
:''This article is about the study of myths. For the 1942 book ''Mythology,'' see the article on its author, Edith Hamilton.'' ---- Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and that feature a specific religion or belief system. ==What is mythology?== Myths are generally stories based on tradition and legend designed to explain the universal and local beginnings ("creation myths" and "founding myths"), natural phenomena, inexplicable cultural conventions, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. Not all myths need have this explicatory purpose, however. Likewise, most myths involve a supernatural force or deity, but many simple legends and narratives passed down orally from generation to generation have mythic content. The Brothers Grimm demonstrated that there is mythic content embedded even in the least promising fairy tales. A fairy tale itself is not a myth. Other examples of stories that do not belong to mythology but are frequently confused with myth: *Philosophical allegory *Sentimental or moral fable, parable or anecdote **Cupid and Psyche **prodigal son **Cornelia's jewels *Romance *Cultural propaganda **Betsy Ross *"Rationalized" explications of myths that are no longer understood ** This is an approach attributed to Euhemerus *Heroic saga and epic *Realistic or satirical fiction *Narrative drama *Enriched history **Song of Roland What forces generate myths? Robert Graves said of Greek myth: "True myth may be defined as the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed on public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially." (''The Greek Myths,'' Introduction). Graves was deeply influenced, perhaps too strongly, by Sir James George Frazer's mythography ''The Golden Bough,'' and he would have agreed that myth is generated by many cultural needs (''more on the forces that generate myth is needed''). What human needs do myths satisfy? Myths authorize the cultural institutions of a tribe, a city, or a nation by connecting them with universal truths. Myths justify the current occupation of a territory by a people, for instance. Mythology figures prominently in most religion, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion. Some use the words "myth" and "mythology" to portray the stories of one or more religions as false, or dubious at best. The term is most often used in this sense to describe religions founded by ancient societies, such as Roman mythology, Greek mythology, and Norse mythology, belief in which is nearly extinct. However, it is important to keep in mind that while some view the Norse and Celtic pantheons as mere fable, others hold them as a religion, though the modern versions of these beliefs usually have little to no resemblance to the originals (see Neopaganism). By extension, many people do not regard the tales surrounding the origin and development of religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam as literal accounts of events, but instead regard them as figurative representations of their belief systems. Some people, especially within revealed religions that are justified in terms of an authenticated scripture, may take offense at the characterization of any aspect of their faith as an expression of myth. An aspect of fundamentalism requires that every incidental element be accepted as literally true. However, most people concur that every religion has a body of myths that express deeper truths that are ineffable on the surface level. For the purposes of this article, therefore, the word mythology is used to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetype. Also, the stories discussed express the viewpoints and beliefs of the country, time period, culture, and/or religion which gave birth to them. One can speak of a Jewish mythology, a Christian mythology, or an Islamic mythology, in which one describes the mythic elements within these faiths without speaking to the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims about its history. Many modern day rabbis and priests within the more liberal Jewish and Christian movements, as well as most Neopagans, have no problem viewing their religious texts as containing myth. They see their sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Others, of course, disagree. ==Modern mythology== Television and book series like ''Star Trek'' and ''Tarzan'' have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. An excellent example is that developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. However, copyright law restricts independent authors from extending modern story cycles. Some critics believe that the fact that the core characters and stories of modern story cycles are not in the public domain prevents the modern story cycles from sharing several essential aspects of mythologies. Fan fiction goes some distance to relieving this problem. Fiction, however, does not reach the level of actual mythology until people believe that it really happened. For example, some people believe that fiction author Clive Barker's Candyman was based upon a true story, and new stories have grown up around the figure. The same can be said for the Blair Witch and many other stories. Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends, scientific mythology, and many other ways. In the 1950s Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book ''Mythologies''. ==Mythologies by region== ===Africa=== : Akamba mythology - Akan mythology - Alur mythology - Ashanti mythology - Bambara mythology - Bambuti mythology - Banyarwanda mythology - Basari mythology - Baule mythology - Bavenda mythology - Bazambi mythology - Baziba mythology - Bushongo mythology - Dahomey mythology (Fon) - Dinka mythology - Efik mythology - Egyptian mythology (Pre-Islam) - Ekoi mythology - Fan mythology - Fens mythology - Fjort mythology - Herero mythology - Ibibio mythology - Ibo mythology - Isoko mythology - Kamba mythology - Kavirondo mythology - Khoikhoi mythology - Kurumba mythology - Lotuko mythology - Lugbara mythology - Lunda mythology - Makoni mythology - Masai mythology - Mongo mythology - Mundang mythology - Ngbandi mythology - Nupe mythology - Nyamwezi mythology - Oromo mythology - Ovambo mythology - Pygmy mythology - San mythology - Serer mythology - Shona mythology - Shongo mythology - Songhai mythology - Sotho mythology - Tumbuka mythology - Xhosa mythology - Yoruba mythology - Zulu mythology ===Asia (non-Middle East)=== : Ayyavazhi mythology - Buddhist mythology - Bön (pre-Buddhism Tibetan mythology) - Chinese mythology - Hindu mythology - Hmong mythology - Japanese mythology (mainstream) - Hotuma Tutaye - Korean mythology - Philippine Mythology - Turkic mythology ===Australia and Oceania=== : Aboriginal mythology (natives of Australia) - Melanesian mythology - Micronesian mythology - Polynesian mythology ===Europe=== : Anglo-Saxon mythology - Basque mythology - Catalan myths and legends - Celtic mythology - Corsican mythology - French mythology - Germanic mythology - Greek mythology - English mythology - Etruscan mythology - Finnish mythology - Irish mythology - Latvian mythology - Lithuanian mythology - Lusitanian mythology - Norse mythology - Polish mythology - Roman mythology - Romanian mythology - Sardinian mythology - Slavic mythology - Spanish mythology - Swiss mythology - Tatar mythology ===Middle East=== : Arab mythology (pre-Islamic) - Biblical mythology - Christian mythology - Jewish mythology - Persian mythology - Sumerian mythology ===North America=== : Abenaki mythology - Algonquin mythology - American folklore (non-Native American) - Blackfoot mythology - Chippewa mythology - Creek mythology - Crow mythology - Haida mythology - Ho-Chunk mythology - Hopi mythology - Inuit mythology - Iroquois mythology - Huron mythology - Kwakiutl mythology - Lakota mythology - Leni Lenape mythology - Navaho mythology - Nootka mythology - Pawnee mythology - Salish mythology - Seneca mythology - Tsimshian mythology - Ute mythology - Zuni mythology ===South America and Mesoamerica=== : Aztec mythology - Incan mythology - Guarani mythology - Haitian mythology - Maya mythology - Olmec mythology - Toltec mythology ==Mythological archetypes== * culture hero * Gaia (mythology) * first man or woman * life-death-rebirth deity * lunar deity * psychopomp * sky father * solar deity * trickster * underworld ==Mythological creatures== * legendary creature * list of species in folklore and mythology * list of species in folklore and mythology by type * list of species in fantasy fiction ==Books on mythology== * ''Bulfinch's Mythology'' by Thomas Bulfinch * ''The Golden Bough'' by James George Frazer * ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'' and other titles by Joseph Campbell * ''Mythology'' by Edith Hamilton * ''Chinese Mythology (book)'' by Anne Birrell ==See also== * artificial mythology * folklore * folkloristics * list of deities * list of legends and myths * mythical place * list of mythical objects * religion * monomyth ==External links== *[http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html Encyclopedia Mythica] Comprehensive encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend; covers deities, heroes and mythical beasts. *[http://www.godchecker.com Godchecker] Easy-to-use searchable encyclopedia of gods and goddesses from around the world; currently has over 1,600 gods listed, including many obscure deities. *[http://ericdigests.org/1996-4/mythic.htm Using Mythic-Archetypal Approaches in the Language Arts. ERIC Digest.] *[http://www.mythology.com/ www.mythology.com] Information about myths, legends and folklore, as well as a message board Mythology fa:اسطورهشناسی la:Mythologia li:Mythologie os:Мифологи th:ปุราณวิทยา
Should the list of archetypes not be lengthened to include things like one-eyed gods and severed hands? I myself would do it, but I am reluctant to get bogged down in writing articles on them. User:Elvenscout742 23:56, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC) ---- I don't know that the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot fit into mythology, although Grendel does. I am not sure why that should be though. ---- and if this page is going to identify Christian Myths should the link just go to Christianity, since the author is equating "some people consider it a collection of myths" with "some people believe in Norse gods"? --MichaelTinkler ---- Doesn't mythology differ from religion by the absence of the preaching of some kind of philosophy? :no, actually, mythology is to religion as Latin is to spoken languages. Yes, some people practice it (in the case of Latin, there really are some speakers left!), but no, it's not a living religion. That's a simple, crude, but useful distinction. I also hasten to say that Greco-Roman mythology, per se, is narrative and has precious little to do with the sacrificial practices of Greco-Roman religion, per se. So, there's no 'preaching' only because no one is 'practicing' it. --MichaelTinkler ::Also (my two cents), the above assumes a very narrow reading of religion. Buddhists don't "preach" per se, certainly not in the evangelical sense, nor did the Roman religions. And there are tons of philosophies that do preach, but aren't necessarily a religion... Is NAZISM a religion? Or Amway? There is a vibrant ambiguity here that I think is inherent in what is interesting. To cleanly delineate religion, myth and folklore, each one in its own little box, is to fall short of describing what is going on. I don't know exactly how it SHOULD look, but what we have so far seems to me to fall extremely short of the mark. And BTW, I don't think mythologies need only be defined as the dead husks of ancient religions. We have tons of living mythologies that rival the Roman ones in terms of scope and narrative that transcend folk tradition (UFOLOGY for example, or Pop Personality Cults like ELVISISM). The Elvis Lives movement isn't folklore in the secular sense like Grimm's Household Tales, but of course the "civilized" world typically won't admit it into the pantheon of "recognized" religions either. It exists in a nether realm between Voodoo and Spiritualism. --User:trimalchio ::: as a minor aside, I think it depends on the type Buddhism. There is an evangelical/preaching form of Buddhism, as I recall. -- BenBaker :I think that the definition of myth in this article is leading this discussion astray. I would define myth as "a story shared by a group or community that has a deeper meaning or attraction." :I know this is a very simple definition, & does not begin to explain myth in all of its manifestations and characteristics, but myth is a very intricate subject whose explication leads too easily into . . . creating more myth. (The best example of which is Freud's exegesis of the story of Oedipus: he explains Western Society's fascination with this story by explaining how it represents our unconscious sexual desires.) And these stories may originally have been religious ones (e.g., Oedipus, the Last Supper), or ones that have always been secular (e.g., the Horatio Alger story of the hard-working individual who comes out ahead). One finds a story that one identifies with, and retells it to emphasize those details that make it significant. :Objective, dispassionate discussion of this creative activity is difficult, if not impossible. But to borrow an image, one can at least point to the activity as long one is careful not to confuse the finger with this activity. -- User:Llywrch 05:48 Dec 29, 2002 (UTC) ---- While I do disagree that Christian belief is a Mythology, I do agree that Christian Mythology exists. The story of King Arthur, for example, qualifies. Many stories of verbal history exist, used in explaining the circumstances of scripture. The purported names of the Wise Men are an example of this. I do think that Hinduism as a whole has a more explicit connection to mythology than Christian belief. Hinduism does not have the same focus on the historicity of their scripture as Christianity does, in my experience, and according to my informants. In principle, the christian understanding of scripture holds that scripture is a record of specific events that can be tied to a particular place and time. To my knowledge, Hinduism does not have this as an explicit part of their hermeneutics. I believe the book "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell is relevant. -- BenBaker ------- How can you say that ancient Graeco-Roman tales are myths, but Jewish or Christian tales are not? They are the same phenomena. The only problem arises because people presume that myths are false, and don't want to call Jewish or Christian tales false (although they seem to have no problem with expressing the same view about the tales of the religions of antiquity.) But the definition of a myth (at least as used in anthropology, etc.) is a story of significance to a culture, that somehow encodes its values. The Bible is full of myths; that doesn't mean it is false, it merely means that its stories are significant to the culture it represents. -- User:SJK ---- I think I already agreed that there is such a thing as Christian mythology. I think myth as you are using it is different than mythology. I think the loose way you are using mythology is loose enough that I am justified in agreeing that you hold that the Theory of evolution is a myth. (it does tell a significant story to a culture...) I would like to see the reaction if you state that on the page for that article though, as I expect quite an uproar. -- BenBaker
:I think the difference maybe is that evolution is a scientific theory. If we understand myth as "religious story", evolution isn't a myth, although some (atheists? humanists? pantheists?) may consider it one significant to their religion.
