The term mythology can refer either to a collection of myths or to the study of myths.
A mythology, in the sense of a collection of myths, is an important feature of many
cultures. According to Alan Dundes, a myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world
and humankind assumed their present form, although, in a very broad sense, the word
can refer to any traditional story. Bruce Lincoln defines myth as "ideology in narrative
form". Myths may arise as either truthful depictions or overelaborated accounts of historical
events, as allegory for or personification of natural phenomena, or as an explanation
of ritual. They are used to convey religious or idealized experience, to establish behavioral
models, and to teach. Modern mythopoeia such as fantasy novels, manga, and urban legend,
with many competing artificial mythoi acknowledged as fiction, supports the idea of myth as a
modern, not just ancient, social practice. Mythology, in the sense of the study of myths,
dates back to antiquity. Early rival classifications of Greek mythos by Euhemerus, Plato's Phaedrus,
and Sallustius were developed by the neoplatonists and revived by Renaissance mythographers.
Nineteenth-century comparative mythology reinterpreted myth as a primitive and failed counterpart
of science, a "disease of language", or a misinterpretation of magical ritual. By contrast,
many later interpretations have rejected a conflict between myth and science, sometimes
viewing myths as expressions of, or metaphors for, human psychology. Tension between the
search for a monomyth or Ur-myth and skepticism toward such comparativism has marked scholarship
on myth.
Nature of myths Characteristics
The main characters in myths are usually gods, supernatural heroes and humans. As stories,
myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and closely linked to religion or spirituality.
In the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the
remote past. In fact, many societies have two categories of traditional narrative, "true
stories" or myths, and "false stories" or fables. Creation myths generally take place
in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form, and explain
how the world gained its current form and how customs, institutions and taboos were
established. Terminology
The term "mythology" can refer either to the study of myths or to a body or collection
of myths. For example, landscape mythology is the study of landscape features in terms
of totemistic mythology, whereas Hittite mythology is the body of myths of the Hittites. Alan
Dundes defines myth as a sacred narrative which explains how the world and humanity
evolved into their present form, "a story that serves to define the fundamental worldview
of a culture by explaining aspects of the natural world and delineating the psychological
and social practices and ideals of a society". Many scholars in other fields use the term
"myth" in somewhat different ways; in a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional
story or, in casual use, a popular misconception or imaginary entity. Because the folkloristic
meaning of "myth" is often confused with this more pejorative usage, the original unambiguous
term "mythos" may be a better word to distinguish the positive definition from the negative.
Closely related to myth are legend and folktale. Myths, legends, and folktales are different
types of traditional story. Unlike mythos, folktales can be set in any time and any place,
and they are not considered true or sacred by the societies that tell them. Like mythos,
legends are stories that are traditionally considered true, but are set in a more recent
time, when the world was much as it is today. Legends generally feature humans as their
main characters, whereas myths generally focus on superhuman characters.
The distinction between myth, legend, and folktale is meant simply as a useful tool
for grouping traditional stories. In many cultures, it is hard to draw a sharp line
between myths and legends. Instead of dividing their traditional stories into myths, legends,
and folktales, some cultures divide them into two categories, one that roughly corresponds
to folktales, and one that combines myths and legends. Even myths and folktales are
not completely distinct. A story may be considered true in one society, but considered fictional
in another society. In fact, when a myth loses its status as part of a religious system,
it often takes on traits more typical of folktales, with its formerly divine characters reinterpreted
as human heroes, giants, or fairies. Myth, legend, and folktale are only a few
of the categories of traditional stories. Other categories include anecdotes and some
kinds of jokes. Traditional stories, in turn, are only one category within folklore, which
also includes items such as gestures, costumes, and music.
Origins of myth Euhemerism
One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of real historical events. According
to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborated upon historical accounts until the figures
in those accounts gained the status of gods. For example, one might argue that the myth
of the wind-god Aeolus evolved from a historical account of a king who taught his people to
use sails and interpret the winds. Herodotus and Prodicus made claims of this kind. This
theory is named "euhemerism" after the mythologist Euhemerus, who suggested that the Greek gods
developed from legends about human beings. Allegory
Some theories propose that myths began as allegories. According to one theory, myths
began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents
water, and so on. According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical
or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite represents desire, etc.
