As long as you don’t mind crediting me (or mind me referring to it), as I’m trying to increase my public profile, that’s fine. I came up with some ideas for you based on the categories you gave me.

Some I can help you with, some not so much, due to the constraints of the stories in ancient mythology.

1. In Greek myth, prescience was generally a gift from the gods rather than the result of having an item. The nearest thing I can think of is the Tripod of Pythia, which the Delphic oracle sat on to deliver prophecies. Here’s an image:

http://www.nostradamus101.com/images/pic3.jpg

2. Again, heroes tended to access new worlds (heaven/the underworld etc) on the back of their own supernatural powers. But there are certain symbolic images: Cerberus, the 3-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hades (stolen by Heracles), the apples of the Hesperides, who live at the end of the earth (also stolen by Heracles!), or the pomegranate Hades gave Persephone to keep her in the underworld:

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dictionary/Dict/image/Cerberus4.jpg

http://www.archimuse.com/mw2001/papers/kenderine/kenderdine.fig4.jpg (this is a great one, it shows Athena helping Heracles hold up the heavens while Atlas fetches the apples – from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia)

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRbLOR7279JGiHDT1PwtS7V8Xk-zH4zfukFTOR83v5s7BVHJyeR (the archetypal pre-Raphaelite representation)

3. The gates of horn and ivory, entrances to the worlds of dreams, are your best bet here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vzpXPZFPxx4/SblTgyyBGiI/AAAAAAAAAFM/pzDm-yFI7nE/s200/Gate+of+Ivory.bmp (the only ancient image I could find, sorry)

4. *THE* paradigmatic concept here is Ariadne’s thread, which the daughter of kind Minos of Crete gave the Athenian hero Theseus to help him find his way out of the labyrinth. It’s often symbolised by a stylised labyrinth drawing such as this one:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQRQc9gSwVq1G76zjho8zP7udcRwxtmFHVIdsOdiebptf6JpC0Y

‘Ariadne’s dancing-floor’ still exists in the ruins of ancient Knossos on Crete.

5. In ancient epics, the king’s sceptre often gives the holder the right to speak in assemblies, as in Homer’s Odyssey. This is an image of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, holding his sceptre:

http://westernhumanities101.pbworks.com/f/1285682750/AgamemnonMNATaranto.jpg

for storytelling, the ‘bard taking up his lyre’ is often a symbol for such things being about to start:

http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/athnlife/images/kithara.jpg

Hope that’s useful!

My name is Lee and I’m a designer at the firm Collins. We’re currently trying to design a logo for a new conference on storytelling, but we’re having a bit of trouble finding the inspiration we need. We want to draw our icon from the great ancient myths. Given your studies, I was hoping you could help us out. Specifically we are trying to find examples of the following:

1. An object given to a hero to see the future.
2. An object given to a hero that allows him/her to step into a new world/realm.
3. A structure/entrance that acted as a gateway to a new world.
4. An object given to a hero to help him/her find his/her way out of the labyrinth (or a general state of confusion or blindness).
5. An object used in storytelling ceremonies that gives the holder permission to speak to the group.

It’d be a big help if you could give us some examples or maybe point us in the right direction. We’re floundering a bit. Hope to hear form you!