Mythology of the world including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Northern Europe, Asia, The Americas, Ancient Egypt and Africa, Ocieania. Admittedly, my favorite parts of the book were Ancient Greece and Northern Europe which included Norse mythology.
MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT GREECE
-12 Titans
-Kronos freed his brothers and sisters from captivity and the Titans symbolized different aspects of existence
-Helios, God of Son - Sun and God are always linked and the SUN is often the most important God across many mythologies
-Kronos killed his father and replaced him as the head of the household and created his own children
-Kronos would soon confront the concept that human life CAN ONLY ADVANCE THROUGH INTERGENERATIONAL STRUGGLE -in much of Greek mythology
-After war between Titans and gods, the Titans established the Olympians as rulers of the cosmos - many of the Gods and figure were children of Zeus
-Infidelity is a major theme in all Greek myths - Zeus was always sleeping around and even with his infidelities he was quite loved by men
-Gods had specific areas of influence - Athena for example was Goddess of wisdom
-Prometheus's name means "thinking ahead" and he was the creator of mankind
-The underworld in where hades is and the river styx is the separation between the world of living and dead
-Like Eve, Pandora unleashes bad things on to the world - woman/feminine is often a symbol of disaster/chaos and in Greece - Pandora was innocent and curious
-THE TRICKSTER is a major theme in most mythology, a concept that a god or entity was capable of quick cunning and deception - the only real way to defeat brute strength
-Apollo communicated wisdom through Oracle at Delphi
-Eros represented blind lust and erotic sexual desire that was shameful and weak - Eros was jealous of Apollo God of light that radiated like the sun
-Trojan war started over HELEN, lasted 10 years
-GREEK ARMY includes Odysseus, Achilles (dipped in the river styx)
-Odysseus builds the Trojan horse
-Homer recounts these in the "Iliad" and then the "Odyssey"
-The "Odyssey" is a drama of delay
-Lotus blossoms created Odysseus' men to be content and only discipline could help the escape
-The Hydra 9 heads fought by Herakles
-Perseus -CLASSIC HERO JOURNEY - fights Medusa with his shield/reflection as to not turn to stone - special equipment used
-OEDIPUS is not a man to be envied because he had sexual relations with his mother and killed his father - Sigmund Freud, founder of Psychoanalysis - says in every family the son subconsciously yearns to possess his mother - the first love of the son since infancy and oust the father from his place in her love/affections - this makes sense of irrational rivalries and jealousies within families
ANCIENT ROME
-The river styx and many stories are retold in variation from Ancient Greece
-Actions speak louder than words
NORTHERN EUROPE
NORSE MYTHOLOGY
-Balance between world of fire/ice
-The Poetic Edda / The Prose Edda
-Odin, Thor, Loki - Asgard
-Valhalla - heaven
-The norns, 3 women deities
-The Norse gods are described collectively as the "Aesir" (like the Olympians)
-Theft of the MEAD OF POETRY by Odin is where all poets owe inspiration in Norse Mythology
-The Norse Gods were closely identified with magical possessions or SPECIAL EQUIPMENT crafted by dwarves like Thor's Magic Hammer and Odin's mighty spear
-LOKI is "Trickster" as hero when their actions benefit the human race like Odin when he steals the Mead of Poetry
-THE ADVENTURES OF THOR AND LOKI IN JOTUNHEIM - Thor takes Loki with him because he is not as cunning as Loki is and their COMBINED strengths made them quite an unstoppable force, the giants deceived THOR because only through DECEPTION could they overcome THOR'S strength
-RAGNAROK is the Norse Myth of the end of the world which comes in stages like revelations
-Rivalry of brothers here again in the Ragnarok myth
ENGLAND
-The sword in the stone is pulled out by King Author who becomes King of England - as in the one who pulls the sword from the stone is deemed worthy
-The quest for The Holy Grail, the knights of the round table
-The quest for the Grail was a journey of both the body and the soul
-Spiritual effort was required for Lancelot to OVERCOME HIS SIN in his quest for The Holy Grail - he had to purge himself of sin - due to his sins with Guinevere he could not acheive true knowledge of The Holy Grail
MESOPOTAMIA
-The Story of Gilgamesh - in Mesopotamia - he was a sexual predator and needed someone to tame his nature -
-So came forward ENKIDU and him and Gilgamesh fought - Gilgamesh respected ENKIDU who fought and he respected him and an equal and a brother
-Enkidu was wild and raised by animals he needed to tame his nature to be socialized enough to have value to help and balance Gilgamesh - he had sex for 7 days with a temple prostitute and through this Enkidu could no longer run with animals and was becoming civilized - his sexual awakening gave him this!
-They went on a quest of strength and Enkidu died and Gilgamesh learned that the way to live life was not to achieve immortality but instead to enjoy the life he had been given
-In Gilgamesh we see also the acceptance or mortality, death is after all PART OF BEING HUMAN
-The FLOOD myth is also hear as it is told similarly in the story of Noah's Ark
-The FLOOD myth is also hear as it is told similarly in the story of Noah's Ark
ZOROASTRIANISM
-Two brothers of good and evil locked in combat, the eternal struggle between good and evil
- The theme of BROTHERS IN COMBAT WITH EACH OTHER IS AGAIN IN THIS MYTHOLOGY
GENERAL NOTES ON WORLD MYTHOLOGY
Mythology across these places and peoples often deals with the following themes of:
-MANY mythological stories are about a journey and the result of the the journey is the hero characters learning a lesson or THE TRUTH or the TRUTH ABOUT THE NATURE OF THINGS this helps US in our own lives if we live in line with this truth and tell the truth - stories are good reminders to those who sometimes forget lessons and face hardship - no one knows everything and everyone can learn from stories all the time
-MANY mythological stories are about a journey and the result of the the journey is the hero characters learning a lesson or THE TRUTH or the TRUTH ABOUT THE NATURE OF THINGS this helps US in our own lives if we live in line with this truth and tell the truth - stories are good reminders to those who sometimes forget lessons and face hardship - no one knows everything and everyone can learn from stories all the time
-Fathers and children or the struggle to be better incrementally each generation
-Father destroyed or killed by a son or revolt by children (Kronos, Atum of Egypt)
-Father destroying a child
-Brothers killing each other over different viewpoint
-Brothers killing each other over different viewpoint
-Accidental incest with a mother by a son
-Strength as virtue
-Loyalty in a true/rare friendship can bring man to his highest most capable potential
-Loyalty in a true/rare friendship can bring man to his highest most capable potential
-The trickster using trickery through shapeshifting or cunning
-Infidelities
-Jealousy as a source of suffering for both jealous aggressor and victim
-Sexual erotic desire as a source of suffering
-Power is dangerous
-Knowledge is a sword and a shield
-Knowledge is a sword and a shield
-Chaos and order
-Good vs evil
-Sun vs moon
-Balance of opposite sides
-Creation and the end of times
-Acceptance of death
-Destiny through hard work, strength, humble learning, sometimes special equipment, sometimes cunning and intelligent choices (Odysseus, Ori - Africa, Perseus, Maui trickster god of Polynesia who raises the sky and gets the Sun to agree to appear more regularly by wrapping a rope around it and pulling it until it complied)