mythology and folklore essay

Myth & Mythology Essay Examples & Topics

A myth is a traditional story that attempts to explain a natural or social phenomenon. It usually combines historical events with fantasy. Such stories had appeared long before people learned to read and write; they passed from generation to generation through oral tradition. As a result, there is no single author of any myth, and there cannot be one.

An essay about mythology can reflect the reasons that brought ancient people to compose such stories. For this purpose, you should understand the natural phenomena, human relationships, and religious rites the myth describes. Your essay relies on analyzing the lessons people wanted to teach their descendants. That’s why you should see the differences between the ancient and modern vision of reality.

To better understand what is expected from you writing a myth essay, you’ll need topic ideas and some guidance. You will find both in this article, prepared by our experts . Below, you can also find some helpful myth essay examples.

It is better to know how myth differs from similar kinds of literary pieces. In this section, we’ll focus on mythology, legends, and folklore. Note that they are hard to classify and frequently overlap in many aspects.

• Describe ancient times.
• Regarded as sacred truth.
• Perceived as facts.
• Characters are supernatural forces and beings.
• Describe historical times.
• Regarded as history.
• Are partially factual.
• Characters are historical figures described as heroes.
• Never specifies the time.
• Regarded as secular art.
• Are devoid of facts.
• Characters are fictional figures or animals.

So how should you write an essay about mythology? We have prepared a step-by-step guide.

Following this plan will help you get the highest mark:

• Select a topic or myth to write about. If your tutor hasn’t limited you in the scope of questions to discuss in your writing, try to select a subject or angle of analysis that inspires you.
• Investigate your material. Be sure to check if you can access sufficient materials on the topic you’ve selected. If not, move to the previous point. Take notes and use bookmarks with explanations. It will save you much time later. Also, make a summary of the most important passages.
• Formulate your thesis statement. What would you like to tell the reader of your essay? Formulate the message of your writing. Explain what you want to convey in one concise and meaningful sentence.
• Outline your paper. Envision it as a five-paragraph essay. It is often efficient to start from the main body that relies on your thesis, move to the introduction, and finalize the conclusion. List your arguments and one counterargument (if it is a persuasive essay). Think about which background information suits your introduction and which conclusion you will reach in the end.
• Include the myths or historical facts. It is a mythology essay, remember? Make sure you’ve referenced the primary sources. Historical facts will add plausibility to your reasoning.
• Write and edit. Follow your outline and correct it if necessary. Never grudge time for revising and editing as it can save your paper.

It is high time to decide what you will write about. The topics are not limited to ancient times if your assignment does not indicate the contrary. So, here you can find unique ideas for a myth essay from modern to personal mythology.

Our list is as follows:

• Reasons why the Greeks imagined Zeus as an unfaithful husband.
• Did myths transform into science or religion?
• The story of Batman in The Dark Knight as a myth.
• Compare and contrast Disney’s Hercules vs. the myth versions.
• What is a myth from the point of view of Indian mythology?
• How does Norse mythology describe the world’s creation, and what does it tell us about the Norse mentality?
• Why do we no longer create myths, or do we just call them differently?
• What is the central conflict in all Greek mythology?
• Why was love so crucial in mythical gods’ relationships, and what does it tell us about ancient people?
• How did the Iroquois creation myth explain the appearance of the first people, and how different was it from the Christian tradition?
• How does the myth of Gilgamesh explain the human perception of immortality?
• What are the myths that we encounter in our daily lives, and why are they no longer considered sacred?
• The sexism and the role of women in Greek mythology.
• Why was warfare the essential part of Norse myths?
• Can superhero movies be classified as myths, legends, or folklore?

We hope our advice and topics will bring you to an A+ essay. Below we have collected the best myth essay examples for your inspiration. Share the page with your peers who may need our tips.

193 Best Mythology Essay Examples

Relationships between gods and mortals in greco-roman mythology, gilgamesh: the hero’s journey by joseph campbell (the monomyth), ancient greek mythical characters, roman and the greek god apollo differences.

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The Roman Creation Myth

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The Belief in the Legend of King Arthur

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One Eye Character in the Valhalla Rising Film

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The Issue of “Man’s Relationship with the Divine” in Greek Mythology

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Norse Cosmogony: “The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe” Summary

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The Main Idea of “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles

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The Traditional and Modern Myths

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Greek and Roman Perspectives on Male Friendship in Mythology

The suffering women in greek mythology.

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Comparative Mythology. Ugaritic myths of Anat and Baal

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Greek Goddess Hera Analysis

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The Ghosts in Henry James’s the Turn of the Screw

“of water and spirit” by malidoma patrice somé: magic and ritual.

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The Concept of Myths in Cultures

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Jocasta – Victim or Villainess: Mythological Discussion

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Myths about Life and Earth

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Supernatural Explanations in Mythology to Natural Events

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• Words: 1833

Underworld in Greek and Roman Mythology

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World Creation in “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” Story

Analysis of fuentes’s “the myth of race”.

• Words: 1104

Mythology. Dogon: The First Words

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Inferior Characters in “The Golden Age” by Apuleius

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Athena’s Help to Odysseus by Means of Disguises

Justice and inequality in oedipus rex and antigone.

• Words: 1136

Reality of Achilles in “The Iliad”

The downfall of pentheus: the clash of a monarch and a god.

• Words: 1138

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang: Novel Analysis

Mythology as a means to understand the power relations between men and women.

• Words: 1675

The Circular Ruins

Ancient works of literature.

• Words: 1366

La Llorona, a Mexican Folktale

The demeter and persephone stories, apollo and daphne in ovid’s metamorphoses, owls in the greek mythology. a lecture for librarians, demythologization of the agikuyu creation story.

• Words: 1356

Mythology: Trickster as a Human Condition

Themis goddess and her archetype, pride in ancient greek, the story of the garden of eden: reinventing eden, prometheus: the protector and benefactor of mankind, “the odyssey” by homer as a vehicle for creative works, “the epic of gilgamesh” and covid-19 pandemic, heroic quests in sundiata and popol vuh, how sundiata and popol vuh depict a hero’s quest motif, main character and idea of “the epic of gilgamesh”, the hero with a thousand faces by campbell, campbell’s “the hero with a thousand faces”, mythology and morphology of prometheus, the god of love in greek & roman mythology, quote explanation from “the epic of gilgamesh”, mayan and egyptian myth of creation comparison.

• Words: 1186

Heroism and the Spirit of Adventure: The Odyssey and Gilgamesh Interpretation

Researching of the ring of gyges, “oedipus rex”: the gods’ role in human affairs, the ancient greek tragedy “antigone”, “antigone”: evaluation and synthesis, the figure of hector in homer’s “the iliad”, hubris (pride) of odysseus and oedipus, telemachus: the son of ithaca tsar, odysseus, and penelope, neoclassicism and aurora and cephalus (1811), the significance of myths nowadays, sacrifice, punishment, and suffering in aeschylus’ “prometheus bound”, the iliad: religion and beliefs, antigone reflection and analysis, achilles’ traits and greeks’ perception of heroism, the similarities and differences between hippolytus and narcissus, medea in greek mythology: literary analysis, plot analysis of homer’s the odyssey, classical epos of beowulf and gardner’s work connection.

• Words: 1129

Mythology: The Tragic Hero in Antigone

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Mythological and Story-Telling Traditions

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Ancient Greek Mythology: Deities of the Universe

Campbell’s “the hero with a thousand faces”.

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Mythology: Term Definition

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Myths: a Very Big Impact in the Lives of Human Beings

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The Aeneid by Virgil

Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts

The Frog King by the brothers Grimm . A comparison of the versions of 1812 and 1857. Der Froschkönig von den Brüdern Grimm . A comparison, in the orignal German, of the versions of 1812 and 1857.

Mythology and Folklore: Study Guide

Annie a. parmis.

• Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences (DLABS) Philippines

Rizalina V. Truya

Riza l. maningo.