The 19th century Sanskritist Max Müller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed
that myths began as allegorical descriptions of nature, but gradually came to be interpreted
literally: for example, a poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken
literally, and the sea was then thought of as a raging god.
Personification
Some thinkers believe that myths resulted from the personification of inanimate objects
and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshipped natural phenomena such
as fire and air, gradually coming to describe them as gods. For example, according to the
theory of mythopoeic thought, the ancients tended to view things as persons, not as mere
objects; thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, thus giving rise
to myths. Myth-ritual theory
According to the myth-ritual theory, the existence of myth is tied to ritual. In its most extreme
form, this theory claims that myths arose to explain rituals. This claim was first put
forward by the biblical scholar William Robertson Smith. According to Smith, people begin performing
rituals for some reason that is not related to myth; later, after they have forgotten
the original reason for a ritual, they try to account for the ritual by inventing a myth
and claiming that the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. The anthropologist
James Frazer had a similar theory. Frazer believed that primitive man starts out with
a belief in magical laws; later, when man begins to lose faith in magic, he invents
myths about gods and claims that his formerly magical rituals are religious rituals intended
to appease the gods. Functions of myth
Mircea Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for
behavior and that myths may also provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting
myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present and return to
the mythical age, thereby bringing themselves closer to the divine.
Lauri Honko asserts that, in some cases, a society will reenact a myth in an attempt
to reproduce the conditions of the mythical age. For example, it will reenact the healing
performed by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present. Similarly,
Roland Barthes argues that modern culture explores religious experience. Because it
is not the job of science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt
to connect with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the technological present.
Joseph Campbell writes: "In the long view of the history of mankind, four essential
functions of mythology can be discerned. The first and most distinctive – vitalizing
all – is that of eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being."
"The second function of mythology is to render a cosmology, an image of the universe that
will support and be supported by this sense of awe before the mystery of the presence
and the presence of a mystery." "A third function of mythology is to support the current social
order, to integrate the individual organically with his group;" "The fourth function of mythology
is to initiate the individual into the order of realities of his own psyche, guiding him
toward his own spiritual enrichment and realization." In a later work Campbell explains the relationship
of myth to civilisation: The rise and fall of civilisations in the
long, broad course of history can be seen largely to be a function of the integrity
and cogency of their supporting canons of myth; for not authority but aspiration is
the motivator, builder, and transformer of civilisation. A mythological canon is an organisation
of symbols, ineffable in import, by which the energies of aspiration are evoked and
gathered toward a focus. And yet the history of civilisation is not
one of harmony. There are two pathologies. One is interpreting
myth as pseudo-science, as though it had to do with directing nature instead of putting
you in accord with nature, and the other is the political interpretation of myths to the
advantage of one group within a society, or one society within a group of nations.
