The idea is to make a small list of terms used by official Niantic sources that seem out of place and research what we can about them.
A
Alexander the Great
C
California Gold Rush
Place(s) where it is mentioned
OLW interview
Definition
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California.[1] The first to hear confirmed information of the Gold Rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to the state in late 1848. All told, the news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.[2] Of the 300,000, approximately half arrived by sea and half came from the east overland on the California Trail and the Gila River trail.
Source
H
Hydra Teeth
Place(s) where it is mentioned
Month of September title
The teeth of the Hydra
Definition
Cadmus was the bringer of literacy, civilization, killed the sacred dragon that guarded the spring of Ares. The goddess Athena told him to sow the teeth, from which sprang a group of ferocious warriors called the spartoi. He threw a precious jewel into the midst of the warriors, who turned on each other in an attempt to seize the stone for themselves. The five survivors joined with Cadmus to found the city of Thebes.
The classical legends of Cadmus and Jason have given rise to the phrase “to sow dragon's teeth.” This is used as a metaphor to refer to doing something that has the effect of fomenting disputes.Source
J
Janus
Place(s) where it is mentioned
Month of August title
The Janus Revelation.
Definition
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (Latin: Ianus) is the god of beginnings and transitions, hence also of gates, doors, passages, endings and time. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. The Romans named the month of January (Ianuarius) in his honor. Source
K
Kensington Runestone
Place(s) where it is mentioned
In this post by H Richard Loeb
Look up the Kensington Runestone and the Vérendrye Runestone.
Definition
The Kensington Runestone is a 200-pound slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side, believed to have been created in modern times to claim that Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century. It was found in 1898 in the largely rural township of Solem, Douglas County, Minnesota, and named after the nearest settlement, Kensington. Almost all Runologists and experts in Scandinavian linguistics consider the runestone to be a hoax. Source
N
Namshub
Place(s) where it is mentioned
In this post by Flint Dille
Yeah. We're getting an echo of the Namshub and the Bicameral mind.
Definition
It is the Sumerian word for an incantation or self-fulfilling prophecy. The concept was popularised by Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. Source
O
Osiris (Myth)
Place(s) where it is mentioned
In this post by Flint Dille
This is a tale to know. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris_myth
Definition
The Osiris myth is the most elaborate and influential story in ancient Egyptian mythology. It concerns the murder of the god Osiris, a primeval king of Egypt, and its consequences. Osiris' murderer, his brother Set, usurps his throne. Meanwhile, Osiris' wife Isis restores her husband's body, allowing him to posthumously conceive a son with her. The remainder of the story focuses on Horus, the product of Isis and Osiris' union, who is first a vulnerable child protected by his mother and then becomes Set's rival for the throne. Their often violent conflict ends with Horus' triumph, which restores order to Egypt after Set's unrighteous reign and completes the process of Osiris' resurrection. The myth, with its complex symbolism, is integral to the Egyptian conceptions of kingship and succession, conflict between order and disorder and, especially, death and the afterlife. Source
V
Vérendrye Runestone
Place(s) where it is mentioned
In this post by H Richard Loeb
Look up the Kensington Runestone and the Vérendrye Runestone.
Definition
The Vérendrye Runestone was allegedly found on an early expedition into the territory west of the Great Lakes by the French Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, in the 1730s. It is not mentioned in the official records of La Vérendrye's expeditions, but in 1749 he discussed it with visiting Swedish scientist Pehr Kalm, from whose writings virtually all information about the stone is taken. Source