Mythology
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The Theoi Project profiles each deity and creature of Greek Mythology on a separate page, incorporating an encyclopedia summary, quotations from a wide selection of ancient Greek and Roman texts, and illustrations from ancient art. Analysis of the texts and interpretation of the stories of myth is currently beyond the scope of the project. For such detailed analysis, I would suggest consulting some of the good books available on the subject. Transliterated forms of Greek names are used throughout the biography pages of the site rather than their Latin forms, e.g. Kirke instead of Circe, Ouranos for Uranus, Apollon in place of Apollo, etc.
THEOI GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Exploring Mythology & the Greek Gods in Classical Literature & Art
myths and legends
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. [ 1 ] As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, [ 2 ] whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece . In the field of folkloristics , a myth is defined as a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Many scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in somewhat different ways. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] In a very broad sense, the word can refer to any story originating within traditions. [ 8 ]
Mythology - Wikipedia
Chinese mythology - Wikipedia
Chinese mythology (中國神話) is a collection of cultural history , folktales , and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state. Like many mythologies, it has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history. Historians have conjectured that the Chinese mythology began in the 12th century BCE. The myths and legends were passed down in oral form for over a thousand years, before being written in books such as Shan Hai Jing .
Shanhaijing illustration of Nine-tailed Fox, companion of Xi Wangmu Shan Hai Jing ( simplified Chinese : 山海经 ; traditional Chinese : 山海經 ; pinyin : Shānhǎi Jīng ; Wade–Giles : Shan Hai Ching ; literally "Classic of the Mountains and Seas" or "Collection of the Mountains and Seas" or "Canon of Mountains and Seas"") [ 1 ] is a Chinese classic text , and a compilation of early geography and myth. Versions of the text have existed since the 4th century BC, [ 2 ] [ 3 ] and by the early Han Dynasty it had reached its final form. [ 3 ] It is largely a fabled geographical and cultural account of pre- Qin China as well as a collection of mythology . The book is about 31,000 words long, and is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels . The oldest part of the present book is sometimes referred separately as Wuzang Shanjing 五藏山經.
Shan Hai Jing - Wikipedia
Fengshen Bang , also known as Fengshen Yanyi in Chinese, and translated as The Investiture of the Gods or The Creation of the Gods , is one of the major vernacular Chinese epic novels written during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). [ 1 ] Consist of 100 chapters, it was first published in book form around 1550s. [ 1 ] The story is set in the era of the declining Shang Dynasty (1600 BC–1046 BC) and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC). It intertwines numerous elements of Chinese mythology , including deities, immortals and spirits. The authorship of Fengshen Bang is attributed to Xu Zhonglin . The novel is a romanticized retelling of the overthrow of King Zhou , last ruler of the Shang Dynasty , by King Wu , who would establish the Zhou Dynasty in place of Shang. The story integrates oral and written tales of many Chinese mythological figures who are involved in the struggle as well.
Fengshen Yanyi - Wikipedia
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism , the religion of the Iron Age Celts . [ 1 ] Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. Among Celts in close contact with Ancient Rome , such as the Gauls and Celtiberians , their mythology did not survive the Roman empire , their subsequent conversion to Christianity , and the loss of their Celtic languages . It is mostly through contemporary Roman and Christian sources that their mythology has been preserved. The Celtic peoples who maintained either their political or linguistic identities (such as the Gaels , Picts , and Brythonic tribes of Great Britain and Ireland ) left vestigial remnants of their ancestral mythologies, put into written form during the Middle Ages .
Celtic mythology - Wikipedia
Celtic Folklore
Some of these books and texts are translations of Celtic legends and sagas; others are retellings of the material, folklore, or literary works based on Celtic themes. During the 19th and early 20th Century there was a resurgence of interest in the folklore of Ireland, Wales and Scotland. This was reflected in a huge amount of literature based on the rich Celtic mythopoetic heritage, most of it very faithful to the original material, some in a more modern voice.
