Karen Armstrong Myths Into Legends Analysis

From Homer to Calypso and everywhere in between, the journey through this course has allowed me to fully comprehend what myth is and redefine the term myth. In the beginning of this course I had described myth as “a collection of stories used to entertain readers through the use of literary devices”. This course has allowed me to change the way I define myth and change the way that I view myths relation to the present day.

Greek myths are stories that explain the meaning of life and teach moral lessons through the values of heroes, gods and mortals. In Ancient Greece, myths were an important part of the culture, first being told orally and in poems, then seen in architecture and theatre. Homer, the Greek poet, wrote epic poems such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, which are still revered and read extensively today. Greek myths have carried over to contemporary American culture, appearing in movies, children’s toys, clothing and books and the values of Greek myths are entrenched in today’s society. Notably, heroism is a prominent value that plays a major role in Greek mythology and continues to influence American culture today, as heroes inspire society with their nobility, bravery and patriotism.

Myth is a body of story that matters—the patterns present in mythology run deeply in the human psyche

Phyllis, L. M., & Minkel, W. (2000). Greek mythology. School Library Journal, 46(10), 75-76. Retrieved

There are many mythological stories that relate and interact with one an another dealing with their specific lifestyles, beliefs and problems. The Hercules and Hippolyta myth is considered to be one of the most famous tales dealing the Amazons. Hercules is perhaps, if not, the most well-known myths about being heroic. The ninth task in

In every culture people have different creation stories from the ancient Aztecs to modern-day. Creation stories myths are symbolic since they are narratives of how the world began and how men were created. These stories or “myths” helped people in the past to explain the world around them (Long, 2015). However, people often use the term myth to describe these stories since they regarded as fiction while to some there true. Regardless, to who believes these “myths” but everyone has their own belief on the origin of the world.

Often times we hear the word Myth and don’t have a complete understanding of what the word means. Mythology can vary greatly but it is one thing that countries, cultures, and religions have in common. While beliefs, knowledge, mythology and religion may intersect they also can differ greatly from each other. Like other countries myths have come to help sculpt and shape American cultural values and behaviors.

The Power of Myth is both a tribute and an organized book conversation between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers on the subject of mythical symbology in the world today in addition reformatting ancient stories for our inner life today.

After readying Joseph Campbell’s, The Power of Myth, I have understood the importance of myth in understanding and giving more meaning to life. Myths and stories, are important because they help us, as individuals, identify who we are based on what we believe and the stories that we find true to ourselves. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to comprehend who we truly are.

When the average person thinks of mythology, they are most likely to think about archaic stories about gods and heroes with fantastic powers and histories. While living in our technologically advanced time period, these myths that we learn about were once common teachings in ancient lands used to explain natural phenomenon and teach moral standards to people. As fantastic as the stories of myth sound like, many people dismiss them and assume these stories of fantasy no longer play a role in out modern-day lives. What most people do not realize, however, is that many aspects of myth are still involved with the

Myths serve an important purpose in today’s world and modern society due to the way they teach morals and life lessons. Myths have an impact on the way we live our lives and the actions we take. Myths have a significant sociological function, helping us to understand ourselves as part of a wider human story, and where we fit within it.

By reading myths, people can see that the creation myths illustrate the cultural beliefs of a society, when these myths were created by people, their thoughts and cultures determined what would happen in the stories, if they where scared of something, this would be many times the bad thing in the myth, representing the evil or something that people would be scared. Other factor that appear on the myths that are based in the cultural beliefs of that time are the gods, they represent everything that was important in that time, war, plantation, reproduction, etc. Concluding my idea, myths represent almost all the cultural beliefs that a society haves, and we can learn a lot of their culture by simply reading their

Myth has been defined and manipulated throughout its usage in order to fit the desired criteria for explaining a multitude of phenomena. The usage of the word myth has steadily increased in the English language, applying to an increasing number of circumstances. Today, there exist programs such as MythBusters, where a group of hosts test classic wives’ tales and conundrums, while classifying them as myth. Quite obviously, these common misconceptions and questions do not fit the format and definition of a myth as it has been derived from the Greek mythos. Myth has come to be defined as a misconception, a distilled version of the term’s former significance. It must now be proposed that myth shall be redefined in order to provide a balance between the ancient and modern meanings. Myth in the context of modern culture needs to be redefined, shedding the connotation of connection to the divine, embracing the possibility of fewer qualifications, and allowing current cultural situations to adopt the definition of a myth without blemishing the significance of the term’s history.

The realization that myths often reflect the fears, feelings, human tendencies and/or ideologies of the society in which they were constructed in has become increasingly evident. That being said, since these mythic retellings are typically incorporated in the upbringing of a generation, they are unquestionably recognized as a sufficient tool in the socialization process (Hourigan 45). Accordingly, the underlying themes that many myths utilize reflect and influence their audience. Though the content of myths may vary throughout different cultures, there is often an implicit trend of installing patriarchal ideologies throughout this medium. Therefore, the gender narratives, and subsequently gender socialization derived from these constructs are

In many of tradition, a myth carries within it a sense of sacred tradition and primordial relation. These myths are also serving as model for chosen tradition. Myths are extremely complex cultural reality that can be approached and interpreted from various viewpoints. These viewpoints are often related to the whole of