41 votes
Accepted

Did any Greek mythological hero father a son who surpassed him in fame?

If you only look at the greatest Greek heroes, yes, of course their offspring don't surpass them. They are the greatest heroes, after all. I mean, Telemachus is no slouch, but you're comparing him to ...
femtoRgon's user avatar
  • 9,188
17 votes
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What is the Norse equivalent to the Great Flood?

The Norse flood myth is actually a flood of blood, created when Odin, Vili and Vé slew Ymir, the primeval ancestor of the jötnar. From Snorri's Prose Edda: The sons of Bor slew the giant Ymer, but ...
Semaphore's user avatar
  • 7,786
16 votes
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What was the earliest werewolf myth?

There's a wolf transformation in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and as written texts go they don't come any earlier. Although in this case it was a spell cast upon him and he never had a chance to transform ...
Ben Cannon's user avatar
15 votes

Are there any gods who are in a different species than humans?

The World Turtle (Wikipedia) This motif is very well known. Not a god per se, but close enough. (Btw: I think it represents a ship). Rainbow Serpent (Wikipedia) The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake ...
xaedes's user avatar
  • 328
15 votes
Accepted

Greek/Latin mythology with two brothers who die as reward for hard labor

That story appears in one of the most beautifully written stories that can exist. In Herodotus Histories, chapter 1. The Athenian lawgiver Solon is visiting the richest man in the world the Lydian ...
Gibet's user avatar
  • 3,501
13 votes

Did any Greek mythological hero father a son who surpassed him in fame?

Achilles son of Peleus. Peleus was a minor hero and companion of Hercules in various of his adventures, and was also with Jason as an Argonaut. His son Achilles was more famous as the leading ...
Timothy's user avatar
  • 648
12 votes

Is there a Western (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or Norse) god of the cosmos?

For Egyptian, you'd have several choices. Going from the largest (at least in the Heliopolitian cosmology): Nuun (Nun) is the cosmic ocean that our universe is a bubble in: https://henadology....
Helmsman Of-Inepu's user avatar
12 votes

Are there any gods who are in a different species than humans?

Coyote! (A key figure in Navajo mythology.) Also Iktomi in Lakota mythology.
DukeZhou's user avatar
  • 14.1k
12 votes

What is the source of the fable of Thor’s attempt to drink up a small spring?

I love this story! According to good ol' Wiki, which is sourced, this story comes from an Icelandic rímur cycle. It is also cited in the Gylfaginning. Your story and the rest of it are from the third ...
Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum's user avatar
11 votes
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Is it Lucifer or Venus?

The name of the deity represented by the planet in question, strictly speaking, is Lucifer, or Luciferus, that is, as far as Roman mythology is concerned. His Greek equivalent has a few different ...
Adinkra's user avatar
  • 9,772
11 votes

Are there any gods who are in a different species than humans?

The Flying Spaghetti Monster! The Flying spaghetti monster is a piece of Spaghetti, which is obviously not human.
Leonardo's user avatar
  • 123
11 votes
Accepted

Are there any gods who are in a different species than humans?

Raven (Xu'uya) is the creator god in the Haida stories (from islands off the West Coast of Canada). This is one of the main cultures that used totem poles. Although many of the stories from Haida ...
Joel's user avatar
  • 226
11 votes
Accepted

God/Goddess of clones or duplicates

To answer your question if there is a god specifically for clones, the answer would be no. Since there was no such thing as cloning in ancient times they did not have a deity or creature for it (just ...
Tom Sol's user avatar
  • 4,051
11 votes

Are there any myths about rational beings (except gods/immaterial beings) that walked the earth before humans?

I know one for certain, the pre-adamite Jinn in Islamic mythology. A Jinn is an invisible entity, created by God out of a "mixture of fire" or "smokeless fire", who roamed the earth before Adam. ...
Tom Sol's user avatar
  • 4,051
10 votes

Is there a Western (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or Norse) god of the cosmos?