:Yes, you have admitted that there is Christian mythology. But the life of Jesus is as mythological as King Arthur. (Remembering that a story being a myth doesn't imply it is false.) Besides, who are we really to say that even the tales of King Arthur are false? Admittedly few people may believe it to be literally true, but some do (e.g. some occultists or Rosicrucians), and even consider them an important part of their religion. King Arthur is just as mythical as Jesus is, no more, no less. -- :SJK
:Alright, I admit it, I'm very curious - what "occultists or Rosicrucians" believe in the literal truth of the King Arthur Myth, and what version of the King Arthur myth? Also, do you mean the Californian "Rosicrucians?" --User:Alex Kennedy
----
Um, I created a page on :Christian Mythology before I saw this debate. Hope no one minds!
On an unrelated topic, I don't think that "wizard" should qualify as a The earliest reference to them listed in their article is in 1982, and if fictional species that recent and relatively little-known count as myt"race." Traditionally, a wizard is a person who has a skill or practices an art -- the aptitude may be inborn, but so is an aptitude for music or chess. Not a race, I say! -- User:Cayzle
On a related topic, I'm a little iffy about including :wemics in here too. Weren't they created pretty much from scratch by TSR and/or Sierra for their games? I would think that to qualify as mythology there should be some significant group of people who at one point believed that it was a real race. TSR was well-known for appropriating mythical creatures from all over the place to incorporate into D&D, so perhaps a reference can be found somewhere to a real mythical origin for wemics? -user:Bryan Derksen (''addendum: maybe not so out of place, actually, since the Mythology article already lists :Star Trek as a piece of modern mythology. :)''
I wish I knew if D&D wemics and Sierra liontaurs were originated independently, or were inspired by a common unknown source, or what. But I agree with your point -- if Star Trek is mentionable, why not wemics? -- User:Cayzle
----
So, should this page now be redirected to an article titled ":Stories?" I think it's taking :political correctness to an insane level to be eradicating the word "mythology" from all the sub-articles. - user:Bryan Derksen
----
Well, as I said before, religious believers should not have a problem with the word "myth" as long as it's not talking about a historical story (because, really, it would sound very weird to talk about "The Myth of the War of 1812," even if we can derive a moral from the events of that war), but I have to disagree with your implied assertion that this is all about political correctness - it's not. I think you have one side (people who, generally speaking, don't believe in Christianity) thinking that it's unfair that Christian stories are labelled "stories" while Greek ones are labeled "myths," while on the other side you have people who do believe in Christianity, to whatever degree, who are very hurt to have what they believe to be true history labeled myths. Since I personally see the Bible as (mostly) allegory, I have a much easier time accepting the word "myths," but please try to remember how hard that word may be to accept for some people. This is not a meaningless argument.
The current Christian Mythology or Christian Stories page, whichever it is named now, appears to be talking about stories which are fairly commonly believed to be fictional, so it's not much of a problem. But, BD, I urge you to think for a minute about something you believe in, such as perhaps your University Degree. How would you feel if someone called your obtaining of a degree "The Myth of BD's University Education?" I'm sure the story of your education could be used to illustrate several important moral points, so it fits the definition of "myth." Still, the connotation is hard to take. --User:Alex Kennedy
I'd think "Cool, I've achieved the status of myth!" :) But on a more serious note, I do understand that some people would find the combination of the words "Christian mythology" to be offensive. I just think that we shouldn't be focusing on trying to ensure that this encyclopedia offends noone, and should instead be trying to "call things as they are" to as much of a degree it is possible. I suppose the issue of the Christian mythology/stories thing can be debated, but when that debate results in "Greek mythology" being considered an offensive and/or inaccurate description of Greek mythology then I think it's gone a little overboard.
More discussion should probably be conducted on :Wikipedia Religion and Mythology standards, which I didn't notice until after I first posted to this Talk subpage. :) - user:Bryan Derksen
:Can someone fix the link above? I looked for the page that link points to, but did find anything in the Wikipedia namespace that matched it. -- User:Llywrch 05:48 Dec 29, 2002 (UTC)
----
I'm considering fitting scientific mythology somewhere into the 'Modern mythology' section instead of just having a link to it. Any objections/suggestions? --Chris
----
Along the lines of mythology is the term "Shared Universe." One example of this is the character Conan the Barbarian. He was created by one person, but later novelized by more than one successive writer. Star Trek can also be considered a shared universe in that many authors have penned Star Trek novels. --E.C.
== Mythology ==
Perhaps the issue as been beaten to death now, but would there be any objections to using J. Campbell's definition of mythology (one of several he provides in his work) as "an organization of images metaphoric of experience, action, and fulfillment of the human spirit in the field of a given culture at a given time." This definition has the advantage that it subsumes religion as a subordinate category of myth, that is as the application of mythology within a narrow field of human experience and action. With respect to three of the world's great religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, they insist on the historicity of their myths, in other words, on the actuality of their metaphors in the fields of time and space.
