Learn more about mythology

At a time long ago, before old age had been introduced and while our early ancestors were still enjoying a state of perpetual youth, a boy was living with his grandmother. One day she remarked that they were out of provisions, to which he replied: “Never mind, grandma, I will set a snare and we will quickly have an owl to feast on.” He skipped merrily off and soon had ensnared a large white owl. On approaching the bird, the following conversation took place:

Owl—”What are you going to do with me?”

Boy—”I am going to kill and eat you.”

Owl—”Don’t you do it.”

Boy—”Why not?”

Owl—”If you kill me, I will make you an old man.”

Boy—”Grandma and I are hungry, and we are going to eat you.”

Owl—”Again I warn you, if you kill me I will make an old man of you.”

Notwithstanding the warning, the boy killed the owl and started to carry it home.

Household duties did not hang heavily on the ladies of that day, so grandma was killing time by watching for the boy’s return. At last, slowly approaching and dragging a large white owl, she saw a withered old man, stricken with the infirmities of age. It was her grandson who had left her but a short time previous, a merry, happy youth.

So old age was introduced into the world for the first time and has continued ever since. And often since that day many an old Inupash³ who has felt the infirmity of age coming on has sighed and sincerely wished that the boy had shown more discretion by hearkening to the warning of the owl.

(Legend from Alaska) 16 months ago

the best stuff on world myth is from Joseph Campbell. Start with “Hero with a Thousand Faces” and read in parallel with the original StarWars Trilogy. 2 years ago

now in college on Greek mythology and it’s very interesting. 4 years ago

So I’m gonna say that I’ve completed this goal. I haven’t learned everything I want to know about mythology but I’ve finished reading “The Everything Classsical Mythology Book” which gave me a great foundation. There’s still a lot more I want to read, I now have a mythology reading list on List of Bests. But here’s my conclusion so far:

After reading a lot of mythology recently and the conclusion I’ve come to is that religion is just a myth and arbitrary. Stories in the bible have been copied from ancient texts. The story of Noah is in The Epic of Gilgamesh which was written circa 2000bc. Then, the story of Hercules is similar to Jesus. Hercules was the son of a god, Zeus, and a mortal, who after completing difficult feats returned to heaven. So, this idea wasn’t completely unheard of when Christianity was being introduced—It made it an easy transition. I also read A Short History of Myth (Karen Armstrong) which said all myths contain five things: 1, it’s rooted in the experience of death; 2, it’s accompanied with sacrifice (Jesus died for our sins); 3, Myths are recalled at the limit of human life; 4, They show us how to behave; 5, Mythology speaks of a world that exists parallel to our own. All these things just point to all religion being myth. So, if it’s popular though that Greek Mythology is kind of absurd, “How can there be more than one god? that’s just not right.” But, why not? Why this myth? Why this God? If all forms of religion is mythology and Greek mythology is pretty inconceivable by today’s standards, isn’t it arbitrary to choose Christianity or Judaism as faith?

My point is, all religion is arbitrary. Sure, people believe in plenty of things, but is the fact that the bible says god exists enough to make religion plausible? Further, isn’t the bible biased? The bible is preaching for its own glory; it won’t tell of the other ideas or possibilities, it’s solely looking out for itself. 5 years ago

I’m mostly interested in how ancient mythology influenced monotheistic religion…the old and new testament. But then it also influcened art, society of ancient history—i mean, just think about the greek and roman temples they built for the dieties, which in turn influenced the architecture of the renaissance, baroque, then theres romanesque and neo-classicism…it’s endless. I could go on, but I’d never stop. Mythology is just so interesting. 5 years ago

Yesterday I bought a special issue of a French news magazine (that I usually never buy because of its conservationist vision of politics) which is about Myths and Mythology. Mythology specialists wrote about parts of classical texts that founded mythology and their consequences on our civilisation’s unconsciousness. It’s very well done: on the right page there’s the text and on the left page there’s the specialist explanation and comments.

Moreover it is not only about Greek Mythology but also Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Scandinavian Mythology.

For those who speak French : http://www.lepoint.fr/content/hors_serie/article?id=189344 5 years ago

I want to learn more about the Greek Mythology because when I have a look at this and this (only Greek Gods) I really am scared and confused. 5 years ago

The Eddas is a good place to start, but it’s worth checking other literature on the subject too to get a fuller picture. 6 years ago

Interested in Greek and Roman gods as well as places such as Atlantis and Land of Mu and how the people have predicted the appearance of such places again.
I think this will be an ongoing goal which may never be completely done, but is something I’ve always been interested in and want to know as much as possible about. 8 years ago