• https://doi.org/10.14738/eb.203.2021
• Radiating Faith, Festive Discernment, Mythology, Mythical Stories
• Myth in itself is very much associated with religious belief. In one way or another, it relates to some actual events and is partly traditional. When we talk of a thing or an event which is traditional in nature, more often than not, we cannot be sure of its origin. This is the reason why in the study of myths, “suspension of disbelief” serves as key to a substantial understanding. If you are a wide reader of mythology and folklore topics, you would discover that myth stories have similarities in themes and characterizations. You may even get to know more about the folk’s own version of creation story or values and beliefs handed down through oral tradition and by generation. It seems that we cannot call a certain province or town “cultured” if it does not have its own collection of mythical stories.

• August 28, 2021
• Digital Humanities
• Literature, Language and Culture
• Textbooks and Learning Guides
• Copyright (c) 2021 Annie A. Parmis
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Databases and Indices

• Motif Index of Folk Literature This link opens in a new window Identifies motifs, such as characters, actions, or events, in folk literature. Based on the work of Stith Thompson, this Motif Index classifies and indexes motifs (such as characters, actions, or events) in folk literature. Use the Motif Index to identify published books of folk literature in which the motifs appear. Topf find scholarly articles and books about folk literature, use the MLA International Bibliography.
• MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window An index to scholarly articles, books and book chapters, and dissertations published internationally on modern literatures, folklore, and linguistics (including composition and rhetoric) starting with 1926.
• SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window Main database of scholarly literature in Sociology and related fields. more... less... This index contains more than 1,900,000 records with subject headings from a 19,300 term sociology-specific thesaurus. This database also contains abstracts for more than 815 core coverage journals dating back to 1895. In addition, the database provides data mined from more than 630 priority coverage journals as well as 2,840 selective coverage journals. This index replaces Sociological Abstracts.

Online Reference Books

• Black Short Fiction and Folklore A full-text collection of short stories, fables, and folklore from African, African-American, and Caribbean authors. more... less... Alexander Street Press
• Creation Myths of Primitive America 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Dictionary of African Mythology King Library (2nd floor) | BL2400 .S24 2000 Collection of synopses of tales from African mythology, covering the entire continent. more... less... 2000, Oxford Reference Online
• Dictionary of Asian Mythology King Library (2nd floor) | BL1005 .L46 2001 Entries address the key mythologies of India, China, Tibet, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Japan, with broad overviews of specific cultures and their mythic traditions. more... less... 2001, Oxford Reference Online
• Dictionary of Celtic Mythology Survey of Celtic mythology, legend, saga, and folklore, covering people, themes, concepts, places, and creatures, from both ancient and modern traditions. more... less... 1998
• Dictionary of Chicano Folklore 2000, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Dictionary of English Folklore King Reference (Ground Floor) | GR141 .S573 2000 Entries on ancient folk customs, such as well dressing and harvest festivals, but also on photocopylore, the Tooth Fairy and the folklore of sex. more... less... 2000, Oxford Reference Online
• Dictionary of Native American Mythology 1992, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Dictionary of Superstitions King Library (2nd floor) | BF1775 .D53 1989 Dictionary covering the wide range of folk beliefs that have survived into our own age. more... less... 1996
• Dictionary of World Mythology Presents information on the gods of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, the more mystical deities of Buddhist and Hindu India, and the spirits of the African and American continents.
• Encyclopedia of Creation Myths 1994, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Cente
• Encyclopedia of Folk Heroes 2001, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine: Old World and New World Traditions 2004, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Encyclopedia of Folklore and Literature 1998, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology 1998, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic Myth and Legend 1998, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Encyclopedia of Urban Legends 2001, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• English Fairy Tales and More English Fairy Tales 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Cente
• Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art 1997, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Folktales from Northern India 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth 2000, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Goddesses in World Mythology 1993, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Guide to the Gods 1992, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Handbook of Egyptian Mythology 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Handbook of Hindu Mythology 2003, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Handbook of Inca Mythology 2004, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Handbook of Japanese Mythology 2003, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Cente
• Handbook of Mesoamerican Mythology 2000, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Handbook of Norse Mythology 2001, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Italian Popular Tales 2001, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Medieval Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs 2000, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Mythical West: An Encyclopedia of Legend, Lore, and Popular Culture 2001, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, & Literature 2001, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Myths gods & fantasy 1991, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Nectar & Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology 2000, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Old Deccan Days or Hindoo Fairy Legends 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Oxford Companion to World Mythology King Reference (Ground Floor) | BL312 .L44 2005 Essays on the world's major mythological traditions, retellings of some better-known myths, and entries on mythological types, motifs, and figures.
• Popular Stories of Ancient Egypt 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Popular Tales and Fictions: Their Migrations and Transformations 2002, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• UFOs and Popular Culture: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Myth 2000, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Cente
• Voyages in Classical Mythology 1994, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary 1991, ABC-CLIO, OhioLINK Electronic Book Center
• American Folklife Center The collections in the Center's Archive of Folk Culture include folk cultural material from all fifty states, as well as United States trusts, territories, and the District of Columbia. Most of these areas have been served by the American Folklife Center's cultural surveys, equipment loan program, publications, and other projects.
• American Folklore Society The American Folklore Society is an association of people who study and communicate knowledge about folklore throughout the world. Our more than 2,200 members and subscribers are scholars, teachers, and libraries at colleges and universities; professionals in arts and cultural organizations; and community members involved in folklore work. Many of our members live and work in the US, but their interests in folklore stretch around the world, and today about one in every eight AFS members is from
• Encyclopedia Mythica
• Open Folklore Open Folklore is a collaboration of the American Folklore Society, the Indiana University Libraries, and the IU Digital Library Program. It builds on the new developments in digital circulation of folklore materials to respond to these troubling access and preservation problems. We will work with rights holders to make books and journals, including those that have already been digitized, fully and openly available online. We will support the publication of existing and new journals in folklore with an open-access publishing platform. We will digitize older grey literature, and educational materials produced by public folklore programs, and will provide digital preservation for such resources and publications that are “born digital.” We will select and digitally archive websites of public and academic folklore programs (with their permission). We will provide an online tool that will offer searching of all of the above classes of material while filtering out unreliable sources.
• Snopes: Urban Legends Reference Pages
• SurLaLune Fairy Tales SurLaLune Fairy Tales features 49 annotated fairy tales, including their histories, similar tales across cultures, modern interpretations and over 1,500 illustrations.
• Theoi Greek Mythology
• World Oral Literature Project Affiliated with the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the World Oral Literature Project is a new repository and clearinghouse for oral literature projects and collections worldwide. Oral literature is defined as performances of "ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, musical genres, folk tales, creation tales, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, word games, recitations, life histories or historical narratives." Since 2009, the proj

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• Harvard Library
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Library Research Guide for Folklore and Mythology

• Theory and Methods

What is Research?

Practicing folklore.

• Research Design & Tools

Research Theories and Methods

• Ethical Guidelines in Different Disciplines
• Searching HOLLIS
• Databases & Bibliographies
• Encyclopedias
• Dictionaries
• Tale-Type and Motif Indices
• Archives & Special Collections
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• Learning With the Library

Research  is the systematic investigation of a subject, topic, or question. 

Data  is the information gathered during research.

Fieldwork  is the collection of data in its natural environment.

A white paper is a report or guide that synthesizes a complex topic or question and the state of information and ideas about it.

Scholarship  is, broadly, the activity of a scholar. More specifically though, the term refers to the writings of scholars which result from their research. The scholarship of a field or discipline are the books, articles, etc. which have been written on the field or discipline, or on a specific subject, topic, or question in the field or discipline.  

What is a theory?

A  theory  is the conceptual basis of a subject or area of study. It is the ideas which underlie how something is understood and the framework within which it is studied.  

What is a method?

A  method  is the process or tool used to collect data.

There are three method types: qualitative, quantitative, and historical. Likewise, some research uses mixed methods.

Qualitative research  is interested in the specific. It studies things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them, endeavoring to understand human behavior from the perspective of the individual.

Qualitative methods  collect data through observation. Qualitative methods include text analysis, interviews, focus groups, observation, record keeping, ethnographic research, case study research.

Qualitative data is descriptive. Qualitative data cannot be precisely measured and is, rather, analyzed for patterns and themes using coding. Qualitative data includes narratives, recordings, photographs, oral histories, etc.

Quantitative research  is interested in the general. It studies general laws of behavior and phenomena across different settings and contexts. This type of research endeavors to form conclusions about social phenomena, collecting data to test a theory and ultimately support or reject it.

