Portal:Myths
The Myths Portal
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly controversial. Many adherents of religions view their own religions' stories as truth and so object to their characterization as myth, the way they see the stories of other religions. As such, some scholars label all religious narratives "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one another. Other scholars avoid using the term "myth" altogether and instead utilize different terms like "sacred history", "holy story", or simply "history" to avoid placing pejorative overtones on any sacred narrative.
Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be true accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Other myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals.
The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such as gods, demigods, and other supernatural figures. Others also include humans, animals, or combinations in their classification of myth. Stories of everyday humans, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends, as opposed to myths. Myths are sometimes distinguished from legends in that myths deal with gods, usually have no historical basis, and are set in a world of the remote past, very different from that of the present. (Full article...)
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In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The core of the Iliad (Books II – XXIII) describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
The ancient Greeks believed that Troy was located near the Dardanelles and that the Trojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th century BC, but by the mid-19th century AD, both the war and the city were widely seen as non-historical. In 1868, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was at what is now Hisarlik in Turkey. On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and others, this claim is now accepted by most scholars. (Full article...)Did you know? -
- ... that the legend of Sumbha and Nisumbha, demons from Hindu mythology, is used as a warning against the dangers of seduction in Shashi Tharoor's novel The Great Indian Novel?
- ...that Ewale a Mbedi may have been the first Duala leader to trade with Europeans in Cameroon?
- ...that Maximón, a saint venerated in the highlands of Guatemala, drinks whiskey, smokes cigarettes and grants prayers for revenge?
- ... that Xiuhcoatl was a mythological Aztec fire-serpent, viewed as the spirit form of Xiuhtecuhtli, the fire god, and was the lightning-like weapon of the god Huitzilopochtli?
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In Greek mythology, the sirens (Ancient Greek: singular: Σειρήν, Seirḗn; plural: Σειρῆνες, Seirênes) were humanlike beings with alluring voices; they appear in a scene in the Odyssey in which Odysseus saves his crew's lives. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.
Sirens continued to be used as a symbol for the dangerous temptation embodied by women regularly throughout Christian art of the medieval era (Full article...)General images
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- Help with the Myth and folklore missing articles project.
- Apply mythology-stubs on stub-articles on "demons", "ghosts", "monsters", mythology, and "reclaim" those from Wikiproject Paranormal.
- Help assessment at Wikipedia:WikiProject Mythology/Assessment. Note: currently, end of October, 2013, most of the unassessed articles are in the area of Chinese mythology.
- Place the project banner {{WP Mythology}} on the talk pages of all relevant articles (if not already within the scope of the known sub-projects).
- Check the recent changes for recent improvements, vandalism, and other changes.
- Answer requests for mythology experts: Category:Mythology articles needing expert attention
- Expand on comparative mythology articles, such as: Comparative mythology, death deity, lunar deity, sky father, solar deity, and Thunder god.
- Sort out similarities in info, and possibly merge articles: Snakes in mythology and Serpent (symbolism).
- Expand on the articles of different deities and entities. Important deities that need attention are Ra, Poseidon, Mercury, and Minerva.
- Explain the preferred use of "myth", and rename such misnamed articles as Mythology of Final Fantasy X, Scientific mythology, and Tornado myths.
- Explain on the Fakelore-article which deities(for example Belobog, Lado, and Jofur), are thought to be fakeloric (invented or misinterpreted, and never have been worshipped, historically).
- Salvage the various info on mythology and legends from articles such as: List of fictional dogs, and List of fictional swords.
- AND/OR assist mythology subprojects WikiProject Hindu mythology, WikiProject Japanese mythology, WikiProject Korean mythology, and WikiProject Spirituality.
- Requested photographs and pictures
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