The Mythoskop, an interdisciplinary online portal on ancient mythology, has been freely accessible to interested parties since yesterday evening. The online portal was developed and filled by a freelance designer, researchers and students from the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg.
Who with whom and why?
The Mythoscope is intended to provide a better overview of ancient mythical beings. For this purpose, connections between the beings of the Greek world of gods are made graphically visible and the various sources are given. The stated aim of the project is to achieve a good overview in the portal at the same time, without having to sacrifice the level of detail or, in some cases, larger sources.
The search for specific figures or beings can be narrowed down very precisely. There are distinctions by types (such as divine or mortal), groups (such as Titans or Cyclops), and sources (such as Ovid or Hesiod). A simple name search is also possible. In this way, those who are interested can keep moving from being to being, skim through certain sources, take a closer look at types, groups or sources. All beings are also located on a world map if there is a location.
In the source area, too, the connections between the beings are shown visually, here for Hera, for example.
The Mythoskop can be operated quite intuitively via mobile devices as well as via the desktop. There it always offers the possibility to jump back and forth between the various information options such as the graphic family tree or the literary sources (under “History”).
Not the first mythoscope
The project originally emerged from the diploma project by designer Anke Tornow (“Mythoscope – Interactive Visualization of the Ancient Mythic Network”, 2007). Since this first version was realized with Flash, it became obsolete when browsers stopped supporting Flash content. The project was taken up again as part of the “Digital Creativity” program of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Both the Institute for Computer Science and the Institute for Classical Studies, Classical Philology / Latin Studies at Martin Luther University were involved in the project. The team is also working on various Learning materials that can be used in university teaching or in school lessons.
An edu area is available for pupils and students. There are already materials and games related to the Mythoscope.
(kbe)
