224 résultats pour "mythology"
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Mythology.
Across cultures, mythologies tend to describe similar characters. A common character is the trickster. The trickster is recklessly bold and even immoral, but through hisinventiveness he often helps human beings. In Greek mythology, Hermes (best known as the messenger of the gods) was a famous trickster. In one version of acharacteristic tale, Hermes, while still an infant, stole the cattle of his half-brother Apollo. To avoid leaving a trail that could be followed, Hermes made shoes from thebark...
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Greek Mythology.
world in search of her; as a result, fertility left the earth. Zeus commanded Hades to release Persephone, but Hades had cunningly given her a pomegranate seed toeat. Having consumed food from the underworld, Persephone was obliged to return below the earth for part of each year. Her return from the underworld each yearmeant the revival of nature and the beginning of spring. This myth was told especially in connection with the Eleusinian Mysteries, sacred rituals observed in the Greektown of Ele...
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Theseus - Mythology.
claim his birthright from his father, the king. Aethra took Theseus, when he was 16, to the rock, which the lad lifted easily, and sent him on his way to Athens. Theseus had many adventures on his journey and entered Athens as a hero. Warmly welcomed by his father, Theseus then went on to his greatest adventure, the slaying of the Minotaur, the dreaded bullmonster of King Minos of Crete. Every year, Minos demanded seven men and seven maids from Athens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, thus bring...
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Scandinavian Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Scandinavian Mythology, pre-Christian religious beliefs of the Scandinavian people.
Werner Forman/Corbis Many ancient mythological heroes, some of whom may have been derived from real persons, were believed to be descendants of the gods; among them were Sigurdthe Dragon-slayer; Helgi Thrice-Born, Harald Wartooth, Hadding, Starkad, and the Valkyries. The Valkyries, a band of warrior-maidens that included Svava andBrunhild, served Odin as choosers of slain warriors, who were taken to reside in Valhalla. There the warriors would spend their days fighting and nights feasting untilR...
- Isis (mythology) Isis (mythology), in Egyptian mythology, goddess of fertility and motherhood.
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Roman Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Roman Mythology, the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome.
Aeneas and AnchisesAccording to mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan prince. After Troy fell to the Greeks during the Trojan War, Aeneas traveledto Italy and met and married a woman in the kingdom that occupied the region that would one day become Rome.Through this marriage, Aeneas was the direct ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. In thispainting he is carrying his father, Anchises, on his back while fleeing from Troy. This painting by Lionello Spada is in theLouvre Museum...
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Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Mythology, the body of myths of a particular culture, and the study and interpretation of such myths.
usually define a myth as a story that has compelling drama and deals with basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Myths explain, for example, how the worldbegan; how humans and animals came into being; how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activity originated; and how the divine and human worlds interact.Many myths take place at a time before the world as human beings know it came into being. Because myth-making often involves gods, other supernatural beings, andprocesses beyond...
- Apollo (mythology) Apollo (mythology), in Greek mythology, son of the god Zeus and Leto, daughter of a Titan.
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Roman Mythology.
Her temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome was a center for organizations of skilled craftspeople. According to tradition, in 509 BC the dynasty of Etruscan kings ended and the Roman Republic was founded. The republic was ruled by two chief magistrates, called consuls, who were elected by the people to one-year terms. During the time of the republic, the Capitoline temple became the most important public shrine of theRoman people and the focus of public worship. Each January, the new consuls offer...
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Trojan War - Mythology.
Agamemnon stole Briseis away from Achilles. Furious, Achilles withdrew from the war, causing a serious setback to the Greeks. The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon was one of the starting points of the events of the latter part of the Trojan War described by Homer in the Iliad. Later, Achilles would rejoin the war and help bring the Greeks to victory, this time under the leadership of his dear friend Patroclus. Hector killed Patroclus. Achilles then slew Hector and dragged his dead body...
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Zeus (Day, Bright Sky) Greek The chief god
of Greek mythology.
induced Cronus into releasing his brothers and sisters, the siblings decided to go to war against Cronus and the Titans. For 10 long years, Zeus fought against the Titans, who were led by the mighty Atlas, for Cronus was now old. Finally Zeus enlisted the help of Gaia (Earth), who advised him to release the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones (the Hecatoncheires), who had been imprisoned in the Underworld. Zeus did this, and in gratitude the Cyclopes gave Zeus the thunderbolt as a weapon. They...
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Egyptian Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Egyptian Mythology, specifically, the religion of ancient Egypt.
PtahThe Egyptian god Ptah was, among other things, patron of the arts and of artisans. He was worshipped at Memphis, theancient capital of Egypt. This statue of the deity dates from the 18th dynasty and is in the Egyptian Museum of Turin,Italy.Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis In addition to those already named, the important divinities included the gods Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu, and Hapi, and the goddesses Hathor, Mut, Neit, andSekhmet. Their importance increased with the political ascendancy of the lo...
