To see how cultures reflect their own unique characteristics through myth, one can examine how a single theme—such as fertility—is treated in a variety of different cultures. Fertility is the ability to produce life, growth, or offspring, and is therefore common in most, if not all, mythologies. For many cultures, fertility is a key element in the creation of the world. The egg, one of the most common symbols of fertility, appears in Chinese mythology as the first object to form from the disorder that previously existed in place of the world. In many cultures, including ancient Greece, the main gods are born from a single mother;
In the case of the Greeks, the mother is Gaia (pronounced GAY-uh), also known as Earth.
For cultures that relied upon agriculture, fertility was an important element of the changing seasons and the growth of crops. In these cases, fertility was seen as a gift from nature that could be revoked by cruel weather or the actions of the gods. Such is the case in the ancient Greek myth of Persephone (pronounced per-SEF-uh-nee); when the goddess is taken to the underworld by Hades (pronounced HAY-deez), her mother—the fertility goddess Demeter (pronounced di-MEE-ter)— became sad, which caused all vegetation to wither and die.
For the ancient Egyptians, fertility represented not just crop growth and human birth, but also rebirth into the afterlife through death. This explains why Hathor (pronounced HATH-or), the mother goddess of fertility who supported all life, was also the maintainer of the dead. It was believed that Hathor provided food for the dead to help them make the long journey to the realm of the afterlife.
For early Semitic cultures, the notion of fertility was not always positive. In the story of Lilith, the little-known first wife of Adam (the first man), the independent-minded woman left her husband and went to live by the Red Sea, where she gave birth to many demons each day. The myth seems to suggest that fertility is a power that can be used for good or evil, and that the key to using this power positively is for wives to dutifully respect the wishes of their husbands. This same theme is found in the earlier Babylonian myth of Tiamat (pronounced TYAH-maht), who gave birth to not only the gods but also to an army of monsters that fought to defend her from her son, the hero Marduk (pronounced MAHR-dook).
These are just a few of the many ways in which different cultures can take a single idea and interpret it through their own tales. Rest assured that the myths discussed in this book are wondrous legends that capture the imagination of the reader. They are also mirrors in which we can see not only ourselves, but the reflections of cultures old and new, far and near—allowing us to celebrate their unique differences, and at the same time recognize those common elements that make these enchanting stories universally beloved and appreciated by readers and students around the world.
Timeline of World Mythology
C. 3400 BCE Early Sumerian writing is first developed.
C. 3100 BCE Egyptian writing, commonly known as hieroglyphics, is first developed.
C. 2852-2205 bce During this time period, China is supposedly ruled by the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, mythical figures that may have been based on actual historical leaders.
C. 2100 BCE Earliest known version of the Epic of Gilgamesh is recorded in Sumerian.
C. 1553-1536 BCE Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten establishes official worship of Aten, a single supreme god, instead of the usual group of gods recognized by ancient Egyptians.
C. 1250 BCE The Trojan War supposedly occurs around this time period. Despite the war’s importance to Greek and Roman mythology, modern scholars are not sure whether the war was an actual historical event or just a myth.
C. 1100 BCE The Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish is documented on clay tablets discovered nearly three thousand years later in the ruined library of Ashurbanipal, located in modern-day Iraq.
C. 800 BCE The Greek alphabet is invented, leading to a flowering of Greek literature based on myth.
C. 750 BCE The Greek epics known as the Iliad and the Odyssey are written by the poet Homer. Based on the events surrounding the
Trojan War, these two stories are the source of many myths and characters in Greek and Roman mythology.
C. 750 BCE The Greek poet Hesiod writes his Theogony, which details the origins of the Greek gods.
C. 563-480 BCE According to tradition, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is believed to have lived in ancient India and Nepal during this time.
525-456 BCE The Greek dramatist Aeschylus writes tragedies detailing the lives of mythical characters, including Seven Against Thebes, Agamemnon, and The Eumenides.
C. 500-100 BCE The oldest version of the Ramayana, the Hindu epic about the incarnation of the god Vishnu named Rama, is written.
C. 496-406 BCE Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles creates classic plays such as Antigone and Oedipus the King.
C. 450 BCE The Book of Genesis, containing stories fundamental to early Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, is collected and organized into its modern form.
C. 431 BCE Greek builders complete work on the temple of Athena known as the Parthenon, one of the few ancient Greek structures to survive to modern times.
C. 150-50 BCE The Gundestrup cauldron, a silver bowl depicting various Celtic deities and rituals, is created. The bowl is later recovered from a peat bog in Denmark in 1891.
C. 29-19 BCE Roman poet Virgil creates his mythical epic, the Aeneid, detailing the founding of Rome.
C. 4 bce-33 ce Jesus, believed by Christians to be the son of God, supposedly lives during this time period.
C. 8 CE Roman poet Ovid completes his epic work Metamorphoses. It is one of the best existing sources for tales of ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
C. 100 CE The Mahabharata, a massive epic recognized as one of the most important pieces ofliterature in Hinduism, is organized into its
Modern form from source material dating back as far as the ninth century BCE.
