By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
What was the Trojan Horse? The Trojan Horse the hollow wooden horse in which Greek soldiers concealed themselves so they could enter Troy without arousing suspicion. The Trojan Horse was offered to the city of Troy as a gift, but when the Trojans took the wooden horse inside the city gates, the Greeks who had secreted themselves within the wooden structure came out and were thus able to attack Troy from within.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Surely the most famous horse in all of classical myth is Pegasus, the flying horse. But who was Pegasus and how did he come about? And what is the significance of this myth? Let’s take a closer look at the story of Pegasus and what it means – from the significance of the flying horse motif to the links to poetic creativity and inspiration which Pegasus has.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The tale of the Three Apples is not quite so familiar to Western readers as, say, the story of Aladdin or Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, but it is a more authentic tale in that it was included in the original medieval collection known as the One Thousand and One Nights (whereas Aladdin and Ali Baba are both ‘orphan tales’, added centuries later). Indeed, this story is present in the oldest known manuscript of the Arabian Nights.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The Bible contains many well-known stories, but how much do we know about them? And what are the best Bible stories everyone should know? Many people, even those raised in countries where Sunday school and religious assemblies are a mainstay of many children’s education, may find they’ve misremembered, or got the wrong impression about, some of the iconic tales from the Old and New Testament.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Emma Zunz’ is a short story by the Argentine master of the short story, Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). This story is a revenge tale, in which the titular Emma Zunz avenges the death of her father, who dies after an overdose of a drug administered in hospital. You can read ‘Emma Zunz’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Borges’ story below.