Ouranos (Roman Uranus) is the Greek (night) sky god. You will find him at the beginning of Hesiod's Theogony. Wikipedia has an extensive list of sky gods, among whom you will find the Egyptian goddess ...
Spencer's user avatar
  • 1,613
10 votes

Is there a Western (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or Norse) god of the cosmos?

This depends entirely on your stance of if you're asking for a sky god or if you'd prefer only "outer space", so to speak. Given that these are ancient cultures / mythologies we're discussing, it ...
mythosful's user avatar
  • 101
10 votes

What humanoid gods have had skin colors other than that of the people who worship them?

Examples of this do not seem to especially abound. Perhaps unsurprisingly, people tend to portray God or the gods to be whatever colour they themselves are, for better or worse. Nonetheless, as you ...
Adinkra's user avatar
  • 9,772
10 votes

Are there any gods who are in a different species than humans?

Looking at old forms of religion, aka totemism, is a good way for you to find animal gods. You can put some decent bets on the fact cavern paintings was religious in nature. And there are dozens of ...
Gibet's user avatar
  • 3,501
10 votes
Accepted

Mythologies with goddesses as the main deity?

Yes I take this question to refer to the chief deity of the “day to day” pantheon. Many religions have primordial goddesses that are arguably older and more powerful than the deities that are the ...
Obie 2.0's user avatar
  • 1,249
10 votes
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What is the source of the fable of Thor’s attempt to drink up a small spring?

This seems to be a somewhat distorted version of a story from Gylfaginning, in which Thor, Loki and Tjalvi travels to Útgarða-Loki, a jotun and sorceror, who presents Thor, Loki and Tjalvi with ...
andejons's user avatar
  • 6,006
10 votes
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Stories of living people that journeyed into the underworld and back?

When a hero takes a trip into the underworld, it's referred to as katabasis. I've included immortals in the listing. The following are but five of many such stories in Greek myth. The god Dionysus ...
Plumbing for Ankit's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

What is that on Athena's chest?

It's not clear from your picture, but the face is most probably a Gorgoneion, a recurring element of Athena's iconography: In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion (Greek: Γοργόνειον) was a special ...
yannis's user avatar
  • 17k
9 votes

Does anyone know of myths which are critical/skeptical of technology?

The myth of Icarus is often used to describe the foolishness of technological ambition which is untempered by caution.
Ben Cannon's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Are there any mythologic Gods, creatures or equipment that have "exponential" characteristics?

Not associated with any "gods" as such; there are a large number of folktales containing items with exponential growth. The Aarne-Thompson classification system groups many of these stories into ...
Spencer's user avatar
  • 1,613
9 votes
Accepted

Are there any instances where non-Greco-Roman goddesses fall in love with mortals?

There are a couple that I could find. Clídna, the Irish goddess/Fairy Queen, had an affair with Ciabhan, John Fitzjames, and Earl Gerald Fitzgerald, among others.1 Bai Mudan was worshiped as a ...
cmw's user avatar
  • 7,157
9 votes

Cows adapted to life on a steep hillside

I think the animal is a sidehill gouger. Sidehill gougers are North American folkloric creatures adapted to living on hillsides by having legs on one side of their body shorter than the legs on the ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 1,265
9 votes
Accepted

Is there a Maori legend about a demon's heart at the bottom of a lake?

Yes, that's the legend of Lake Wakatipu, near Queenstown. Wakatipu appears to the model for the eponymous lake from the TV show, despite it apparently being filmed at Moke Lake. As the TV show implies,...
Semaphore's user avatar
  • 7,786
9 votes
Accepted

Is there a myth were Heracles chooses duty over pleasure?

This is The Choice of Hercules, or sometimes Hercules at the Crossroads, a story that was once rather highly regarded. First told by Prodicus, whose works have been lost. Prodicus was apparantly a ...
andejons's user avatar
  • 6,006
8 votes

Are there any gods who are in a different species than humans?

Nandi (Hinduism) is a bull. Nandi is the gate-guardian deity of Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva. I think you could argue that Nandi is a god. He is a devotee of Shiva, but he is worshipped as a god ...
Fiksdal's user avatar
  • 180

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