Mythology

This site is primarily a source for Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Celtic, Native American, Japanese, Chinese, and Babylonian Mythology...also called religion. Many people have different definitions of what Mythology really is. "Mythology is known as the body of myths of a particular culture, and the study and interpretation of those myths. Myth may be broadly defined as a narrative, that through many retellings, has become an accepted tradition in a society." If this is the true definition of mythology, why then do not some our stories from today fit into this catagory. You do not hear people talking about the American Mythology, excluding of course the Native Americans which have a very wide spectrum of tales.

Myths typically occur in every culture all around the world. Many of the old stories came to be much earlier than even writing was invented. Many of these stories (especially those of the Native Americans) were passed down orally from one person to the next. It would be a good guess to assume that each tale veered a bit away from it's original story line to fit the teller. Myths dealt with various aspects of a culture, some were meant to simply tell a story, most had a deeper meaning hidden within the tale for the listener/reader to consider. Many times, one person's view of a myth, may be entirely different from the person next to them. But no matter what, these myths always had a purpose and deep importance to the culture.

The three most common types of tales are sagas (somewhat based on a great historical event), legends (fictional story associated with a historical person or place), and folktales (usually simple narratives of adventure). These are the common types but in some cases, myths can include the features from each type. We today, view these as great stories, but people many many years ago viewed them as a bible.