Bruno
----
Europe sports a Fjort mythology. What's a Fjort? Ain't in my Swedish dictionary. -- User:Ihcoyc 02:22, 29 Aug 2003 (UTC)
Why is Incan mythology found under North America? Do you folks know something that I've missed? User:Mats Halldin 15:14, 4 Oct 2003 (UTC)
== Mythology ==
The Amazons would have to be my most favorite story to hear from the myth. I haven't seen anything about the Amazons on the site and I think it would be interesting to site some informations about them. They were firece and should dominate over the weak. They were warriors and very rare of their time.
----
==Polish and Slavic==
Shouldn't Polish mythology and Slavic mythology be merged? At least the entries for gods should, as they are mostly just name variations of the same god (compare: Crnobog and Czarnobóg or Piorun and Perun). User:Ausir 21:02, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)
----
:Fiction, however, does not reach the level of actual mythology until people believe that it really happened.
This is a rather erroneous view of the nature of myth. For example, one does not need to believe that Jesus was a living person to read, say, Jefferson's Bible, and come away with the truth that he was trying to teach. One also doesn't have to believe that there was really a place called Hobbiton, that Frodo was a living man (or hobbit), and the events actually occurred. After all, people tend to call stories myths because they are almost certainly fictitious - but they still refer to them because, however fictitious they may be, there is still value to be found in them, and it is that value, independent of whether the events really happened, which is what is important. If I had more time, I'd rewrite this article in its entirity to remove that 'myth must be true' bias that pervades it.
HOW MYTHS ARE SO LONG AND INTERESTING?
I'm interested in knowing how myths were and how they were able to stay in each generation but in each generation having it to grow. i mean did the parents add stuff down while the way or if the children added it on to make it more interesting-DS
== Constructed Mythologies? ==
Should this page contain a brief mention of modern constructed mythologies? I am thinking mainly of the mythology of Middle-Earth (that is told in The Silmarillion) created by J.R.R.Tolkien, though there are others. --User:Ingolemo 11:39, 6 Jun 2004 (UTC)
== Canaanite Mythology?==
Is there a reason why we don't have anything on myths of the Canaanites??
:I'm almost tempted to answer sarcastically about how there's a vast There Is No Cabal against Canaanite mythology but...actually, no, the reason there's not anything is because no one's gotten around to it. If you have information about Canaanite mythology, then please add the information; we would be glad to have your contribution. :) User:Lowellian—User:Lowellian (User talk:Lowellian)
{| style="float:right;" class="toccolours" |- !style="background:#ccccff" align="center" |Articles related to mythology |- | *Myth *Roman mythology *Greek mythology *Egyptian mythology *Symbolism *Religion *Theology *Comparative religion |}
#redirect Template:Mythology
Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and which feature a specific religion or belief system. Legends Religion Traditions la:Category:Mythologia th:Category:ปุราณวิทยา
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Mythology:
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology_by_culture
Mythology_Ceres
Mythology_Ganymede
Mythology_in_literature
Mythology_Io
Mythology_Jupiter
Mythology_Mercury
Mythology_Neptune
Mythology_of_demons
Mythology_of_demons
Mythology_of_Greece
Mythology_of_homosexuality
Mythology_of_same-sex_love
Mythology_of_the_Yoruba
Mythology_of_the_yoruba
Mythology_Paris
Mythology_Perseus
Mythology_Rhea
Mythology_stubs
Mythology_stubs
Mythology_Titan
Mythology_Uranus
Mythology_Venus
Mythology
:''This article is about the study of myths. For the 1942 book ''Mythology,'' see the article on its author, Edith Hamilton.'' ---- Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and that feature a specific religion or belief system. ==What is mythology?== Myths are generally stories based on tradition and legend designed to explain the universal and local beginnings ("creation myths" and "founding myths"), natural phenomena, inexplicable cultural conventions, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. Not all myths need have this explicatory purpose, however. Likewise, most myths involve a supernatural force or deity, but many simple legends and narratives passed down orally from generation to generation have mythic content. The Brothers Grimm demonstrated that there is mythic content embedded even in the least promising fairy tales. A fairy tale itself is not a myth. Other examples of stories that do not belong to mythology but are frequently confused with myth: *Philosophical allegory *Sentimental or moral fable, parable or anecdote **Cupid and Psyche **prodigal son **Cornelia's jewels *Romance *Cultural propaganda **Betsy Ross *"Rationalized" explications of myths that are no longer understood ** This is an approach attributed to Euhemerus *Heroic