Quantitative methods  collect data through measuring. Quantitative methods include experiments, surveys, questionnaires, statistical modeling, social networks, and demography.

Quantitative data  is numerical and statistical. It is data that can either be counted or compared on a numeric scale. Quantitative data includes statistical information. 

Historical research  is interested in the past. It reviews and interprets existing data to describe, explain, and understand past actions or events.

Historical methods  collect and analyze existing data and analyze it. Historical methods include text analysis, cultural analysis, visual analysis, archival research.

Historical data  is data which was created in the past. Historical data includes scholarship, records, artifacts.  

A methodology  is the rationale for the research approach and the methods used. It is based upon the theories underlying the field or discipline of the research.

Library of Congress YouTube Feed: Folklore

The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress produces videos about the practice of folklore, featuring interviews with a variety of folklorists about their careers, methods, fieldwork experiences, and the implications and applications of their work.

Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches

John W. Creswell 2014, fourth edition

Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods, Arts-Based, and Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches

Patricia Leavy 2017

• Literatures
• Linguistics
• Anthropology
• Human Geography

Cultural Studies

Folklore studies, literary studies.

Literary Studies, also called Literary Criticism, is the study of the written works of cultures, societies, groups, and individuals. Literary Studies examines the place of literature in society, and explores how we conceptualize and describe the world and ourselves.  

Literary Theories

There are a number of different theories about literature, why and how it is created. These theories influence how a work of literature is analyzed, interpreted, and understood. Literary Studies most often uses the method of textual analysis.

Linguistic Studies

Linguistics is the study of languages and their structures. Linguistic Studies examines how language is created and constructed, how it functions and is learned, and how we conceptualize and structure our world through our words.   

Language Theories

There are different theories about the creation and purpose of language. Some theories state that language is the result of the nature of society, while others emphasize the role of humans in constructing meaning. Linguistic Studies use methods such as textual analysis, ethnographic research, statistical modeling.

History Studies

History is the study of events, and their related ideas, individuals, and objects. History Studies examines how moments in time are connected, and how we make sense of things that happen.

Historiography  is the study of how historians have interpreted and written about historical events, in essence, how they perceive history itself. Traditionally, a historiography was a name for a history, literally a specific "writing of history".  

History Theories

There are many different theories about if and how events are related to one another, and these theories have influenced how history has been written about over the centuries. History Studies use methods such as textual analysis and archival research.

A related theory to history theories is Memory Theory , which considers how collective and individual memory is created and preserved. Memory Studies examines the ways in which events are recorded and remembered, or, alternatively, forgotten, and how we choose to create and remember (or forget) our past.

Anthropological Studies

Anthropology is the study of human societies, their behaviors and cultures. Anthropological Studies examine how societies are formed and function, and the many aspects which form our identities.

Social Anthropology  examines human behavior. Sometimes this sub-field is combined with Cultural Anthropology as Sociocultural Anthropology.

Cultural Anthropology  examines the cultures, or various beliefs and practices, of societies. Sometimes this sub-field is combined with Social Anthropology as Sociocultural Anthropology.

Physical Anthropology , also called Biological Anthropology, examines the biology of humans and how they interact with their environment.

Linguistic Anthropology  examines the place of language in shaping social life.

Archaeology  examines the material culture, or the objects, of humans. It is considered a sub-field of Anthropology in the United States, and a sub-field of History in other parts of the world.  

Ethnography is the study of a specific society using the methods of observation and immersion, or talking and living with individuals in order to understand them.   

Anthropological Theories

The is a long tradition of theories about how societies organize themselves and how they function. These theories determine how cultural beliefs and practices are understood, in essence, how we understand ourselves and others. Anthropology Studies use methods such as interviews, focus groups, observation, ethnographic research, and record keeping, as well as textual analysis and archival research.

Sociological Studies

Sociology is the study of societies, their behaviors, relationships, and interactions. It examines social order and social changes, trying to understand how and why we organize ourselves and relate to one another.

Historical Sociology   is the study of the behaviors and organization of societies of the past.   

Sociological Theories

There are different theories about how societies are structured and why they act the way they do. Sociological Studies often use the methods of surveys, experiments, ethnographic research, and textual analysis.

Sociological theories are theories about how the mechanics of societies function, whereas  Social Theory  encompasses more broadly theories which explain how societies think and act.

Geography Studies

Geography is the study of land, inhabitants, and natural phenomena. It examines the relationship between humans and their environment, and helps us to understand our relationship with the world. 

Human Geography  examines humans and their communities, and their relationships with place, space, and environment.

Physical Geography  examines the processes and patterns of environments, such as their atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere.

Cartography  is both the study of and the science and art of map-making. It reveals how we view and conceptualize the world and our relationship to it and to others.   

Geography Theories

There are a number of theories as to the relationship between humans and their environments, many of which are shared with the fields of Anthropology and Sociology. Geography Studies use a variety of research methods, including interviews, surveys, observation, and GIS or spatial analysis.

Cultural Studies is the study and analysis of culture. It is a cross-disciplinary field which examines the various aspects of a society, in order to understand how we form our identities. 

Culture  is the ideas, behaviors, customs, and objects of a region, society, group, or individual. 

Material culture   are the physical objects of a culture, such as tools, domestic objects, religious objects, works of art.  

Cultural Theories

Cultural theories draw upon theories in a variety of fields, including literary theories, semiotics, history theories, anthropological theories, social theories, museum studies, art history, and media studies. Cultural theories influence how we analyze and interpret the culture of societies. Cultural Studies tends to use methods such as interviews, observation, ethnographic research, record keeping, archival research, textual analysis, visual analysis.

Folklore Studies, also known as Folkloristics, is the study of the expressions of culture, particularly the practices and products of a society. Folklore Studies examines the things we make to understand how they make us.

Folklore  has been traditionally considered, narrowly, as the oral tales of a society. More broadly, the term refers to all aspects of a culture – beliefs, traditions, norms, behaviors, language, literature, jokes, music, art, foodways, tools, objects, etc.  

Folklore Theories

A number of theories have emerged over the years about how societies create themselves, and these theories influence how we view and understand the things which societies create. Folklore Studies use methods such as interviews, focus groups, observation, ethnographic research, and record keeping, as well as textual analysis, visual analysis and archival research.

Arts Studies

The arts are a range of disciplines which study, create, and engage with human expression. The arts include,

• Architecture -- Design
• Visual Arts -- Drawing, Painting, Illustration, Sculpting, Ceramics, Photography, Film
• Literary Arts -- Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Creative Writing, Storytelling
• Performance Arts -- Music, Dance, Theatre
• Textile Arts -- Fashion
• Craft -- Weaving, Woodwork, Paperwork, Glasswork, Jewelry-making
• Culinary Arts -- Cooking, Baking, Chocolate-making, Brewing, Wine-making
• Art History and Criticism

The arts are a collection of areas of studies which combine technical skills and creativity to produce objects which convey human experience.

Architecture  is the study and design of structures. It examines both the utilitarian and the sociological aspects of space, and the relationship between constructed space and humans. 

Art History  is the study and analysis of visual arts. 

Musicology  is the study and analysis of music.

Performance   is the study and the practice of art is time and space. 

Film & Media Studies  is the study of art which employs technologies.   

Art Theories

There are as many theories about the arts as there are areas of arts. These theories affect how we understand the identity and the agency of the artist, the meaning of the art, and the relationship between the art and society. Arts fields often employ textual and visual analysis research methods, as well as observation and experimentation. 

Folklorists study people's lives and thus they are responsible to preserve and protect culture. Folklorists are professionals and researchers and thus they have a responsibility to the field to uphold standards of behavior and work. Finally, folklorists interact with individuals and are responsible to uphold human rights. Though there is little direct legislation governing folklore studies, there are numerous laws concerning human rights and information, as well as professional standards in the field of cultural heritage preservation. 

Legislation

The codes of ethics and standards which govern folklore studies have been developed over time from a number of authorities.  

1948    United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1948    American Anthropological Association, Resolution on Freedom of Publication

1971    American Anthropological Association, Principles of Professional Responsibility Statement of Ethics

1976    American Folklife Preservation Act (P.L. 94-201)

American Folklife Center established at the Library of Congress and given duty to preserve American folklife

1985    UNESCO, Protection of Expressions of Folklore Against Illicit Exploitation and Other Prejudicial Actions

1988    American Folklore Society, Statement of Ethics

1988    National Association for the Practice of Anthropology, Ethical Guidelines for Practitioners

1989    UNESCO, Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore

1998    American Anthropological Association, Code of Ethics

2003    UNESCO, Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity

Ron Iphofen, editor 2020

The Ethics of Research with Human Subjects

David B. Resnik 2018

The Ethics of Cultural Heritage

Tracy Ireland & John Schofeld 2014

Critical Ethnography

D. Soyini Madison 2005

Ethics in Ethnography

Margaret D. LeCompte & Jean J. Schensul 2015

The Ethics of Social Research

Joan E. Sieber, editor 1982

Research Ethics for Human Geography

Helen F. Wilson & Jonathan Darling, editors 2021

The Ethics of Cultural Studies

Joanna Zylinska 2005

Museum Collection Ethics

Steven Miller 2020

Theorizing Folklore from the Margins

Solimar Otero & Mintzi Auanda Martínez-Rivera, editors 2021

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Except where otherwise noted, this work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which allows anyone to share and adapt our material as long as proper attribution is given. For details and exceptions, see the Harvard Library Copyright Policy ©2021 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.

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The Existence of Fairytale, Folklore, and Myths in Fantasy: A Study Based on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series

Abstract Fantasy is a genre of literature which gives flexibility and scope to writers to explore their thoughts and ideas. Fantasy depends upon the imagination and creativity of the writer. We can define fantasy as a genre of literature that is far removed from reality, set in a world beyond our thinking and reach, such as a house on the moon or any other planet, a place in the middle of ocean. The characters of fantasy are often uncanny, non-human creatures such as elfs, werewolves, giants, trolls, dragons, and so on. Almost every fantasy story includes the elements of fairytales, folklores and is based on ancient and cultural myths of different age

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From an anthropological, psychological and philosophical point of view, fantasy and science fiction constitute a significant part of modern mythology, both for individual readers/experiencers and for society as a whole. In an effort to recognize the potential existing within genre fiction, first its roots in fairy tales, mythology, etc. are explored in terms of the functions these serve for society and culture, their psychological impact and their necessity. Secondly, the significance of mythological elements in works of genre fiction is demonstrated by a study of the emotional connection readers/experiencers develop towards non-existent characters, places and events. By gaining an understanding of this process, one can observe not only the evolution of mythologies, etc. into fantasy and science fiction, but also the improvements fantasy and science fiction represent over their precursors as platforms for the exploration of the great questions facing humanity, all the way to the processes of our ever-changing psyche as it persists through time. Though critics of fantasy and science fiction label these genres as escapist, there is ample evidence to justify the view that they embody humanity’s heritage of adjusting, through stories, to inner and outer realities, and that by virtue of their contemporary nature and of their ability to peer into the future to speculate on what is to come, they are eternally relevant. By examining the adaptability of fantasy and science fiction through the lens of the themes explored, extending to innovative media that broaden the horizon created by books, movies and video games of substance and worth, it becomes clear that the all-pervasive presence of fantasy and science fiction not only indicates the lively persistence of ancient mythologies, but also underscores the important role they continue to play in the lives of the people and societies of the twenty-first century and beyond.

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The purpose of this paper is to analize the relationship between myth and fantasy literature, while assuming theoretical-literary and genological perspective. The influence that the tradition of myth exerted on the formation of the literary genre of Secondary World Fantasy is discussed at some length. At the same time, however, affinity of both phenomena to different cultural paradigmes is also emphasized. In conclusion two basic models of functioning of myth in fantasy literature are distinguished: structural and episodic mythopoeia.

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Mesopotamian creation myths.

Ira Spar Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stories describing creation are prominent in many cultures of the world. In Mesopotamia, the surviving evidence from the third millennium to the end of the first millennium B.C. indicates that although many of the gods were associated with natural forces, no single myth addressed issues of initial creation. It was simply assumed that the gods existed before the world was formed. Unfortunately, very little survives of Sumerian literature from the third millennium B.C. Several fragmentary tablets contain references to a time before the pantheon of the gods, when only the Earth (Sumerian: ki ) and Heavens (Sumerian: an ) existed. All was dark, there existed neither sunlight nor moonlight; however, the earth was green and water was in the ground, although there was no vegetation. More is known from Sumerian poems that date to the beginning centuries of the second millennium B.C.

A Sumerian myth known today as “ Gilgamesh and the Netherworld” opens with a mythological prologue. It assumes that the gods and the universe already exist and that once a long time ago the heavens and earth were united, only later to be split apart. Later, humankind was created and the great gods divided up the job of managing and keeping control over heavens, earth, and the Netherworld.

The origins of humans are described in another early second-millennium Sumerian poem, “The Song of the Hoe.” In this myth, as in many other Sumerian stories, the god Enlil is described as the deity who separates heavens and earth and creates humankind. Humanity is formed to provide for the gods, a common theme in Mesopotamian literature.

In the Sumerian poem “The Debate between Grain and Sheep,” the earth first appeared barren, without grain, sheep, or goats. People went naked. They ate grass for nourishment and drank water from ditches. Later, the gods created sheep and grain and gave them to humankind as sustenance. According to “The Debate between Bird and Fish,” water for human consumption did not exist until Enki, lord of wisdom, created the Tigris and Euphrates and caused water to flow into them from the mountains. He also created the smaller streams and watercourses, established sheepfolds, marshes, and reedbeds, and filled them with fish and birds. He founded cities and established kingship and rule over foreign countries. In “The Debate between Winter and Summer,” an unknown Sumerian author explains that summer and winter, abundance, spring floods, and fertility are the result of Enlil’s copulation with the hills of the earth.

Another early second-millennium Sumerian myth, “Enki and the World Order,” provides an explanation as to why the world appears organized. Enki decided that the world had to be well managed to avoid chaos. Various gods were thus assigned management responsibilities that included overseeing the waters, crops, building activities, control of wildlife, and herding of domestic animals, as well as oversight of the heavens and earth and the activities of women.

According to the Sumerian story “Enki and Ninmah,” the lesser gods, burdened with the toil of creating the earth, complained to Namma, the primeval mother, about their hard work. She in turn roused her son Enki, the god of wisdom, and urged him to create a substitute to free the gods from their toil. Namma then kneaded some clay, placed it in her womb, and gave birth to the first humans.

Babylonian poets, like their Sumerian counterparts, had no single explanation for creation. Diverse stories regarding creation were incorporated into other types of texts. Most prominently, the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish is a theological legitimization of the rise of Marduk as the supreme god in Babylon, replacing Enlil, the former head of the pantheon. The poem was most likely compiled during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I in the later twelfth century B.C., or possibly a short time afterward. At this time, Babylon , after many centuries of rule by the foreign Kassite dynasty , achieved political and cultural independence. The poem celebrates the ascendancy of the city and acts as a political tractate explaining how Babylon came to succeed the older city of Nippur as the center of religious festivals.

The poem itself has 1,091 lines written on seven tablets. It opens with a theogony, the descent of the gods, set in a time frame prior to creation of the heavens and earth. At that time, the ocean waters, called Tiamat, and her husband, the freshwater Apsu, mingled, with the result that several gods emerged in pairs. Like boisterous children, the gods produced so much noise that Apsu decided to do away with them. Tiamat, more indulgent than her spouse, urged patience, but Apsu, stirred to action by his vizier, was unmoved. The gods, stunned by the prospect of death, called on the resourceful god Ea to save them. Ea recited a spell that made Apsu sleep. He then killed Apsu and captured Mummu, his vizier. Ea and his wife Damkina then gave birth to the hero Marduk, the tallest and mightiest of the gods. Marduk, given control of the four winds by the sky god Anu, is told to let the winds whirl. Picking up dust, the winds create storms that upset and confound Tiamat. Other gods suddenly appear and complain that they, too, cannot sleep because of the hurricane winds. They urge Tiamat to do battle against Marduk so that they can rest. Tiamat agrees and decides to confront Marduk. She prepares for battle by having the mother goddess create eleven monsters. Tiamat places the monsters in charge of her new spouse, Qingu, who she elevates to rule over all the gods. When Ea hears of the preparations for battle, he seeks advice from his father, Anshar, king of the junior gods. Anshar urges Ea and afterward his brother Anu to appease the goddess with incantations. Both return frightened and demoralized by their failure. The young warrior god Marduk then volunteers his strength in return for a promise that, if victorious, he will become king of the gods. The gods agree, a battle ensues, and Marduk vanquishes Tiamat and Qingu, her host. Marduk then uses Tiamat’s carcass for the purpose of creation. He splits her in half, “like a dried fish,” and places one part on high to become the heavens, the other half to be the earth. As sky is now a watery mass, Marduk stretches her skin to the heavens to prevent the waters from escaping, a motif that explains why there is so little rainfall in southern Iraq. With the sky now in place, Marduk organizes the constellations of the stars. He lays out the calendar by assigning three stars to each month, creates his own planet, makes the moon appear, and establishes the sun, day, and night. From various parts of Tiamat’s body, he creates the clouds, winds, mists, mountains, and earth.