Campbell gives his answer to the question: what is the function of myth today? in episode
2 of Bill Moyers's The Power of Myth series. Study of mythology
Historically, the important approaches to the study of mythology have been those of
Vico, Schelling, Schiller, Jung, Freud, Lévy-Bruhl, Lévi-Strauss, Frye, the Soviet school, and
the Myth and Ritual School. Pre-modern theories
The critical interpretation of myth goes back as far as the Presocratics. Euhemerus was
one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual
historical events, distorted over many retellings. Sallustius, for example, divides myths into
five categories – theological, physical, animastic, material and mixed. This last being
those myths which show the interaction between two or more of the previous categories and
which, he says, are particularly used in initiations. To ones who are even trying to change content
of the myth according to probability would be found criticism in Plato Phaedrus, in which
Socrates says that it is the province of one who is "vehemently curious and laborious,
and not entirely happy . . .". Although Plato famously condemned poetic myth
when discussing the education of the young in the Republic, primarily on the grounds
that there was a danger that the young and uneducated might take the stories of Gods
and heroes literally, nevertheless he constantly refers to myths of all kinds throughout his
writings. As Platonism developed in the phases commonly called 'middle Platonism' and neoplatonism,
such writers as Plutarch, Porphyry, Proclus, Olympiodorus and Damascius wrote explicitly
about the symbolic interpretation of traditional and Orphic myths. Interest in polytheistic
mythology revived in the Renaissance, with early works on mythography appearing in the
16th century, such as the Theologia mythologica.Myths are not the same as fables, legends, folktales,
fairy tales, anecdotes, or fiction, but the concepts may overlap. Notably, during the
nineteenth century period of Romanticism, folktales and fairy tales were perceived as
eroded fragments of earlier mythology. Mythological themes are also very often consciously employed
in literature, beginning with Homer. The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological
background without itself being part of a body of myths. The medieval romance in particular
plays with this process of turning myth into literature. Euhemerism refers to the process
of rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities
into pragmatic contexts, for example following a cultural or religious paradigm shift.
Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time,
for example the Matter of Britain referring to the legendary history of Great Britain,
especially those focused on King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and the Matter
of France, based on historical events of the fifth and eighth centuries, respectively,
were first made into epic poetry and became partly mythological over the following centuries.
"Conscious generation" of mythology has been termed mythopoeia by J. R. R. Tolkien[16],
and was notoriously also suggested, very separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.
19th-century theories The first scholarly theories of myth appeared
during the second half of the 19th century. In general, these 19th-century theories framed
myth as a failed or obsolete mode of thought, often by interpreting myth as the primitive
counterpart of modern science. For example, E. B. Tylor interpreted myth
as an attempt at a literal explanation for natural phenomena: unable to conceive of impersonal
natural laws, early man tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to inanimate
objects, giving rise to animism. According to Tylor, human thought evolves through various
stages, starting with mythological ideas and gradually progressing to scientific ideas.
Not all scholars — not even all 19th century scholars — have agreed with this view. For
example, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality is a condition of the
human mind, and not a stage in its historical development."
Max Müller called myth a "disease of language". He speculated that myths arose due to the
lack of abstract nouns and neuter gender in ancient languages: anthropomorphic figures
of speech, necessary in such languages, were eventually taken literally, leading to the
idea that natural phenomena were conscious beings, gods.
The anthropologist James Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals;
which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law. According to Frazer,
man begins with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When he realizes that his applications
of these laws don't work, he gives up his belief in natural law, in favor of a belief
in personal gods controlling nature — thus giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile,
man continues practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting
them as reenactments of mythical events. Finally, Frazer contends, man realizes that nature
does follow natural laws, but now he discovers their true nature through science. Here, again,
science makes myth obsolete: as Frazer puts it, man progresses "from magic through religion
to science". Robert Segal asserts that by pitting mythical
thought against modern scientific thought, such theories implied that modern man must
abandon myth. 20th-century theories
Many 20th-century theories of myth rejected the 19th-century theories' opposition of myth
and science. In general, "twentieth-century theories have tended to see myth as almost
anything but an outdated counterpart to science […] Consequently, moderns are not obliged
to abandon myth for science." Swiss psychologist Carl Jung tried to understand
the psychology behind world myths. Jung asserted that all humans share certain innate unconscious
psychological forces, which he called archetypes. Jung believed that the similarities between
the myths from different cultures reveals the existence of these universal archetypes.
Joseph Campbell believed that there were two different orders of mythology: myths that
"are metaphorical of spiritual potentiality in the human being," and myths "that have
to do with specific societies". Joseph Campbell's major work is The Masks
of God I-IV. In the first volume, Primitive Mythology, he outlines clearly his intention:
Without straining beyond the treasuries of evidence already on hand in these widely scattered
departments of our subject, therefore, but simply gathering from them the membra disjuncta
of a unitary mythological science, I attempt in the following pages the first sketch of
a natural history of the gods and heroes, such as in its final form should include in
its purview all divine beings—as zoology includes all animals and botany all plants—not
regarding any as sacrosanct or beyond its scientific domain. For, as in the visible
world of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, so also in the visionary world of the gods:
there has been a history, an evolution, a series of mutations, governed by laws; and
to show forth such laws is the proper aim of science.
