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The term mythology has been in use since the 15th century, and means "an exposition of myths". The current meaning of "body of myths" itself dates to 1781 (Oxford English Dictionary (OED)). The adjective mythical dates to 1678. Myth in general use is often interchangeable with legend or allegory, but some scholars strictly distinguish the terms. The term has been used in English since the 19th century. The newest edition of the OED distinguishes the meanings
1a. "A traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces or creatures , which embodies and provides an explanation, aetiology, or justification for something such as the early history of a society, a religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon", citing the Westminster Review of 1830 as the first English attestation
1b. "As a mass noun: such stories collectively or as a genre." (1840)
2a. "A widespread but untrue or erroneous story or belief" (1849)
2b. "A person or thing held in awe or generally referred to with near reverential admiration on the basis of popularly repeated stories (whether real or fictitious)." (1853)
2c. "A popular conception of a person or thing which exaggerates or idealizes the truth." (1928)
Source: Wikipedia
Odysseus or Ulysses is the main hero in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, and plays a key role in Homer's Iliad. King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea (the tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis names Sysiphus as his father), Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness, and is most famous for the ten eventful years it took him to return home after the Trojan War. Relatively little is known of Odysseus' background except that his grandfather (or step-grandfather) is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and grandson of Aeolus. Ithaca, an island along the Ionian coastline of Greece, is one of several islands that would have comprised the realm of Odysseus' family, but the true extent of the Cephallenian realm and the actual identities of the islands named in Homer's works are unknown.
Source: Wikipedia
Jason and the Argonauts (1963): directed by Don Chaffey and starring Todd Armstrong and Nancy Kovack. Tagline: Greatest Odyssey Of The Ages - for the first time on the screen. Plot outline: The legendary Greek hero leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece.
Source: IMDb
The Twelve Labours (Greek: dodekathlos) of Heracles (Latin: Hercules) are a series of archaic episodes connected by a later continuous narrative, concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes. The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisandros of Rhodes, dated about 600 BC (Burkert). A traditional order of the labours found in Apollodorus (2.5.1-2.5.12) is:
1. Slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its fur.
2. Slay the Lernaean Hydra.
3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds.
7. Capture the Cretan Bull.
8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes.
9. Obtain the Girdle of Hippolyte.
10. Obtain the Cows of Geryon.
11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides.
12. Capture Cerberus, the guardian dog of Hades and bring him back.
Source: Wikipedia
In ancient Greek mythology, Ambrosia is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods, often depicted as conferring immortality on whoever consumes it. Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods' other form of sustenance, nectar. The two terms may not not have originally been distinguished, though in Homer's poems and later works, nectar is the drink and ambrosia the food. On the other hand, in Alcman, nectar is the food, and in Sappho and Anaxandrides, ambrosia is the drink. Both are fragrant, and may be used as perfume.
Source: Wikipedia
Legend by Forest Stream
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Perhaps one of the most famous recipes in English literature comes from a play about a legendary king of Scotland, Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. The witches on the heath cooked up a rather sinister soup, referred to as a ‘broth’, a word still used to describe soup.
Second Witch:
Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake
Eye of newt and toad of frog
Wool of bat and tongue of dog
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell broth boil and bubble
All Three witches:
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
The other witches add ingredients such as ‘tooth of wolf’, ‘scale of dragon’, and ‘baboon’s blood.’
The Legend of Zelda is an (a word or phrase made by using the letters of another word or phrase in a different order) of Oh! Dazed gentle elf.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is an anagram of Ohh no! Fit Dark Age thugs drink, battle then run.
Lady of the Lake is an anagram of Held a key aloft.
Source: Anagram Genius
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). It was first published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes. It was aimed at a broad literate audience raised on tales as told in such publications as Thomas Bulfinch's Age of Fable. It offered a modernist approach to discussing religion, treating it dispassionately as a cultural phenomenon rather than from a theological perspective. Although the worth of its contribution to anthropology is arguably negligible, its impact on contemporary European literature was substantial.
Source: Wikipedia
MYTHOLOGY, n. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later. (Ambrose Bierce)
I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. (Claude Levi-Strauss)
Myth is nothing more than ancient gossip. (Stanislaw J. Lec)
Myth is the hidden part of every story, the buried part, the region that is still unexplored because there are as yet no words to enable us to get there. Myth is nourished by silence as well as by words. (Italo Calvino)
Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths. (Joseph Campbell)
Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths. (Karl Popper)
Source: Creative Quotations
Atlantis is the name of an island first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias. In Plato's account, Atlantis, lying "beyond the pillars of Heracles", was a naval power which conquered many parts of western Europe and Africa 9000 years before Plato's own time—approximately 9400 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune."
Source: Wikipedia
Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. In the book, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia—a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. The story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Source: Wikipedia
Age of Mythology is a mythology-based real-time strategy computer game by Ensemble Studios. It was first released in November 2002, by Microsoft Game Studios. Age of Mythology focuses less on historical accuracy, instead centering around the myths and legends of the Ancient Greeks, the Ancient Egyptians, and the Norse. Like other real-time strategy games (especially AoM's predecessors, the Age of Empires series), the core of the game is based around building towns to gather resources, create armies, and ultimately destroy the enemies.
Source: Wikipedia
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid, claimed to inhabit Scotland's Loch Ness, the most voluminous freshwater lake in Great Britain. Along with Bigfoot and the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster is one of the best-known mysteries of cryptozoology. Most scientists and other experts find current evidence supporting the creature's existence unpersuasive, and regard the occasional sightings as hoaxes or misidentification of known creatures or natural phenomena. However, belief in the legend persists around the world.
Source: Wikipedia
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