Simon E. Davies created this incredible image of the Evolutionary Tree of Myth and Religion, - WordZZ
The purpose of this guide is to provide resources to students taking the ENH251-Mythology class at PVCC.
World Mythology, in an academic context, refers to the study and interpretation of often sacred tales or fables of a culture known as myths1. These myths, which are usually of unknown origin and at least partly traditional, ostensibly relate actual events and are especially associated with religious belief2. They are distinguished from symbolic behavior (cult, ritual) and symbolic places or objects (temples, icons) 2.
Myths are specific accounts of gods or superhuman beings involved in extraordinary events or circumstances in a time that is unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from ordinary human experience 2. The term mythology denotes both the study of myth and the body of myths belonging to a particular religious tradition 2.As with all religious symbolism, there is no attempt to justify mythic narratives or even to render them plausible. Every myth presents itself as an authoritative, factual account, no matter how much the narrated events are at variance with natural law or ordinary experience 2.
In essence, World Mythology is a global term for all of the myths found throughout history across the entire world 3. These stories take place across all cultures and time periods, and they express the beliefs and values about these subjects held by a certain culture 3. They are usually deeply meaningful to the culture they come from 3 . Learn more: 1. human.libretexts.org 2. britannica.com 3. mythbank.com
Definitions of Mythology
- Mythology - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedThe word ‘mythology’ comes from the Greek words mythos, a story or legend, and logos, a discourse. It is used to describe bodies of traditional stories about gods and superhuman beings, although many also include human heroes.
- mythology - The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilizationis the field of scholarship dealing with myth but also a particular body of myths. Myth goes back to the Greek word mythos, which originally meant ‘word, speech, message’ but in the 5th cent. bc started to acquire the meaning ‘entertaining, if not necessarily trustworthy, tale’.
- Mythology - The Classical TraditionAlong with philosophy and politics, mythology is one of the major areas of influence of ancient culture on our own. In the most common sense of the word, mythology belongs to the classical tradition. Among ancient societies, it was the Greeks who spoke and wrote in words and categories that we continue to use, often unwittingly. From Homer's time to our own day, mythology and myths have been Greek. Moreover, mythology, both as a category and as a field, belongs to what we call the Western tradition.
Textbooks - OER
WORLD MYTHOLOGY: Gods & Creation by Call Number: Online EbookISBN: 0000000000000Publication Date: 2021World Mythology, Volume 1: Gods and Creation Copyright © by Jared Aragona is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
The Odyssey by Homer by Call Number: Online EbookISBN: 0000000000000Publication Date: Release date: April 1, 1999 [eBook #1727] Most recently updated: December 2, 2023This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology by Call Number: OERISBN: 0000000000000This book covers much of the material for a basic Greek mythology course: the Olympian gods, the major Greek heroes, and the most commonly presented Greek epics (Iliad, Odyssey, Argonautica).
World Mythology: Myth, Metaphor, and Mystery by Call Number: OERISBN: 0000000000000Publication Date: 2021-03-01A deep exploration of the fundamental symbols, ceremonies, rituals, and transformative narratives of the world's great wisdom traditions and mythological systems. With special attention paid to their relevance to the modern world.
Reference Books
Classical Mythology: the Basics by Call Number: BL783 .M375 2023 @ GCCISBN: 9781032117287Publication Date: 2022-10-21
Classical Mythology A to Z by Call Number: BL715 .G54 2020 @ CGCISBN: 9780762470013Publication Date: 2020-10-06
Dictionary of Classical Mythology by Call Number: BL715 .M38 2014 @ PVCISBN: 9781782976356Publication Date: 2014-05-31
The Greek Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Call Number: BL785 .B89 2022 @ PCCISBN: 9780500518809Publication Date: 2022-04-12
UXL Encyclopedia of World MythologyCall Number: eBookISBN: 9781414430300Publication Date: 2008-09-23
eBooks
The Origins of the World's Mythologies by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780195367461Publication Date: 2013-01-04
The World of Myth: An Anthology by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780195074758Publication Date: 1992-02-27
Myth Terminology
- aetiology - The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilizationin religion and mythology refers to an explanation, normally in narrative form (hence ‘aetiological myth’), of a practice, epithet, monument, or similar. Typically such explanations elucidate something known in the contemporary world by reference to an event in the mythical past; they are thus related to the traditions of first inventors and are quite often found in connection with etymologies.
