Mythology refers to the body of stories that explain some aspect of the human condition, especially the creation of the world and the acts of nature. They are found in every culture in the world, and the Greek and Roman myths are the most influential.
Mythology; the body of myths of a particular culture. The study of myths, the interpretation of our lives, our battles, our world, our past, yet so much more. Myths are the stories of people, spirits and everything else around us. The stories of how this began, how things work, and why things are the way they are. Myths have given fictional references to non-fiction events and in doing so gave people something to believe in, something to think about. Ancient Greek and Roman literature has affected literally every phase of social intelligence. Myths have affected religion, culture, society and literature in many ways. The famous philosopher Alfred Whitehead once said "all philosophy is but a footnote to Plato", meaning the original myths speak a lot, not just about how things came to be, but how the effect us as people.
The most famous myths involve the creation of the world we call home. These are so well known for many reasons. People love to explain the unexplainable and myths love to go back to a time no one existed in, a time where they can explain all. No culture has an identical creation myth to that of another culture. The creation of the earth is also well related to religion therefore implying that mythology has a great affect on religion as well as cultures.
Myths are universal; they are present in almost all cultures and typically date before the introduction of writing, a time when the only form of transportation of literature was orally. Every culture would form its own myths to help explain its own beliefs and religion. Religion involves groups of people, often from one culture that have the same belief system, morals and rituals. Many myths are based in religion, or is it the other way around? Myths, like religion, involve a belief in the supernatural. The only way to spread these beliefs and stories was by story telling sessions. Once the Myth had been passed around people started believing in it, as though it was fact. Often these myths were based in religion, but just as often the religions formed themselves around myths. Myths that grew so big and well believed that there group of believers could be considered a religion.
One of the strongest cultures based in myth is that of the Native Canadians or Aboriginals. They have a myth or story to explain every aspect of their lives, birth to death and everything in between. All of the ceremonies and religious rituals are based around their myths and belief. There are so many specifications to their myths, when they are told, how they are told and who can tell them. This greatly shows the effect of myths on cultures because this culture is so deeply based in myth and religion that it changes every step of their day.
When myths were first created cultures were based in there original countries, but as the world expands, people move and each country becomes more diversified. This means that with the tradition of story telling myths are creeping through various religions and soaking into our society. The Greek myths are the most well know because Greece was one of the only nations to have substantial libraries during the prime myth era. Even after the Library of Alexandria was torn to pieces by a Christian mob in 415AD the myths that were contained had been inscribed in statues, and the minds of the Greek. Even today, mankind frequently refers to early Greek and Roman writings for knowledge and inspiration. The story of princess Elektra has been the subject of a celebrated opera by a German composer Richard Strauss (Elektra, 1909), plays by the American playwright Eugene O'Neill (Morning Becomes Elektra, 1931), and French playwright Jean-Paul Sartre (The Flies, 1943) as well as the new movie directed by Rob Bowman (Elektra, 2005). Other movies, books and even products have been influenced by Greek myths. These include Venus Razors for Women, Mars Chocolate Bars, the new movie Troy, Laconia Orange Juice and the space ship series Apollo.
Myths may be defined as stories that represent the past, but if you look around you its plain to see that the myths that were told hundreds of years ago are still affecting our religions, our cultures, our televisions, our movies, our literature, our lives. Mythology; the body of myths of a particular culture. The study of myths, the interpretation of our lives, battles, world, past and, surprisingly, present.
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