About the work

A closer look.

Send me one name, one myth, or one object. You get back a written piece of 900 to 1500 words, plus one image, doing three things: 1. The oldest attestations I can actually reach: the classical dictionary entry, the primary text, the inscription, the excavation report. Each one cited so you can follow it yourself. 2. What the tradition did with it after that, and how it changed hands. 3. The part that gets repeated everywhere and is supported nowhere, said plainly. Examples of the difference this makes: the meaning most sites give for a name often comes from a much later retelling, not from the oldest text. A Chinese character tattoo is often one stroke from a different word. A snake in a temple is not the same snake in a curse. What I need from you: the name, myth, or object, and (if it is a name) the script or spelling you use. What I will not do: invent a flattering meaning, quote a source I have not opened, or fill silence where the record is empty. If the record gives me nothing real, I tell you within 24 hours and you pay nothing. Delivery: 5 days from the agreed subject. One revision included. Format: a PDF and a Markdown file, plus one image (a painted portrait of the figure, or a clean printable line-art page). Languages: the piece in English, or in Arabic if you ask for it.