saga and epic *Realistic or satirical fiction *Narrative drama *Enriched history **Song of Roland What forces generate myths? Robert Graves said of Greek myth: "True myth may be defined as the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed on public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially." (''The Greek Myths,'' Introduction). Graves was deeply influenced, perhaps too strongly, by Sir James George Frazer's mythography ''The Golden Bough,'' and he would have agreed that myth is generated by many cultural needs (''more on the forces that generate myth is needed''). What human needs do myths satisfy? Myths authorize the cultural institutions of a tribe, a city, or a nation by connecting them with universal truths. Myths justify the current occupation of a territory by a people, for instance. Mythology figures prominently in most religion, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion. Some use the words "myth" and "mythology" to portray the stories of one or more religions as false, or dubious at best. The term is most often used in this sense to describe religions founded by ancient societies, such as Roman mythology, Greek mythology, and Norse mythology, belief in which is nearly extinct. However, it is important to keep in mind that while some view the Norse and Celtic pantheons as mere fable, others hold them as a religion, though the modern versions of these beliefs usually have little to no resemblance to the originals (see Neopaganism). By extension, many people do not regard the tales surrounding the origin and development of religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam as literal accounts of events, but instead regard them as figurative representations of their belief systems. Some people, especially within revealed religions that are justified in terms of an authenticated scripture, may take offense at the characterization of any aspect of their faith as an expression of myth. An aspect of fundamentalism requires that every incidental element be accepted as literally true. However, most people concur that every religion has a body of myths that express deeper truths that are ineffable on the surface level. For the purposes of this article, therefore, the word mythology is used to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetype. Also, the stories discussed express the viewpoints and beliefs of the country, time period, culture, and/or religion which gave birth to them. One can speak of a Jewish mythology, a Christian mythology, or an Islamic mythology, in which one describes the mythic elements within these faiths without speaking to the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims about its history. Many modern day rabbis and priests within the more liberal Jewish and Christian movements, as well as most Neopagans, have no problem viewing their religious texts as containing myth. They see their sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Others, of course, disagree. ==Modern mythology== Television and book series like ''Star Trek'' and ''Tarzan'' have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. An excellent example is that developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. However, copyright law restricts independent authors from extending modern story cycles. Some critics believe that the fact that the core characters and stories of modern story cycles are not in the public domain prevents the modern story cycles from sharing several essential aspects of mythologies. Fan fiction goes some distance to relieving this problem. Fiction, however, does not reach the level of actual mythology until people believe that it really happened. For example, some people believe that fiction author Clive Barker's Candyman was based upon a true story, and new stories have grown up around the figure. The same can be said for the Blair Witch and many other stories. Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends, scientific mythology, and many other ways. In the 1950s Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book ''Mythologies''. ==Mythologies by region== ===Africa=== : Akamba mythology - Akan mythology - Alur mythology - Ashanti mythology - Bambara mythology - Bambuti mythology - Banyarwanda mythology - Basari mythology - Baule mythology - Bavenda mythology - Bazambi mythology - Baziba mythology - Bushongo mythology - Dahomey mythology (Fon) - Dinka mythology - Efik mythology - Egyptian mythology (Pre-Islam) - Ekoi mythology - Fan mythology - Fens mythology - Fjort mythology - Herero mythology - Ibibio mythology - Ibo mythology - Isoko mythology - Kamba mythology - Kavirondo mythology - Khoikhoi mythology - Kurumba mythology - Lotuko mythology - Lugbara mythology - Lunda mythology - Makoni mythology - Masai mythology - Mongo mythology - Mundang mythology - Ngbandi mythology - Nupe mythology - Nyamwezi mythology - Oromo mythology - Ovambo mythology - Pygmy mythology - San mythology - Serer mythology - Shona mythology - Shongo mythology - Songhai mythology - Sotho mythology - Tumbuka mythology - Xhosa mythology - Yoruba mythology - Zulu mythology ===Asia (non-Middle