Whether or not Plato's tale of the lost continent of Atlantis is true, skeptics concede that the myth may have some foundation in a great tsunami of ancient times.

In it, the assassin's sword was seen hanging by a single strand of horsehair above Le Peletier's body, a concept inspired by the proverbial ancient tale of the sword of Damocles, which illustrated the insecurity of power and position.

However, the power of the well known tale of Rome's legendary foundation tends to deflect attention from its actual, and much more ancient, origins.

* " The Last Heir of Castle Connor " ( 1838 ), a non-supernatural tale, exploring the decline and expropriation of the ancient Catholic gentry of Ireland under the Protestant Ascendancy.

Pampinea tells the second tale of the day, which is a very ancient tale.

The ancient tale of Tantalus reaffirms that human sacrifice and infanticide are taboo in Ancient and Classical Greek culture.

What they do show is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the Arabian Nights collection of magical tales ( compiled circa 1500 AD ), such as Vikram and the Vampire, and Bel and the Dragon.

Folklorists have attempted to determine the origin by internal evidence, which can not always be clear ; Joseph Jacobs, comparing the Scottish tale The Ridere of Riddles with the version collected by the Brothers Grimm, The Riddle, noted that in The Ridere of Riddles one hero ends up polygamously married, which might point to an ancient custom, but in The Riddle, the simpler riddle might argue greater antiquity.

The urbane Alexandrian author gives his old tale a touch of appropriate Homeric antiquity by using such an ancient epithet.

The history of Nordland is a tale about the gifts from the sea: One of the most productive seas in the world providing food all year since ancient times, the same sea creates a climate more moderate than any other place in the arctic ; even the bedrock itself enriched by sea living organisms millions of years ago in the geological past.

Another ancient quest tale, Homer's Odyssey, tells of Odysseus, whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years before Athena persuades the Olympians to allow him to return home.

In Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller, biographer Jackie Wullschlager points out that Andersen was not only a successful adapter of existing lore and literary material such as the Spanish source tale for " The Emperor's New Clothes " but also equally competent at creating new material that entered the human collective consciousness with the same mythic power as ancient, anonymous lore.

" The ancient story tells the tale of a young man, Marchete, who stays as a guest of a wealthy couple.

Jordaens's Night Vision appears to be a very faithful representation of Phlegon's story and depicts the decisive moment or climax of the ancient tale.

The ancient Greek writer Theopompus in his work Philippica claimed Hyperborea was once planned to be conquered by a large race of soldiers from another island ( some have claimed this was Atlantis ), the plan though was abandoned because the soldiers from Meropis realized the Hyperboreans were too strong for them and the most blessed of people ; this unusual tale, which some believe was satire or comedy, was preserved by Aelian ( Varia Historia, 3.

Amarcord is a 1973 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale about Titta, an adolescent boy growing up among an eccentric cast of characters in the village of Borgo San Giuliano ( situated near the ancient walls of Rimini ) in 1930s Fascist Italy.

It was an ancient tale about Malik Mammad, the son of one of the wealthiest kings of Azerbaijan.

One of the major rides is Nemesis, an inverted roller coaster, based around the fictional tale of a giant, ancient, malevolent, alien creature which is now incorporated into the new ride: Nemesis: Sub-Terra.

La Llorona bears a resemblance to the ancient Greek tale of the demonic demigodess Lamia.

The band took their name from the folklore tale of the inscribed surrounding land to the ancient Sumerian society ( Fourth B. C ), stating that those who died, either violently or tragically, their souls were to wonder the Fields of Adplumbum ( Aplomb ) until they acknowledged and accepted their fate.

There are numerous variations on an ancient tale that nine hazel trees grew around a sacred pool, dropping into the water nuts that were eaten by salmon ( a fish sacred to Druids ) which absorbed the wisdom.

The story begins as a first person narrative in Warwick Castle, where a man details his recollection of a tale told to by an " interested stranger " who is personified as a knight through his simple language and familiarity with ancient armor.

Each volume encompasses one aspect of Ramesses ' known historical life, woven into a fictional tapestry of the ancient world for an epic tale of love, life and deceit.

Their heroic epics include the ancient " Song of Minküllü ," similar to the Gilgamesh epic ; the " Song of Kartkozhak and Maksuman ," a segment of the Kumyk Nart epic ; and the " Song of Javatbi ," in which, as in the Oghuz epic of Dede Korkut, the tale is told of the struggle of the hero with Azrail, the angel of death.

The opera Les Danaïdes ( The Danaids ) is a five-act tragédie lyrique ; the plot was based on an ancient Greek legend that had been the basis for the first play in a trilogy by Aeschylus, entitled The Suppliants.

The Paphnutius legend in the first half of the fifth century called the marriage prohibition an ancient ecclesiastical tradition.

According to the New American Bible, a Catholic Bible translation produced by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, the story of the Nephilim in Genesis 6: 1-4 " is apparently a fragment of an old legend that had borrowed much from ancient mythology ", and the " sons of God " mentioned in that passage are " celestial beings of mythology ".

Although mythical elements are not so prominent in Exodus as in Genesis, the echoes of ancient legends are crucial to understanding the book's origins and purpose: for example, the story of the infant Moses's salvation from the Nile has its basis in an earlier legend of king Sargon, while the story of the parting of the Red Sea trades on Mesopotamian creation mythology.

The ancient Jewish people were also often viewed as being knowledgeable in magic, which according to legend they had learned from Moses, who himself had learned it in Egypt.

Some medieval chronicles and literary works derive the name of the city of Buda from him. There is an ancient legend, amongst the Székely people that says: " After the death of Attila, in the bloody Battle of Krimhilda, 3000 Hun warriors managed to escape, to settle in a place called " Csigle mezo " ( today Transylvania ) and they changed their name from Huns to Szekler ( Szekely ).

Fingal written in 1762 was speedily translated into many European languages, and its deep appreciation of natural beauty and the melancholy tenderness of its treatment of the ancient legend did more than any single work to bring about the Romantic movement in European, and especially in German, literature, influencing Herder and Goethe.

In Thracians and Dacians legend it is said that there are underground chambers occupied by an ancient God called Zalmoxis.

In Celtic mythology there is a legend of a cave called " Cruachan ," also known as " Ireland's gate to Hell ," a legendary and ancient cave from which according to legend strange creatures would emerge in ancient times and be seen on the surface of the earth.

An ancient legend of the Angami Naga tribes of India claim that their ancestors emerged in ancient times from a subterranean land inside the earth.

There is an ancient legend held in Mexican folklore that a cave in a mountain five miles south of Ojinaga, Mexico is possessed by devilish creatures who came from inside the earth.

There is an old Russian legend that says the Samoyeds, an ancient Siberian tribe, traveled to an underground cavern city to live inside the earth.

A spurious legend has it that the invention of the game saved an ancient city in time of war, and its widespread popularity helped raise funds to build the Great Wall of China.

The popular legend that he attempted the ancient methods of flame gazing, water gazing or both simultaneously is based on a naive reading of his first two verses, which merely liken his efforts to those of the Delphic and Branchidic oracles.

It is possible that Callixtus was martyred around 222, perhaps during a popular uprising, but the legend that he was thrown down a well has no historical foundation, though the church does contain an ancient well.

Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth.

The origins of tug of war are uncertain, but it is beyond dispute that this once royal sport was practiced in ancient Egypt and China, where it was held in legend that the Sun and Moon played Tug of War over the light and darkness.

History and legend tell of the ancient trade routes known as the Amber Road leading from the Old Prussian settlements of Kaup ( in Sambia ) and Truso ( near Elbląg-German: Elbing, near the mouth of the Vistula ) southwards to the Black and Adriatic seas.

According to the legendarium recorded in the 12th-century Gesta Treverorum, the city was founded by an eponymous otherwise unrecorded Trebeta, an Assyrian prince, placing the city's founding legend centuries before and independently of ancient Rome: a medieval inscription on the facade of the Red House in Trier market,

A description and history of the three great caverns, their ancient occupation and the legend of the witch of Wookey.

To this day the family's shield bears a white horse rising from the waves .. Based on the above, in Cornish author Craig Weatherhill's The Lyonesse Stone trilogy ( The Lyonesse Stone, Seat of Storms, The Tinners ' Way ), the Trevelyan family, drawn into the worlds of ancient Cornish legend, are direct descendants of the Lyonesse flood survivor.