• LET COMPETENCIES:
1. Gain insights into beginnings of mythology as
an attempt of ancient people to explain the
nature and of natural phenomena.
2. Discover similarities (and contrasts) among the
myths of the different countries and draw
implications thereafter.
3. Reflect on the values derived from mythology,
a rich body of knowledge.
Myth: (1) a story (2) that is usually of unknown origin
and (3) at least partially traditional (4) that ostensibly
relates historical events usually of such description as
(5) to serve to explain some particular event,
institution, or natural phenomenon (Webster)
Myths are certain products of the imagination of a
people which take the form of stories.
(H.J. Rose in A Handbook of Greek Mythology)
A myth is a story about gods, other
supernatural beings, or heroes of a long past
time. (M. Reinhold, Past and Present)
Myth is a cognitive structure analogous to
language through which primitive people
organize their experiences. (J. Peradotto,
Classical Mythology)
Myth is the symbolic form which is generated, shaped,
and transmitted by the creative imagination of pre- and
extra-logical people as they respond to and
encapsulate, the wealth of experience. (R.J . Schork,
“Classical Mythology, “ The Classic Journal)
Fairy tale : a make-believe sory about fairies, wizards,
giants, or other characters who possess magical or
unusual powers.
Folklore: traditions, customs, and stories of one culture
or group of people
Legend: a story about the past that is considered
to be true but is usually a combination of both fact
and fiction
Mythology: a group of myths from a single
group or culture
Supernatural: more than what is natural or normal;
showing godlike or magical powers; exhibiting
superhuman strength.
PURE MYTH OR TRUE MYTH OR MYTH PROPER
SAGA OR LEGEND
FOLK-TALE OR FAIRY-TALE
Myths of this kind tend to be examples of primitive
science or religion. They explain natural phenomena or
the origin of things , and they describe how individuals
should behave toward the gods.
Myths of this variety tend to be examples of primitive
history; they contain a gem or seed of historical fact
and enlarge upon it with great flourish. A good example
of a saga or legend in the story of the war at Troy.
Myths of this species tend to be examples of
primitive fiction. Tales of this sort are told for
pleasure and amusement.
Aesop’s Fables
A Thousand and One Nights
The Great Epics of the World
The Panchatantra
The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony and Works and
Days.
CREATION
GODS AND GODDESSES
HEROIC FIGURES
MONSTER S AND DEMONS
ANIMALS
THE UNDERWORLD
JOURNEY , QUESTS, AND TRIALS
THE AFTERLIFE
WORLDS DESTROYED
CREATION
Creation myths set the stage for more particular myths
supporting social structure, the relation of human beings
to the natural world , and questions of life and death.
GODS AND GODDESSES
Universally, people believed in ideal beings leading
them. Such deities possess human characteristics: they
have parents and offsprings, and they belong to some
social grouping.
HEROIC FIGURES
Heroes and heroines are semi-divine beings: in many
mythologies they have superhuman powers through
divine parentage; or they may have acquired divinity
through their deeds as men or women on earth, with the
help of their deity.
MONSTER S AND DEMONS
Monsters and demons are most familiar as the beings
that a heroic figure confronts and overcomes .
ANIMALS
They are featured as wild creatures – predatory beasts
or the elusive pray of hunters ; or as helpful beings
tamed by humans , or as possessing powers.
THE UNDERWORLD
Inevitably associations with burial prompt tales of
gloom and terror of the unknown yet inevitable.
JOURNEY , QUESTS, AND TRIALS
Quests and journeys bring mythological figures into a
number of situations where they can prove their
strength.
THE AFTERLIFE
The afterlife, some form of existence after death, takes
as many different forms in mythologies as the culture
from which they are drawn.
WORLDS DESTROYED
Creation may be seen in myth as chance event or
something that occured despite oppossing forces ;
likewise an end to the world in its present form may be
inevitable or threatened.
Mesopotamian Mythology
Canaanite Mythology
Egyptian Mythology
Greek Mythology
Roman Mythology.
Celtic Mythology.
Norse Mythology.
Mexican and South American Mythologies
Persian Mythology
Indian Mythology
Chinese Mythology
Japanese Mythology
Mesopotamian Mythology. The Assyro –Babylonia tradition had its core of
mythology of the Sumerians .
Canaanite Mythology. Canaan is here used in its biblical sense: syria,
Phoenicia , and Palestine .
Egyptian Mythology. The dying and rising vegetations gods of both
Mesopotamia and Canaan have their counterpart in the Egyptian
mythology. Osiris, Isis, horus and are the deities.
Greek Mythology . The major deities were associated with aspects of nature
such a sZeus (sky and thunder) or poseidon (sea), and with abstract
qualities, such as Athena (wisdom) or Apollo (arts, healing, prophecy).
Roman Mythology. It incorporated those of conquered peoples but was in
many aspects an adaptation of the Greeks .
Celtic Mythology. Celtic mythology is preserved in Wales and Ireland which
the Romans failed to subdue.
