Mythology
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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* [[Cultural icon]] | * [[Cultural icon]] | ||
* [[Modern understanding of Greek mythology]] | * [[Modern understanding of Greek mythology]] | ||
+ | *[[Myth and ritual]] | ||
+ | *[[Mythomania]] | ||
==See also== | ==See also== |
Revision as of 08:05, 19 November 2011
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- 20th century mythology, founding myths, art as an excuse for depicting prurient interests, Greco-Roman mythology
The word mythology (from the Greek mythología, from Greek mythologein to relate myths, from Greek mythos, meaning a narrative, and Greek logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. In modern usage, "mythology" is either the body of myths from a particular culture or religion as in Greek mythology.
Related concepts
Myths are not the same as fables, legends, folktales, fairy tales, anecdotes or fiction, but the concepts may overlap. Notably, during Romanticism, folktales and fairy tales were perceived as eroded fragments of earlier mythology (famously by the Brothers Grimm). 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 (Cupid and Psyche). 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 (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following Christianization).
Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time, for example the Matter of Britain and the Matter of France, based on historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, were first made into epic poetry and became partly mythological over the following centuries. .
See also
- Folk hero
- Legendary creature
- Cultural icon
- Modern understanding of Greek mythology
- Myth and ritual
- Mythomania
See also
- General
- Comparative mythology, Archetypal literary criticism, Folklore, National myth, Artificial mythology, Legendary creature, Mytheme, Monomyth, Mythical place, Creation 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
- Religion and mythology, Magic and mythology, Hindu mythology, Christian mythology (Jesus Christ as myth), Jewish mythology, Islamic mythology
- Lists
- List of mythologies, List of deities, List of mythical objects, List of species in folklore and mythology, List of species in folklore and mythology by type, List of women warriors in folklore