World Mythology

The Illustrated Guide

By: Roy Willis (Editor), Robert Walter (Foreword by)

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Paperback | 29 June 2006

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The great myths of the world create meaning out of the fundamental events of human existence: birth, death, conflict, loss, reconciliation, the cycle of the seasons. They speak to us of life itself in voices still intelligible, yet compellingly strange and distant. World Mythology offers readers an authoritative and wide-ranging guide to these enduring mythological traditions, combining the pure narrative of the myths themselves with the background necessary for more complete understanding.

Here, noted mythology expert Roy Willis, brings together a team of nineteen leading scholars navigate a clear path through the complexities of myth as they distill the essence of each regional tradition and focus on the most significant figures and the most enthralling stories. All aspects of the world's key mythologies are covered, from tales of warring deities and demons to stories of revenge and metamorphosis; from accounts of lustful gods and star-crossed human lovers to journeys in the underworld. All are told at length and are accompanied by illuminating and readable introductory text. Also included are summaries of important theories about the origins and meaning of myth, and an examination of themes that recur across a range of civilizations.

Beautifully illustrated with more than 500 color photographs, works of art, charts, and maps, World Mythology offers readers the most accessible guide yet to the heritage of the world's imagination.

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"A comprehensive and comparative survey of the myths of nineteen cultural regions. "-"American Libraries

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Non-Fiction Society & Culture Popular Beliefs & Controversial Knowledge Folklore Studies / Study of Myth (Mythology)

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Non-Fiction Society & Culture Popular Beliefs & Controversial Knowledge Folklore Studies / Study of Myth (Mythology)

