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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Leeming say about the birth of God?

2. Why does Leeming say cultures give human form to Supreme Beings?

3. Why mystery does Leeming address with regard to human creation?

4. What does Leeming say gods are fighting for in the Egyptian pantheon?

5. What does Leeming say the Hebraic people's monotheistic god focused on?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Leeming say that pantheons can be described?

2. How does Leeming address the fall from grace or perfection in creation myths?

3. How does Leeming define a "cosmogony" and what kinds of stories are contained in cosmogonies?

4. Describe the first creation myth to originate in Egypt.

5. How does Leeming define the cosmic myth?

6. Describe the stages through which the Greek pantheon developed, in Leeming's account.

7. Describe the Hebrew creation myth.

8. How does Leeming say the figure of the trickster?

9. What contribution does Leeming say Hesiod made to Greek creation myths?

10. Describe the Hopi creation myth.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How consistent are the myths from each of the cultures Leeming describes? Do the cosmogonies and the hero myths from Greece, say, demonstrate a unified Greekness? Is there a conflict in values between the different kinds of myths Leeming analyzes? Describe two myths that reveal a conflict in values within the one culture that tells them.

Essay Topic 2

Leeming discusses the myths of a number of major cultures: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Hebraic, Christian, Norse, and Native American. Based on what Leeming describes of their myths--their creation, hero, afterlife and apocalypse myths, as well as their god and goddesses, sacred places and objects and signs and symbols--how would you characterize the difference between two cultures?

Essay Topic 3

What is the role of the hero in contemporary culture? Are celebrities heroes, and if so, what traits distinguish them as heroes? Make an argument for the heroic status of a contemporary figure, using the definitions Leeming uses in The World of Myth.

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