited article about King Harold originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 698 published on 31 May 1975.

King Harold

Few people would have any doubts about the question posed by the title of this article. Harold unquestionably, they would say, died at the Battle of Hastings with an arrow in his eye.

Ah, but did he?

Let us re-live, for a little while, the last hours of that celebrated battle near the quiet Sussex seashore on October 14, 1066.

From nine o’clock in the morning of October 14 until three o’clock in the afternoon the fight had been an even one. The Normans pressed their attack with cavalry and each time the English, from behind their well placed barricades, repelled them. The Norman archers, who were achieving nothing with a frontal attack, altered their tactics and sent their arrows skywards, so they came down on the Englishmen’s heads.

The tactic was murderously effective, but the barricaded English line still held. Now the Normans resorted to a trick. They feigned a retreat with the intention of bringing the English out from behind their cover. The ruse worked: Harold’s men poured out after the fleeing Normans, who suddenly wheeled about and plunged back into the fight.

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This edited article about King Midas originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 698 published on 31 May 1975.

King Midas

It has been said that money is the root of all evil. The wealthy would probably challenge this claim, arguing that, properly used, riches create employment for millions of people, thus enabling worthwhile charities and foundations to function.

Men of money, however, would agree that it does not always bring happiness and contentment, but that it can arouse greed, ruthless behaviour and not a little cunning. Gathering and keeping a fortune also involves hard work; millionaires are seldom idle people. Many of them appreciate the pitfalls of prosperity.

One who did was King Midas, legendary king of Phrygia, founder of Ankara and pleasure-loving son of the Great Goddess of Ida. He learnt the facts of finance the hard way.

He is said to have been the discoverer of both black and white lead. But he is best known for his association with another metal . . . gold.

According to the Grecian myths, it all began about 1,000 BC when Bacchus, the god of wine, or Dionysus as the Greeks also knew him, was leading an expedition to the East. As usual, it was a rumbustious, merry-making adventure with a good deal of carousing and roistering along the way.

One of Bacchus’s pupils, a satyr named Silenus, wandered off from the main body and, it is said, collapsed in a drunken state in the rose garden of King Midas.

Peasants found Silenus sprawled unconscious amid the blooms. Before he was fully awake, they seized and bound him. Then they marched him off to the king’s court for judgement. Midas was extremely annoyed but before long the charming tongue of the satyr made him forget his anger.

For Silenus captivated the king with tales of adventure and voyages and Midas was so pleased with the stories told by his unexpected guest that he entertained him for several days in lavish style.

Finally, Midas provided a guide to lead Silenus back to Bacchus, who by now was becoming increasingly anxious about his missing student. But Bacchus was so grateful to see him again that he told Midas he could have anything he wished for.

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This edited article about Perthshire originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 688 published on 22 March 1975.

Rob Roy and his cattle-raiding exploits against Montrose

Often in the quiet nights the cottagers of Perthshire would hear strange sounds on the road outside – the sound of cattle being herded along, the soft murmur of men’s voices, the clink of a bridle as a mysterious midnight procession moved on its way.

It was wiser not to interfere. The cottagers put their heads under the blankets, and left well alone, for Rob Roy MacGregor was stealing cattle again.

On the face of it, Rob Roy was a farmer. He lived in Perthshire, at the turn of the seventeenth century. His interest in cattle, however, was not limited to grazing them. He called on farmers and offered to protect their herds against thieves for a sum of money.

“Aye, that’s well enough,” said the farmers, after Rob Roy had departed, “but who’s the biggest cattle thief in Perthshire? Rob Roy!”

When too many Perthshire cattle farmers had got to know his game, Rob Roy became a cattle-dealer. Men gave him money to buy cattle at market for them, but Rob Roy soon got tired of working for a small fee.

One day in 1711 he collected the money as usual – and made off with it to the Western Isles.

When Rob returned to Perthshire, he found that his family had been turned out of their home by the Duke of Montrose, because Rob Roy owed the Duke money. Seething with anger, Rob Roy vowed vengeance against Montrose.

“He shall pay dear for this!” he snarled, “his grand estates will provide me with food and my living. Not a single one of his cattle shall be safe from me!”

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This edited article about King Arthur originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 685 published on 1 March 1975.

