Examples of Mythology Tales That Shape the Past and the Present

Mythology is a term widely used for the study of myths, the stories, the beliefs, the understanding of the world through certain aspects narrated in oral tales to teach values and ethics to the society. However, one does not find myth in contemporary times rather it is a subject of the past of which no one is a witness. These mythical tales have been passed down through generations never actually knowing the origin of its creation. Myth usually has connotations of falsehood, unreasonable, irrationality

Folklore and tales have been present throughout many centuries. Depending on the culture and location some tales get changed in order to fit in and relate to the current generation. However, often the tales remembered are used for inspiration for new stories, novels, and movies. With new stories being made mythology has eventually just become a loose reference in which the main points of classic mythology get lost. Disney’s Hercules is a great example of Greek mythology tales being used as a lesson

Traditional Māori mythology shapes todays contempory Māori worldview. Within Māori folklore, the mythological accounts surrounding the Pan-Pacific demi-god character of Māui (Newman 2015) underpin the foundation upon which Māori beliefs and tikanga (the correct way of doing this) is established.The various tales of Māui serve as guidance for Māori beliefs and Māori custom, illuminating principles which can be applied to their daily routine and when interacting with others (Ministry of Justice 2015)

The word Mythology comes from the Greek word mythos for ‘story – of – the – people’, and logos for ‘word’ or ‘speech’. It is defined as the study and interpretation of myths which are a collection of sacred tales and stories which usually deal with human condition, good and evil, human origins, life and death, the afterlife and the Gods (Mark, 2009). These myths are according to Campbell (1991) clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life. By interpreting these myths, Mythology tries to

Everybody tells stories about their lives; hence, one tends to know oneself as well as seeks understanding of others through them. When one remembers their stories they speak in narratives. As stated by Jung, these narratives grow into a personal mythology one

Greek mythology as it exists today was a culmination of oral tradition that was part of the early Greek civilization. Different regions of the Greek empire had different heroes with their own traditions, and thus Greek mythology was firmly tied to it geographical location. Geography and physical places helped shape Greek mythology to a large extent. Homer’s Odyssey, Iliad and Hesiod’s Theogony are examples of Greek mythology where the myth is tied with the geographical space. With the mention of

culture since the beginning of human existence. They appeared in everything from folk tales to religious readings. Stories of monsters were most prevalent during the middle ages and during the Anglo Saxon period. The oldest long poem written and spoken in Old English is the story of Beowulf, a story from the Anglo Saxon period and a story full of monsters. Beowulf isn’t just an old poem, it’s also a great historical example of the values that the Saxons imposed on their daily life. It shows us why the Saxons

unconscious.” The above cited paragraph is the opinion of Carl Gustav Jung (qtd. in Trivedi). According to Jung the unconscious patterns of age old impressions play a prominent part in the production of literature. They serve to gauge the present in the terms of the past and vice versa. They are the means to distort, recreate and reform the reality as a master code is placed in front of the issue the writer deals with. The use of mythological figures and stories in literature is

Greek Mythology  I  INTRODUCTION  Temple of Apollo at Didyma  The Greeks built the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey (about 300 bc). The temple supposedly housed an oracle  who foretold the future to those seeking knowledge. The predictions of the oracles, delivered in the form of riddles,  often brought unexpected results to the seeker. With Ionic columns reaching 19.5 m (64 ft) high, these ruins  suggest the former grandeur of the ancient temple.  Bernard Cox/Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York 

from generation to generation. Aboriginal Mythology was expressed through legends and stories that visualize people’s concept of the metaphysical world and give explanation to the differences found in shaping the landscape. In Aboriginal beliefs, every object and every creature on this earth has its own wisdom, spirit and language, whether it has life or not. Every object in this life is like a human being; it has its own conscious and its existing shape. They see this as an assured fact, not subjected