The book analyzes phenomena that were unexplainable in the Ancient and Medieval times
for the lack of sufficient knowledge and were thus regarded as miracles or horrors. Such phenomena
included natural or fantastic beasts, violent changes in weather and anomalous weather events. They
portended defeat, but they could also herald a breakthrough in a military struggle that would lead to
a blood-stained victory (e.g. the river of blood metaphor). Fantasy stories were usually created after a war
when the outcome of the struggle had been already known. They were incorporated into scientific works
to make the narrative more attractive. The book makes a contribution to the existing knowledge by proposing
paradoxology as a new academic discipline that combines history and ethnography.
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