Questions for Intro to Mythology PDF

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Questions for Intro to Mythology 1. What is the definition of “myth”? Myth: comes from greek word “mythos”, meaning “authoritative speech or story Usually explains some cosmology (how universe was created) Every culture’s mythology has a creation myth 2. What are the differences between religion, myth, legend and folklore? (in brief) Religion: contains myths, rituals, priesthood and places of worship Myth: the story part of religion Legend: hero story based on history; possibly were real pple Folklore: story that teaches a moral; not about the cosmos; heroes obtain benefit for themselves, not humankind. 3. What is a metaphor? How does this relate to mythology? Metaphor: explains an idea in story or picture form How this relates to mythology: myths are metaphors for concepts too difficult to understand (conceptually difficult to grasp) 4. What is an etiological myth? Give an example. Comes from aition, “cause” in Greek Definition: explains a phenomenon such as the origin of Mt. Etna (fire-breathing monster Typhoeus, when he got angry he blew fire, and that explains cause of volcanoes) or the change of season (persephne and demeter) – demeter goddess of agriculture and in winter, her daughter is gone Example: mint=mentha. Pluto, the god of the underworld, fell for a nymph Minthe, who was trampled to death. Pluto was devastated, but couldn’t bring nymph back, so instead created a nice smell when she was trampled 5. Name two areas of our lives in which mythology are evident.  Science (taxonomy)  Art (painters, sculptors inspired by myths)  Psychology- Freud and Jung were interested in mythology; Freud decided the same area of the brain that has dreams is the same area that created myths. o Cave is metaphor for womb- gods often born in caves- if you dream of caves, you are stressed and want to go to the womb o Oedipus complex – freud noticed in all of greek myth there’s a lot of sons killing their fathers; Oedipus’s prophecy is he’ll kill his father and marry his mother; he feared this and ended up doing just that; little boys (3-4) hate dad and try to get into bed with mom (“I had a bad dream, mom, let me sleep in your bed”)  Advertising (logos, brand names, etc.)  Entertainment (movies)  Astronomy – names

o Planets named after Roman equivalents of greek gods o Constellations  Days of the week o Monday: Moon’s day o Tiu (Germanic god) o Wotan (Germanic god similar to Odin o Sunday (dedicated to Persian god Mithra (popular god, worshipped in Rome as sun God  Literature (writers inspired by myth; big source=Ovid: Metamorphosis) 6. From what Latin root does the word “tradition” come? Give two examples of traditions that have come down to us from ancient times? Latin root “Trado”, meaning “to hand over”. They explain society to itself- its customs and values. Examples:  June is a popular month for weddings, because Juno is the Goddess of marriage and thus romans chose it as an auspicious month for weddings – orange blossoms in hair in Rome  Easter= in Norse mythology, Eastre is the goddess of spring; there were eggs that were cold but a rabbit sat on them. 7. What is the “collective unconscious”? Who coined the phrase? Collective Unconscious: Myths hold universal truths (Freud coined phrase) 8. Why are archaeologists interested in mythology? Bible and other mythological sources are used by archeaologists to discover new sites and understand meaning of artifacts; use myths to figure out where to dig Example: Gilgamesh- the flood Archaeologists still looking for historic King Arthur by piecing together various origins of the myth Archaeologists still making discoveries in Egypt!! 200 acres of a temple with 700 statues uncovered! 9. Name at least two English words that relate to mythology. “Museum” – “Mouseion” – sacred to the muses deities that inspired poetry, music, astronomy; early museum was a think tank “Enthusiasm” = being filled with god (Dionsysus God of wine) Planet=wanderer; only celestial bodies that rotate Erotic= Eros (cupid) Fascinate = to stare with evil eye (medusa appears on wine cups to turn away evil eye when drunk) Caduceus= the medical symbol...