King Arthur by Roger Payne

Everyone has heard of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. No one can prove they ever really existed.

Yet although the time in which Arthur is supposed to have lived – in the fifth and sixth centuries – was a dark age in Britain, the story of his deeds and valour blazed right through Europe.

Not only did various parts of Britain, from Scotland to Wales and Cornwall, claim him as their own. Europe insisted he was a Breton King, and stories and songs about Arthur conquered and superseded those about Charlemagne. Sicily is one of scores of places in which his tomb is said to lie.

But one thing we can be sure of right at the start. If Arthur was anything, he was a Briton. For while other countries have their Arthurian battlefields, graves and castles, in Western Britain there is almost no range of rugged hills, no stretch of rock-strewn moorland that does not claim some association with Arthur.

What is the fascination of his story?

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This edited article about Easter Island originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 682 published on 8 February 1975.

A sun-worshipping ceremony on Easter Island by Andrew Howat

Easter Island was a mystery from the moment the look-out of a ship spotted it in 1722. And it has been a mystery ever since to the people who have explored it and tried to unravel its strange secrets.

People have long puzzled over the intriguing story which began to unfold when the observant sailor saw the green blob of land and reported it to the skipper of his ship, Admiral Roggeveen, a Dutchman. Bewildered, the admiral consulted his charts, but no land was marked at that point.

The admiral inked a blob of land on his map and wrote beside it “Easter Island”, for it was Easter Day. Little did he know that by this action he had given a name to the most puzzling island in the world.

After he and some of his men had explored the island, the admiral wrote a report to his superiors, saying, “The island contains about six thousand souls. All over the island stand huge idols of stone, representing the figure of a man with big ears and bearing a head covered with a red crown.”

One can imagine how that report intrigued other adventurers. Many made landings. They tramped the island and counted the statues. There were 230 standing all over the place. And apart from size – varying from five to twelve metres high – the statues were all identical.

Legless, they rose from the earth at hip level. The faces were expressionless, with receding foreheads, tight lips, prominent chins and a curious tilt at the end of the nose.

But more curious still were the ears. Long and thin, they hung down to the jaw. On each statue was a hat-like crown of red stone.

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This edited article about superstition originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 649 published on 22 June 1974.

Loki guides Hodur’s arm  to contrive the death of Baldur by Gordon Browne

The figure 13 is traditionally associated with ill-luck. Although, oddly enough, to be born on the 13th is generally considered lucky.

We believe thirteen at table to be unlucky because Christ brought the total to 13 when he sat down with his twelve disciples at the Last Supper, but actually this superstition is older than Christianity. In Norse mythology, the fateful banquet was held in Valhalla. The intruder who made up the party to 13 on that occasion was Loki – the spirit of evil, who later contrived the death of Baldur, son of the great god, Odin. In both cases, a betrayer was present, and ever since, it has been believed that death sits at such a table.

In some districts the first to leave the table will die, or meet with misfortune; in others it is the last; and in some, danger haunts anyone unfortunate enough to find himself in such company. In Oxfordshire, it is unlucky even to be in a room with twelve other people, especially if you are the one nearest the door!

Bad luck has attached itself to the number 13 in other ways, partly because it was once mistakenly believed that witch-covens consisted of thirteen persons – the 13th being the Devil himself. Hotel-keepers rarely number a bedroom ’13′. Houses with this number are difficult to sell. In Paris, there is not one house so numbered. In this, apparently, very superstitious city there are people called quatorziemes (‘fourteenths’) who hire themselves out to make up dinner-parties to fourteen.

It is thought unlucky to start any new enterprises on the 13th – including marriage; or to make a journey. Sailors hate leaving port on that day, especially if it is Friday (the day of Christ’s crucifixion and, according to legend, the day when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and the day they died).

This edited article about fruits originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 649 published on 22 June 1974.

Quince (Cydonia vulgaris)

The quince is one of our lesser known fruits but you may well have eaten it without realising. Because it contains a high proportion of a gelatine, called pectin, it is often used to make jellies. It also has a very sharp taste which helps to bring out the flavour of other fruits so it is sometimes added to jams and apple pies.

