Every race of humans and most cultures believed in a myth or type of myth at one
time. Sometimes a myth can be something small like a teacher who’s said to be
an alien. Yet some are quite big and still believed in today like the loch ness
monster. Myths have been around since the beginning of time and will be there to
the end. All of us no one, and we’ve all told one. Probably the biggest myth
of all that was believed in by two different cultures was that of Greek and
Roman mythology. The list of gods go on and on, to name few I’d have to say
Zeus, Artemis, Atlas, Athena, Cronus, Hera, Rhea, Hermes, Hades, and the god of
the sea, Poseidon. In Roman myth they just changed the names to names like
Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Pluto, and Uranus. There was also
Demo-gods who were half-man half-god; these were usually heroes like Hercules
and Achilles. The strongest of these gods was Zeus who wielded the mighty
thunderbolt. He was the king of the gods. His wife was originally his sister and
her name is Hera. She was the goddess of birth. Some of the most told Greek
stories were these as I found out in the book Greek and Roman Mythology from A
to Z. They told the story of Atlas, doomed to hold the sky forever (21). Medusa,
if you looked at her you turned to stone (77). Yet some of the most popular
stories were of Zeus and his love affairs which all together he had thirteen
(125). Scandinavia had many myths as well called Norse mythology. I learned from
the book Norse Gods and Giants that According to them Ymir the Blackstone 3
Frost giant was the first living thing (1). After that men grew from his fur
during his sleep. Odin was their leader (14). He rode and eight-legged horse and
claimed that the frost giants are evil and therefore should be destroyed (154).
Odin had a son named Thor, he was the strongest of the Norse gods. They called
Thor the god of thunder and sometimes the hammer thrower. Unlike Greek and Roman
myth the Norse gods did not meddle in human affairs. Most stories of gods
didn’t include humans. When there was a story of a great hero the gods were
not involved almost at all. Most myths have been proven to be false but some
still exist today. They were improved on by some cultures at times but
eventually they faded away because most never really believed in them in the
first place. We study them to get a feel for what it was like for that culture
at the time and the way people acted. Myth’s still exist but does not play the
role it once did. Bibliographies 1. Rosen, Donna. World Mythology Chicago: National Textbook Company, 1986. 2.
O’ Flaherty, Wendy D. Hindu Myths Aylesbury Bucks, England: Penguin Books,
1975. 3.Ions, Veronica. Indian Mythology New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1984.
4.D’Aulaires. Norse gods and giants New York: Double day, 1986. 5.Daly,
Kathleen, N. Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z New York: Facts On File, 1992.