East)=== : Ayyavazhi mythology - Buddhist mythology - Bön (pre-Buddhism Tibetan mythology) - Chinese mythology - Hindu mythology - Hmong mythology - Japanese mythology (mainstream) - Hotuma Tutaye - Korean mythology - Philippine Mythology - Turkic mythology ===Australia and Oceania=== : Aboriginal mythology (natives of Australia) - Melanesian mythology - Micronesian mythology - Polynesian mythology ===Europe=== : Anglo-Saxon mythology - Basque mythology - Catalan myths and legends - Celtic mythology - Corsican mythology - French mythology - Germanic mythology - Greek mythology - English mythology - Etruscan mythology - Finnish mythology - Irish mythology - Latvian mythology - Lithuanian mythology - Lusitanian mythology - Norse mythology - Polish mythology - Roman mythology - Romanian mythology - Sardinian mythology - Slavic mythology - Spanish mythology - Swiss mythology - Tatar mythology ===Middle East=== : Arab mythology (pre-Islamic) - Biblical mythology - Christian mythology - Jewish mythology - Persian mythology - Sumerian mythology ===North America=== : Abenaki mythology - Algonquin mythology - American folklore (non-Native American) - Blackfoot mythology - Chippewa mythology - Creek mythology - Crow mythology - Haida mythology - Ho-Chunk mythology - Hopi mythology - Inuit mythology - Iroquois mythology - Huron mythology - Kwakiutl mythology - Lakota mythology - Leni Lenape mythology - Navaho mythology - Nootka mythology - Pawnee mythology - Salish mythology - Seneca mythology - Tsimshian mythology - Ute mythology - Zuni mythology ===South America and Mesoamerica=== : Aztec mythology - Incan mythology - Guarani mythology - Haitian mythology - Maya mythology - Olmec mythology - Toltec mythology ==Mythological archetypes== * culture hero * Gaia (mythology) * first man or woman * life-death-rebirth deity * lunar deity * psychopomp * sky father * solar deity * trickster * underworld ==Mythological creatures== * legendary creature * list of species in folklore and mythology * list of species in folklore and mythology by type * list of species in fantasy fiction ==Books on mythology== * ''Bulfinch's Mythology'' by Thomas Bulfinch * ''The Golden Bough'' by James George Frazer * ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'' and other titles by Joseph Campbell * ''Mythology'' by Edith Hamilton * ''Chinese Mythology (book)'' by Anne Birrell ==See also== * artificial mythology * folklore * folkloristics * list of deities * list of legends and myths * mythical place * list of mythical objects * religion * monomyth ==External links== *[http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html Encyclopedia Mythica] Comprehensive encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend; covers deities, heroes and mythical beasts. *[http://www.godchecker.com Godchecker] Easy-to-use searchable encyclopedia of gods and goddesses from around the world; currently has over 1,600 gods listed, including many obscure deities. *[http://ericdigests.org/1996-4/mythic.htm Using Mythic-Archetypal Approaches in the Language Arts. ERIC Digest.] *[http://www.mythology.com/ www.mythology.com] Information about myths, legends and folklore, as well as a message board Mythology fa:اسطورهشناسی la:Mythologia li:Mythologie os:Мифологи th:ปุราณวิทยา
Mythology
Should the list of archetypes not be lengthened to include things like one-eyed gods and severed hands? I myself would do it, but I am reluctant to get bogged down in writing articles on them. User:Elvenscout742 23:56, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC) ---- I don't know that the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot fit into mythology, although Grendel does. I am not sure why that should be though. ---- and if this page is going to identify Christian Myths should the link just go to Christianity, since the author is equating "some people consider it a collection of myths" with "some people believe in Norse gods"? --MichaelTinkler ---- Doesn't mythology differ from religion by the absence of the preaching of some kind of philosophy? :no, actually, mythology is to religion as Latin is to spoken languages. Yes, some people practice it (in the case of Latin, there really are some speakers left!), but no, it's not a living religion. That's a simple, crude, but useful distinction. I also hasten to say that Greco-Roman mythology, per se, is narrative and has precious little to do with the sacrificial practices of Greco-Roman religion, per se. So, there's no 'preaching' only because no one is 'practicing' it. --MichaelTinkler ::Also (my two cents), the above assumes a very narrow reading of religion. Buddhists don't "preach" per se, certainly not in the evangelical sense, nor did the Roman religions. And there are tons of philosophies that do preach, but aren't necessarily a religion... Is NAZISM a religion? Or Amway? There is a vibrant ambiguity here that I think is inherent in what is interesting. To cleanly delineate religion, myth and folklore, each one in its own little box, is to fall short of describing what is going on. I don't know exactly how it SHOULD look, but what we have so far seems to me