It was these qualities which made it an immediate favourite with housewives when the quince was introduced into this country. The first mention of it appears in records kept by Matthew Paris, a 13th century historian, who tells us that in 1257 the weather was so bad, “apples were scarce, pears scarcer, while quinces were entirely destroyed.”

The English name, quince, is a corruption of coing, the French name for this fruit which came to them from Cydonia in the Greek island of Crete. The Portuguese call it marmalo, which gives us the word, marmalade.

Originally native to Persia, the quince found its way into Europe via Greece at such an early date that the fruit played an important role in Greek mythology.

Quinces were the “golden apples” which grew in the garden of the Hesperides. They were guarded by a dragon and to gain possession of them was the eleventh labour of Hercules.

Another fable tells how three of these “golden apples” were the downfall of Atalanta, the swiftest of all mortals. Forced by her father to marry, she vowed only to wed the man who could outrun her. One of her suitors, Hippomenes, sought the advice of the goddess, Aphrodite, who gave him three quinces. During the race, he rolled them along the ground as Atalanta passed. She stopped to pick up the precious fruit and lost the race.

Although some quinces are shaped like an apple, others are similar to pears. There the resemblance ends. Their skin has a woolly texture and is golden yellow in colour. Until cooked, the flesh is very fibrous and presses against the numerous seeds so that they are almost glued together.

These seeds have been valued in medicine since Tudor times. A “tea” made from them cures dysentery, in the form of a jelly they ease gum boils or ulcers in the mouth and, as a lotion applied externally, they are used for soothing sore eyes.

This edited article about Greek gods originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 645 published on 25 May 1974.

Dionysos playing the harp with dancing Satyrs

Dionysus, Greek god of wine, was also called Bacchus by both the Greeks and the Romans. Dionysus was not, at first, one of the highest of the deities on Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. He was worshipped by the poor and humble folk of Greece.

His cult gained immense popularity and festivals were held in his honour in Corinth, Delphi, Athens and Sicyon. By the fifth century B.C., Dionysus had been accepted among the twelve great gods.

Legends told that Dionysus was the son of Semele and Zeus, the greatest of the Greek gods. During childhood, Dionysus was cared for by nymphs on Mount Nysa and it was here that he first invented wine. When he grew to manhood, Dionysus became mad and wandered throughout the world teaching the cult of the vine.

When Dionysus returned from his travels he was admitted as a god of the vital, intoxicating powers of nature, and also as a law giver.

The ivy, laurel and asphodel, and the dolphin, serpent, tiger, lynx, panther and ass were all sacred to Dionysus.

Artemis was a goddess of the chase and was called “The Mistress of Animals.” She was also identified with the moon, just as Apollo, her brother, was identified with the Sun. Legends of the birth of Artemis said that Artemis and Apollo were the children of Zeus and Leto, and that Artemis was born under a palm tree.

Artemis is usually regarded as a rural goddess, but she was supreme in three cities. She was often portrayed as a huntress, carrying a bow, quiver and arrows, or a spear, and was accompanied by stags or dogs. As Selene, goddess of the moon, she wore a long robe and veil, and was portrayed with a crescent moon on her forehead. The Roman counterpart of Artemis was Diana.

This edited article about the unicorn originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 643 published on 11 May 1974.

The Unicorn of Scotland – a Royal Beast in Britain’s heraldic devices, by Dan Escott

Animals have always played a very important part in the myths and legends of peoples throughout the centuries since the earliest times, and the unicorn provides a fascinating example of this.

This strange, mythical creature, usually depicted as having the body and head of a horse, the hind legs of an antelope, the tail of a lion, and always a long, twisted horn at the centre of its forehead, has been the subject of countless drawings and fables of many different civilisations.

Like the legends which surround most magical animals, there has been little scientific evidence to support the existence of such a creature. But the idea of a one-horned beast (unicorn means “one horn”) has, since the earliest times, exerted such a powerful influence over the imaginations of men, that the idea of such a beast still persists to this day. The British royal coat of arms has a unicorn on one side, and a lion on the other.

The earliest known records of the unicorn date back to about 2,500 BC. These records, which consisted of engravings carved in clay or stone, were discovered by archaeologists in India. Many of them were beautifully drawn pictures of recognisable animals such as elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers, but there were other drawings which depicted an animal which appeared to be a one-horned ox, with the horn pointing forwards from the forehead.

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