In his fourth volume however he coins the phrase, creative mythology, which he explains
as: In the context of traditional mythology, the
symbols are presented in socially maintained rites, through which the individual is required
to experience, or will pretend to have experienced, certain insights, sentiments and commitments.
In what I'm calling creative mythology, on the other hand, this order is reversed: the
individual has had an experience of his own – of order, horror, beauty, or even mere
exhiliration-which he seeks to communicate through signs; and if his realization has
been of a certain depth and import, his communication will have the force and value of living myth-for
those, that is to say, who receive and respond to it of themselves, with recognition, uncoerced.
Claude Lévi-Strauss believed that myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those
patterns more as fixed mental structures — specifically, pairs of opposites — than as unconscious
feelings or urges. In his appendix to Myths, Dreams and Mysteries,
and in The Myth of the Eternal Return, Mircea Eliade attributed modern man’s anxieties
to his rejection of myths and the sense of the sacred.
In the 1950s, Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process
of their creation in his book Mythologies.
Comparative mythology
Comparative mythology is the systematic comparison of myths from different cultures. It seeks
to discover underlying themes that are common to the myths of multiple cultures. In some
cases, comparative mythologists use the similarities between different mythologies to argue that
those mythologies have a common source. This common source may be a common source of inspiration
or a common "protomythology" that diverged into the various mythologies we see today.
Nineteenth-century interpretations of myth were often highly comparative, seeking a common
origin for all myths. However, modern-day scholars tend to be more suspicious of comparative
approaches, avoiding overly general or universal statements about mythology. One exception
to this modern trend is Joseph Campbell's book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which
claims that all hero myths follow the same underlying pattern. This theory of a "monomyth"
is out of favor with the mainstream study of mythology.
Modern mythology
In modern society, myth is often regarded as historical or obsolete. Many scholars in
the field of cultural studies are now beginning to research the idea that myth has worked
itself into modern discourses. Modern formats of communication allow for widespread communication
across the globe, thus enabling mythological discourse and exchange among greater audiences
than ever before. Various elements of myth can now be found in television, cinema and
video games. Although myth was traditionally transmitted
through the oral tradition on a small scale, the technology of the film industry has enabled
filmmakers to transmit myths to large audiences via film dissemination. In the psychology
of Carl Jung, myths are the expression of a culture or society’s goals, fears, ambitions
and dreams. Film is ultimately an expression of the society in which it was credited, and
reflects the norms and ideals of the time and location in which it is created. In this
sense, film is simply the evolution of myth. The technological aspect of film changes the
way the myth is distributed, but the core idea of the myth is the same.
The basis of modern storytelling in both cinema and television lies deeply rooted in the mythological
tradition. Many contemporary and technologically advanced movies often rely on ancient myths
to construct narratives. The Disney Corporation is notorious among cultural study scholars
for “reinventing” traditional childhood myths. While many films are not as obvious
as Disney fairy tales in respect to the employment of myth, the plots of many films are largely
based on the rough structure of the myth. Mythological archetypes such as the cautionary
tale regarding the abuse of technology, battles between gods, and creation stories are often
the subject of major film productions. These films are often created under the guise of
cyberpunk action movies, fantasy dramas, and apocalyptic tales. Although the range of narratives,
as well as the medium in which it is being told is constantly increasing, it is clear
that myth continues to be a pervasive and essential component of the collective imagination
Recent films such as Clash of the Titans, Immortals, or Thor continue the trend of mining
traditional mythology in order to directly create a plot for modern consumption.