Foreword	p. 8
Introduction	p. 10
Great Themes of Myth	p. 17
Creation/The origins of the world	p. 18
Cosmic Architecture/The structure of the universe	p. 20
Myths of Humanity/Causes of life and death	p. 22
Supernatural Beings/Gods, spirits and demons	p. 24
Cosmic Disasters/The end of the world	p. 26
Heroes and Tricksters/Agents of change	p. 28
Animals and Plants/Energy, transformation and kinship	p. 30
Body and Soul/Spirit and the afterlife	p. 32
Marriage and Kinship/Myths of the social order	p. 34
A World Mythography	p. 35
Egypt	p. 36
The First Gods/Order from chaos	p. 38
The Ennead/The Nine Gods of Heliopolis	p. 40
Osiris/Upholder of order	p. 42
Isis/The devoted widow	p. 43
Horus and Seth/The struggle for the throne of Osiris	p. 44
Solar Myths/The eternal cycle of renewal	p. 46
Myth and Magic/The secret name of Ra; the Book of Thoth	p. 48
Snakes and Scorpions/Agents of chaos	p. 49
Powerful Goddesses/Neith, Sekhmet and Bastet	p. 50
Other Goddesses/Anat, Astarte, Hathor and Taweret	p. 51
Kings and the Gods/The sacred role of the pharaohs	p. 52
Priest-Magicians/Setna Khaemwese and Imhotep	p. 54
Life After Death/The soul in the underword	p. 55
The Middle East	p. 56
Sumer and Babylon/Myths from the first cities	p. 58
Gilgamesh/The great epic of mortality	p. 60
Ishtar and Tammuz/The descent to the underworld	p. 61
Myths of Creation/Enki, Marduk and the divine decrees	p. 62
The Flood/Destruction and survival	p. 63
Ugaritic Myths/Kingship and succession	p. 64
Myths of the Hittites/Dragons and lost gods	p. 66
Persian Myths/Ahura Mazdah and the battle between good and evil	p. 67
India	p. 68
Origins of the World/Sacrifice and conflict	p. 70
Indra/Warrior and king of the gods	p. 72
Brahma/The creator god	p. 74
Vishnu/Protector of the world	p. 75
Vishnu's Incarnations/The avatars	p. 76
Rama/The righteous avatar	p. 77
Krishna, the Adorable/The eighth avatar of Vishnu	p. 78
Shiva/The erotic and ascetic combined	p. 80
Devi/The manifold goddess	p. 82
Shiva's Family Circle/Shiva, Parvati, Skanda, Ganesha	p. 84
Jain Myth/A response to Hinduism	p. 85
The Enlightened One/Myths of Buddhism	p. 86
China	p. 88
Order Out Of Chaos/Pan Gu and Hun Dun	p. 90
Nu Gua and Fu Xi/The creation of humanity; flood myths	p. 91
Sun, Moon and Stars/Myths of the heavenly bodies	p. 94
Chinese Buddhism/Amitabha and Guanyin	p. 96
Taoist Myth/Gods and Immortals	p. 98
Myths of the Family/Filial piety and household gods	p. 101
Tibet and Mongolia	p. 102
Myths of Origin/Radiant, Black Misery and the karmic wind	p. 104
Myths of the Ancient Kings/The sky-descended rulers	p. 105
King Gesar/The warrior-king	p. 106
The Taming of the Gods/The impact of Buddhism	p. 107
Mongolian Shamanism/Encounters with the spirit realm	p. 108
Japan	p. 110
Izanagi and Izanami/The primal couple	p. 112
Amaterasu and Susano/The contest of the sibling deities	p. 115
The Divine Crisis/Amaterasu's removal of the sun	p. 116
The Izumo Cycle/Susano's descent to earth; Okuninushi and the White Rabbit	p. 118
Gods, Heroes and Demons/Inari, Hachiman and the Oni	p. 121
The Realm of Saga/The exploits of Jimmu-tenno and Yamato-takeru	p. 122
Buddhist Myths/Three figures of mercy	p. 123
Greece	p. 124
Myth and Society/Public and private observances	p. 126
The Birth of the Gods/The rise of the Olympians	p. 128
The Origins of Humanity/Prometheus, Pandora, Deucalion, Pyrrha	p. 130
Zeus/King of the gods	p. 132
The Couplings of Zeus/Human and divine consorts	p. 133
Athene/The virgin goddess	p. 136
Poseidon/God of the sea	p. 137
Apollo/The brilliant god	p. 138
Artemis/Chaste goddess of the hunt	p. 139
Dionysos/God of wine and altered states	p. 140
Goddesses of the Soil/Demeter and Persephone	p. 142
Ares and Aphrodite/War, love and sex	p. 143
Home, Hearth and Fire/Hermes, Hestia and Hephaistos	p. 144
The Underworld/The kingdom of Hades	p. 146
Heroes and Monsters/The world's prodigies	p. 147
Herakles/The archetypal hero	p. 148
Theseus/Athenian hero and statesman	p. 150
Jason/The great adventurer	p. 152
The Argonauts/Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece	p. 154
Perseus/Slayer of Medusa	p. 156
The Trojan War/Homer's warrior epic	p. 157
After Troy/Odysseus and Agamemnon	p. 160
Transgressors/Breakers of the natural order	p. 162
Centaurs and Amazons/Races of fabulous beings	p. 164
Transformations/Myths of metamorphosis; Orpheus	p. 165
Rome	p. 166