- afterlife - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedThe continuation of some form of existence, usually spiritual, after the death of the body; a belief in life after death is fundamental to many religions, although ideas as to its nature vary greatly.
- Afterlife - WikipediaThe afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's stream of consciousness or identity continues to exist after the death of their physical body.[1] The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems; it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, which carries with it one's personal identity. Belief in an afterlife is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death.
- angels - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedSpiritual beings generally believed to be messengers from God.
- angels, fallen - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedAngels cast out from Heaven as a punishment for disobeying or rebelling against God. The chief fallen angel is Lucifer, who became Satan after his fall from grace.
- apotropaic - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedObjects or practices which are believed to have the power to turn away evil. The word ‘apotropaic’ comes from the Greek apo, meaning from, and tropē, meaning turning, and is used to refer to any object or practice believed to have the power to turn away evil, in particular the evil eye.
- autochthonous - The American Heritage Dictionary of the English LanguageOriginating or formed in the place where found; indigenous: autochthonous rocks; an autochthonous people; autochthonous folk tales.
- chthonic - Collins English Dictionaryof or relating to the underworld
- cosmogonyA theory or belief about how the universe came into being, usually a mytho-religious story which describes its origins as a deliberate act of creation by a supreme being.
- cosmology - The Classical TraditionThe image of the universe created in ancient Greece, adopted practically without modification by Latin authors, remained dominant in the West until the 17th century. With greater or lesser friction it was incorporated into the cultures of the societies of the book (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). It was only as a result of the Scientific Revolution, which began in the West with the publication of Copernicus's work in 1543, that this older system was replaced by the modern image of the universe enshrined in Newton's Principia mathematica philosophiae naturalis (1687).
- cosmology - The Columbia Encyclopediaarea of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe.
- creation mythsMytho-religious stories which explain the beginning of the universe, earth, life and humanity, usually as a deliberate act of creation by a supreme being or beings.
- daemonA spirit in Classical mythology which held a place intermediate between gods and men, and which often protected and guided humans or watched over specific places.
- deitiesGods and goddesses; supernatural beings, usually powerful, who are or have been worshipped or honored throughout the ages in the religions and belief systems of nearly every culture.
- demonsIn religion, folklore and mythology, spirits which are generally described as malevolent and as having the ability to possess the bodies of humans and to tempt them to do evil.
- devil, theThe personification of evil and opponent of God in the Christian tradition, also referred to as Satan or Lucifer.
- dwarfsA race of beings in Scandinavian and Germanic folklore, who are small, squat and usually bearded; they live either inside mountains or underground, and are highly skilled miners, metalworkers and makers of jewellery.
- elvesA race of supernatural beings in Germanic and Norse folklore. In Britain, over the centuries, they came to be almost synonymous with the diminutive fairies of native British folklore, until J R R Tolkien’s depiction of them in Lord of the Rings helped to restore a concept of them which was much closer to the original Germanic one.
- energyAn invisible force which is believed to surround and permeate all things and to be the source of life. The basis of many alternative therapies is that physical, mental and spiritual health require a free and balanced flow of energy in the body. Practitioners of magic also believe that this energy, which is thought to connect all things in the universe, can be raised and focused for magical use.
- Ennead, The (Egypt) - Encyclopedia of Ancient DeitiesAlso known as: Psedjet. Supreme beings. The deities of Heliopolis, consisting of Ra and the eight gods and goddesses descended from him, namely, Shu and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Other deities, including Horus and Khenti Amenti, were sometimes considered to be among the company of gods of the divine Ennead. Usually there were nine deities grouped in threes. There were also the Greater and Lesser Enneads. The Greater Ennead had Horus, Isis, Nephthys, Nut, Set, Shu, Tefnut, Tem, Thoth.
- eponymous(1846) :of, relating to, or being an eponym :of, relating to, or being the person or thing for whom or which something is named :of, relating to, or being an eponym
- etiological myths(from the Greek aetion meaning `reason’) explain why a certain thing is the way it is or how it came to be.
