Where stories come from, and where they went. https://wheretalesbegan.com/ 2026-10-20T00:00:00Z https://wheretalesbegan.com/starlore/88-constellations/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

The IAU fixed 88 constellations in 1922. Fifty descend from Ptolemy's 48, and 38 were added between 1536 and 1756. A dated index, myth sources and a border map.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/tales/aarne-thompson-uther-index/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

The Aarne–Thompson–Uther index numbers folktale plots, from Aarne's 1910 list to Uther's 2004 revision. A shared number like 510A marks a plot, not an ancestor.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/tales/baba-yaga/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Baba Yaga threatens to eat Vasilisa, then gives her fire. Seven Afanasyev tales show her as villain, tester and giver; the sources checked record no cult.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/starlore/cassiopeia/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

In Aratus's poem, written after about 276 BC, Cassiopeia sinks head first. Why the myth tilts the queen, what each ancient text says, and how to find her W.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/festivals/christmas-traditions/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Christmas traditions by the earliest dated record we found: December 25 in a Roman list of 354, fir trees in Strasbourg homes in 1605, reindeer in 1821.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/tales/cinderella/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Seven dated Cinderella texts compared, from Ye Xian's gold shoe, written before 863, to Perrault's glass slipper (1697) and the Grimms' 1812 and 1857 texts.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/festivals/easter-date/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Easter is the Sunday after a church table's full moon, not the sky's. The rule, the steps, why Orthodox Easter differs, and 2027's dates: March 28 and May 2.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/myth/flood-myths/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

The Flood Tablet George Smith read in 1872 is a 7th-century BC copy from Nineveh. Nine flood texts compared, from Atrahasis and Gilgamesh to Genesis and Manu.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/lostbooks/herculaneum-scrolls/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Carbonized by Vesuvius in AD 79, the Herculaneum scrolls are mostly Philodemus. How they were found in 1752, unrolled by hand and, since 2023, read unopened.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/myth/izanami/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

In the Kojiki (712), Izanami dies after bearing the fire god and stays in Yomi. The Nihon Shoki's main text (720) never records her death; its variants do.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/festivals/krampus/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Krampus is billed as an ancient pagan demon, yet the records checked find no source for his custom before the late 1500s, and his name reaches print by 1856.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/lostbooks/library-ashurbanipal/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

The Library of Ashurbanipal is almost 32,000 clay tablets and fragments from Nineveh. Its own lists name wax writing boards too, and none of those survived.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/lostbooks/lost-books-antiquity/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Twelve lost books of antiquity, from Livy's missing books to Sappho, with the summaries, quotations, lists and titles that show each one existed.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/myth/persephone-pomegranate/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hades gives Persephone one pomegranate seed and a third of each year below. Ovid has seven or three; Hawthorne has six.

Where Tales Began https://wheretalesbegan.com/starlore/pleiades/2026-10-20T00:00:00Z

Aratus called the Pleiades seven but said only six are seen. Ovid's two candidates for the hidden sister, Galileo's 1610 count, and the nine IAU star names.

Where Tales Began