Horror art

Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror is frequently supernatural, though it can be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society.

The genre of horror has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These were manifested in stories of beings such as witchcraft, vampires, werewolves and ghosts. European horror fiction became established through works by the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a Titan who was the inspiration for the title of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus' earliest known appearance is in Hesiod's Theogony. However, the story of Frankenstein was influenced far greater on the story of Hippolytus. Asclepius revived Hippolytus from death. Euripides wrote plays based on the story, "Hippolytos Kalyptomenos" and "Hippolytus (play)."Plutarch's "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans: Cimon" describes the spirit of the murderer, Damon, who himself was murdered in a bathhouse in Chaeronea.Pliny the Younger describes Athenodorus Cananites who bought a haunted house in Athens. Athenodorus was cautious since the house was inexpensive. As Athenodorus writes a book a philosophy, he is visited by an aberration bound in chains. The figure disappears in the courtyard; the following day, the magistrates dig up the courtyard to find an unmarked grave.

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