to fall extremely short of the mark. And BTW, I don't think mythologies need only be defined as the dead husks of ancient religions. We have tons of living mythologies that rival the Roman ones in terms of scope and narrative that transcend folk tradition (UFOLOGY for example, or Pop Personality Cults like ELVISISM). The Elvis Lives movement isn't folklore in the secular sense like Grimm's Household Tales, but of course the "civilized" world typically won't admit it into the pantheon of "recognized" religions either. It exists in a nether realm between Voodoo and Spiritualism. --User:trimalchio ::: as a minor aside, I think it depends on the type Buddhism. There is an evangelical/preaching form of Buddhism, as I recall. -- BenBaker :I think that the definition of myth in this article is leading this discussion astray. I would define myth as "a story shared by a group or community that has a deeper meaning or attraction." :I know this is a very simple definition, & does not begin to explain myth in all of its manifestations and characteristics, but myth is a very intricate subject whose explication leads too easily into . . . creating more myth. (The best example of which is Freud's exegesis of the story of Oedipus: he explains Western Society's fascination with this story by explaining how it represents our unconscious sexual desires.) And these stories may originally have been religious ones (e.g., Oedipus, the Last Supper), or ones that have always been secular (e.g., the Horatio Alger story of the hard-working individual who comes out ahead). One finds a story that one identifies with, and retells it to emphasize those details that make it significant. :Objective, dispassionate discussion of this creative activity is difficult, if not impossible. But to borrow an image, one can at least point to the activity as long one is careful not to confuse the finger with this activity. -- User:Llywrch 05:48 Dec 29, 2002 (UTC) ---- While I do disagree that Christian belief is a Mythology, I do agree that Christian Mythology exists. The story of King Arthur, for example, qualifies. Many stories of verbal history exist, used in explaining the circumstances of scripture. The purported names of the Wise Men are an example of this. I do think that Hinduism as a whole has a more explicit connection to mythology than Christian belief. Hinduism does not have the same focus on the historicity of their scripture as Christianity does, in my experience, and according to my informants. In principle, the christian understanding of scripture holds that scripture is a record of specific events that can be tied to a particular place and time. To my knowledge, Hinduism does not have this as an explicit part of their hermeneutics. I believe the book "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell is relevant. -- BenBaker ------- How can you say that ancient Graeco-Roman tales are myths, but Jewish or Christian tales are not? They are the same phenomena. The only problem arises because people presume that myths are false, and don't want to call Jewish or Christian tales false (although they seem to have no problem with expressing the same view about the tales of the religions of antiquity.) But the definition of a myth (at least as used in anthropology, etc.) is a story of significance to a culture, that somehow encodes its values. The Bible is full of myths; that doesn't mean it is false, it merely means that its stories are significant to the culture it represents. -- User:SJK ---- I think I already agreed that there is such a thing as Christian mythology. I think myth as you are using it is different than mythology. I think the loose way you are using mythology is loose enough that I am justified in agreeing that you hold that the Theory of evolution is a myth. (it does tell a significant story to a culture...
Mythology
{| style="float:right;" class="toccolours" |- !style="background:#ccccff" align="center" |Articles related to mythology |- | *Myth *Roman mythology *Greek mythology *Egyptian mythology *Symbolism *Religion *Theology *Comparative religion |}
Mythology
#redirect Template:Mythology
Mythology
Mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and which feature a specific religion or belief system. Legends Religion Traditions la:Category:Mythologia th:Category:ปุราณวิทยา
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
M
MA | MB | MC | MD | ME | MF | MG | MH | MI | MJ | MK | ML | MN | MO | MP | MR | MS | MT | MU | MW | MX | MY | MZ |Words begining with Mythology:
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology
Mythology_by_culture
Mythology_Ceres
Mythology_Ganymede
Mythology_in_literature
Mythology_Io
Mythology_Jupiter
Mythology_Mercury
Mythology_Neptune
Mythology_of_demons
Mythology_of_demons
Mythology_of_Greece
Mythology_of_homosexuality
Mythology_of_same-sex_love
Mythology_of_the_Yoruba
Mythology_of_the_yoruba
Mythology_Paris
Mythology_Perseus
Mythology_Rhea
Mythology_stubs
Mythology_stubs
Mythology_Titan
Mythology_Uranus
Mythology_Venus
These materials are based on Wikipedia and licensed under the GNU FDL
YouTube.com videos better site than Turbo Tax 2007