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Greek Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Temple of Apollo at Didyma
The Greeks built the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey (about 300 bc).
A1 The Creation of the Gods According to Greek myths about creation, the god Chaos (Greek for “Gaping Void”) was the foundation of all things. From Chaos came Gaea (“Earth”); the bottomlessdepth of the underworld, known as Tartarus; and Eros (“Love”). Eros, the god of love, was needed to draw divinities together so they might produce offspring. Chaosproduced Night, while Gaea first bore Uranus, the god of the heavens, and after him produced the mountains, sea, and gods known as Titans. The Tita...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Adventures of Aeneas - anthology.
out of his way. Hearing the oars, Polyphemus shouted after them, so that the shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclopses came forth from their caves andwoods and lined the shore, like a row of lofty pine trees. The Trojans plied their oars and soon left them out of sight. Æneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. There Ulysses, the reader will remember, had lost six of hismen, seized by Scylla while the navigators were wh...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Niobe - anthology.
The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now:The very sepulchres lie tenantlessOf their heroic dwellers; dost thou flow,Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness?Rise with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress.'Childe Harold, IV. 79. As an illustration of this story there is a celebrated statue in the imperial gallery of Florence. It is the principal figure of a group supposed to have been originallyarranged in the pediment of a temple. The figure of the mother clasped by the arm of her terrifie...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Ibycus - anthology.
The choristers, clad in black, bore in their fleshless hands torches blazing with a pitchy flame. Their cheeks were bloodless, and in place of hair writhing and swellingserpents curled around their brows. Forming a circle, these awful beings sang their hymns, rending the hearts of the guilty, and enchaining all their faculties. It roseand swelled, overpowering the sound of the instruments, stealing the judgment, palsying the heart, curdling the blood. 'Happy the man who keeps his heart pure...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Minerva (Athena) - anthology.
Spenser tells the story of Arachne in his 'Muiopotmos,' adhering very closely to his master Ovid, but improving upon him in the conclusion of the story. The twostanzas which follow tell what was done after the goddess had depicted her creation of the olive tree: 'Amongst these leaves she made a Butterfly, With excellent device and wondrous slight,Fluttering among the olives wantonly,That seemed to live, so like it was in sight;The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,The silken down with whic...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: The Myrmidons - anthology.
This description of the plague is copied by Ovid from the account which Thucydides, the Greek historian, gives of the plague of Athens. The historian drew from life,and all the poets and writers of fiction since his day, when they have had occasion to describe a similar scene, have borrowed their details from him. Source: Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: Random House, 1934.
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Midas - anthology.
Gordius, being made king, dedicated his wagon to the deity of the oracle, and tied it up in its place with a fast knot. This was the celebrated Gordian knot, which, in after times it was said, whoever should untie should become lord of all Asia. Many tried to untie it, but none succeeded, till Alexander the Great, in his career ofconquest, came to Phrygia. He tried his skill with as ill success as others, till growing impatient he drew his sword and cut the knot. When he afterwards succeeded i...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Orpheus and Eurydice - anthology.
Now under hanging mountains,Beside the falls of fountains,Or where Hebrus wanders,Rolling in meanders,All alone,He makes his moan,And calls her ghost,For ever, ever, ever lost!Now with furies surrounded,Despairing, confounded,He trembles, he glows,Amidst Rhodope's snows.See, wild as the winds o'er the desert he flies;Hark! Hæmus resounds with the Bacchanals' cries.Ah, see, he dies!Yet even in death Eurydice he sung,Eurydice still trembled on his tongue:Eurydice the woodsEurydice the floodsEurydi...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Baucis and Philemon - anthology.
But with the upside down, to showIts inclination for below;In vain, for a superior force,Applied at bottom, stops its course;Doomed ever in suspense to dwell,'Tis now no kettle, but a bell.A wooden jack, which had almostLost by disuse the art to roast,A sudden alteration feels.Increased by new intestine wheels;And, what exalts the wonder more,The number made the motion slower;The flier, though 't had leaden feet,Turned round so quick you scarce could see 't;But slackened by some secret power,Now...
- Hesiod - Mythology.
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Cadmus - anthology.
Milton, describing the serpent which tempted Eve, is reminded of the serpents of the classical stories and says: … '—pleasing was his shape, And lovely: never since the serpent kindLovelier; not those that in Illyria changedHermione and Cadmus, nor the godIn Epidaurus.' Source: Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: Random House, 1934.
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Beowulf - anthology.
help his aged monarch. Another rush of the dragon shattered Beowulf's sword and the monster's fangs sunk into Beowulf's neck. Wiglaf, rushing into the struggle,helped the dying Beowulf to kill the dragon. Before his death, Beowulf named Wiglaf his successor to the throne of Geatland and ordered that his own ashes be placed in a memorial shrine at the top of a highcliff commanding the sea. Beowulf's body was burned on a vast funeral pyre, while twelve Geats rode around the mound singing their...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Antigone - anthology.