Ancient traditions tell us that, long before monks or saints set foot in Cornwall, a mighty race of Titans dwelt in our hills, woods, and carns, who were anciently the masters of the world and the ancestors of the true Celtic race, and who, as they exceeded all other people in health and strength of body, were looked upon as giants. One of this potent race, called the giant Denbras, long dwelt among the hills of Towednack, until one Tom, who lived somewhere about Bowjeyheer, slew him in fair fight and got possession of his treasures, which were the making of many old high-country families, who keep fast hold of some of the riches, thus acquired, to this day. When Tom was a young man he was always going about with his hands in his pockets, and never cared for doing much except rolling the big rocks from over the fields into the hedges for grounders.
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Vol. 1: Legends of the West-Country Giants: The Giants of Towednack
In Irish mythology , Nuada or Nuadu (modern spelling: Nuadha ), known by the epithet Airgetlám (modern spelling: Airgeatlámh , meaning "silver hand/arm"), was the first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann . He is cognate with the Gaulish and British god Nodens . His Welsh equivalent is Nudd or Lludd Llaw Eraint . [ edit ] Description
Nuada Airgetlám - Wikipedia
The Dagda - Wikipedia
The Dagda ( Proto-Celtic : *Dagodeiwos , Old Irish : Dag Dia , Modern Irish : Daghdha ) is an important god of Irish mythology . The Dagda is a father-figure (he is also known as Eochaid(h) Ollathair , or " All-father ") and a protector of the tribe. In some texts his father is Elatha , in others his mother is Ethniu . Other texts say that his mother is Danu ; while others yet place him as the father of Danu, perhaps due to her association with Brigit . The Dagda's siblings include the gods Ogma and Lir . [ edit ] DescriptionAncient Egyptian religion - Wikipedia
Nun , the embodiment of the primordial waters, lifts the barque of the sun god Ra into the sky at the moment of creation. Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt , which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the cosmos. Myth appears frequently in Egyptian writings and art , particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts , and temple decoration.Myth of Osiris and Isis - Wikipedia
The Myth of Osiris and Isis and Seth , concerning the deities of Egyptian mythology Osiris , Isis , Horus , and Set , became one of the most important and powerful in Egyptian mythology during the New Kingdom . The myth concerns the death of Osiris and the birth of Horus. Isis, in the form of a bird, copulates with the deceased Osiris, observed by other godsMesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and Akkadian ( Assyrian / Babylonian ) peoples living in Mesopotamia (around the area of modern Iraq ) that dominated the region for a period of 4200 years from the fourth millennium BC to approximately the 3rd century AD. [ 1 ] Christianity began to take root among the Mesopotamians in the 1st century AD, and over the next 300 years the native religion largely died out. However, it is known that the god Ashur was still worshipped in Assyria as late as the 4th Century AD and it is rumoured that Ashurism was still practiced by tiny minorities in northern Assyria (around Harran ) until the 17th Century AD. Commonly thought of as a form of paganism , Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic , worshipping over 2000 different deities, [ 2 ] many of which were associated with a specific city or state within Mesopotamia such as Sumer , Akkad , Assyria , Assur , Nineveh , Ur , Uruk , Mari and Babylon .
Mesopotamian religion - Wikipedia
Marduk - Wikipedia
Marduk ( Sumerian spelling in Akkadian : AMAR.UTU 𒀫 𒌓 "solar calf"; perhaps from MERI.DUG; Biblical Hebrew מְרֹדַךְ Merodach ; Greek Μαρδοχαῖος , [ 1 ] Mardochaios ) was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon , who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi ( 18th century BCE ), started to slowly rise to the position of the head of the Babylonian pantheon, a position he fully acquired by the second half of the second millennium BCE. According to The Encyclopedia of Religion , the name Marduk was probably pronounced Marutuk . The etymology of the name Marduk is conjectured as derived from amar-Utu ("bull calf of the sun god Utu").Gilgamesh - Wikipedia
Gilgamesh ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ l . ɡ ə . m ɛ ʃ / ; Akkadian cuneiform : 𒄑𒂆𒈦 [ 𒂆 ], Gilgameš , often given the epithet of the King , also known as Bilgames in the earliest Sumerian texts) [ 1 ] was the fifth king of Uruk , modern day Iraq (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, [ 2 ] Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal , rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil , in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of Nippur .Sumerians