You’ve heard of Virgil’s Aeneid...

But beyond that Roman myth offers more tales filled with wisdom and lessons that are essential for life.

Here are 10 Roman myths you’ve probably never heard of…🧵 (thread) 1. Romulus and Remus — Twins abandoned at birth, Romulus and Remus were raised by a she-wolf and grew into powerful leaders.

Fate led them to found a city...

But Romulus killed Remus over where to found their city, and Rome was born—at the cost of brotherhood.

John Milton's Paradise Lost is an epic poem about the biblical fall of man.

It kicks off with Satan, freshly booted from Heaven, plotting to ruin God's newest creation— us.

Here are a few lines from the poem.🧵 1. “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

Virgil's Aeneid stands as a pinnacle of Western literature and a top-tier tale in Greek myth.

Aeneas, the tales hero, strides towards destiny amidst the fall of Troy.

Here are 10 quotes from The Aeneid.🧵 1. “If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell.”

Myths often shape people beyond their eyes can see.

People are so drawn to them, because of the shred of light they exude; it's the truth we all yearn for.

And in their light, here are 10 tales of myth.🧵 1. Twelve Labors of Heracles — Probably the most famous hero of any realm of myth, among with the most famous feats that inspire anyone who reads them.

He skinned Nemean Lions, slayed the Learnean Hydra, and was the only hero to be taken up into Olympus upon his death.

Great men falling to hubris is a tale as old as time.

Here stands a Greek hero who soared to heights no other had reached, only to be ensnared by his own overreaching ambition.

A vivid testament to the razor's edge between glory and ruin.

This is the tale of Bellerophon.🧵 It starts with Sisyphus, renowned for his craft.

Yet, his deceitful deeds condemned him to an eternal torment in the underworld, where he struggled endlessly to roll a massive marble block uphill, only to watch it plunge back down each time he neared the summit.

In Proverbs of The Bible, it says that wisdom brings more profit than gold.

Globally, each culture shares its own set of proverbs.

In Norse Myth, Odin The All-Father's, Hávamál, offers proverbs of its own.

To share in this wisdom, here are 10.🧵 1. “A coward believes he will ever live if he keep him safe from strife: but old age leaves him not long in peace though spears may spare his life.”

In the West, not many know Russian myths.

Ivan Tsarevitch is a key hero.

This is his start with The Firebird, and The Grey Wolf.🧵 In a distant Tsardom, Tsar Vyslav's golden apples were stolen by a radiant Firebird.

He promised half his Tsardom to whoever captured it.

His sons Dimitry and Vasily tried but failed, falling asleep on their watch.

From the tales of ancient Greece, the tale of Oedipus is known.

Being the one brave enough to battle the riddle-bearing Sphinx, he also battles a fate most would crumble under.🧵 The tale begins in ancient Thebes, a prophecy warned King Laius and Queen Jocasta: their son would be their doom.

Despite fear, love prevailed, and they had a child.

To escape fate, they left him on Cithaeron's slopes, hoping to change destiny.

In the beginning of Greek myth, Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky) birthed the Titans.

The titans then bore the gods.

Their father, Saturn, fearing a prophecy that one day his child would overthrow him, began to devour his own children.🧵 To dodge fate, Saturn married his sister Rhea and hatched a brutal plan: he swallowed each of their children whole as they were born.

Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon all vanished into his belly.

They say without fear, there is no room for courage.

But what exactly is courage?

According to Aristotle, this is what courage is and how a man should maintain it.🧵 From Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says this about courage,

'It has already been shown that it is a mean state in relation to feelings of fear and confidence.'

In other words, it's a balance between fear and confidence.

Few understood power like Niccolò Machiavelli.

Through his highs and lows, the author of The Prince proved himself resilient.

Here are 10 of his best quotes.🧵 1. “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

Ever think you’ve run into angels and had no clue?

The Bible says: 'And hospitality do not forget; for by this some, being not aware of it, have entertained angels.' (Heb 13:2)

Greek myth tells a tale of the gods secretly visiting mortals in Phrygia.🧵 It begins with Zeus and Hermes, posing as regular peasants, roamed a town in Phrygia, seeking a place to crash for the night.

They knocked on countless doors, but the wicked townspeople shut them out.

Zeno of Citium is known as the Father of Stoicism.

Born in 334 BC, he was a merchant, until he found Socrates.

Then he grew into the first 'stoic philosopher' and founded a school in Athens, 300 BC.

Here are 10 of his quotes.🧵 1. “Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.”

Plato is one of the most influential philosophers.

He learned from Socrates, who was executed by an Athenian court.

Then he built Akedemia Platonos that shaped minds like Aristotle's.

Check out 10 of his quotes.🧵 1. “People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.”

As a pupil of Plato's Academy, Aristotle excelled in all realms of life.

After Plato's death, he taught Alexander the Great for a few years.

To gain some of Aristotle's wisdom, here are 10 of his quotes.🧵 1. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

Socrates was sentenced to death for 'corrupting the youth.'

His wisdom would still be deemed corrupt today, if our overlords had their way.

In Socrates' honor, here are 10 of his quotes.🧵 1. “The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

Epictetus once said,

“Everyone's life is a warfare, and that long and various.”

And he was right.

Born a slave and later a philosopher, his wisdom is fit perfect for life's battles.

Here are 10 more of his quotes.🧵 1. “It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

Homer's writing is among history's most influential, if not the most.

His poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, shaped Western minds like Dante Alighieri, Virgil, and Alexander The Great, since their debut.

To honor Homer and his wisdom, here are 10 quotes of his works.🧵 1. “Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.”

― The Iliad

We all hit a crossroads in life.

A crucial moment where we must choose between one path or the other.

Even Heracles, Greek myth's greatest hero, faced this.

His decision, like ours, shaped the rest of his life.🧵 2/

Heracles, seeking solitude to ponder his life's path, found a spot to sit and think.

Two women approached him.

One was beautiful and noble, in pure white robes.

The other, loose and seductive, had powdered skin and an arrogant stride that accentuated her charms.

Greek myth holds some of the richest tales ever told, filled with wisdom.

You know of The Iliad, or, The Aeneid, tales of the trojan war and after that echo through time

But beyond these, Greek myth offers even more wisdom, more acts of heroism.

These are the top 10🧵 1. Bellerophon

This was the audacious hero who tamed Pegasus. Ambition led him to challenge gods and monsters alike.

His quest to slay the Chimera, a beast breathing fire, became legendary. Yet, his hubris invited wrath, casting him to a tragic fall from his heights.

Imagine you're a mortal on Midgard,

The realm's most noble Æsir just fell, Balder, marking the winter that brings the world's demise.

The world's demons are free, arming themselves for war with your gods;

What option remains for you but to resign to the destiny of Ragnarök?🧵 2/

In Norse mythology, the gods, finite yet immortal, tread a path to a tragic end.

The Æsir's fall began with tolerating Loki, leading to dire straits.

Late realization of his malice led to his banishment, echoing his corruption in humanity.