Incest in folklore and mythology  

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-{{Template}}+#redirect[[Incest]]
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-'''Incest in folklore''' is found in many countries and cultures in the world.+
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-==Greek==+
-In [[Greek mythology]], [[Zeus]] and [[Hera]] were brother and sister as well as husband and wife. They were the children of [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] (also married siblings). Cronus and Rhea, in turn, were children of [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (a son who took his mother as [[Marriage|consort]], in some versions of the myth). Cronus and Rhea's siblings, the other [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]], were all also married siblings like [[Nyx]] and [[Erebus]]. +
-Sea god [[Phorcys]] fathered the [[Phorcydes]] (most notably [[Medusa]] and [[Scylla]]) by his sister [[Ceto]].+
-[[Myrrha]] committed incest with her father, [[Theias]], and bore [[Adonis]].+
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-[[Sophocles]]' tragic play ''[[Oedipus the King]]'' features the ancient Greek king inadvertently [[consummate|consummating]] an incestuous relationship with his mother.+
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-==Norse==+
-In [[Norse mythology]], [[Loki]] accuses [[Freyr]] and [[Freyja]] of committing incest, in ''[[Lokasenna]]''. He also says that [[Njörðr]] had Freyr with his sister. This is also indicated in the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' which says that incest was legal among the [[Vanir]].+
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-In Norse legends, the hero [[Sigmund]] and his sister [[Signy]] murdered her children and begot a son, [[Sinfjötli]]. When Sinfjötli had grown up, he and Sigmund murdered Signy's husband [[Siggeir]]. The element of incest also appears in the version of the story used in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s opera-cycle ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', in which [[Sigurd|Siegfried]] is the offspring of [[Sigmund|Siegmund]] and his sister [[Sieglinde]].+
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-The [[List of legendary kings of Denmark|legendary Danish king]] [[Hrólfr kraki]] was born from an incestuous union of [[Halga|Helgi]] and [[Yrsa]].+
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-==Egyptian==+
-In [[Egyptian mythology]], the gods frequently married their siblings. For example, [[Shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]] and [[Tefnut]] are brother and sister and they produced another pair of gods, [[Geb]] and [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]]. Their children were [[Isis]], [[Osiris]], [[Set (mythology)|Set]] and [[Nephthys]]; Isis married Osiris, and Set Nephthys.+
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-==Chinese==+
-In [[Chinese mythology]], [[Fu Xi]] was a god-king who took his sister [[Nüwa]] as his bride.+
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-==Icelandic==+
-In [[Icelandic folklore]] a common plot involves a brother and sister (illegally) conceiving a child. They subsequently escape justice by moving to a remote valley. There they proceed to have several more children. The man has some magical abilities which he uses to direct travelers to or away from the valley as he chooses. The siblings always have exactly one daughter but any number of sons. Eventually the magician allows a young man (usually searching for sheep) into the valley and asks him to marry the daughter and give himself and his sister a civilized burial upon their deaths. This is subsequently done.+
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-==British/Irish==+
-In the [[Old Irish]] saga ''[[Tochmarc Étaíne]]'' ("The Wooing of [[Étaín]]"), [[Eochaid Airem]], the high king of Ireland is tricked into sleeping with his daughter, whom he mistakes for her mother [[Étaín]]. The child of their union becomes the mother of the legendary king [[Conaire Mor]].+
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-In some versions of the medieval [[Great Britain|British]] legend of [[King Arthur]], Arthur accidentally begets a son by his half sister [[Morgause]] in a night of blind lust, then seeks to have the child killed when he hears of a prophecy that it will bring about the undoing of the [[Knights of the Round Table|Round Table]]. The child survives and later becomes [[Mordred]], his ultimate nemesis.+
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-==Vietnamese==+
-In ancient Vietnamese folklore, there is a tale of a brother and a sister. As children, the brother and sister fought over a toy. The brother smashes a stone over his sister's head, and the girl falls down unconscious. The boy thinks he has killed his sister, and afraid of punishment, he flees. Years later, by coincidence, they meet again, fall in love, and marry without knowing they are siblings. They build a house along a seashore, and the brother becomes a fisherman while his sister tends to the house. Together they have a son. One day, the brother discovers a scar on his wife's head. She tells him about the childhood fight with her brother, and the brother realizes that he has married his own sister. Overwhelmed with guilt over his incest, the brother goes out on the sea. Every day, the sister climbs to the top of the hill to look for her brother, but he never comes back. She died in waiting and became "Hon Vong Phu" ("the stone waiting for her husband").+
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-==Other==+
-In fairy tales of [[Aarne-Thompson]] folktale type 510B, the persecuted heroine, the heroine is persecuted by her father, and most usually, the persecution is an attempt to marry her, as in ''[[Allerleirauh]]'' or ''[[Donkeyskin]]''. This was taken up into the legend of Saint [[Dymphna]].+
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-Several [[Child ballad]]s have the motif of incest between brothers and sisters who are raised apart. This is usually [[unwitting incest]] (as in the ''[[The Bonny Hind]]'' and ''[[Sheath and Knife]]'', for example), but always brings about a tragic end.+
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-There are also mentions of incest in the bible. In some cases, it can be logically inferred, since the children of Adam and Eve (the supposed first people on earth) would have had to inbreed, since there were no other people.+
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-==See also==+
-*[[Incest in the Bible]]+
-*[[Incest in popular culture]]+
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-{{GFDL}}+

Current revision

  1. redirectIncest
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