Portal:Myths
The Myths Portal
Myth is a genre of folklore or theology consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. For folklorists, historians, philosophers or theologians this is very different from the use of "myth" which simply meaning something that is not true. Instead, the truth value of a myth is not a defining criterion.
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. (Full article...)
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Inanna is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine law, and political power. Originally worshiped in Sumer, she was known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians, and Assyrians as Ishtar (and occasionally the logogram 𒌋𒁯). Her primary title was "the Queen of Heaven".
She was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, her early main cult center. In archaic Uruk she was worshiped in three forms: morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud), evening Inanna (Inanna sig) and princely Inanna (Inanna NUN), the former two reflecting the phases of her associated planet Venus. Her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star. Her husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), and her sukkal (attendant) was the goddess Ninshubur, later conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal. (Full article...)Did you know? -
- ... that Tamil Hindu parents dedicate their one-month-old children to the goddess Periyachi (pictured), who is depicted ripping a woman's womb?
- ... that the supreme god of the southern African Bushmen is Cagn, a trickster who shapeshifts into a praying mantis?
- ...that Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (pictured) was the god of the planet Venus in Aztec belief?
- ...that the Ancient Greeks credited Broteas, the ugly son of Tantalus, with an ancient rock-cut cliff-face carving of the Great Mother of the Gods in modern Turkey?
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Good Articles: 2012 phenomenon, Æsir–Vanir War, Ala (demon), Anu, Aphrodite, Athena, Ardhanarishvara, Battle of Barry, Bhikshatana, Catalogue of Women, Chamunda, Chhinnamasta, Consorts of Ganesha, Cú Chulainn, Dhumavati, Dumuzid, Einherjar, Eir, Enlil, Fairy Flag, Fenrir, Gerðr, Hel (being), Huginn and Muninn, Iðunn, Ila (Hinduism), Inanna, Kabandha, Kali, Kamadhenu, Kangiten, Keshi (demon), Khandoba, Kratos (mythology) Krishna, Kubera, LGBT themes in Hindu mythology, Manasa, Mandodari, Matangi, Matrikas, Maya Sita, Mohini, Myrrha, Mythology of Carnivàle, Naraka (Hinduism), Ninurta, Prester John, Prithu, Putana, Rati, Ratatoskr, Revanta, Satyavati, Satyr, Sharabha, Shashthi, Shiva, Sif, Tara (Ramayana), Troilus, Tuisto, Valhalla, Valkyrie, Vampire folklore by region, Varaha, Varahi, Veðrfölnir and eagle Zduhać
Wikiversity
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In Greek mythology, sirens (Ancient Greek: singular: Σειρήν, Seirḗn; plural: Σειρῆνες, Seirênes) are humanlike beings with alluring voices; they appear in a scene in the Odyssey in which Odysseus saves his crew's lives. Roman poets place 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. "Siren" can also be used as a slang term for a woman considered both very attractive and dangerous. (Full article...)General images
- Perillos being forced into the brazen bull that he built for Phalaris (from
- Adam's Bridge also called as Rama Setu (from
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Hans Memling, c. 1470 (from List of mythological objects)Veronica holding her veil,
- Dietrich von Bern and Hildebrand fight against dragons (from
- The Stone of Destiny (Lia Fáil) at the Hill of Tara, once used as a coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland (from
- Vishnu with his Panchajanya (from
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Mabinogi myths from the Red Book of Hergest (written pre-13c, incorporating pre-Roman myths of Celtic gods):Opening lines of one of the
Gereint vab Erbin. Arthur a deuodes dala llys yg Caerllion ar Wysc...
