Questions tagged [comparative]
For questions that compare mythology or folklore from multiple cultures.
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Why did Christians, who take a huge part of their Bible from Jews, not have to follow the same rules as Jews?
As I'm sure all of you know, the Old Testament is the Hebrew bible. Why then do Christians not follow the same rules as the Jews? When Christianity was attracting attention, Paul said that Jews who ...
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How common is a vertical many-layered cosmos in world mythology? Do any mythologies particularly emphasize this structure?
Background: A very common motif in mythology and folklore is for worlds to be layered one on top of each other. The most obvious example is of the three world system of hell, earth, and heaven. The ...
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Alternative to Tower of Babel explanations for linguistic diversity
What mythological alternatives, if any, are there to explaining the existence of multiple languages than the Tower of Babel or myths that are similar in nature?
I once came across a myth at a ...
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Do vegetation deities tend to be connected with the Moon?
Egyptian Osiris is associated with vegetation and this is what Wikipedia says about him:
Through syncretism with Iah, he is also the god of the Moon.
This is what Wikipedia says about Jarilo, ...
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How does Australian Aboriginal totemism compare to its Native American parallels?
I was surprised to find out that the concept of totemism is present in Australian Aboriginal tales. Up until today, I was under the - obviously mistaken - impression that it was a concept unique to ...
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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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Are there any other mythology with female warriors like Durga from the Hindu Mythology?
In Hindu Mythology, Durga takes on an entire army of Demons, and slays them all singlehandedly at the last moment. She also takes on Mahishashur (Buffalo Demon) and slays him as well, earning her ...
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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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Does the phrase "Zeus Pater" appear in ancient Greek sources?
The Wikipedia article "Sky Father" includes the following passage:
"Sky Father" is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity ...
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What's the purpose of seminal fluid in mythology?
An excerpt from TV tropes:
People are fairly familiar with the story of how Set murdered Osiris
to get his throne only to be thwarted by Osiris' son Horus, but most
people don't know how it was ...
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Where does it says that snakes can kill birds by looking at their shadow?
I have seen several early Jewish sources (e.g. Midrash Tanhuma, Beshalah 18) refer to the idea that a snake can kill a bird by just looking at its shadow. Has this ancient belief been documented ...
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Which gods have been killed in their myths?
I want to know how different cultures thought a god could be killed. So, I am trying to put together a list of gods who died in their mythology.
So far I only have a short list:
Baldr
Jesus
...
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Are there any females who have many consorts but are still celebrated?
Many heroes and gods have many consorts but are still popular and worshipped and good examples of these are Zeus of Greek Mythology and Arjuna of Hindu Mythology. Are there any females similar to them?...
user1385
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Cows as symbols of Wisdom
I just finished a very interesting article "Boand" river-goddess and rebel" that talks about the bovine origin of her name, and makes a good case for cows as a symbol of wisdom in Irish lore.
The ...
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Are there any groups similar to the muses in other religions?
Are the muses - a set of deities, each corresponding to a specific form of art - a unique Graeco-Roman invention or are there parallels in other mythologies?
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Why do so many cultures have monsters that prey on families?
While researching La Llorona and vampiresses, I noticed that lots of cultures have predominantly female monsters that use deception to prey on families. Lamia that prey on young men and children, deer ...
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Are there stories of a hero or god fighting off old age?
I recently learned of Geras, the personification of old age. The deity is primarily known from vase depictions that show him with Heracles. One example is this Attic red-figured neck-amphora1:
...
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Are there Christian influences in the Dionysiaca?
Two works by Nonnus of Panopolis survive to this day:
The Dionysiaca, an epic poem about the life of Dionysus,
The Paraphrase of John, a rewording of the Gospel of John.
This is a rare example of ...
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What are the oldest extant influential mythology inspired books (mainly Eastern)?
Sorry if the question sounds confusing, not sure how to ask my question but I was reading an article about how Western literature is built in part on Greek and Roman mythology, on works like Homer's ...
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Uses of encoding and ciphers in Mythology
One of my favorite stories is the Ovid version of Philomel. (She pre-figures the Tarantino heroines in many ways. Note that the elements of other myths section of Wikipedia omits the most direct ...
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Are there any stories which are about a species that is neither human nor divine?
I am aware that some mythologies/religions include species apart from humans and gods (e.g. Islam and Norse mythology). However, are there any stories which are written about them? My definition for "...
user1385
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Did the Sami affect Norse mythology?
Fairly simple question, but a broad one: Did the Sami people of northern Scandinavia have any impact on Norse mythology? If so, how?
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Is there any Norse mythological figure associated with victory?
Is there an equivalent in Norse mythology to the goddesses Nike of the Greeks or Victoria of the Romans?
Any god or mythological being in Norse cult associated mainly with victory?
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Why did Ovid omit the Heroic Age?
According to Wikipedia, Ovid's Four Ages of Man are very similar to Hesiod's Five Ages Man, with the exception of the Heroic Age.
Why didn't Ovid include the Heroic Age?
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Why is Diana a Huntress?
Everyone knows that Diana, as well as her Greek parallel Artemis, are hunter goddesses, but few seem to know why. From where does this association originate?
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Common theme that humans had longer lifespans before the flood?
