39
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 ...
23
votes
Accepted
What is the earliest known dragon myth?
Sumer, sometime in the 4th or 3rd millennium B.C.
My first instinct was to check out the Wikipedia article again. One interesting quote was
The presence of dragons within Chinese culture dates back ...
21
votes
Accepted
Are there Pastafarian myths which explain their religious attire?
Strangely, the Pastafarian mythos doesn't seem to support the notion of strainers as religious headgear. The most prominent mention is the colander in the flood myth:
He produced a great Colander ...
21
votes
Accepted
What is the story behind Thor wearing a wedding dress to get Mjölnir back?
The source of the story is the Þrymskviða poem (The Lay of Thrym), which is included in the Poetic Edda.
It was Thrymr, king of the jötnar, who stole Mjölnir. He then demanded the gods allow him to ...
18
votes
What is the story behind Thor wearing a wedding dress to get Mjölnir back?
As said already, your story is taken from Þrymskviða. There's a retelling of the story named The Children of Odin, which refers to that in a more easily comprehensible way:
The actual story does not ...
17
votes
Accepted
Is there a creature in mythology that is a frost bird or a frost phoenix?
The Pomola is a snow bird spirit in Native American mythology, it lived on Mt Katahdin and caused cold weather
In Penobscot folklore, the Pomola was a bird spirit that lived on Mt Katahdin. It was ...
17
votes
Accepted
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 ...
16
votes
Accepted
What is this myth: elderly couple unwittingly feed gods, changed into tree
This is the myth of Baucis and Philemon.
Here is the Wikipedia page: Baucis and Philemon, and here is one website with the full text (I think): Tales Beyond Belief: Baucis and Philemon.
By the way, ...
16
votes
Accepted
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 ...
15
votes
Accepted
What myth explains animal sacrifices to the Olympian gods?
The myth you're looking for is first outlined in Hesiod's Theogony.
Theogony 535-558:
[535] For when the gods and mortal men had a dispute at Mecone, even then Prometheus was forward to cut up a ...
15
votes
Are there any other gods that permanently had an eye removed, other than Odin?
It wasn't permanent, but I did find a similar story. In Hittite mythology, the sky/storm god Tarhunt had as his nemesis a snake/dragon god Illuyanka. Note the similarities here between the story of ...
15
votes
Is there a creature in mythology that is a frost bird or a frost phoenix?
In Greek mythology, the giant Alcyoneus had seven daughters: Phthonia, Anthe, Methone, Alcippe, Pallene, Drimo, and Asteria.
When their father was slain by Heracles, they threw themselves into the ...
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 ...
14
votes
Accepted
Who invented writing, or who taught writing to the mortals, according to Greek myths?
The strongest candidate for a god of writing would be Hermes, the god of - amongst other things - language:
Also the Guide, the Slayer of Argus, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a ...
14
votes
Accepted
In what Native American myth does the Sun stand still?
This tale appears to come from Toltec mythology, related to us by the Aztec and preserved in later Mexican source. The Ixtlilxochitl your source cites is almost certainly Fernando de Alva Cortés ...
14
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 ...
12
votes
What is the earliest known dragon myth?
The excellent answer by HDE mentions the Chinese dragon from 4700-2900BC, but did not explore further. This answer will attempt to source the claim for the Chinese dragon, which is arguably older and ...
12
votes
Who invented writing, or who taught writing to the mortals, according to Greek myths?
Apart from Hermes, Prometheus takes pride that he gave letters to humans. According to Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound (v.460):
ἐξηῦρον αὐτοῖς, γραμμάτων τε συνθέσεις
which translates to
I ...
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....
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.
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 ...
12
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 ...
11
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 ...
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.
...
10
votes
Accepted
Is there an Indian Wild Hunt myth?
The example seems to be a particularly bad counterexample. I reproduced the relevant part of the article you cited:
"On 29th January (1818), another body of the Peshawa's cavalry was caught in a ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
Related Tags
myth-identification × 191greek × 45
mythical-creatures × 29
comparative × 20
folklore × 15
mythohistory × 9
origins × 8
norse × 7
roman × 7
zeus × 6
animals × 6
reference-request × 6
christianity × 5
egyptian × 4
underworld × 4
history × 4
dragons × 4
european-folklore × 4
demons × 4
symbolism × 3
japanese × 3
hindu × 3
chinese × 3
irish × 3
native-american × 3