The myth continues as the gods swear allegiance to the mighty king and create Babylon and his temple, the Esagila, a home where the gods can rest during their sojourn upon the earth. The myth conveniently ignores Nippur, the holy city esteemed by both the Sumerians and the rulers of Kassite Babylonia . Babylon has replaced Nippur as the dwelling place of the gods.

Meanwhile, Marduk fulfills an earlier promise to provide provisions for the junior gods if he gains victory as their supreme leader. He then creates humans from the blood of Qingu, the slain and rebellious consort of Tiamat. He does this for two reasons: first, in order to release the gods from their burdensome menial labors, and second, to provide a continuous source of food and drink to temples.

The gods then celebrate and pronounce Marduk’s fifty names, each an aspect of his character and powers. The composition ends by stating that this story and its message (presumably the importance of kingship to the maintenance of order) should be preserved for future generations and pondered by those who are wise and knowledgeable. It should also be used by parents and teachers to instruct so that the land may flourish and its inhabitants prosper.

The short tale “Marduk, Creator of the World” is another Babylonian narrative that opens with the existence of the sea before any act of creation. First to be created are the cities, Eridu and Babylon, and the temple Esagil is founded. Then the earth is created by heaping dirt upon a raft in the primeval waters. Humankind, wild animals, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the marshlands and canebrake, vegetation, and domesticated animals follow. Finally, palm groves and forests appear. Just before the composition becomes fragmentary and breaks off, Marduk is said to create the city of Nippur and its temple, the Ekur, and the city of Uruk, with its temple Eanna.

“The Creation of Humankind” is a bilingual Sumerian- Akkadian story also referred to in scholarly literature as KAR 4. This account begins after heaven was separated from earth, and features of the earth such as the Tigris, Euphrates, and canals established. At that time, the god Enlil addressed the gods asking what should next be accomplished. The answer was to create humans by killing Alla-gods and creating humans from their blood. Their purpose will be to labor for the gods, maintaining the fields and irrigation works in order to create bountiful harvests, celebrate the gods’ rites, and attain wisdom through study.

Spar, Ira. “Mesopotamian Creation Myths.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/epic/hd_epic.htm (April 2009)

Further Reading

Black, J. A., G. Cunningham, E. Flückiger-Hawker, E. Robson, and G. Zólyomi, trans. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature .. Oxford: , 1998–2006.

Foster, Benjamin R. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature . 3d ed.. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2005.

Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976.

Jacobsen, Thorkild, trans. and ed. The Harps That Once . . . : Sumerian Poetry in Translation . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.

Lambert, W. G. "Mesopotamian Creation Stories." In Imagining Creation , edited by Markham J. Geller and Mineke Schipper, pp. 17–59. IJS Studies in Judaica 5.. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Lambert, W. G., and Alan R. Millard. Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.

Additional Essays by Ira Spar

• Spar, Ira. “ Flood Stories .” (April 2009)
• Spar, Ira. “ Gilgamesh .” (April 2009)
• Spar, Ira. “ Mesopotamian Deities .” (April 2009)
• Spar, Ira. “ The Gods and Goddesses of Canaan .” (April 2009)
• Spar, Ira. “ The Origins of Writing .” (October 2004)

Related Essays

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• Mesopotamian Deities
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Mythology and Its Role in Society

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Published: Jan 15, 2019

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Works Cited:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
• Bruch, H. (1973). Eating disorders: Obesity, anorexia nervosa, and the person within. Basic Books.
• Eisenberg, D., Nicklett, E. J., Roeder, K., & Kirz, N. E. (2011). Eating disorder symptoms among college students: Prevalence, persistence, correlates, and treatment-seeking. Journal of American College Health, 59(8), 700-707.
• Herzog, D. B., Dorer, D. J., Keel, P. K., Selwyn, S. E., Ekeblad, E. R., Flores, A. T., & Greenwood, D. N. (1999). Recovery and relapse in anorexia and bulimia nervosa: A 7.5-year follow-up study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(7), 829-837.
• Klump, K. L., Strober, M., Johnson, C., Thornton, L., Bulik, C. M., Devlin, B., Fichter, M. M., Halmi, K. A., Kaplan, A. S., Mitchell, J. E., Rotondo, A., Woodside, D. B., & Crow, S. J. (2004). Personality characteristics of women before and after recovery from an eating disorder. Psychological Medicine, 34(8), 1407-1418.
• National Institute of Mental Health. (2016). Schizophrenia. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml
• Nieminen-Gonzalez, D., Mitchell, J. E., & Mussell, M. P. (2004). An eating disorders assessment instrument for ballet dancers. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 12(1), 21-33.
• Rheaume, J., & Freyd, J. J. (2013). A systematic review of the links between schizophrenia and eating disorders. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 14(3), 297-312.
• Stice, E., Telch, C. F., & Rizvi, S. L. (2000). Development and validation of the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale: A brief self-report measure of anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder. Psychological Assessment, 12(2), 123-131.

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Fairy tales

Sagas and epics, etiologic tales.

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Relation of myths to other narrative forms

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• McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia - Myth
• UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology - The Three Types of Myths: Aetiological, Historical, and Psychological
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• PBS - What is a Myth?
• The Minneapolis Institute of Art - World Myths and Legends in Art - What is myth?
• Campus Manitoba Pressbooks EDU Network - Transforming English Language Arts with Visual Art, Poetry, and Related Texts - Myths and Legends Through Art, Poetry, and Story
• CORE - The Concept of Myth
• mythology - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
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• Table Of Contents

In Western culture there are a number of literary or narrative genres that scholars have related in different ways to myths . Examples are fables , fairy tales , folktales, sagas , epics , legends , and etiologic tales (which refer to causes or explain why a thing is the way it is). Another form of tale, the parable, differs from myth in its purpose and character. Even in the West, however, there is no agreed definition of any of these genres, and some scholars question whether multiplying categories of narrative is helpful at all, as opposed to working with a very general concept such as the traditional tale. Non-Western cultures apply classifications that are different both from the Western categories and from one another. Most, however, make a basic distinction between “true” and “fictitious” narratives, with “true” ones corresponding to what in the West would be called myths.

If it is accepted that the category of traditional tale should be subdivided, one way of doing so is to regard the various subdivisions as comparable to bands of colour in a spectrum. Within this figurative spectrum, there will be similarities and analogies between myth and folktale or between myth and legend or between fairy tale and folktale. In the section that follows, it is assumed that useful distinctions can be drawn between different categories. It should, however, be remembered throughout that these classifications are far from rigid and that, in many cases, a given tale might be plausibly assigned to more than one category.

The word fable derives from the Latin word fabula , which originally meant about the same as the Greek mythos . Like mythos , it came to mean a fictitious or untrue story. Myths, in contrast, are not presented as fictitious or untrue.

