James Gardner

Ivan IV the Terrible was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then Tsar of All the Russias until his death in 1584. He transformed Russia from a medieval state into an empire, though at immense cost to its people, and its broader, long-term...

Jack and the Beanstalk is an English fairy tale, the best known of the "Jack tales", a series of stories featuring an archetypal English hero. According to scholarly research, this particular tale takes its roots in ancient stories told more than 5000...

The myth of King Midas is a cautionary tale about the dangers of believing that gold should be coveted above all things, and the foolishness of wishing without thinking. It appeared in Ovid's Metamorphosis, and has inspired many works of art and...

Tsar Nicholas I was the younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I. He "came to represent autocracy personified: infinitely majestic, determined and powerful, hard as stone, and relentless as fate". He inherited his brother's throne despite a...

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is the ultimate tragic love story. It is perhaps one of the most famous Greek myths, and the greatest artists have composed masterpieces to honour these two great lovers who lost their chance at reunion. The earliest...

Peter the Great ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire, leading a cultural revolution based on the Enlightenment, modernizing and rationalizing the Russian social and political system. "All his qualities, indeed, were on a colossal...

Phaeton is the son of Apollo and a mortal woman, and his heart's desire is to be seen but once driving his father's chariot, the one used by the god to make the sun travel in the sky. This myth is an ageless story of failure at the hands of pride,...