Throughout the world of mythologies, there are many different backgrounds to these stories. Specifically for creation stories, there are five different categories that myths may fall into.
First off, "Ex Nihilo" stories are myths that start from a void or nothing. This nothingness is often referred to as "Chaos". One example of these types of myths may include the Greek myth "The Creation of the Titans and the Gods". The sentence that starts off this story is "Out of the original emptiness, which was called Chaos, emerged the first three immortal beings..." (World Mythologies, 84).
The second type of creation story is known as "Earth Diver". An animal in these myths dives down into the sea or ocean and retrieves some sort of grain of substance which then eventually becomes an island or the earth. The Woman Who Fell from the Sky is an Iroquois myth which conveys an Earth Diver format. "Muskrat's body suddenly reappeared on the surface of the water. He was dead. However, Muskrat had been as skillful as he was courageous, for clutched in his claws and lodged inside his mouth was earth from the bottom of the sea" (World Mythologies, 628).
A third type of myth in the creation stories is a category known as "Primal Unity". In these myths, an egg may crack where the creatures of the earth come out of, or better known, the heavens above and the earth below are separated where humans can then come to existence. A type of Primal Unity myth may be the Nigerian myth "The Creation of the Universe and Ife". Primal Unity can be seen in the second sentence where it states "In the beginning the universe consisted only of the sky above and the water and the wild marshland below. Olorun, the god who possessed the most power and the greatest knowledge, ruled the sky, while the goddess Olokun ruled the endless waters and wild marshes" (World Mythologies, 510).
Dismemberment is a fourth type of creations story in mythologies. When a monster or giant is killed and separated, his body parts are turned into different parts of the earth. The flesh may turn into the human beings while the blood becomes the rivers and oceans. A vocabulary word often used in these myths is "sparagmos" meaning the tearing to pieces of a live victim. A myth that begins as Primal Unity and eventually becomes Dismemberment is the myth "Enuma Elish". Dismemberment comes into play near the end of the story "Marduk then divided Tiamat's body into two parts like a shellfish. Half of Tiamat he set up as the sky; the other half he formed into the earth. From Tiamat's saliva, he created the clouds and filled them with water, but he himself took charge of the winds, and the rain, and the cold. He put Tiamat's head into position to form the mountains of the earth, and he caused the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers to flow from her eyes" (World Mythologies, 10).
One final type of creation story is "Emergence". During these myths, life just appears.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Gods
Pantheon -
Greek / Roman / Area
- Gaea / Terra / Mother Earth
- Uranus / Uranus / Father Sky
- Cronus / Saturn / Sky
- Rhea / Ops / Earth
- Atlas / ------ / Holder of the Earth
- Aphrodite / Venus / Sexual Desire, Beauty
Greek / Roman / Area
- Zeus / Jupiter / Lightning
- Hestia / Vesta / Hearth
- Poseidon / Neptune / Sea, Earthquakes
- Hera / Juno / Marriage, Childbirth
- Hades / Pluto / Underworld
- Demeter / Ceres / Grain
Children of Zeus (Olympians) -
Greek / Roman / Area
- Apollo / Phoebus Apollo / Medecine, Poetry, Archery
- Artemis / Diana / Hunt, Moon, Virginity
- Ares / Mars / War
- Athena / Minerva / Weaving, Wisdom
- Hermes / Mercury / Messenger
- Persephone / Proserpine / Underworld
- Hephaestus / Vulcan / Forge
Gods vs. Mortals
- Gods -
- Immortal
- Born from Gods
- Create the destiny of others
- Hold superpowers
- Mortals -
- Created by the gods
- Live a pre-destined life
- No special powers
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Anthropomorphize
Roots are very helpful parts to words. If a long word such as anthropomorphize can be broken down, it is much easier to understand. This word can be broken down into "anthro" and "morphi". The root "anthro" means human or man, such as in the words anthropology, anthropomorphic, and misanthrope. The second root to this word, "morphi" means form or structure, which are used in words like metamorphosis, amorphous, and morphology. The final part to anthropomorphize is the ending "ize" which can be used to mean "make". All together these three parts to the word come together to mean making into a human structure. Throughout myths, this technique is used often with objects or creatures that are not human. This allows for them to interact with real humans and have some sort of humanistic purposes.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The True Definition of a Myth
Myth - "a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature" (Dictionary.com).
Myths today have a broad and well understood meaning. Even if there is no set of words that one can easily use to define them, there is still and underlying blanket that people think of when the word "myth" is used. Other words that often have this same connotation may include story, theory, legend, fable, etc.
Off the top of my head, I would say that any one of these kinds of stories must include some sort of a moral, a plot that may have never actually taken place, a supernatural hero whether a human or monster, and most times a confrontation will take place between the good and evil. Many people look to myths for some sort of reason to their questions. Myths can often reveal answers to blank spots in the world or vast areas that have no definite answers. Looking back in the history of myths shows different sorts of answers that aren't always considered at first. Besides finding answers to unknown parts of our society today, myths will also show how people have changed their ways to fit into the world. We see this in many ways today with voting, social groups, school, work, etc. but once we can look back and see it in past history, it will make these conformations much more comfortable. These myths that are widely held, show that false ideas can bring the world together. Once we allow for ourselves to believe in some of these fallacies', we are then able to see things much like ways that others, who believe the same fallacies', see things as well.
Myths today have a broad and well understood meaning. Even if there is no set of words that one can easily use to define them, there is still and underlying blanket that people think of when the word "myth" is used. Other words that often have this same connotation may include story, theory, legend, fable, etc.
Off the top of my head, I would say that any one of these kinds of stories must include some sort of a moral, a plot that may have never actually taken place, a supernatural hero whether a human or monster, and most times a confrontation will take place between the good and evil. Many people look to myths for some sort of reason to their questions. Myths can often reveal answers to blank spots in the world or vast areas that have no definite answers. Looking back in the history of myths shows different sorts of answers that aren't always considered at first. Besides finding answers to unknown parts of our society today, myths will also show how people have changed their ways to fit into the world. We see this in many ways today with voting, social groups, school, work, etc. but once we can look back and see it in past history, it will make these conformations much more comfortable. These myths that are widely held, show that false ideas can bring the world together. Once we allow for ourselves to believe in some of these fallacies', we are then able to see things much like ways that others, who believe the same fallacies', see things as well.
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