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Geomythology (also called “legends of the earth," "landscape mythology," “myths of observation,” “natural knowledge") is the study of oral and written traditions created by pre-scientific cultures to account for, often in poetic or mythological imagery, geological events and phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, land formation, fossils, and natural features of the ...
A vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature, derived from the Greek province Arkadia which dates to antiquity. Asphodel Meadows: The section of the underworld where ordinary souls were sent to live after death. Atlantis: The legendary (and almost archetypal) lost continent that was supposed to have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean. Cloud cuckoo ...
The mediaeval legend of Genevieve of Brabant connected her to Treves. Hippolyte Delehaye distinguished legend from myth: "The legend, on the other hand, has, of necessity, some historical or topographical connection. It refers imaginary events to some real personage, or it localizes romantic stories in some definite spot." [27]
Myths and legends of Babylonia and Assyria (1916) Edith Hamilton's Mythology has been a major channel for English speakers to learn classical Greek and Roman mythology. The critical interpretation of myth began with the Presocratics. [93] Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual ...
One example is the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. More recent legends tend to reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people ambushed, anesthetized, and waking up minus one kidney, which was surgically removed for transplantation (a story which folklorists refer to as "The Kidney Heist").
In North American mythologies, common themes include a close relation to nature and animals as well as belief in a Great Spirit that is conceived of in various ways. As anthropologists note, their great creation myths and sacred oral tradition in whole are comparable to the Christian Bible and scriptures of other major religions.
A notable example is the myth of the foundation of Rome—the tale of Romulus and Remus, which Virgil in turn broadens in his Aeneid with the odyssey of Aeneas and his razing of Lavinium, and his son Iulus's later relocation and rule of the famous twins' birthplace Alba Longa, and their descent from his royal line, thus fitting perfectly into ...
Some scholars look at the linguistic relationships between the myths of different cultures. For example, the similarities between the names of gods in different cultures. One particularly successful example of this approach is the study of Indo-European mythology. Scholars have found striking similarities between the mythological and religious ...