Comparing Hercules And Cuchulainn

When you hear the word ‘myth’, your immediate intellect may go to a story that is fake or ‘made up’. While that is partially true, myths are generally traditional tales that primarily revolve around specific people and religious beliefs. The most prevailing myths that orbit around today’s standards are creation myths. Basically, they are theories about how humanity emerged and how the world was created. As I read ‘Greek Creation’ and ‘The Algonquin Myth of Michabo’, I perceived that they are both obviously very distinctive from each other, but in a way they share the same ‘idea’ or interpretation about how the world and humanity was formed.

Biblical myth probably covers the greatest range of human situations, encompassing all ages of life including the next life, all relationships whether personal or governmental, and all phases of the individual’s experience, physical, sexual, psychological, spiritual (p.

There has been many discussions on the differences between Hercules and Heraclês. Disney likes to change stories to make them more child friendly. This creates differences between the original stories and the Disney take on the tales. In the case of the movie of Hercules and the story of Heraclês the main differences, that I will be focusing on is family value, true love, and comic relief.

The term ‘hero’ is often used as a vague way to describe someone of great influence and importance. The characteristics of a hero remain timeless; strong, courageous, intelligent, and skillful barely scratch the surface. The idealized hero varies between cultures and countries, but Greek and Roman myths serve as the platform for our ideas. Deciding who is a hero is a simple task, but deciding the best hero requires much deeper thought. In Mythology, by Edith Hamilton, Perseus, Hercules, and Atalanta all embody the characteristics of a hero, however, Hercules is the strongest example.

While I was reading these interesting stories, each story had some qualities that where similar, but there were also many differences. Which wasn’t really a huge surprise since the setting of each story happened during different times, and on different parts of the planet. All the stories involved a special child, and everyone knew he was gifted. A few characters in these myths have powers, but some do not. Sikhism and Christianity seem to be based on Monotheistic viewpoint, but Buddhism and Shinto seem to be based on a polytheistic viewpoint. Each story was either about a god, or a prophet spreading his new found message to the people.

Myths and religious doctrine are generally recognized as two entirely different things. Myths are usually referred to as a fictitious story or a half-truth; often they are stories shared between groups of people that are part of a cultural society. Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, and purpose of the universe, and often containing an ethical code dictating appropriate human conduct. Although they differ in certain aspects, they still hold similarities. Comparable to parables within the Bible, myths have different versions which are both motivating, as well as entertaining. There are not only parallels to the idea of the stories but specific tales hold similar morals and equivalent characters.

The themes of myths speak to concerns for every human being. This shows that different cultures are interconnected and share ideas. From reading the Epic of Gilgamesh we can begin to understand the values help by ancient Mesopotamian society. By reading the Ramayana we can analysis the religion and world view of Hinduism. Many ancient stories seem to parallel each other. Although stories are written in diverse cultures, there tend to be likenesses, especially between the protagonists. This is true with the stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ramayana when it comes to the depictions of their hero’s.

Almost every culture on earth has a creation myth. Most if not all of these myths borrow from the core theme of a God-centered creation as contained in the book of Genesis chapter one. According to Van Over (11), a good number of these creation stories show a similarity in the point of their origin. Rumor has it that some of these myths have emanated from actual historical occurrences or events. All creation myths emerge from one ancient source and only diverge when it comes to their timing and the surrounding cultural circumstances. The variations in the myths come as a result of the differences in time and cultural circumstances. Aside from the two causes of variation, in general all creation myths show a basic outline and they also share some basic elements.

Mythology is the traditions that have been passed down orally, among a culture, for many generations. Myths can include several different elements, often varying slightly. Most include fantasy or unnatural characters, such as monsters, dragons, gods and goddesses. Myths generally tell a story which is the basis for many beliefs among a culture. Greek and Roman myths encompass the gods that the cultures worship. Myths often serve to teach a lesson or play on superstitions. The origin is unknown and because it has been handed down orally, there are variations in the story. The story often travels around to other cultures also. This leads to similar myths among cultures. Similar situations and characters

Myths are universal and transcendent through time; many ancient myths are seen recreated in modern times. The author uses Oedipus as a way of comparing myth to psychology. Dreams have also played a major role in civilization; the people who could interpret dreams can understand and create myths.

Classic Chinese and classic Japanese mythology are quite similar, in fact, they have more commonalities than differences. As examples, one can compare and contrast the two mythologies in terms of characters, form and structure, creation myths, and mythology’s relevance to life. Animals and dragons also appear repeatedly in Chinese and Japanese mythology. In this paper it will be shown that Chinese and Japanese mythologies are more similar than different.

"A myth is a collective term denoting a symbolic narrative in religion, as distinguished from symbolic behavior (cult, ritual) and symbolic places or objects (temples, icons)". (The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 24)Mythology is a collection of myths meant to explain the universe. Mythological stories were told in many different cultures and civilizations. The existence of myths is known in every society. Many different myths were conceived to explain occurrences that happened in nature.

Origin myths deliver stories explaining how the world, humans or objects came to existence. Describing where the nation comes from, they are very important to the culture of given region. Therefore, each nation developed its own stories and beliefs; however, there are many similarities between myths of various religions and cultures. A good example would be Native American stories about origin and their resemblance to Greek mythology or to the Bible. Similarities can be seen in different spheres such as creation of humankind or even in the story about flood.

Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life

Not all mythology comes from ancient cultures. People all around the world continue to create new myths and rework existing ones. Modern technology such as movies, publishing, telecommunications, and the internet allow folktales, rumors, and myths to travel faster around the world. A feature of some modern legends is that they originated as artistic creations. Modern legends offer images of the best and worspect aspects of mankind. Modern myths suggest that good behavior can be rewarded while greedy and foolish behavior will be punished. While modern mythology is different from ancient mythology they are similar in that monstrous and scary partly human creatures still fascinate people today. Vampires and Werewolves are examples of modern mythologies most fascinating monsters. Modern mythology spawns from life’s wonder, excitement, mystery, and fear.