Top 10 mythol­o­gy facts

Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory. It was so beautiful and realistic that he fell in love with it. He went to Aphrodite's temple and made offerings at the altar, quietly wishing for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl." When he returned home, he realized that Aphrodite had granted his wish.

Argos. In Homer's Odyssey, Argos was the only one to recognize Odysseus in his home upon his return after 20 years of travel. Immediately afterwards, Argos died.

Slavic. Vampires are fantastic creatures that first appeared in the Slavic mythology. Vampire were imagined as undead that fed on human blood.

Fingernails. Naglfar is a boat made entirely from the fingernails and toenails of the dead. During the events of Ragnarök, Naglfar is foretold to sail to Vígríðr, ferrying hordes that will do battle with the gods.

Agamemnon. In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra and the father of Iphigenia, Electra or Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was taken to Troy by Paris, Agamemnon commanded the united Greek armed forces in the ensuing Trojan War.

Pandora. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by the gods, specifically by Hephaestus and Athena on the instructions of Zeus. According to the myth, Pandora opened the "Pandora's box", releasing all the evils of humanity and leaving only Hope inside once she had closed it again.

Horses. BALIOS and XANTHOS were a pair of immortal horses which the hero Peleus received from Poseidon at his marriage to the goddess Thetis. They drew the chariot of the couple's son Akhilleus (Achilles) during the Trojan War. Balius and Xanthus are the Latin forms of the Greek names Balios and Xanthos.

Set. Horus was a god of arable land and the order, while Set was a god of the desert and chaos. Both fought for the throne of Egypt after Osiris, father of Horus, had been murdered by Set. Horus won the battle. Since then, all the pharaohs ruled Egypt as incarnation of Horus.

German. The kobold (occasionally cobold) is a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology and surviving into modern times in German folklore.

Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord") was probably the main god in pantheon of the pre-Zoroastrian Iranians. In both the religion of Darius, Xerxes and Zoroaster, he was worshipped as the supreme god to the point that the rest were almost excluded.