Portal:Myths

The Myths Portal

Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion.

Myths are often endorsed by religious (when they are closely linked to religion or spirituality) and secular authorities. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. (Full article...)

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Dagr (Old Norse 'day') is the divine personification of the day in Norse mythology. He appears in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Dagr is stated to be the son of the god Dellingr and is associated with the bright-maned horse Skinfaxi, who "draw[s] day to mankind". Depending on manuscript variation, the Prose Edda adds that Dagr is either Dellingr's son by Nótt, the personified night, or Jörð, the personified Earth. Otherwise, Dagr appears as a common noun simply meaning "day" throughout Old Norse works. Connections have been proposed between Dagr and other similarly named figures in Germanic mythology. (Full article...)

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... that Reeri Yakseya, who is believed to be the most cruel and powerful demon in Sinhalese folklore, can assume 18 different apparitions?

...that Ugaritic culture hero Danel may have been a model for the Biblical Daniel of Ezekiel?

... that the pre-Columbian Zapotec storm god Cocijo was said to have created the world from his breath?

... that in classical mythology, Cerberus (pictured) is a monstrous dog with multiple heads that guards the gates to the underworld?

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17th-century woodcut depiction of a unicorn

The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.

In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or so been depicted as a white horse- or goat-like animal with a long straight horn with spiraling grooves, cloven hooves, and sometimes a goat's beard. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could be captured only by a virgin. In encyclopedias, its horn was described as having the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the tusk of the narwhal was sometimes sold as a unicorn horn. (Full article...)

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Vampire Fenrir Ala (demon) Sharabha Ratatoskr Huginn and Muninn Keshi (demon) Nuckelavee Sea Mither Boobrie Stoor worm Mermaid Dragon Siren (mythology) Hippocampus (mythology) Phoenix (mythology) Centaur Serpent (symbolism) Anzû Cerberus

