ascension, as a recurring theme in narrative and visual arts of non-theistic and theistic communities (monotheistic or polytheistic) from east to west of the ancient world, reveals concern and urge of man to communicate with the supra sensible world. the connotation of ascension, however, broadly varies from the flight of shaman’s spirit, a hero transformation to god, and a trip to heaven and h...

This paper focuses on the mythological image, the Queen Mother of the West in Classic of Mountains and Seas, to explore the hiding history and mental reality behind the fantastic literary images, to unveil the origin of jade worship, which plays an significant role in the 8000-year-old history of Eastern Asian jade culture, to elucidate the genetic mechanism of the jade worship budded in the Sh...

7 1.1 THE CRETE OF EURIPIDES: An Overview 10 1.2 The Research Questions 11 1.3 Methodology 11 1.4 Commentaries and Translations 13 1.5 Euripides and the dramatic treatment of Crete as an island 14 1.6 The cycle of Cretan myths 15 1.7 Treatment of mythological characters and themes 23 1.8 Crete’s ‘Darker Aspects’ 27 1.9 Formulations of identity 28 1.10 Insularity 31 1.11 Interconnectivity 35 1.1...