Fables, like some myths, feature personified animals or natural objects as characters. Unlike myths, however, fables almost always end with an explicit moral message, and this highlights the characteristic feature of fables—namely, that they are instructive tales that teach morals about human social behaviour. Myths, by contrast, tend to lack this directly didactic aspect, and the sacred narratives that they embody are often hard to translate into direct prescriptions for action in everyday human terms. Another difference between fables and myths relates to a feature of the narratives that they present. The context of a typical fable will be unspecific as to time and space—e.g., “A fox and a goose met at a pool.” A typical myth, on the other hand, will be likely to identify by name the god or hero concerned in a given exploit and to specify details of geography and genealogy—e.g., “ Oedipus was the son of Laius, the king of Thebes.”

The term fairy tale , if taken literally, should refer only to stories about fairies, a class of supernatural and sometimes malevolent beings—often believed to be of diminutive size—who were thought by people in medieval and postmedieval Europe to inhabit a kingdom of their own; a literary expression of this belief can be found in William Shakespeare ’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . The term fairy tale , however, is normally used to refer to a much wider class of narrative, namely stories (directed above all at an audience of children) about an individual, almost always young, who confronts strange or magical events; examples are “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Cinderella,” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The modern concept of the fairy tale seems not to be found earlier than the 18th century in Europe, but the narratives themselves have earlier analogues much farther afield, notably in the Indian Katha-saritsagara ( The Ocean of Story ) and in The Thousand and One Nights .

Like myths, fairy tales present extraordinary beings and events. Unlike myths—but like fables—fairy tales tend to be placed in a setting that is geographically and temporally vague and might begin with the words “Once upon a time there was a handsome prince….” A myth about a prince, by contrast, would be likely to name him and to specify his lineage, since such details might be of collective importance (for example, with reference to issues of property inheritance or the relative status of different families) to the social group among which the myth was told.

There is much disagreement among scholars as to how to define the folktale; consequently, there is disagreement about the relation between folktale and myth. One view of the problem is that of the American folklorist Stith Thompson, who regarded myths as one type of folktale; according to this approach, the particular characteristic of myth is that its narratives deal with sacred events that happened “in the beginning.” Other scholars either consider folktale a subdivision of myth or regard the two categories as distinct but overlapping. The latter view is taken by the British Classicist Geoffrey S. Kirk, who in Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures (1970) uses the term myth to denote stories with an underlying purpose beyond that of simple story-telling and the term folktale to denote stories that reflect simple social situations and play on ordinary fears and desires. Examples of folktale motifs are encounters between ordinary, often humble, human beings and supernatural adversaries such as witches, giants , or ogres ; contests to win a bride; and attempts to overcome a wicked stepmother or jealous sisters. But these typical folktale themes occur also in stories normally classified as myths, and there must always be a strong element of arbitrariness in assigning a motif to a particular category.

A different and important aspect of the problem of defining a folktale relates to the historical origin of the concept. As with the notion of folklore , the notion of folktale has its roots in the late 18th century. From that period until the middle of the 19th century, many European thinkers of a nationalist persuasion argued that stories told by ordinary people constituted a continuous tradition reaching back into the nation’s past. Thus, stories such as the Märchen (“tales”) collected by the Grimm brothers in Germany are folktales because they were told by the people rather than by an aristocratic elite. This definition of folktale introduces a new criterion for distinguishing between myth and folktale—namely, what class of person tells the story—but it by no means removes all the problems of classification. Just as the distinction between folk and aristocracy cannot be transferred from medieval Europe to precolonial Africa or Classical Greece without risk of distortion, so the importing of a distinction between myth and folktale on the later European model is extremely problematic.

The word saga is often used in a generalized and loose way to refer to any extended narrative re-creation of historical events. A distinction is thus sometimes drawn between myths (set in a semidivine world) and sagas (more realistic and more firmly grounded in a specific historical setting). This rather vague use of saga is best avoided, however, since the word can more usefully retain the precise connotation of its original context. The word saga is Old Norse and means “what is said.” The sagas are a group of medieval Icelandic prose narratives; the principal sagas date from the 13th century and relate the deeds of Icelandic heroes who lived during the 10th and 11th centuries. If the word saga is restricted to this Icelandic context, at least one of the possible terminological confusions over words for traditional tales is avoided.

While saga in its original sense is a narrative type confined to a particular time and place, epics are found worldwide. Examples can be found in the ancient world (the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer ), in medieval Europe (the Nibelungenlied ), and in modern times (the Serbo-Croatian epic poetry recorded in the 1930s). Among the many non-European examples are the Indian Mahabharata and the Tibetan Gesar epic. Epic is similar to saga in that both narrative forms look back to an age of heroic endeavour, but it differs from saga in that epics are almost always composed in poetry (with a few exceptions such as Kazak epic and the Turkish Book of Dede Korkut ). The relation between epic and myth is not easy to pin down, but it is in general true that epics characteristically incorporate mythical events and persons. An example is the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh , which includes, among many mythical episodes, an account of the meeting between the hero Gilgamesh and Utnapishtim , the only human being to have attained immortality and sole survivor (with his wife) of the flood sent by the gods. Myth is thus a prime source of the material on which epic draws.

In common usage the word legend usually characterizes a traditional tale thought to have a historical basis, as in the legends of King Arthur or Robin Hood . In this view, a distinction may be drawn between myth (which refers to the supernatural and the sacred) and legend (which is grounded in historical fact). Thus, some writers on the Iliad would distinguish between the legendary aspects (e.g., heroes performing actions possible for ordinary humans) and the mythical aspects (e.g., episodes involving the gods). But the distinction between myth and legend must be used with care. In particular, because of the assumed link between legend and historical fact, there may be a tendency to refer to narratives that correspond to one’s own beliefs as legends, while exactly comparable stories from other traditions may be classified as myths; hence a Christian might refer to stories about the miraculous deeds of a saint as legends, while similar stories about a pagan healer might be called myths. As in other cases, it must be remembered that the boundaries between terms for traditional narratives are fluid, and that different writers employ them in quite different ways.

The term myth is not normally applied to narratives that have as their explicit purpose the illustration of a doctrine or standard of conduct. Instead, the term parable , or illustrative tale , is used. Familiar examples of such narratives are the parables of the New Testament . Parables have a considerable role also in Sufism (Islamic mysticism), rabbinic (Jewish biblical interpretive) literature , Hasidism (Jewish pietism ), and Zen Buddhism . That parables are essentially non-mythological is clear because the point made by the parable is known or supposed to be known from another source. Parables have a more subservient function than myths. They may clarify something to an individual or a group but do not take on the revelatory character of myth.

Etiologic tales are very close to myth, and some scholars regard them as a particular type of myth rather than as a separate category. In modern usage the term etiology is used to refer to the description or assignment of causes (Greek aitia ). Accordingly, an etiologic tale explains the origin of a custom, state of affairs, or natural feature in the human or divine world. Many tales explain the origin of a particular rock or mountain. Others explain iconographic features, such as the Hindu narrative ascribing the blue neck of the god Shiva to a poison he drank in primordial times. The etiologic theme often seems to be added to a mythical narrative as an afterthought. In other words, the etiology is not the distinctive characteristic of myth.

• DOI: 10.22161/ijels.84.48
• Corpus ID: 261599955

Mythology in Modern Literature: An Exploration of Myths and Legends in Sylvia Plath’s Poetry

• Kamrul Hasan
• Published in International Journal of… 2023

One Citation

Global coloniality and ecological injustice in imbolo mbue’s how beautiful we were (2021), 17 references, pathways to bliss: mythology and personal transformation, anatomy of criticism, the concise oxford dictionary of literary terms, sylvia plath: an introduction to the poetry, the philosophy of symbolic forms, volume 2, myth: a very short introduction, related papers.

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by Edith Hamilton

Mythology essay questions.

What role does pride play in Greek mythology?

Answer: Specific characters illustrate the difference between confidence and egotism. A hero is confident in his strength, but pride goes too far when a human challenges the gods. Pride cometh before a fall.

How do the myths differentiate between human and divine power?

Answer: Many of the myths point out these distinctions. The gods intervene when humans need help or when the gods want to accomplish goals on earth, but humans are often unable to solve their own problems and cannot really intervene among the gods; mortals even have limited abilities in the Underworld. When a human asserts divine power, the gods often put the person back in his or her place.

What do the Greek myths suggest about tragedy?

Answer: Tragedy serves both as a narrative device and as a reminder of everyday human reality. In tale after tale, tragedy unfolds. Even some stories that begin happily have unexpected, sad endings for their characters. Human failings, prophecies, and unexpected coincidences all can lead to tragedy.