Gods and Goddesses/The borrowed pantheon; household gods and civic virtues	p. 168
The Foundation of Rome/The destiny of Aeneas the Trojan	p. 172
Romulus and the Kings of Rome/The she-wolf and the myths of the past	p. 174
The Celtic World	p. 176
The Celtic Pantheon/A miscellany of gods	p. 178
Myths and Gods of Ireland/The Mythological Cycle	p. 180
The Hero of Ulster/Tales of Cu Chulainn	p. 182
Finn and His Warriors/The Fenian myths	p. 184
Goddesses/Motherhood, war and sovereignty	p. 186
Otherworldly Voyages/Conla, Mael Duin and Bran	p. 187
Stories of Wales/The "Mabinogion"	p. 188
The Arthurian Legend/Arthur and his knights	p. 189
Northern Europe	p. 190
Early and Lost Gods/Fragments of Northern myth	p. 192
Cosmology in the Viking Age/The World Tree and its realms	p. 193
Loki and Ragnarok/The trickster, the wolf and the last great battle	p. 195
Odin/Ruler of Asgard	p. 196
Thor/The thunder god	p. 198
Freyr and the Vanir/Gods of sky, land and water	p. 200
Goddesses and Female Spirits/Freyja, Golden Apples, Valkyries and Norns	p. 202
The Dragon-Slayers/Beowulf and Sigurd	p. 204
Central and Eastern Europe	p. 206
The Other World/The thrice tenth kingdom	p. 208
The Baba Iaga and the Amazons/Female creatures of folk tale	p. 209
Ancestors and Hearth Spirits/Ivan the Fool and the domovoi	p. 210
Spirit Souls of the Departed/The rusalka, vila and other visitors	p. 211
Malevolent Spirits/Forest creatures, werewolves and vampires	p. 212
The Arctic Regions	p. 214
Myths of the Inuit/Spirits of sea and sky	p. 216
Myths of Siberia/Animals, trees and shamans	p. 218
North America	p. 220
Creation Myths/Great Spirit and Earth Diver	p. 222
The Origins of Humanity/The first human ancestors	p. 223
Gods and Heroes/Shapers and controllers of the world	p. 224
Shamans/Vision quests and guardian spirits	p. 226
Tricksters/Entertainers and mischief-makers	p. 227
Navajo Myths/Curing ceremonies and Coyote tales	p. 228
Myths of the Plains/Wakan Tanka and the sacred pipe	p. 230
Animal Myths/The relatives of humankind	p. 232
Mesoamerica	p. 234
The Old Gods/The jaguar and the fire deity	p. 236
Creations and Cataclysms/The myth of the suns	p. 237
Tezcatlipoca/Lord of the Smoking Mirror	p. 239
Quetzalcoatl/The feathered serpent	p. 240
Huitzilopochtli/God of sun and war	p. 242
Tlaloc and Fertility/Aztec gods of rain and corn	p. 244
Gods of the Sacred Calendar/Sacred and solar cycles	p. 246
Gods of the Maya/The three-layered cosmos	p. 248
South America	p. 250
Ancient Religions/Spirits, sacrifice and sacred journeys	p. 252
Myths of the Andes/The Incas and their predecessors	p. 253
The Inca Pantheon/Viracocha, Inti, Mama Kilya and Ilyap'a	p. 256
The Sacred Skies/Animal constellations and sacred lines	p. 258
Spirit Worlds/The universe transformed	p. 260
The Ancestral Forest/Origin myths of the forest peoples	p. 262
Africa	p. 264
Origins of the World/Africa's creation myths	p. 266
The Upside-Down World/The realms of the living and the dead	p. 268
Death and Sex/The loss of immortality	p. 269
Myths of Kingship/The divine lineage of earthly rulers	p. 270
Tower Myths/The folly of human presumptuousness	p. 273
Eshu The Trickster/Cunning mediator between heaven and earth	p. 274
Animal Myths/Tricksters, inventors and transformers	p. 276
Australia	p. 278
The Big Flood/Myths of origin	p. 280
Death and Mourning/The origins of mortality	p. 282
The Origins of Marriage/Eaglehawk and Crow; Wodoy and Djunggun	p. 284
Tricksters/The ancestral order disrupted	p. 285
Shaping the Landscape/Myths of ancestral wanderings	p. 286
Oceania	p. 288
Myths of Origin/Creator gods and culture heroes	p. 290
Myths of the Sky/Human and heavenly realms	p. 292
Food and fertility/Sex and the origins of horticulture	p. 293
Myths of the Maori/Rangi, Papa and the Polynesian pantheon	p. 294
Ku and Lono/The Hawaiian ritual cycle	p. 296
Maui/Oceania's trickster hero	p. 297
Cargo Cults/The European impact	p. 298
Myth and Magic/Living myth on Goodenough Island	p. 299
Southeast Asia	p. 300
Myths of Origin/The creation of the world and humanity	p. 302
Humans, Gods and Spirits/The origins of civilization	p. 304
Encounters With Magic/Barbarians, demons and witches	p. 306
The Giver of Life/Myths about rice	p. 307
Further Reading	p. 308
Picture Credits	p. 310
Index	p. 311
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

World Mythology

The Illustrated Guide

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