With the invention of modern myths such as urban legends, the mythological traditional
will carry on to the increasing variety of mediums available in the 21st century and
beyond. The crucial idea is that myth is not simply a collection of stories permanently
fixed to a particular time and place in history, but an ongoing social practice within every
society. Etymology
The word mythology "exposition of myths" comes from Middle French mythologie, from Late Latin
mythologia, from Greek μυθολογία mythologia "legendary lore, a telling of mythic
legends; a legend, story, tale," from μῦθος mythos "myth" and -λογία -logia "study."
See also
General Archetypal literary criticism
Artificial mythology Creation myth
Flood myth Fairy
Fable Geomythology
Legendary creature LGBT themes in mythology
Mytheme Mythical place
Mythography
National myth Origin-of-death myth
Mythological archetypes Culture hero
Death deity Earth Mother
First man or woman Hero
Life-death-rebirth deity Lunar deity
Psychopomp Sky father
Solar deity Trickster
Underworld Myth and religion
Bengali mythology Chinese mythology
Christian mythology Hindu mythology
Islamic mythology Japanese mythology
Jesus Christ in comparative mythology Jewish mythology
Magic and mythology Maya mythology
Religion and mythology Lists
List of deities List of legendary creatures by type
List of legendary creatures List of mythical objects
List of mythologies List of women warriors in folklore
Notes
References Journals about mythology
New Comparative Mythology / Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée, http:nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/
Ollodagos, http:www.sbec.bepublications/ollodagos Studia Mythologica Slavica, http:sms.zrc-sazu.si/
Mythological Studies Journal,http:journals.sfu.caindex.phpindex The Journal of Germanic Mythology and Folklore,
http:www.jgmf.org/ Books
Armstrong, Karen. "A Short History of Myth". Knopf Canada, 2006.
Bascom, William. "The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives". 'Sacred Narrative: Readings in
the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 5–29.
Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology. Whitefish: Kessinger, 2004.
Campbell, Joeseph. "The Power of Myth". New York: Doubleday, 1988.
Doty, William. Myth: A Handbook. Westport: Greenwood, 2004.
Dundes, Alan. "Binary Opposition in Myth: The Propp/Levi-Strauss Debate in Retrospect".
Western Folklore 56: 39–50. Dundes, Alan. Introduction. Sacred Narrative:
Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984. 1–3. Dunes, Alan. "Madness in Method Plus a Plea
for Projective Inversion in Myth". Myth and Method. Ed. Laurie Patton and Wendy Doniger.
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1996.
Eliade, Mircea. Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
Eliade, Mircea. Myths, Dreams and Mysteries. Trans. Philip Mairet. New York: Harper & Row,
1967. "Euhemerism". The Concise Oxford Dictionary
of World Religions. Ed. John Bowker. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online.
Oxford University Press. UC – Berkeley Library. 20 March 2009 .
Fabiani, Paolo "The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche". F.U.P., English
edition 2009. PDF Frankfort, Henri, et al. The Intellectual
Adventure of Ancient Man: An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East. Chicago:University
of Chicago Press, 1977. Frazer, James. The Golden Bough. New York:
Macmillan, 1922. Graf, Fritz. Greek Mythology. Trans. Thomas
Marier. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Honko, Lauri. "The Problem of Defining Myth". Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of
Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 41–52.
Kirk, G.S. Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures. Berkeley: Cambridge
University Press, 1973. Kirk, G.S. "On Defining Myths". Sacred Narrative:
Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984. 53–61. Leonard, Scott. "The History of Mythology:
Part I". Scott A. Leonard's Home Page. August 2007.Youngstown State University, 17 November
2009 Littleton, Covington. The New Comparative
Mythology: An Anthropological Assessment of the Theories of Georges Dumezil. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1973. Meletinsky, Elea. The Poetics of Myth. Trans.
Guy Lanoue and Alexandre Sadetsky. New York: Routledge, 2000.
"myth." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 21 March 2009
"myths". A Dictionary of English Folklore. Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud. Oxford
University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. UC – Berkeley Library.
20 March 2009 Oxfordreference.com Northup, Lesley. "Myth-Placed Priorities:
Religion and the Study of Myth". Religious Studies Review 32.1(2006): 5–10.