- etymologyIn the first decades of the 7th century ce, Isidore, bishop of Seville, compiled a 20-book work in Latin called Etymologiae sive origines (Etymologies or Origins). Our knowledge of ancient and early medieval thought owes an enormous amount to this encyclopedia, a reflective catalogue of received wisdom, which the authors of the only complete translation into English introduce as "arguably the most influential book, after the Bible, in the learned world of the Latin West for nearly a thousand years" (Barney et al. 2006, 3).
- fairytaleThe same as a folktale, but clearly written down by a specific author.
- folkloreStories not meant to be taken as historical, involving the blending of the supernatural with regular people.
- godsSuperhuman or supernatural beings, worshipped in various cultures and belief systems throughout history as creators of the universe, personifications of natural forces, or controllers of specific aspects of human existence.
- historical mythsHistorical myths retell an event from the past but elevate it with greater meaning than the actual event (if it even happened).
- immortality - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedThe state of living forever, usually thought to be an attribute of gods and goddesses, and of some other supernatural beings. The quest for immortality is a recurring theme in mythology and folklore, and most religious traditions express a belief in the immortality of the human soul.
- placemaking - International Encyclopedia of Human GeographyThe ongoing collaborative process in which diverse groups of stakeholders within a community work together to define, develop, and deliver on a common vision for spatial transformation.
- legend - Ancient History EncyclopediaA story with possible historical origins, though likely inflated over time.
- Lucifer - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedIn Christian tradition, another name for Satan; it is most commonly used to refer to him before his fall from Heaven, when he was the most radiant of the angels (‘Lucifer’ being Latin for ‘bringer of light’).
- miracles - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedA striking event which is contrary to the established laws of nature and which is attributed to a supernatural cause, usually divine intervention.
- monomyth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaIn narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.
- myth - Ancient History EncyclopediaA story with deep societal meaning, usually dealing with god(s) and explaining the origin of things.
- mythology - The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilizationis the field of scholarship dealing with myth but also a particular body of myths. Myth goes back to the Greek word mythos, which originally meant ‘word, speech, message’ but in the 5th cent. bc started to acquire the meaning ‘entertaining, if not necessarily trustworthy, tale’.
- mythology - Ancient History EncyclopediaA vast collection of stories and lore that can span all four of the above types of storytelling.
- psychological myths - Ancient History Encyclopediapresent one with a journey from the known to the unknown which, according to both Jung and Campbell, represents a psychological need to balance the external world with one’s internal consciousness of it
- puck - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedA mischievous English woodland spirit, made famous as a character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- Satan - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedIn Christian, Islamic and Jewish tradition, the chief enemy of God and personification of evil, who seeks to tempt mankind to sin.
- soul - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedThe inner essence of a living being, thought in many religions and belief systems to be immortal. The soul is thought to be self-aware and to be the true basis for sentience in living beings. It is widely held that the soul can exist separately from the physical body and survives after death. In some belief systems, the soul is thought to be reincarnated into a new body after death, while in others, the person’s actions during life are judged and their soul is rewarded by admission to Heaven, or punished by being condemned to Hell.
- supreme beings - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedPostulated supernatural beings, usually regarded as having considerable power, and revered or worshipped in many religions and belief systems. Almost all creation myths include the agency of a supreme being or beings.
- theogony - Encyclopedia of Ancient LiteratureA dactylic hexameter poem of slightly over 1,000 lines, Theogony traces the genealogy and history of the Greek gods. The poet Hesiod begins his song with a description of the activities of the nine Muses in their mountain home on Mt. Helicon. He tells how they sing and celebrate the gods of the Olympian pantheon; the Titans who came before them; and the oldest of the gods—Chaos, Chronos (time), Gaia (the earth), Uranus (the heavens), Oceanus, Night, and others.
- theriomorphic - Collins English Dictionary(esp of a deity) possessing or depicted in the form of a beast
- universal life force - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedAn invisible and subtle energy which is believed to surround and permeate all living beings, integrate mind, body and spirit, and connect all things. Many traditional healing systems are based on the principle that a balanced and harmonious flow of this energy is necessary for physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
- zodiac - Chambers Dictionary of the UnexplainedIn astrology, the collection of twelve signs through which the sun passes in a year.