welcome to the gallery of fantastic creatures

about this feature

In this feature, The Muse Of Mythology invites you to explore a corner of the realm of the outlandish, bizarre, exotic, and grotesque—a corner of man's atavistic imagination—the world of fantastic creatures.

The fantastic creatures in this feature are displayed in the form of a slideshow containing scores of creatures. These creatures have been conceived from, in, and by past and present periods, cultures, mythologies, societies, histories, places, and media the world over. The Muse has collected these creatures from all over the world and has put them on display for your edification, information, and enjoyment in the Gallery Of Fantastic Creatures.

The arts are among the richest sources of fantastic creatures. Artistic sources that The Muse has consulted for this feature include:

• Myth
• Legend
• Literature
• Movies
• Fine Arts
• Music

Since the mind of homo sapiens sapiens is fertile and universal, a goodly number of fantastic creatures resemble each other in one way or another, even though they stem from widely diverse places, periods, cultures, sources, art forms, media, or artists. By the same token, many look or act differently. Many who have participated in myths or legends tell different stories.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of fantastic creatures inhabit this twilight world of man's imagination, but The Muse presents only a representative sample for your review. For The Muse, presenting too many fantastic creatures could lead to exhaustion; for the visitor, exploring too many creatures in one place and at one time could cause dizziness.

about fantastic creatures

What is a fantastic creature?

• A creature is an animal, especially a nonhuman.
• A fantastic creature is a creature conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination.

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about the gallery

The Muse has placed these fantastic creatures in the Gallery Of Fantastic Creatures for their safekeeping and for yours.

Why yours? The Gallery is phantasmagoric and the creatures hiding out therein are a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances. They show up and leave the scene as in a dream or in the imagination. If that isn't enough to ruffle one, even though some of the creatures that inhabit these exotic lands are delightful, others are dangerous.

But fear not; whether dangerous or delightful, the majority of creatures in the Gallery have been proven fantastic; they are actually only images, specters posing as real. Some take the form of reproductions, sketches, drawings, photos, or paintings, while others are reproductions of sculptures, movie clips, or animations.

Since all creatures in the Gallery are mere artist's concepts—none have been proven to exist or ever to have existed—you can relax. You can be sure that they will never actually help or harm anyone. Even though many historic cultures have taken these creatures seriously and believed in them, you don't have to. theycan't help or hurt anyone anymore.

The moral? Don't be afraid of afrits.

this gallery has wings

The Gallery takes the form of a slideshow. For your convenience, the fantastic creatures in the Gallery are displayed in two wings—The East Wing and The West Wing. Each wing is a separate slideshow and each slide in a show is analogous to a room in a gallery:

1. The East Wing contains images of fantastic creatures in alphabetical order with names starting with the beginning letters of the alphabet.
2. The West Wing contains images of fantastic creatures in alphabetical order with names starting with the ending letters of the alphabet.

take the tour

Touring either Gallery is as easy as pie. Here's how.

First, decide on which wing you want to tour and enter that wing by navigating to it. The tour in each wing begins automatically as soon as you enter.

Touring options:

1. Watch a series of thumbnail images of fantastic creatures pass by.
   • Click a thumbnail you like and jump directly to the full-scale image of the creature it represents...
   • ...Or wait until thumbnail images finish. Full-scale images of fantastic creatures in their rooms will automatically appear.
2. Use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the gallery screen at any time to jump back and forth between thumbnail images and rooms with full-scale creature images. Navigation buttons are located at the bottom of your gallery screen; scroll down to reveal buttons.

• The Muse Of Mythology now invites you to explore the Gallery Of Fantastic Creatures:
   

  • Visit The East Wing of the Gallery: click here.

  • Visit The West Wing of the Gallery: click here.

ETAF Recommends

Books

Mythological Creatures: A Classical Bestiary by Lynn Curlee. This is a book for young readers with good illustrations by the author.