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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. To whom does Leeming credit the adaptation of the Greek pantheon the Roman religion?

2. What does Leeming say was the primary difference between the Greek pantheon and the Roman pantheon?

3. When does Leeming say the older Genesis text was likely composed?

4. What does Leeming say was the central organizing principle of the Christian Creation myth?

5. What does Leeming say the Indian creation myths were concerned with?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Hopi creation myth.

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

3. How does Leeming say that cultures still worship the Great Mother?

4. Describe the Hebrew creation myth.

5. What does Leeming say the Great Mother represents?

6. How does Leeming describe the Greek pantheon?

7. Why does Leeming say that cosmogonies are predominantly feminine?

8. How does Leeming describe the Egyptian pantheon?

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

10. How does Leeming describe the Greek pantheon as a family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read another book about mythology--even something short, like Karen Armstrong's "A Short History of Myth"--and compare and contrast Leeming's approach to myth to another author's. What are Leeming's main preoccupations, and what are his methods? What is his style for expressing them? What does he tend to include? What does he omit? How can you characterize Leeming's intellectual personality?

Essay Topic 2

What was the time before the gods like? Not just in the myths, but in the cultural idea of gods: what were the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, or Norse pantheons like before they were seen as pantheons? How did the disparate and local gods become pantheons that seemed to rule over a territory through a religion or system of myths?

Essay Topic 3

Where is Leeming most convincing and most effective as an author describing his topic? Where were you most drawn into the book and its topics, and what accounts for the interesting nature of the work?

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