Portal:Myths
Wikipedia portal for content related to Myths / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portal maintenance status: (June 2018)
|
List of selected creatures |
---|
The Myths Portal
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion.
Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. (Full article...)
Selected article - show another
In Hinduism, Pūtanā (lit. 'putrefaction') is a rakshasi (demoness), who was killed by the infant-god Krishna. Putana disguises as a young, beautiful woman and tries to kill the god by breast-feeding poisoned milk; however Krishna sucks her milk as well as her life via her breasts. Putana is also considered as a foster-mother of Krishna as she breast-fed him. By offering her milk, Putana had performed "the supreme act of maternal devotion", in the shadow of her evil motives. The legend is told and retold in Hindu scriptures and some Indian books, which portray her variously as an evil hag or a demoness who surrendered herself to Krishna, though she initially came with evil motives.
Putana is interpreted as an infantile disease or bird, symbolizing danger to an infant or desire respectively, and even as a symbolic bad mother. She is included in a group of malevolent Hindu mother goddesses called the Matrikas and also in the group of Yoginis and Grahinis (Seizers). Ancient Indian medical texts prescribe her worship to protect children from diseases. A group of multiple Putanas is mentioned in ancient Indian texts. (Full article...)Did you know? - show different entries
- ... that the self-decapitated Hindu goddess Chhinnamasta (pictured) standing on a copulating couple signifies that life, death and sex are interdependent?
- ... that the supreme god of the southern African Bushmen is Cagn, a trickster who shapeshifts into a praying mantis?
- ...that according to Muisca mythology, Bochica (statue pictured) saved his people from a flood by creating the Tequendama Falls with a strike from his staff?
- ...that the Deluge or "flood myth" is a widespread theme in religion and mythology, with examples such as the story of Noah in the Torah or Gilgamesh flood myth?
Recognised content
Featured Articles: Ahalya, Ancient Egyptian literature, King Arthur, Ganesha, Iravan, Orion (mythology), Vampire, Vithoba
Featured Lists: List of valkyrie names in Norse mythology
Good Articles: 2012 phenomenon, Æsir–Vanir War, Ala (demon), Anu, Aphrodite, Athena, Ardhanarishvara, Battle of Barry, Bhikshatana, Catalogue of Women, Chamunda, Chhinnamasta, Consorts of Ganesha, Cú Chulainn, Dhumavati, Dumuzid, Einherjar, Eir, Enlil, Fairy Flag, Fenrir, Gerðr, Hel (being), Huginn and Muninn, Iðunn, Ila (Hinduism), Inanna, Kabandha, Kali, Kamadhenu, Kangiten, Keshi (demon), Khandoba, Kratos (mythology) Krishna, Kubera, LGBT themes in Hindu mythology, Manasa, Mandodari, Matangi, Matrikas, Maya Sita, Mohini, Myrrha, Mythology of Carnivàle, Naraka (Hinduism), Ninurta, Prester John, Prithu, Putana, Rati, Ratatoskr, Revanta, Satyavati, Satyr, Sharabha, Shashthi, Shiva, Sif, Tara (Ramayana), Troilus, Tuisto, Valhalla, Valkyrie, Vampire folklore by region, Varaha, Varahi, Veðrfölnir and eagle Zduhać
Wikiversity
Selected creature - show another
General images
- Image 1Giza pyramids (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 2The Fall of the Titans (1596–98) by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (from Comparative mythology)
- Image 4Dietrich von Bern and Hildebrand fight against dragons (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 5Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mountain, in a print from the Ravi Varma Press, 1910's (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 6Houyi, the God of Archery (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 7Image showing the sacred tree to the right of the temple, from Olaus Magnus' Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555). To the right of the tree is a depiction of a man being sacrificed in the spring (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 9Adam's Bridge also called as Rama Setu (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 10Lord Vishnu took the form of Beauty Mohini and distributed the Amrita (Ambrosia, Elixir) to Devas. When Rahu (snake dragon) tried to steal the Amrita, his head was cut off (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 11Voodoo doll with pins in it, Museum of Witchcraft (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 12Snake and world egg of the inhabitants of Tyre (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 13seven angels with seven trumpets (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 14Perillos being forced into the brazen bull that he built for Phalaris (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 15Holy Robe in Trier (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 16"Tizona", the sword attributed to El Cid, on exhibit in the Army Museum of Madrid (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 17Sampo, a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought riches and good fortune to its holder, in the Finnish epic poetry Kalevala (The Forging of the Sampo, Joseph Alanen, 1911) (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 18Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 19An angel (Camael) expelling Adam and Eve with a flaming sword (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 20 Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' Song, by Francesco Hayez, 1813–1815 (from Myth)
- Image 21The Deluge, frontispiece to Gustave Doré's illustrated edition of the Bible. Based on the story of Noah's Ark, this engraving shows humans and a tiger doomed by the flood futilely attempting to save their children and cubs. (from Comparative mythology)
- Image 22King Svafrlame Secures the Sword Tyrfing (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 23Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons (from Comparative mythology)
- Image 24A 19th-century drawing of Sun Wukong featuring his staff (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 25Aura, a field of luminous radiation surrounding a person or object (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 27Several mythical creatures from Bilderbuch für Kinder (lit. 'picture book for children') between 1790 and 1822, by Friedrich Justin Bertuch (from Legendary creature)
