User:Pharos/Time travel in mythology
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This list of time travel myths documents examples of time travel in historical myths and legends, of which the protagonists are usually magical sleepers or otherworld returnees.
This does not include modern fictional works (List of time travel science fiction) or modern legends (Time travel urban legends). Ir also does not include the still-sleeping types of the King in the mountain, or merely philosophical discussions of heavenly time dilation.
| First recorded | Protagonist | Source text | Type | Culture | Description | Time elapsed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd century | Epimenides (philosopher) | Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers i. 109–115 | Sleeper | Greek | 57 years | |
| 3rd century | Honi ha-M'agel (rabbi) | Talmud, Ta'anit | Sleeper | Jewish | 70 years | |
| 3rd century | Moses (prophet) | Talmud, Kodashim Menachot 29b | Other (Prophecy) | Jewish | Visits the classroom of Akiva ben Joseph, observes his mastery of crowns on letters | ~1 thousand years |
| 4th century | Kakudmi (king) and Revati (princess) | Mahabharata, Vishnu Purana Book IV, Chapter I | Otherworld | Indian | Visit to Brahma-loka | ~1 billion years |
| 4th century | Muchukunda (king) | Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana | Otherworld | Indian | 360 years | |
| 6th century | Seven Sleepers | Jacob of Serugh | Sleeper | Syriac Christian | Ephesus Christians sleep from the reign to Decius to Theodosius II | 180 years |
| 7th century | Companions of the Cave | Quran Surah 18, verse 9–26 | Sleeper | Islamic | 300 years | |
| 8th century | Urashima Tarō (fisherman) | Nihon Shoki | Otherworld | Japanese | Visit to Ryūgū-jō | 300 years |
| 10th century | Wang Chih (woodcutter) | Ranka | Sleeper | Chinese | Falls into a trance watching immortals play Go | several years |
| 12th century | Herla (king) | De nugis curialium | Otherworld | British | 200 years | |
| 12th century | Oisín (hero) | Acallam na Senórach | Otherworld | Irish | Visits Tír na nÓg, on return meets Saint Patrick | 300 years |
| 17th century | Peter Klaus (goatherd) | J.K.C. Nachtigal | Sleeper | German | 20 years | |
| 19th century | "Girl at the Troll Dance" | Just Mathias Thiele | Otheworld | Danish | several years | |
| 19th century | Father Cuddy (monk) | Thomas Crofton Croker | Sleeper | Irish | Innisfallen Island, "Clough na Cuddy" stone | 100 years |
Ring of Brodgar, "Salt Knowe" mound, fiddler, [1]