Several pre-flood myths seem to mention humans being able to live for extremely long periods of time. IIRC, the Sumerians had a list of kings that lived for thousands of years pre-flood, and post-...
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Why was Baal Hammon identified with Cronus/Saturn?
Greeks identified the Carthaginian Baal Hammon with Cronus, and Romans, in turn, with Saturn.
Why was that? Did Baal Hammon share any attributes with Cronus/Saturn?
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What are the differences between the Greek Hestia and the Roman Vesta with regards to both mythology and worship?
I recall reading about Vesta, and I believe that, like Mars and Saturn, she was more important to the Roman pantheon than the Greek. I'd like to know what the differences were between Vesta and Hestia....
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Why is the story of Odin hanging from Yggdrasil so similar to that of Jesus on the cross?
I hope this actually has an answer, I couldn't find anything but speculation on the web.
Basically, the story of Odin hanging from Yggdrasil is very similar to that of Jesus on the cross. Here are ...
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Are there any instances where non-Greco-Roman goddesses fall in love with mortals?
However, I will not be taking into account the Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian stories as they are the only stories that I know of in which a goddess loves a human.
user1385
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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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Odin's Counterpart
I have always wondered are:
Odin,
Mercury,
Hermes,
Thoth
the same person?
If so, why they are celebrated by different cultures and praised by different myths?
I am in love with these deities...
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Why do snake (serpent) and bull often come together as symbols of deities?
The Celtic Cernunnos, the Greek Dionysus, the Slavic Veles and Vedic Shiva have snake and bull among their symbols.
Why do these two symbols tend to come together?
It looks to me as though these ...
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Are there parallels between Ymir/Auðumbla and Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox besides the obvious?
It's something I've been thinking about for many years now and I figured I might as well ask, as there seems to be an exceptional Norse mythology braintrust on this site.
By "obvious" parallels, I am ...
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Mythologies with goddesses as the main deity?
In most mythologies, there is often a male god who is the chief god, like Zeus of Greek mythology and Ra of Egyptian mythology. As far as I know, the only mythology that has a female ruler of the ...
user1385
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Flood myth = Maritime Voyages & Colonization Interpretation?
I am currently studying various flood myths from all around the world.
I interprete this whole story as a maritime voyage & colonization story:
The ark is simply a ship (bigger than a cockleshell;...
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What is the earliest myth of the three Fates?
A triple pantheon of goddesses governing fate appears in a variety of European (and perhaps other) mythologies. The Greek Moirai, the Roman Fatae, the Norse Norns. Often they are associated with ...
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Are the Anunnaki mentioned in the Bible?
The following Bible passages mention “Anakim” and “Anak”:
Num 13:22; 13:28; 13:33
Deut 1:28; 2:10-11; 2:21, 9:2
Josh 11:21-22; 14:12; 14:15; 15:13-14; 21:11
Judg 1:20.
They sound similar.
Is there ...
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Where Can I Study Parallel Mythologies?
I am very fascinated with the notion that there are significant parallels between mythologies - there may be different reincarnations of the same God?
For instance, we know that Hermes is Mercury, ...
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Are there any studies of the historic phenomenon of the chief god of a pantheon being replaced by the storm god?
We find in at least two instances the chief god of a pantheon being replaced by the younger storm god of that pantheon. For example, in Canaanite mythology, the supreme god El is replaced with the ...
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What is the easiest way to become a god? [closed]
This is a question across all pantheons and mythologies. Overall what is the easiest way to become a god? It should be an one-time act. But perhaps for simplicity sake we can use immortality as the ...
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What was the earliest werewolf myth?
So, the earliest werewolf I can find is in Greek times.
But, was there ever an earlier werewolf myth?
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Were there any other "Mythos Transfers", other than the Greek-Roman transfer?
Were there any other Mythos Transfers, other than the Greek-Roman transfer?
To clarify, I mean an almost complete copy of another religion/myth system.
The greek-roman mythos transfer was basically ...
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What are the differences between fauns and satyrs?
From what I've gathered fauns and satyrs are pretty much the same thing; they're all male, hircine from the waist down. They like wine, women, and song. They walk around naked all the time and have an ...
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Which mythologies had demigods?
As we all know Greek gods were very lusty, and as a result produced several demigods.
Does this happen in other mythologies as well?
user1385
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Did ancient myths center on deities because individualism was not valued?
Are there any books/essays/discussions about the idea that ancient cultures didn't value individualism (for a variety of reasons) like we do today, and so poetry, literature, and art were primarily ...
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Are there any universal creatures in all of the myth systems?
When reading the Egyptian myths I was struck by their similarity to Greek myths.
This lead me to wonder whether any non human creature (so no ghosts, giants or dwarfs) appears universally or nearly ...
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What is the connection between Asherah and the custom of Christmas Trees?
Has there been any serious studies into the relationship between the Asherah tree and the Christmas trees, with the possibility of the former being the source of the latter?
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Are there any epics featuring a female protagonist with less explored male characters?
In the Indian epic Ramayana, the women show some great complex characters, behaviours etc but they are much less explored and sometimes sidelined/forgotten(not entirely) by the overshadowing persona ...
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Examples of wild men or women civilized through sex?
In the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the prostitute Shamhat civilizes the wild man Enkidu through sex:
She did for the man the work of a woman,
his passion caressed and embraced her.
For ...
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