- Image 28Ahimelech giving the sword of Goliath to David, by Aert de Gelder. (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 29The Honest Woodcutter, also known as Mercury and the Woodman and his famous Golden Axe (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 30The Flying Dutchman (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 31As is usual in bestiaries, the lynx in this late 13th-century English manuscript is shown urinating, the urine turning to the mythical stone Lyngurium (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 32Shield of Achilles (illustration) (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 33The Celestial Chariot, Pushpaka Vimana from Ramayana (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 34Fig trees often represent talismans with the udumbara (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 35Pied piper (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 36Amenonuhoko (天沼矛 or 天之瓊矛 or 天瓊戈, "heavenly jeweled spear") is the name given to the spear in Shinto used to raise the primordial land-mass, Onogoro-shima, from the sea (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 37Rectangular tablets passed down by the Hand of God in the 10th century Byzantine Leo Bible (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 38Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau. In the mythos of Hesiodus and possibly Aeschylus (the Greek trilogy Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros), Prometheus is bound and tortured for giving fire to humanity. (from Myth)
- Image 39Edith Hamilton's Mythology has been a major channel for English speakers to learn classical Greek and Roman mythology (from Myth)
- Image 40Vishnu with his Panchajanya (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 41Azoth, a universal medicine or universal solvent sought in alchemy. (Medieval legend) (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 42Fountain of Youth (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 43The Dispute of Minerva and Neptune (c. 1689 or 1706) by René-Antoine Houasse, depicting the founding myth of Athens (from National myth)
- Image 44Hand of God (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 47Greek God Kronos/Saturnus with sickle (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 48The fall of Icarus (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 50Thor kicks Litr onto Baldr's Hringhorni, illustration by Emil Doepler (ca. 1905) (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 51Jacob blesses Joseph and gives him the coat of many colors (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 52This panel by Bartolomeo di Giovanni relates the second half of the Metamorphoses. In the upper left, Jupiter emerges from clouds to order Mercury to rescue Io. (from Myth)
- Image 53Achilles wearing his armor (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 54Longinus with his famous Spear (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 56Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 57The Stone of Destiny (Lia Fáil) at the Hill of Tara, once used as a coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 58Opening lines of one of the Mabinogi myths from the Red Book of Hergest (written pre-13c, incorporating pre-Roman myths of Celtic gods):
Gereint vab Erbin. Arthur a deuodes dala llys yg Caerllion ar Wysc...
(Geraint the son of Erbin. Arthur was accustomed to hold his Court at Caerlleon upon Usk...) (from Myth) - Image 5914th century Goryeo painting of Ksitigarbha holding a cintamani (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 60The third gift — an enormous hammer (1902) by Elmer Boyd Smith and the ring Draupnir is visible among other creations by the Sons of Ivaldi (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 61Yama with his famous Yama Pasha (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 63Väinämöinen, the wise demigod and one of the significant characters of Finnish mythological 19th-century epic poetry, The Kalevala (Väinämöinen's Play, Robert Wilhelm Ekman, 1866) (from Myth)
- Image 64The Ash Yggdrasil by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 65Erlang Shen (二郎神), or Erlang is a Chinese God with his spear (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 66Heracles would use arrows dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood to kill other foes during his Labours, such as Stymphalian birds and the giant (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 67Goetia seal of solomon (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 68Joan of Arc with her famous sword (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 69The Giving of the Seven Bowls of Wrath / The First Six Plagues, Revelation 16:1–16. Matthias Gerung, c. 1531 (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 70Vishnu holding his legendary sword Nandaka (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 71Golden cosmic egg Hiranyagarbha by Manaku (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 72Golem and Loew (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 73Jug from Lydian Treasure Usak (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 74Ancient Roman relief from the Cathedral of Maria Saal showing the infant twins Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf (from Comparative mythology)
- Image 75Artist's impressions of the (unseen) Imperial Regalia of Japan (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 76Claíomh Solais on an Ireland stamp printed in 1922 (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 77Riding a Flying Carpet, an 1880 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 78Tissot Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 79Thor wearing the magic belt Megingjörð (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 80The Crown of Immortality, held by the allegorical figure Eterna (Eternity) (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 81Hop-o'-My-Thumb stealing the Seven-league boots from the Ogre, by Gustave Doré (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 82Fortune Wheel (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 83Jason returns with Golden fleece (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 84Surya on His Celestial Chariot (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 85Killing of Ravana Painting by Brahmstra of Arrow of Brahma (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 86"The Fall of Man" by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Tree of Knowledge is on the right (from List of mythological objects)
- Image 87Shiva with his Trishula (from List of mythological objects)
Subcategories
WikiProjects
Things you can do
- Help with the myth and folklore missing articles project.
- Help create requested articles.
- Help assessment at Wikipedia:WikiProject Mythology/Assessment.
- Place the project banner {{WikiProject Mythology}} on the talk pages of all relevant articles.
- Check the recent changes for recent improvements, vandalism, and other changes.
- Answer requests for mythology articles needing attention: Category:Mythology articles needing attention
- Answer requests for mythology articles needing expert attention: Category:Mythology articles needing expert attention
- Expand articles tagged as mythology stubs: Category:Mythology stubs
- Assist mythology subprojects.
- Add requested photographs of mythology subjects: Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of mythology subjects
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus