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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 is an ontological reason for myth?

2. What creation myth does Leeming say modern people favor?

3. In Leeming's account, how did the Hopi create their creation myth?

4. How does Leeming define cosmic myth?

5. What does Leeming say happened to the figure of the Great Mother over time?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the primary gods in the Egyptian pantheon?

2. Describe the Hopi creation myth.

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

4. Describe the Mesopotamian creation myth.

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

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

7. What stories or topics does Leeming include in the category of cosmic myths?

8. Describe the Christian creation myth.

9. What does Leeming say the Supreme Being represents in myths?

10. What does Leeming say the Great Mother represents?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an evaluative review of Leeming's The World of Myth. Where is the book most itself? Where is it unresolved, or rife with internal tensions? How are those tensions contained? What if any forces are trying to pull The World of Myth apart?

Essay Topic 2

Leeming describes myths as concerning gods and goddesses, but they are also tales that transcend religion, and have an essential human, psychological truth, which is applicable beyond the particular religion that told the myth originally. In this light, discuss the religious nature of myth--do myths apply equally to atheists and believers?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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