James Schultz
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    Gullible fish are lured ever closer to the gaping maw of the angler as small squid and lantern fish swim by. Leagues away, a titanic struggle between a sperm whale and a giant squid rages.




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    The fate of this maiden was another example of the danger of claiming equality with the gods in anything whatsoever. Minerva was the weaver among the Olympians as Vulcan was the smith. Quite naturally she considered the stuffs she wove unapproachable for fineness and beauty, and she was outraged when she heard that a simple peasant girl named Arachne declared her own work to be superior. The goddess went forthwith to the hut where the maiden lived and challenged her to a contest. Arachne accepted. Both set up their looms and stretched the warp upon them. Then they went to work. Heaps of skeins of beautiful threads colored like the rainbow lay beside each, and threads of gold and silver too. Minerva did her best and the result was a marvel, but Arachne's work was in no way inferior. The goddess in a fury of anger slit the web from top to bottom and beat the girl around the head with her shuttle. Arachne, disgraced and mortified and furiously angry, hanged herself. Then a little repentance entered Minerva's heart. She lifted the body from the noose and sprinkled it with magic liquid. Arachne was changed into a spider, and her skill of weaving was left to her.
    From "Mythology," by Edith Hamilton.




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    This image is derived from one of the most famous Russian folk tales. Here we see the witch Baba Yaga who lives in a house on hen's legs. She has just been outwitted by Vasilisa the brave, another popular character in Russian folklore. As a reward, Baba Yaga gives Vasilisa a glowing skull that will illuminate her way on her journey home. Upon her return, the skull will ignite and hurl flames at her evil stepmother and stepsisters, destroying them completely.




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    Her story is unique, for instead of a god in love with an unwilling maiden, a maiden is in love with an unwilling god. Clytia loved the Sun-god and he found nothing to love in her. She pined away sitting on the ground out-of-doors where she could watch him with her eyes as he journeyed over the sky. So gazing she was changed into a flower, the sunflower, which ever turns toward the sun.
    From "Mythology", by Edith Hamilton.




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    This image wad painted soon after September 11, 2001. The towers are depicted here not simply as stone structures, but as once living entities with roots growing deep into the ground. The women in mourning at the base of the towers wear a divided American flag. They symbolize the sorrow of an entire nation.




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    Perhaps the most painful time in Edgar Allan Poe's life was the death of his young wife, Virginia. She died from tuberculosis at the tender age of 24. Here we see Edgar soon after his wife's death. Her blood stained sick blanket is draped over a chair (those suffering from this painful disease would often cough up blood). If you look closely, you may observe her spirit near him.




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    Cast into the inferno, the president stands amidst a forest of severed limbs suspended in a lake of oil. They represent thousands of souls who perished because of his lies. The leader himself stands in parody to the statue of liberty. However, the torch he burns is the constitution of the United States. In his other hand he cradles the bible. Yet, he holds it upside down for he has never understood the words it contains. In the distance, Dante and Virgil pause for a moment on their journey to look down upon this scene with utter disgust. The fire raining down from the sky signifies that this circle of hell is the realm of the violent.




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    As told in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a soul must endure many harrowing trials before reaching paradise. Here the spirit holds in his hands a canopic jar that contains his heart. The heart is taken by Maat, the goddess of justice. She will weigh the heart against the feather of truth. If the heart is filled with a lifetime of evil deeds it will be revealed on Maat's scales. The poor soul will at once be eaten by Ammut the devourer; a horrible creature part crocodile, part lion, and part hippo. If the scales reveal a benevolent soul, the spirit may pass on to the realm of Osiris, the lord of the dead. It is his silhouette that can be seen there among the stars.




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    The unicorn, a mythical symbol of purity in the medieval era, is depicted here in a polluted and ruined landscape. Bereft of their wilderness and trapped here they have gone mad and mercilessly attack each other. Their horns, thought to neutralize poison, are now shattered and useless. The maiden, also a symbol of purity is in grave danger of being trampled by these wild beasts. Humankind's destruction of the natural world brings about the myth's end.




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    In the fifth century, St. Patrick begins his journey from the continent back to Ireland. His courageous mission will transform the land that enslaved him many years ago.




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    Some children get delivered by the stork. Some arrive via magic dragon.




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    This image of a Victorian woman is something of a mystery. Her face is unreadable and expressionless as many of the photographs of that era. Why does she stand there in such a bleak landscape? Where is she going? And what of the child in the baby carriage?




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    Edgar Allan Poe stands before a bookshelf filled with numerous volumes of forgotten lore. Atop the shelf, a bust of Pallas seems to gaze down upon him. In this moment, Poe is perhaps inspired to write his most famous work.




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    The sphinx hides by the roadside laying in wait for passers by. A dreadful creature, part lion, part eagle, and part woman, who will eagerly devour anyone who cannot answer her riddle. Currently, she is hiding along Sunrise Highway somewhere between exits 43 and 44.




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    An angry spirit marches out from the picture. The skeletal elephant draped in red (the color of justice) is a symbol of the natural world. It seeks to avenge itself upon all of mankind, the cause of its ruination.




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    The Norse gods differed from other mythical pantheons in that their demise was foretold. Ragnorok was the viking name for this doomsday when all life on heaven and earth would be destroyed. Odin, the ruler of the gods sits here on a park bench waiting to this very day for the end to come. Yet his followers are all gone now, and he waits alone before the great ash tree Yggdrasil that supports the universe. His spear sits on the ground broken and rotting from disuse. His only companions now are his two ravens whose names are Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory). They fly throughout the world to bring the sky-father news of humankind and the impending ruin of all things.




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    After the tragic attack on September 11, America's shock and despair quickly turned to rage. Here is depicted a spirit of vengeance that is marching of to war. In the breastplate of the spirit one can see the reflection of the towers burning.




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    Vladislav III, also known as Vlad the Impaler, is most famously known today as Dracula (the Son of the Dragon). This violent fifteenth century warlord was famous for the impalement of thousands of victims on stakes during his reign in what is now modern day Romania. Dracula and his exploits are said to be the inspiration for the eponymous novel by Bram Stoker written in 1897. Vlad III is presented here in iconic form as the legend of Dracula still thrives to this very day.





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