General images

The following are images from various myth-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Giza pyramids (from List of mythological objects)
Image 2The fall of Icarus (from List of mythological objects)
Image 3Greek God Kronos/Saturnus with sickle (from List of mythological objects)
Image 4The Dispute of Minerva and Neptune (c. 1689 or 1706) by René-Antoine Houasse, depicting the founding myth of Athens (from National myth)
Image 5As is usual in bestiaries, the lynx in this late 13th-century English manuscript is shown urinating, the urine turning to the mythical stone Lyngurium (from List of mythological objects)
Image 6The Honest Woodcutter, also known as Mercury and the Woodman and his famous Golden Axe (from List of mythological objects)
Image 7Jug from Lydian Treasure Usak (from List of mythological objects)
Image 8The Fall of the Titans (1596–98) by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (from Comparative mythology)
Image 9Tissot Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle (from List of mythological objects)
Image 10Hop-o'-My-Thumb stealing the Seven-league boots from the Ogre, by Gustave Doré (from List of mythological objects)
Image 11Yama advances to smite Ravana with the weapon of death (from List of mythological objects)
Image 12Artist's impressions of the (unseen) Imperial Regalia of Japan (from List of mythological objects)
Image 13Amenonuhoko (天沼矛 or 天之瓊矛 or 天瓊戈, "heavenly jeweled spear") is the name given to the spear in Shinto used to raise the primordial land-mass, Onogoro-shima, from the sea (from List of mythological objects)
Image 14An angel (Camael) expelling Adam and Eve with a flaming sword (from List of mythological objects)
Image 15Claíomh Solais on an Ireland stamp printed in 1922 (from List of mythological objects)
Image 16The Stone of Destiny (Lia Fáil) at the Hill of Tara, once used as a coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland (from List of mythological objects)
Image 17Image showing the sacred tree to the right of the temple, from Olaus Magnus' Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555). To the right of the tree is a depiction of a man being sacrificed in the spring (from List of mythological objects)
Image 18Joan of Arc with her famous sword (from List of mythological objects)
Image 19Achilles wearing his armor (from List of mythological objects)
Image 20King Svafrlame Secures the Sword Tyrfing (from List of mythological objects)
Image 21Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons (from Comparative mythology)
Image 22Erlang Shen (二郎神), or Erlang is a Chinese God with his spear (from List of mythological objects)
Image 23The Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral (from List of mythological objects)
Image 24The Celestial Chariot, Pushpaka Vimana from Ramayana (from List of mythological objects)
Image 25The Giving of the Seven Bowls of Wrath / The First Six Plagues, Revelation 16:1–16. Matthias Gerung, c. 1531 (from List of mythological objects)
Image 26seven angels with seven trumpets (from List of mythological objects)
Image 27Thor kicks Litr onto Baldr's Hringhorni, illustration by Emil Doepler (ca. 1905) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 28Fountain of Youth (from List of mythological objects)
Image 29Snake and world egg of the inhabitants of Tyre (from List of mythological objects)
Image 30Rectangular tablets passed down by the Hand of God in the 10th century Byzantine Leo Bible (from List of mythological objects)
Image 31Killing of Ravana Painting by Brahmstra of Arrow of Brahma (from List of mythological objects)
Image 32Opening lines of one of the Mabinogi myths from the Red Book of Hergest (written pre-13c, incorporating pre-Roman myths of Celtic gods):
Gereint vab Erbin. Arthur a deuodes dala llys yg Caerllion ar Wysc...
(Geraint the son of Erbin. Arthur was accustomed to hold his Court at Caerlleon upon Usk...) (from Myth)
Image 33Yama with his famous Yama Pasha (from List of mythological objects)
Image 34Heracles would use arrows dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood to kill other foes during his Labours, such as Stymphalian birds and the giant (from List of mythological objects)
Image 35The famous sword of Excalibur painted by Howard Pyle (from List of mythological objects)
Image 36Myths and legends of Babylonia and Assyria (1916) (from Myth)
Image 37Holy Robe in Trier (from List of mythological objects)
Image 38Adam's Bridge also called as Rama Setu (from List of mythological objects)
Image 39The Deluge, frontispiece to Gustave Doré's illustrated edition of the Bible. Based on the story of Noah's Ark, this engraving shows humans and a tiger doomed by the flood futilely attempting to save their children and cubs. (from Comparative mythology)
Image 40Houyi, the God of Archery (from List of mythological objects)
Image 41Fortune Wheel (from List of mythological objects)
Image 42Thor wearing the magic belt Megingjörð (from List of mythological objects)
Image 43Longinus with his famous Spear (from List of mythological objects)
Image 44Vishnu with his Panchajanya (from List of mythological objects)
Image 45Pied piper (from List of mythological objects)
Image 46Sampo, a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought riches and good fortune to its holder, in the Finnish epic poetry Kalevala (The Forging of the Sampo, Joseph Alanen, 1911) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 47The Argo (c. 1500 – 1530), painting by Lorenzo Costa (from List of mythological objects)
Image 48Voodoo doll with pins in it, Museum of Witchcraft (from List of mythological objects)
Image 49Fig trees often represent talismans with the udumbara (from List of mythological objects)
Image 50Vishnu holding his legendary sword Nandaka (from List of mythological objects)
Image 51Shield of Achilles (illustration) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 52Symbolic power: a dragon in the Imperial City, Huế, Vietnam (from Legendary creature)
Image 53Lord Vishnu took the form of Beauty Mohini and distributed the Amrita (Ambrosia, Elixir) to Devas. When Rahu (snake dragon) tried to steal the Amrita, his head was cut off (from List of mythological objects)
Image 54Dietrich von Bern and Hildebrand fight against dragons (from List of mythological objects)
Image 5514th century Goryeo painting of Ksitigarbha holding a cintamani (from List of mythological objects)
Image 56Tor's Fight with the Giants (1872) by Mårten Eskil Winge. Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology. (from Myth)
Image 57Aura, a field of luminous radiation surrounding a person or object (from List of mythological objects)
Image 58Goetia seal of solomon (from List of mythological objects)
Image 59Several legendary creatures from Bilderbuch für Kinder (lit. 'picture book for children') between 1790 and 1822, by Friedrich Justin Bertuch (from Legendary creature)
Image 60Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' Song, a mythological painting by Francesco Hayez, 1813–1815 (from Myth)
Image 61Ancient Roman relief from the Cathedral of Maria Saal showing the infant twins Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf (from Comparative mythology)
Image 62Azoth, a universal medicine or universal solvent sought in alchemy. (Medieval legend) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 63"The Fall of Man" by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Tree of Knowledge is on the right (from List of mythological objects)
Image 64Golem and Loew (from List of mythological objects)
Image 65Perillos being forced into the brazen bull that he built for Phalaris (from List of mythological objects)
Image 66A 19th-century drawing of Sun Wukong featuring his staff (from List of mythological objects)
Image 67Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe (from List of mythological objects)
Image 68Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau. In the mythos of Hesiodus and possibly Aeschylus (the Greek trilogy Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros), Prometheus is bound and tortured for giving fire to humanity. (from Myth)
Image 69Veronica holding her veil, Hans Memling, c. 1470 (from List of mythological objects)
Image 70The Crown of Immortality, held by the allegorical figure Eterna (Eternity) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 711929 Belgian banknote, depicting Ceres, Neptune and caduceus (from Myth)
Image 72Jason returns with Golden fleece (from List of mythological objects)
Image 73Ahimelech giving the sword of Goliath to David, by Aert de Gelder. (from List of mythological objects)
Image 74Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules (from List of mythological objects)
Image 75Surya on His Celestial Chariot (from List of mythological objects)
Image 76The Ash Yggdrasil by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (from List of mythological objects)
Image 77Shiva with his Trishula (from List of mythological objects)
Image 78Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mountain, in a print from the Ravi Varma Press, 1910's (from List of mythological objects)
Image 79Edith Hamilton's Mythology has been a major channel for English speakers to learn classical Greek and Roman mythology (from Myth)
Image 80Golden cosmic egg Hiranyagarbha by Manaku (from List of mythological objects)
Image 81Riding a Flying Carpet, an 1880 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov (from List of mythological objects)
Image 82Jacob blesses Joseph and gives him the coat of many colors (from List of mythological objects)
Image 83Hand of God (from List of mythological objects)
Image 84Ballads of bravery (1877) part of Arthurian mythology (from Myth)
Image 85The Flying Dutchman (from List of mythological objects)
Image 86This panel by Bartolomeo di Giovanni relates the second half of the Metamorphoses. In the upper left, Jupiter emerges from clouds to order Mercury to rescue Io. (from Myth)
Image 87The third gift — an enormous hammer (1902) by Elmer Boyd Smith and the ring Draupnir is visible among other creations by the Sons of Ivaldi (from List of mythological objects)
Image 88"Tizona", the sword attributed to El Cid, on exhibit in the Army Museum of Madrid (from List of mythological objects)
Image 89Väinämöinen, the wise demigod and one of the significant characters of Finnish mythological 19th-century epic poetry, The Kalevala (Väinämöinen's Play, Robert Wilhelm Ekman, 1866) (from Myth)