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 ...
- 9,188
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 ...
- 7,786
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 ...
- 428
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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....
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.
- 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 ...
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 ...
- 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.
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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.
...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 1,249
10
votes
Accepted
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 ...
- 6,006
10
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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 ...
- 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.
- 428
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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,...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 180
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible