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While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths – metaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally.
List of creation myths; List of legendary creatures by type; List of mythology books and sources; List of mythological objects; List of culture heroes; List of world folk-epics; Lists of deities; Lists of legendary creatures; National myth; Mythopoeia
As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, [29] whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. In the field of folkloristics , a myth is defined as a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form [ 30 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] and how ...
A creation myth (or creation story) is a cultural, religious or traditional myth which describes the earliest beginnings of the present world. Creation myths are the most common form of myth, usually developing first in oral traditions , and are found throughout human culture.
Since "myth" is popularly used to describe stories that are not objectively true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly controversial. Many religious adherents believe that the narratives told in their respective religious traditions are historical without question, and so object to their identification as myths while ...
Myths of the Ancient Greeks by Richard P. Martin (2003) The Penguin Book of Classical Myths by Jenny March (2008) The Gods of the Greeks by Károly Kerényi (1951) The Heroes of the Greeks by Károly Kerényi (1959) A Handbook of Greek Mythology by H. J. Rose (1928) The Complete World of Greek Mythology by Richard Buxton (2004)
The study of hero myth narratives can be traced back to 1871 with anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor's observations of common patterns in the plots of heroes' journeys. [4] In narratology and comparative mythology, others have proposed narrative patterns such as psychoanalyst Otto Rank in 1909 and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan in 1936. [5]
Within academic circles, the term myth is often used specifically to refer to origin and cosmogonic myths. Folklorists, for example, reserve the term myth for stories that describe creation. Stories that do not primarily focus on origins are categorized as legend or folk tale, which are distinct from myths according to folklorists. [5]