C. 570-632 CE The prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam, supposedly lives during this time.
C. 800-840 CE The oldest surviving remnants of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Near Eastern folktales and legends, are written in Syrian.
C. 1000 CE The Ramsund carving, a stone artifact bearing an illustration of the tale of Sigurd, is created in Sweden. The tale is documented in the Volsunga saga.
C. 1010 CE The oldest surviving manuscript of the Old English epic Beowulf is written. It is recognized as the first significant work of English literature.
C. 1100 Monks at the Clonmacnoise monastery compile the Book of the Dun Cow, the earliest written collection of Irish myths and legends still in existence.
C. 1138 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain is published, featuring the first well-known tales of the legendary King Arthur.
C. 1180-1210 The Nibelungenlied, a German epic based largely on earlier German and Norse legends such as the Volsunga saga, is written by an unknown poet.
C. 1220 Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson writes the Prose Edda, a comprehensive collection ofNorse myths and legends gathered from older sources.
C. 1350 The White Book of Rhydderch, containing most of the Welsh myths and legends later gathered in the Mabinogion, first appears.
1485 Thomas Malory publishes Le Morte D’Arthur, widely considered to be the most authoritative version of the legend of King Arthur.
C. 1489 A Lytell Geste of Robin Hode, one of the most comprehensive versions of the life of the legendary British character of Robin Hood, is published.
C. 1550 The Papal Vuh, a codex containing Mayan creation myths and legends, is written. The book, written in the Quiche language but using Latin characters, was likely based on an older book written in Mayan hieroglyphics that has since been lost.
1835 Elias Lonnrot publishes the Kalevala, an epic made up of Finnish songs and oral myths gathered during years of field research.
1849 Archeologist Henry Layard discovers clay tablets containing the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish in Iraq. The epic, lost for centuries, is unknown to modern scholars before this discovery.
1880 Journalist Joel Chandler Harris publishes Uncle Remus, His Songs and Sayings: the Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation, a collection of myths and folktales gathered from African American slaves working in the South. Many of the tales are derived from older stories from African myth. Although the book is successful and spawns three sequels, Harris is accused by some of taking cultural myths and passing them off as his own works.
Words to Know
Benevolent: Helpful or well-meaning.
Caste: A social level in India’s complex social class system.
Cauldron: Kettle.
Chaos: Disorder.
Chivalry: A moral code popularized in Europe in the Middle Ages that stressed such traits as generosity, bravery, courtesy, and respect toward women.
Constellation: Group of stars.
Cosmogony: The study of, or a theory about, the origin of the universe. deity: God or goddess.
Demigod: Person with one parent who was human and one parent who was a god.
Destiny: Predetermined future. divination: Predicting the future. dualistic: Having two sides or a double nature. epic: A long, grand-scale poem.
Fertility: The ability to reproduce; can refer to human ability to produce children or the ability of the earth to sustain plant life.
Hierarchy: Ranked order of importance. hubris: Too much self-confidence. immortal: Living forever. imperial: Royal, or related to an empire.
Indigenous: Native to a given area.
Judeo-Christian: Related to the religious tradition shared by Judaism and Christianity. The faiths share a holy book, many fundamental principles, and a belief in a single, all-powerful god. matriarchal: Female-dominated. Often refers to societies in which a family’s name and property are passed down through the mother’s side of the family.
Mediator: A go-between.
Monotheism: The belief in a single god as opposed to many gods. mummification: The drying and preserving of a body to keep it from rotting after death.
Nymph: A female nature deity.
Omen: A mystical sign of an event to come.
Oracle: Person through whom the gods communicated with humans. pagan: Someone who worships pre-Christian gods. pantheon: The entire collection of gods recognized by a group of people.
Patriarchal: Male-dominated. Often refers to societies in which the family name and wealth are passed through the father.
Patron: A protector or supporter.
Pharaoh: A king of ancient Egypt.
Polytheism: Belief in many gods.
Primal: Fundamental; existing since the beginning.
Prophet: A person able to see the plans of the gods or foretell future events.
Pyre: A large pile of burning wood used in some cultures to cremate a dead body.
Resurrected: Brought back to life.
Revelation: The communication of divine truth or divine will to human beings.
Rune: A character from an ancient and magical alphabet. seer: A person who can see the future.
Shaman: A person who uses magic to heal or look after the members of his tribe.
Sorcerer: Wizard.
Syncretism: The blending or fusion of different religions or belief systems.
Tradition: A time-honored practice, or set of such practices. underworld: Land of the dead.
Utopia: A place of social, economic and political perfection.
Research and Activity Ideas
Teachers wishing to enrich their students’ understanding of world mythologies might try some of the following group activities. Each uses art, music, drama, speech, research, or scientific experimentation to put the students in closer contact with the cultures, myths, and figures they are studying.
World History