(Geraint the son of Erbin. Arthur was accustomed to hold his Court at Caerlleon upon Usk...) (from Myth) - Houyi, the God of Archery (from
- Symbolic power: a
- Greek God Kronos/Saturnus with sickle (from
- Fig trees often represent talismans with the udumbara (from
- An angel (Camael) expelling Adam and Eve with a flaming sword (from
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Azoth, a universal medicine or universal solvent sought in alchemy. (Medieval legend) (from List of mythological objects)
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Litr onto Baldr's Hringhorni, illustration by Emil Doepler (ca. 1905) (from List of mythological objects)Thor kicks
- Hand of God (from
- Jacob blesses Joseph and gives him the coat of many colors (from
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Bartolomeo di Giovanni relates the second half of the Metamorphoses. In the upper left, Jupiter emerges from clouds to order Mercury to rescue Io. (from Myth)This panel by
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Chinese God with his spear (from List of mythological objects)Erlang Shen (二郎神), or Erlang is a
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allegorical figure Eterna (Eternity) (from List of mythological objects)The Crown of Immortality, held by the
- Jug from Lydian Treasure Usak (from
- Riding a Flying Carpet, an 1880 painting by
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Elmer Boyd Smith and the ring Draupnir is visible among other creations by the Sons of Ivaldi (from List of mythological objects)The third gift — an enormous hammer (1902) by
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Myth)Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' Song, by Francesco Hayez, 1813–1815 (from
- Shield of Achilles (illustration) (from
- Golden cosmic egg Hiranyagarbha by Manaku (from
- Rectangular tablets passed down by the
- The Ash Yggdrasil by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (from
- Goetia seal of solomon (from
- The fall of Icarus (from
- Longinus with his famous Spear (from
- Yama with his famous Yama Pasha (from
- Tissot Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle (from
- Lord Vishnu took the form of Beauty Mohini and distributed the Amrita (Ambrosia, Elixir) to Devas. When Rahu (snake dragon) tried to steal the Amrita, his head was cut off (from
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Edith Hamilton's Mythology has been a major channel for English speakers to learn classical Greek and Roman mythology (from Myth)
- Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules (from
- The Flying Dutchman (from
- Shiva with his Trishula (from
- seven angels with seven trumpets (from
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cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons (from Comparative mythology)Ancient Sumerian
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Sampo, a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought riches and good fortune to its holder, in the Finnish epic poetry Kalevala (The Forging of the Sampo, Joseph Alanen, 1911) (from List of mythological objects)
- The Honest Woodcutter, also known as Mercury and the Woodman and his famous Golden Axe (from
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bestiaries, the lynx in this late 13th-century English manuscript is shown urinating, the urine turning to the mythical stone Lyngurium (from List of mythological objects)As is usual in
- Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe (from
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Olaus Magnus' Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555). To the right of the tree is a depiction of a man being sacrificed in the spring (from List of mythological objects)Image showing the sacred tree to the right of the temple, from
- 1929
- Surya on His Celestial Chariot (from
- Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mountain, in a print from the Ravi Varma Press, 1910's (from
- Ahimelech giving the sword of
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Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau. In the mythos of Hesiodus and possibly Aeschylus (the Greek trilogy Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros), Prometheus is bound and tortured for giving fire to humanity. (from Myth)
- The Argo (c. 1500 – 1530), painting by
- Jason returns with Golden fleece (from
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Matthias Gerung, c. 1531 (from List of mythological objects)The Giving of the Seven Bowls of Wrath / The First Six Plagues, Revelation 16:1–16.
- Pied piper (from
- Artist's impressions of the (unseen) Imperial Regalia of Japan (from
- The Celestial Chariot, Pushpaka Vimana from Ramayana (from
- Claíomh Solais on an Ireland stamp printed in 1922 (from
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Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Tree of Knowledge is on the right (from List of mythological objects)"The Fall of Man" by
- Heracles would use arrows dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood to kill other foes during his
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Arthurian mythology (from Myth)Ballads of bravery (1877) part of
- Achilles wearing his armor (from
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Väinämöinen, the wise demigod and one of the significant characters of Finnish mythological 19th-century epic poetry, The Kalevala (Väinämöinen's Play, Robert Wilhelm Ekman, 1866) (from Myth)
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Bilderbuch für Kinder (lit. 'picture book for children') between 1790 and 1822, by Friedrich Justin Bertuch (from Legendary creature)Several mythical creatures from
- The Shrine of the Three Kings in
- King Svafrlame Secures the Sword Tyrfing (from
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Cathedral of Maria Saal showing the infant twins Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf (from Comparative mythology)Ancient Roman relief from the
- A 19th-century drawing of Sun Wukong featuring his staff (from
- Giza pyramids (from
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Shinto used to raise the primordial land-mass, Onogoro-shima, from the sea (from List of mythological objects)Amenonuhoko (天沼矛 or 天之瓊矛 or 天瓊戈, "heavenly jeweled spear") is the name given to the spear in
- Holy Robe in Trier (from
- Fortune Wheel (from
- The famous sword of Excalibur painted by
- Myths and legends of
- Killing of Ravana Painting by Brahmstra of Arrow of Brahma (from
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Minerva and Neptune (c. 1689 or 1706) by René-Antoine Houasse, depicting the founding myth of Athens (from National myth)The Dispute of
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Gustave Doré's illustrated edition of the Bible. Based on the story of Noah's Ark, this engraving shows humans and a tiger doomed by the flood futilely attempting to save their children and cubs. (from Comparative mythology)The Deluge, frontispiece to
- Vishnu holding his legendary sword Nandaka (from
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Hop-o'-My-Thumb stealing the Seven-league boots from the Ogre, by Gustave Doré (from List of mythological objects)
- Aura, a field of luminous radiation surrounding a person or object (from
- "Tizona", the sword attributed to El Cid, on exhibit in the Army Museum of Madrid (from
- Golem and Loew (from
- Voodoo doll with pins in it, Museum of Witchcraft (from
- Snake and world egg of the inhabitants of Tyre (from
- Joan of Arc with her famous sword (from
- 14th century
- Fountain of Youth (from
- Thor wearing the magic belt Megingjörð (from
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