The following is the lamentation of Antigone over Œdipus, when death has at last relieved him from his sufferings: 'Alas! I only wished I might have diedWith my poor father; wherefore should I askFor longer life?O, I was fond of misery with him;E'en what was most unlovely grew belovedWhen he was with me. O my dearest father,Beneath the earth now in deep darkness hid,Worn as thou wert with age, to me thou stillWast dear, and shalt be ever.'Francklin's Sophocles. Source: Bulfinch, Thomas....
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Iona - anthology.
Iona, from its position in the western seas, was exposed to the assaults of the Norwegian and Danish rovers by whom those seas were infested, and by them it wasrepeatedly pillaged, its dwellings burned, and its peaceful inhabitants put to the sword. These unfavourable circumstances led to its gradual decline, which wasexpedited by the subversion of the Culdees throughout Scotland. Under the reign of Popery [the Pope] the island became the seat of a nunnery, the ruins of which arestill seen. At t...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Hero and Leander - anthology.
That tale is old, but love anewMay nerve young hearts to prove as true.' Source: Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: Random House, 1934.
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Diana and Actaeon - anthology.
The allusion is probably to Shelley himself. Source: Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: Random House, 1934.
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Hell enization - Mythology.
meet cultural and personal needs.
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Pyramus and Thisbe - anthology.
In Mickle's translation of the 'Lusiad' occurs the following allusion to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, and the metamorphosis of the mulberries. The poet isdescribing the Island of Love: '… here each gift of Pomona's hand bestows In cultured garden, free uncultured flows,The flavour sweeter and the hue more fairThan e'er was fostered by the hand of care.The cherry here in shining crimson glows,And stained with lovers' blood, in pendent rows,The mulberries o'erload the bending boughs.' If...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Apollo and Daphne - anthology.
know no decay.' The nymph, now changed into a Laurel tree, bowed its head in grateful acknowledgment. That Apollo should be the god both of music and poetry will not appear strange, but that medicine should also be assigned to his province, may. The [18th-centuryScottish] poet [John] Armstrong, himself a physician, thus accounts for it: 'Music exalts each joy, allays each grief, Expels diseases, softens every pain;And hence the wise of ancient days adoredOne power of physic, melody, and son...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Echo and Narcissus - anthology.
So may'st thou be translated to the skies,And give resounding grace to all heaven's harmonies.' Milton has imitated the story of Narcissus in the account which he makes Eve give of the first sight of herself reflected in the fountain. 'That day I oft remember when from sleepI first awaked, and found myself reposedUnder a shade on flowers, much wondering whereAnd what I was, whence thither brought, and howNot distant far from thence a murmuring soundOf waters issued from a cave, and sprea...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: The Trojan War - anthology.
As in a dream. Dimly I could descryThe stern black-bearded kings, with wolfish eyes,Waiting to see me die. 'The tall masts quivered as they lay afloat,The temples and the people and the shore;One drew a sharp knife through my tender throatSlowly,—and—nothing more.' The wind now proving fair the fleet made sail and brought the forces to the coast of Troy. The Trojans came to oppose their landing, and at the first onset Protesilaus[mythological king of Phylace, in Thessaly] fell by the hand of...
- Hesperia - Mythology.
- Hector - Mythology.
- Tiresias - Mythology.
- Echo - Mythology.
- Concordia - Mythology.
- Eurynome - Mythology.
- Crete - Mythology.
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- Erichthonius - Mythology.
- Homer - Mythology.
- Hades - Mythology.
- Troy - Mythology.
- Etruria - Mythology.
- Ceres - Mythology.
- Hercules - Mythology.
- Hermes - Mythology.
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Demeter - Mythology.
disguised herself as an old woman, wearing a hood. The king’s wife, Metaneira, welcomed Demeter and asked her to look after her newborn son, Demophon. Demeter nourished the infant on ambrosia (food of the gods) and each night placed him in the fire in order to destroy all that was mortal in him, so that he would grow up like a god. One night, Metaneira spied upon her nurse and saw her place the child in the fire. Metaneira screamed with terror. Demeter was angry at the intrusion. Demeter threw b...
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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Proserpine - anthology.
the furrow, the seed failed to come up; there was too much sun, there was too much rain; the birds stole the seeds—thistles and brambles were the only growth.Seeing this, the fountain Arethusa interceded for the land. 'Goddess,' said she, 'blame not the land; it opened unwillingly to yield a passage to your daughter. I can tellyou of her fate, for I have seen her. This is not my native country; I came hither from Elis. I was a woodland nymph, and delighted in the chase. They praised mybeauty, bu...