How is the value of family loyalty portrayed by the myths?

Answer: Many of the Greek myths center around the importance of family relationships. Although some family members kill one another, the famly members who show loyalty tend to be set up for admiration. Antigone, for instance, challenges the law of Creon in order to bury her brother, facing death rather than be disloyal to her brother. Yet, loyalty is not so uncomplicated; her two brothers had fought on opposite sides in the conflict. Loyalty to one's family is complicated by conflicts even within one's family.

How does the conflict between free will and the predestination of fate play out in Greek mythology?

Answer: Free will appears to be circumscribed by fate. Despite our best efforts, fate controls our destiny. On the level of individual decisions, however, humans make their own choices and face the consequences. Human nature is implicated here: it seems that we all are fated to die, yet we have much we may choose to do while we are alive.

What have the myths to tell us about love?

Answer: Many different human relationships can be characterized by love: family love, the love of friends, and romantic love all lead people to do things with and for their beloveds that they would not otherwise do--to the point of great feats of skill and strength, on the one hand, or murder on the other hand. The gods sometimes love one another in similar ways. When gods and humans love one another, complications often ensue. When love is one-sided, moreover, other complications ensue. Cupid can make people fall in love, or people can fall instantly in love with one another.

How do myths account for natural events?

Answer: To account for something in nature that people do not yet understand, they tell a story about a being whose actions or life has resulted in what can be observed. Sometimes the story seems to have nothing in common with the reality that scientists later construct as explanation, but sometimes elements of the story are good metaphors for details of the natural event.

What is Greek virtue in the Greek myths?

Answer: We most often see virtue displayed by the Greek heroes, although we need not see all of their choices and actions as virtuous. Male virtue and female virtue seem to be different, but all virtue seems to have in common something about greatness, whether it is about wisdom, mental cunning, physical strength or speed, loyalty, or love. The characters who are honored by the gods appear to be the ones with virtue or who made virtuous choices, such as those who engaged in hospitality, while those who are punished by the gods appear to have either abused their virtue or contaminated it with pride. But the gods also test those whom they admire for their virtue, or even punish sometimes out of jealousy.

How do the Greek myths fit together?

Answer: Sometimes they do, and often they do not. Sometimes a myth picks up where another left off. Sometimes a myth expands upon a neglected but interesting part of another myth. The myths are told and retold with different emphases at different points in history and from the perspectives of different tellers. But they all tell a story of a hierarchy of gods, humans, and nature in which problems arise and choices must be made.

Why do so many beings transform in the myths?

Answer: In the myths about nature, we see something human in nature when we imagine that a transformation has taken place, such as when a hyacinth can be traced to Hyacinthus. Indeed, in a world where scientific explanations are difficult, it is not uncommon to imagine that one being simply turns into another. In a world before science and evolution, transformations occur quickly, and the boundaries between stone, plants, animals, people, and gods seem easy to cross with the power of the gods. From a narrative point of view, the plot can move faster if one being simply becomes another being able to accomplish what is needed for the tale. An interesting question to consider in each transformation is how much of the original nature, if any, is preserved after the change.

Mythology Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Mythology is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

How does Perseus respond to people and events in the story? How does this response move the story forward?

Which specific myth are you referring to? Title, please?

What drink is given to Polyphemus ? What is the Effect?

The give Polyphemus wine. He falls asleep.

3 gods of goddness

Whatbparticular myth are you referring to?

Study Guide for Mythology

The Mythology study guide contains a biography of Edith Hamilton, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of the major Greek myths and Western mythology.

• About Mythology
• Mythology Summary
• Character List

Lesson Plan for Mythology

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Mythology
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Mythology Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Mythology

• Introduction

Essay on Mythology

Students are often asked to write an essay on Mythology in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Mythology

What is mythology.

Mythology is a collection of myths, or old stories, that were told by people long ago. These stories were about gods, goddesses, and heroes. They were used to explain things that people did not understand, like how the world was made, why the seasons change, and why bad things happen.

Types of Mythology

There are many different kinds of mythology from all around the world. For example, Greek mythology talks about Zeus and his family of gods. Norse mythology includes Thor and Odin, and Egyptian mythology has gods like Ra and Anubis.

Importance of Myths

Myths were important because they helped people make sense of the world. They also taught lessons and values. Today, we still enjoy these stories and learn from them. They show us how people from the past tried to understand life and the world around them.

Also check:

250 Words Essay on Mythology

Mythology is a collection of myths or stories that a group of people believe in. These myths are often about gods, heroes, and the natural world. They were created long ago to explain how things came to be. Every culture has its own set of myths that are passed down through generations.

Types of Myths

There are many kinds of myths. Some tell the stories of how the world started, which are called creation myths. Others explain why we have different seasons or why certain animals look the way they do. There are also myths about gods and their adventures, and heroes who go on quests and fight monsters.

Gods and Goddesses

In mythology, gods and goddesses are powerful beings who control different parts of the world and human life. For example, Zeus is the king of the gods in Greek mythology, and he controls the sky and thunder. There are gods for almost everything, like love, war, the sea, and the harvest.

Lessons from Myths

Myths are not just stories; they also teach us lessons. They show us how to be brave, smart, and kind. They teach us right from wrong and help us understand our feelings. Myths can also warn us about the dangers of being too proud or greedy.

Mythology Today

Even today, myths are all around us. They are in books, movies, and art. Names of planets and stars come from myths, and we still tell these ancient stories. Mythology helps us remember the past and understand different cultures better. It shows us how people from long ago tried to make sense of the world.

500 Words Essay on Mythology

Mythology is a collection of myths or stories that a group of people believe. These stories are often about gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters. They were used in the past to explain things that people did not understand, like why the sun rises and sets or why seasons change. Each culture has its own set of myths that are passed down from generation to generation.

The Purpose of Myths

Myths were not just stories for fun. They had many purposes. They were used to teach lessons and morals. For example, the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, teaches us about the dangers of overconfidence. Myths also helped to explain the rules of society and why it’s important to follow them. They were a way to pass on important information and values from one generation to the next.

Mythology and Religion

In many cultures, mythology and religion are closely linked. The gods and goddesses in myths were often worshipped in real life. People built temples for them, made statues in their honor, and told their stories as part of their religious practices. For example, in ancient Greece, there were many festivals and ceremonies to honor the gods and goddesses from their myths.

Mythology in Modern Times

Learning from mythology.

Mythology is not just about gods and magic. It is also about human nature and experiences. By reading myths, we can learn about bravery, love, jealousy, and all the other feelings that people have always felt. Myths show us that even though the world has changed a lot, people’s feelings and behaviors have stayed pretty much the same.

In conclusion, mythology is a window into the past and a mirror reflecting our own lives. It is full of exciting stories that help us understand the world and ourselves better. Whether it’s the adventures of ancient heroes or the powers of mighty gods, these tales continue to fascinate and teach us, just as they have for thousands of years.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Happy studying!

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Myths, Fairy Tales and Folklore

• Encyclopedias and Indexes
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• Finding Articles
• Digital Collections
• Biographies
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Mythology, Folklore, and Fairy Tale related journals

• Citing Sources

One of the best methods of staying current with your field is by browsing the journal literature.  Journals related to Mythology, Fairy Tales and Folklore will keep you abreast of the latest scholarship and help stimulate your own research.  The numerous online databases available to you through the library will allow you to search through the contents of these journals (and many others), but browsing through an individual journal will allow you the opportunity for more specific topic research.  Here is a small sampling of the journals:

• Western Folklore Articles, notes, comments and film reviews in all fields insofar as they deal with folklore, interpreted broadly.
• Notes and Queries Founded under the editorship of the antiquary W J Thoms, the primary intention of Notes and Queries was, and still remains, the asking and answering of readers' questions. It is devoted principally to English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism. Each issue focuses on the works of a particular period, with an emphasis on the factual rather than the speculative. The journal comprises notes, book reviews, readers' queries and replies.
• Marvels & Tales Marvels & Tales is a peer-reviewed journal that is international and multidisciplinary in orientation. The journal publishes scholarly work dealing with the fairy tale in any of its diverse manifestations and contexts.
• Journal of the Folklore Institute The Journal of Folklore Research has provided an international forum for current theory and research among scholars of traditional culture since 1964. Each issue includes articles of theoretical interest to folklore and ethnomusicology as international disciplines, as well as essays that address the fieldwork experience and the intellectual history of folklore. Contributors include scholars and professionals in such additional fields as anthropology, area studies, communication, cultural studies, history, linguistics, literature, performance studies, religion, and semiotics.
• Journal of Popular Culture The Journal of Popular Culture continues to break down the barriers between so-called “low” and “high” culture and focuses on filling in the gaps that a neglect of popular culture has left in our understanding of the workings of society.
• Journal of Folklore Research The Journal of Folklore Research has provided an international forum for current theory and research among scholars of traditional culture since 1964.
• Journal of American folklore Published by the American Folklore Society. Scholarly articles of significant research findings and theoretical analysis from folklore and related fields, essays, notes, commentaries, reviews of books, exhibitions, sound recordings and films.
• Indian Folklore Research journal.
• Folklore Forum Folklore Forum is a space for the free exchange of ideas on the cutting edge of folklore, folklife and ethnomusicology, a space where up-and-coming scholars can interrogate existing paradigms and cultivate a rich intellectual landscape with a multi-disciplinary perspective.
• Amaltea : revista de mitocrítica Amaltea is an open-access peer-reviewed online journal dedicated to the reception of myths in literature and arts. It looks at how ancient, medieval and modern myths were accepted in literature and the arts from 1900 to the present day. It publishes articles in Spanish, English and French.
• Folklore Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore publishes original academic studies in folklore studies, comparative mythological research, cultural anthropology and related fields.
• Fairy Tale Review Fairy Tale Review Press is dedicated to helping raise public awareness of the literary and cultural influence of fairy tales, and to appreciating their power and depth as an art form. It celebrates fairy tales as one of our oldest and most underestimated pleasures.
• Fabula Acts as a medium of discussion for issues of all kinds which are of interest to international folk narrative research.
• Culture Studies Cultural Studies is an international journal which explores the relation between cultural practices, everyday life, material, economic, political, geographical and historical contexts. It fosters more open analytic, critical and political conversations by encouraging people to push the dialogue into fresh, uncharted territory. It also aims to intervene in the processes by which the existing techniques, institutions and structures of power are reproduced, resisted and transformed.
• Comparative Mythology
• Asian Folklore Studies Contains research and news items on the folklore of Asian cultures, including literary and oral traditions, religion, art, customs, etc.
• << Previous: Literary Criticism
• Next: Citing Sources >>
• Last Updated: Aug 27, 2024 1:31 PM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/fairytales

Introduction to Folklore and Mythology

Prerequisite / Concurrent

WR 121 or WR 121Z

Course Description

Develops a cross-cultural perspective on myths, mythologies and folklore from around the world. Explores different theories of the cultural meanings and functions of myth, past and present. Introduces various ways of interpreting and experiencing myth and folklore as texts with oral origins. Prerequisite/concurrent: WR 121 or WR 121Z. Audit available.

Course Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify major concepts, theories, genres and methodology within the academic field of folklore.
• Interpret examples of major narrative folk genres such as myth, legend and folktales.
• Evaluate the ways in which collection, transcription and scholarship constantly reinterpret an oral tradition.
• Appreciate the role of myth and folklore within the cultures that produce them with an understanding of how oral performance shapes the meaning of a story.
• Identify recurring mythological themes and motifs in traditional world myths and modern culture.
• Write clear, focused, coherent essays about literature for an academic audience using standard English conventions of grammar and style.

Alignment with Institutional Learning Outcomes

To establish an intentional learning environment, Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) require a clear definition of instructional strategies, evidence of recurrent instruction, and employment of several assessment modes.

Major Designation

• The outcome is addressed recurrently in the curriculum, regularly enough to establish a thorough understanding.
• The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Minor Designation

• The outcome is addressed adequately in the curriculum, establishing fundamental understanding.

Suggested Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessment tools may include informal responses to study questions; evaluation of small-and full-group discussion; in-class and out-of-class writing; formal essays, as well as informal responses to study questions and other types of informal writing; close reading exercises using support/evidence; writing exercises which include evaluation of various interpretations of a text and their relative validity. Both instructor and peer evaluation may be incorporated into the assessment process.

Course Activities and Design

The determination of teaching strategies used in the delivery of outcomes is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: lecture, small group/forum discussion, flipped classroom, dyads, oral presentation, role play, simulation scenarios, group projects, service learning projects, hands-on lab, peer review/workshops, cooperative learning (jigsaw, fishbowl), inquiry based instruction, differentiated instruction (learning centers), graphic organizers, etc.

Course Content

The course will introduce and foster understanding of:

• Topics and themes of mythology and folklore.
• Nature and function of mythology and folklore.
• Relationship of myth to art, religion, history, and society.
• Various definitions of myth, legend, saga, folklore.
• Interplay between myth and society.
• Concept of the epic hero.
• Comparative mythology and folklore.

Suggested Texts and Materials

POSSIBLE TEXTS

• Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. Tatar. Norton.
• Cinderella: A Casebook. Dundes. U Wisconsin P.
• Classical Mythology. Morford and Lenardon.
• Coyote Was Going There. Ramsey. U Washington P.
• Favorite Folktales from Around the World. Yolen. Pantheon.
• Illiad and Odyssey. McCarty.  Kingfisher Epics.
• Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from around the World. Schwartz. Oxford UP.
• Mythmakers. Barnard. Breitenbush.
• Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Hamilton. Little, Brown and Co.
• Old Tales and New Truths: Charting the Bright-Shadow World. King. State U of NY.
• Odyssey. Trans. Fagels. Penguin.
• Orality and Literacy. Ong.
• Parallel Myths. Bierlen.  Ballatine.
• Perrault's Fairy Tales. Dover.
• Trickster Makes This World. Hyde. Farrar, Strauss, Giroux.
• World Mythology. Rosenberg.

Department Notes

Instructors may choose an anthology with excerpts, complete works, or a combination of both. The assigned readings will cover a range and diversity of mythology and folklore.

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Welsh mythology and folklore in popular culture : essays on adaptations in literature, film, television and digital media

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School Choice Is Racist (& Other Myths)

61 Pages Posted: 27 Aug 2024

Michael Bindas

Institute for Justice

Date Written: July 26, 2024

For most of the last three decades, the legal arguments against vouchers and other types of  private school choice programs turned largely on religion.  But in an arc of precedent from Zelman v. Simmons-Harris through Carson v. Makin , the U.S. Supreme Court roundly rejected those claims, finally taking the “religion” question off the table. Undeterred, school choice opponents have settled on a new line of attack—one that turns not on religion, but on race.  They insist that school choice is racist in its origins, segregative in its effects, and, thus, constitutionally proscribed.    

This article takes a critical look at this new “school choice is racist” argument.  It begins by surveying the argument as it has been advanced in both the court of public opinion and the court of law.  It also distills the argument’s key premises: (1) that modern choice programs are descendants of voucher schemes used by Southern states to circumvent Brown v Board of Education ; and (2) that modern choice programs are racially segregative in their effects.  

The article then tests those premises.  It explores the historical origins of the school choice movement, including its roots in the classical liberal thought of Smith, Paine, and Mill; its adoption in the 19th century as a means of providing for the education of students in areas without public schools, rather than as a means of avoiding integration of public schools; and its embrace by white progressives and black activists in the 20th century.  Next, it examines the empirical studies that have explored the effects of school choice programs on the racial composition of public and private schools.  This literature reveals that the effects on both participating students and those who remain in the public school system are largely integrative , not segregative.    

With the premises of the “school choice is racist” argument examined, the article concludes by assessing the viability of the argument as a legal one.  It explains that insofar as the argument is brought through the most obvious vehicle for a race-based claim, the Equal Protection Clause, it is doomed to fail.  The article then shows that the same is true if the argument is pursued under the education clauses of state constitutions.  Finally, the article explains how the judicial remedy sought—invalidation of choice programs because of their alleged upsetting of racial balances in the public schools—would itself violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Michael Bindas (Contact Author)

Institute for justice ( email ).

901 N. Glebe Road Arlington, VA 22203 United States

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