Mythology

For Children and Adolescents

Literature
Children are curious creatures
Children are born with a deep,
innate desire to understand their
world.
They're born with a natural
enthusiasm for discovery.

Their exploration will lead to

encountering strange events, and
many cultures with their respective
histories and curious practices.
Myths? Folk Tales? Fables? Legends?

Legends are grounded in reality but aren't necessarily true. It is a

story or stories concerned with the deeds of quasi-historical heroes.

Fables are short tales, that usually feature animals (real or mythical)
given human-like qualities to deliver a specific moral or lesson.

Folktales are stories with people as main characters that sometimes

include feats of strength. Concerned with the supernaturally-tinged
conflicts of everyday people.

Myths are stories told to explain the world around us, from the origin
of the world, to why there are seasons.
The Significance of Mythology
throughout Human History
Myths and legends began to be
recorded just as soon as humans
mastered the technology of writing.
Often the very first texts were hymns to
the gods or collections of mythological
stories that became organized into
cycles, explaining how the world was
created, how humans came into
existence, or why Death is necessary.
Gylfaginning (The Fooling Of Gylfe), from
the Prose Edda (1220) by Snorri Sturluson
Translated by Rasmus Bjorn Anderson
(1880)
The Gylfaginning deals with king Gylfi’s
encounters with the Æsir, and his disguised
journey as Gangleri to Asgard.
The Epic of Gilgamesh(2150-1400 BCE) - one of the
most well-known Mesopotamian myths, and is often
regarded as the oldest known piece of literature in the
world.
Babylonian author and editor who called himself Sin-Leqi-
Unninni.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a series of Mesopotamian tales
that recount the exploits of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk. We
learn of his overwhelming power, his friendship with
Enkidu, and his quest for eternal life. We also read of a
great flood that devastated the region.
Myths are a part of every culture in the world
and are

used to explain natural phenomena, where

people came from, how their civilization
developed, and why things happen as
they do.

At their most basic level, myths comfort by

giving a sense of order and meaning to what
can sometimes seem a chaotic world.
3 types of Myths

Aetiological Myths - The word

aetiological is from the Greek word
aetion (αἴτιον), meaning “reason” or
“explanation”. These are myths that
explain the reason why something is
the way it is today.
EXAMPLE: Norse Origin Myth
The world started with the first Giant Ymir,
who was also the father of Óðin, Vili, and Vé.
The three brothers wanted to create their
new world, so they killed Ymir and took his
body to the center of Ginnungagap. From his
body, they made the world.
Norse Origin Myth

Ymir's flesh became the earth, and his unbroken bones the mountains. From his
teeth and bone fragments, they made rocks and stones. They used his blood to
make the lakes and oceans encircling the world. They raised Ymir's skull over the
earth to make the sky and placed a dwarf at each of the four corners to hold up
the sky. Glowing embers from Múspell were thrown into the sky to make the sun
and moon and stars and planets. Ymir's brains were thrown into the sky to make
the clouds. Ymir's eyebrows were used to make a fortification around the world, to
protect against the giants. Inside the fortification is Miðgarð, the realm of man.
One day, Óðin, Vili, and Vé were walking along the land and came across two
trees with their roots ripped out of the ground. One was an ash, the other an elm.
They fashioned these into the first man and woman. Óðin breathed into them the
spirit of life. Vili provided consciousness, wits, and a feeling hearts. Vé gave them
the gifts of hearing and sight. The man was called Ask (ash) and the woman Embla
(elm), and they were given Miðgarð in which to live. All the races of men are
descended from them.
3 Types of MythsAetiological Myths
• A natural aetiological myth explains an aspect of
nature.
For example:
 Lightning and thunder are caused by Zeus’s anger.
 The two giants throwing rocks at each other formed
the chocolate hills of Bohol

• An etymological aetiological myth explains the origin

of a word. (Etymology is the study of word origins.)
For example:
 The goddess Aphrodite was born from sea foam
since aphros is the Greek word for foam.
 Narcissus loved no one till he saw his own reflection
in the water and fell in love with that; finally he pined
away, died, and was turned into the flower of like
name. Commonly known as Daffodils.
 3 TypesAetiological
of MythsMyths
• A religious aetiological myth explains the
origin of a religious ritual.
For example:
 you can explain the Greek religious ritual of
the Eleusinian Mysteries by saying that they
originated when the Greek goddess
Demeter came down to the city of Eleusis
and taught the people how to worship her.
 During the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival,
people offered fruits and mooncakes to
worship the moon, just like Hou Yi who first
offered it to his wife who ended up on the
moon.
 3 Types of Myths
Historical Myths - are told about a
historical event, and they help keep the
memory of that event alive. Ironically, in
historical myths, the accuracy is lost but
the meaning is gained.

The myths about the Trojan War, including the Iliad and
the Odyssey( by Greek author Homer), could be classified as
historical myths. The Trojan War did occur, but the famous
characters that we know from the Iliad and
the Odyssey (Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, etc.) probably did not
exist.
 3 Types of Myths
Psychological Myths – They try to explain why we feel and act the way we do.
The emotion itself is seen as a divine force, coming from the outside, that can
directly influence a person’s emotions. A psychological myth is different from an
aetiological myth because a psychological myth does not try to explain one thing
by way of something else (like explaining lightning and thunder with Zeus’
anger).
For example:
• The goddess Aphrodite is sometimes
seen as the power of erotic love. When
someone said or did something that
they did not want to do, the ancient
Greeks might have said that Aphrodite
“made them” do it.
• Eris, the Goddess of chaos, and her
Golden apple.