O'Flaherty, Wendy. Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook. London: Penguin, 1975.
Pettazzoni, Raffaele. "The Truth of Myth". Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of
Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 98–109.
Segal, Robert. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
Simpson, Michael. Introduction. Apollodorus. Gods and Heroes of the Greeks. Trans. Michael
Simpson. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1976. 1–9.
Singer, Irving. "Introduction: Philosophical Dimensions of Myth and Cinema." Cinematic
Mythmaking: Philosophy in Film. Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States: MIT Press Books,
2008. 3–6. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. Indick, William. "Classical Heroes in Modern
Movies: Mythological Patterns of the Superhero." Journal of Media Psychology 9.3: 93–95.
York University Libraries. Web. Koven, Mikel J. "Folklore Studies and Popular
Film and Television: a Necessary Critical Survey." Journal of American Folklore 116.460:
176–195. Print. Olson, Eric L.. "Great Expectations: the Role
of Myth in 1980s Films with Child Heroes". Virginia Polytechnic Scholarly Library. Virginia
Polytechnic Institute And State University. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
Matira, Lopamundra. "Children's Oral Literature and Modern Mass Media." Indian Folklore Research
Journal 5.8: 55–57. Print. Cormer, John. "Narrative." Critical Ideas
in Television Studies. New York, United States: Charendon Press, 2007. 47–59. Print.
Further reading Stefan Arvidsson, Aryan Idols. Indo-European
Mythology as Ideology and Science, University of Chicago Press, 2006. ISBN 0-226-02860-7
Roland Barthes, Mythologies Kees W. Bolle, The Freedom of Man in Myth.
Vanderbilt University Press, 1968. Richard Buxton. The Complete World of Greek
Mythology. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. E. Csapo, Theories of Mythology
Edith Hamilton, Mythology Graves, Robert. "Introduction." New Larousse
Encyclopedia of Mythology. Trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames. London: Hamlyn,
1968. v–viii. Joseph Campbell
The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press, 1949.
Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension: Select Essays
1944–1968 New World Library, 3rd ed., ISBN 978-1-57731-210-9.
The Power of Myth. Doubleday, 1988, ISBN 0-385-24773-7. Thou Art That. New World Library, 2001, ISBN
1-57731-202-3
Mircea Eliade Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal
Return. Princeton University Press, 1954. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of
Religion. Trans. Willard R. Trask. NY: Harper & Row, 1961.
Louis Herbert Gray [ed.], The Mythology of All Races, in 12 vols., 1916.
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl Mental Functions in Primitive Societies
Primitive Mentality The Soul of the Primitive
The Supernatural and the Nature of the Primitive Mind
Primitive Mythology The Mystic Experience and Primitive Symbolism
Charles H. Long, Alpha: The Myths of Creation. George Braziller, 1963.
O'Flaherty, Wendy. Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook. London: Penguin, 1975.
Barry B. Powell, Classical Myth, 5th edition, Prentice-Hall.
Santillana and Von Dechend. Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human
Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth, Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-87923-215-3.
Isabelle Loring Wallace and Jennie Hirsh, Contemporary Art and Classical Myth. Farnham:
Ashgate, ISBN 978-0-7546-6974-6 Walker, Steven F. and Segal, Robert A., Jung
and the Jungians on Myth: An Introduction, Theorists of Myth, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-8153-2259-7.
Vanda Zajko and Miriam Leonard, Lauphing with Medusa. Oxford: Oxford `University Press,
ISBN 978-0-19-923794-4. Zong, In-Sob. Folk Tales from Korea. 3rd ed.
Elizabeth: Hollym, 1989. External links
The New Student's Reference Work/Mythology, ed. Beach, at wikisource.
Leonard, Scott. "The History of Mythology: Part I". Youngstown State University.
Greek mythology Sacred texts
Myths and Myth-Makers Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by comparative mythology by John
Fiske. LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae,
a database of ancient objects linked with mythology
Joseph Campbell on Bill Moyers's The Power of Myth