Questions tagged [comparative]
For questions that compare mythology or folklore from multiple cultures.
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When and how did the Greek mythos transfer to the Romans?
It seems that there are a great many similarities between Roman and Greek Mythology. In fact, many people consider them synonymous and only really differ in the names. For example:
Greek ⇄ Roman
Zeus ...
user93
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Where did the Roman gods live?
The ancient Greek gods lived on the famous Mount Olympus, which is an actual mountain in Greece.
The Romans borrowed quite a bit of mythology from the Greeks, so I at first assumed that the Roman ...
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How does one search for patterns/motifs in folklore or mythology?
I'm currently attempting to research how often a specific type of story (i.e. a motif) occurs in the global corpus of folklore (mythology). For instance, I might be interested in whether there are ...
user62
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What is the earliest known dragon myth?
The myth of dragons can be found in many different traditions, with the major two being the European dragon and the Chinese dragon.
"There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the ...
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Why, according to Joseph Campbell, is the monomyth so common?
The Wikipedia page on the Monomyth has these statements in the summary at the top:
Campbell held that numerous myths from disparate times and regions share fundamental structures and stages,
and
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Did myths involving Loki influence Christian myths?
There is a lot of influence from non-Christian myths on Christian myths. There are numerous examples of syncretism, especially revolving around the various saints and what they might have done. ...
user93
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Are there Kali-types deities in other pantheons?
Is Kali, the dancing goddess, with skull necklaces, and blood licking tongue, unique? Specifically the mix of joyous rapture, death embrace, yet mothering and sexual.
Eros and Thanatos, at once a ...
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Is there a connection between Adam and Eve, and Ask and Embla?
The creation myths of the Abrahamic religions declares humanity's protoplasts to be Adam and Eve. Norse lore declares them to be Ask and Embla.
Linguistically, these seem to be fairly similar names. ...
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Role of the North Star in arctic mythologies
In his 1907 essay on Chukchi mythology, Bogoraz describe their cosmogony as follows:
According to the cosmogonical beliefs of the Chukchee, there are several worlds situated one above another, in ...
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Does every culture have a deluge myth?
A deluge myth is a story of a big flood that kills everyone. A few examples:
Noah's Ark
The story of Deucalion
The flood in the epic of Gilgamesh
The story of Bergelmir
... and so on. Is there a ...
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Are Noah and Ziusudra the same person?
There are similarities between the stories of Noah from the Bible and Ziusudra hero of the Sumerian flood epic.
Both stories describe a flood myth.
Based on what kind of information/similarities we ...
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What are some examples of "Mothers of Monsters"?
I'm looking for other "Mother of Monsters" examples to supplement a post I wrote involving Lilith and Angrboda and their status as "Mother of Monsters." Over time, I'd like to add more examples to the ...
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What is the difference between Igigi and Anunnaki deities?
On Anunnaki Wikipedia page we can read:
Their relation to the group of gods known as the Igigi is unclear – at times the names are used synonymously but in the Atra-Hasis flood myth the Igigi are the ...
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Are there any other mythological beings that got a replacement metal arm, other than Nuada, Lugh Llaw Ereint, and Sigurd?
Are there any other mythological beings that got a replacement metal arm, other than Nuada, Lugh Llaw Ereint, and Sigurd?
I found these three from the Mythology section in TV Tropes:
The Battle of ...
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Who was the first Satan like deity/creature/person in mythology?
There are satan/devil representations in other faiths/myths.
But who was the first to have a role and background similar to Satan?
Since religions sometimes take over traits of the old ones there ...
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What are the 365 virtues?
I was researching and I came across Abraxas, a daemon(inferior god), an archon, an aeon, the "Supreme" god, an angel...
He has a place in many mythologies, and the number 365 keeps coming up. 365 ...
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Do Mithras, Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus share a December 25 birthday?
In The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown claims that Mithras, Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus were born on December 25:
Teabing groaned. 'Don’t get a symbologist started on Christian icons. Nothing in ...
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Did Greeks and Romans allow for belief in only some of their gods?
Did Greeks and Romans believe in all their gods, or was it permissible to believe in some of them only (e.g., only in Diana, Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, etc.)?
{It seems it was permissible to believe ...
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What are some mythological examples of emotionally-charged symbolic acts of grief?
I'm looking for mythological examples of loss leading to intense emotional and symbolic displays of grief, whether spontaneous, performative, ritual or some combination of the above. That is, grief so ...
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What mythological figures have died for love?
I was recently thinking about Orpheus, and different accounts of his death, and although they tend to vary, the versions that strike me as most compelling are those in which the loss of Eurydice may ...
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Which Celtic god is the equivalent of the Roman Dis Pater?
In Book IV of his Commentaries on the Gallic War, Julius Caesar tells us all Gauls claimed descent from Dis Pater:
18. All the Gauls assert that they are descended from the god Dis, and say that this ...
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How do Dionysus and Jesus relate?
I was reading Dan Brown and found out that Dionysus's birthday (I assume 2nd birth from Zeus's calf) is the same as Jesus.
What similarities do they share other than this?
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Tubal-cain (תּוּבַל קַיִן) and Vulcan
In Hebrew, "B" and "V" are the same letter (ב), so without the "Tu", Tubalcain (תּוּבַל קַיִן) and Vulcan are very similar names.
The French spelling is "Vulcain&...
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Is there a connection between Odin or Zeus and the Christian God?
Could the Norse Odin or the Greek Zeus be Christianity's "The Creator" and father of Jesus?