Norse Mythology. Norse or Germanic mythology also glorifies battle but
against a harsher natural background: life derives from ice and fire and is
ultimately consumed by them.
Mexican and South American Mythologies . The mythology of the warlike
Aztecs in Meso-America also justified bloodshed, though they adopted the
practice of sacrifice for which they are so vilified from the Toltecs, the first
of many older civilizations that they overcame.
Persian Mythology. Initialy Persian mythology reflected a life of
warriors and of nomadic pastoralists beginning to turn to agriculture in
fertile pockets amid harsh deserts and mountains
Indian Mythology. The Vedic mythology of India, derived from the Aryans ,
also has Indra, a warrior sky god, insuring fertilizing rain and dispatching
earlier inhabitants of the new homeland and demonizing them.
Chinese Mythology. Chinese mythology is rooted in its vast land, in
venerations of its emperors, whose good rule brought prosperity and was
a mark of heavenly approval, and in reverence for ancestors, the link
between humans and gods.
Japanese Mythology. Like in China, native mythology centered on land, and
the establishment of imperial dynasties was combined with Buddhist
doctrine on death and the afterlife, ultimately from India and related to
Persian traditions, for examples Yama/Yima as first man and king/judge of
the dead.
The Greek culture existed before the Roman culture.
When the Romans decided to develop a mythology,
they adopted the Gods of greek mythology and
changed their names.
GREEK ROMAN TITLE
Aphrodite Venus goddess of love and beauty
Apollo Apollo goddess of music, poetry, and the sun
Ares Mars god of war
Artemis Diana goddess of the moon
Asclepius Aesculapius god of medicine
Athena Minerva goddess of wisdom
Cronus Saturn god of the sky and agriculture
Demeter Ceres goddess of fertility and crops
Dionysus Bacchus god of wine, ecstacy
GREEK ROMAN TITLE
Eros Cupid God of love
Gaea Terra Mother of earth
Hades Dis god of underworld
Hephatheus Vulcan god of fire, craftsman for the god
Hera Juno queen of the gods, goddess of marriage
Hermes Mercury messanger of the gods, travel
Persephone Proserfina queen of the underworld
Poseidon Neptune god of the sea
Zeus Jupiter ruler of the gods
A. ANCIENT THEORIES
1. Rationalism
According to this theory, myths represent an
early form of logical thinking: they all, have a
logical base.
2. Etymological Theory
This theory states that all myths derive from
and can be traced back to certain words in the
language.
3. Diffusionism
The diffusionists maintain that all myths arose
from a few major cultural centers and spread
throughout the world.
4. Evolutionism
Myth-making occurs at acertain stage in the
evolution of the human mind.
3. Allegorical theory
In the allergorical explanations , all myths
contain hidden meanings which the narrative
deliberately conceals or encodes.
4. Euhemerism
Euhemerus, a Greek who lived from 325-275
BC, maintained that all myths arise from
historical events which were merely
exaggerated.
Modern Theories
1. Naturalism
In this hypothesis, all myths are thought to
arise from an attempt to explain natural
phenomena.
2. Ritualism
According to this theory, all myths are
invented to accompany and explain religious
ritual; they describe the significant events
which have resulted in a particular ceremony.
5. Freudianism
When Sigmund Freud, the founder of modern
psychology, interpreted the dreams of his patients, he
found great similarities between them and the ancient
myths.
6. Jungian archetypes
Carl Jung was a prominent psychologist who, while he
accepted the Freud’s theory about the origin of myths,
did not believe that it went far in explaining the
striking similarities between the motifs found in
ancient stories and those of his patients.
7. Structuralism
This theory is a fairly recent development and is
closely allied with the research of linguists.
8. Historical-critical theory
This theory maintains that there are a multitude of
factors which influence the origin and
development of myths and that no single
explanation will suffice.
Stories of fire-breathing dragons vary throughout different
cultures.
The unicorn is a mystical animal that is found in the mythologies of many different types. The
middle ages reflected these mythological creatures as symbol of purity. They are shown even in
modern films as representation of love and beauty.
According to Scandinavian folklore, trolls are hostile creatures
who lived inside dark caves in the mountains.
A jinni is a spirit from Arab and Muslim folklore that inhabits the
earth can assume human animal form.
The nine-headed serpent Hydra is one of the most hideous and
ghastly monsters of Greek mythology.
a huge fire-breathing monster that has the head of a lion, the body
of a dragon, and the hind legs of a goat.
From the waist up, their bodies are human, and their lower bodies
and legs are in the form of a horse.
The fenrir is a large ferocious wolf with fierce yellow eyes and
tremendous jaw.
The oni are giant horned demons with three fingers, three toes
and sometimes three eyes.
According to South-east Asian mythology, nagas are supernatural
beings who take the form of serpents.
In Chinese mythology, guei are spirits formed from the yin, or
negative essence, of people’s soul.
In Japanese mythology, the kappa is a race of monkey-like demons that live in ponds, have
monkey-like faces, webbed hands and feet and yellow-green skin. They wear shells like
tortoises.
