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the Essential Nature Of Myth—page 6

about mythological gods and Religious gods

Since mythologies and religions both employ the term god, mythologies and their gods are sometimes mistakenly confused with religions and their gods. Here The Muse clarifies the difference.

Mythology

Cultures and societies that devise mythologies vary from primitive to sophisticated and from ancient to modern. Academic scholars study the stories of a mythology without challenging their validity, looking for their cultural, social, and psychological roots and significance.

religion

In religion, the meaning and use of the term god is quite different. As in mythology, a religious god is a divine figure, but there the comparison weakens. Religious scholars accept religious stories as articles of faith and seek to understand a religion's god or gods and its practices as objects of belief.

—note—

mythological gods are not religious gods

The Muse Of Mythology has nothing more to say about religious gods. The Muse leaves that subject to others.

 


related featurescreatures, Fantastic creatures, and Deities

A creature is an animal, especially a nonhuman animal. As the term is used by The Muse, a fantastic creature is an animal, especially a nonhuman, conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination.

From a mythological perspective, a mythological deity (a god) is a divine mythological character, a person or thing possessing the estate or rank of a god or who is revered as a god or goddess.

Some mythologies have blurred the distinctions between these two concepts and some myths have crossed their boundaries. As a result:

  • Many (but not all) mythological deities are fantastic creatures.
  • Many (but not all) fantastic creatures are mythological deities.

The Muse Of Mythology invites you to better understand the essential nature of myth by exploring the difference between deities and fantastic creatures. Investigate the two concepts, compare them, and analyze their differences for yourself.

  • Investigate the concept of deities. Explore the deities you'll find at The Muse Of Mythology's feature called Welcome To The Table Of Deities: click here.
  • After exploring deities at Welcome To The Table Of Deities, investigate the concept of fantastic creatures at The Muse Of Mythology's feature called Welcome To Fantastic Creatures Of The World: click here.
  • See artist's renderings of many of the deities and fantastic creatures you've explored in the feature called Welcome To The Table Of Deities and in the feature called Welcome To Fantastic Creatures Of The World. Visit the feature called the Gallery Of Fantastic Creatures: click here.

ETAF Recommends

The Internet contains a large amount of information about myth and mythology. A good way to continue your exploration of myth and mythology is to browse through a few of these . Here are suggestions for where to begin:

Books

  1. The Probert Encyclopaedia web site contains very concise descriptions of a sampling of gods selected from each of a wide variety of different mythologies and cultures. You'll find Greek, Roman, Norse, Hindu, North American Indian, Egyptian, Sumerian Celtic, Aztec, Maya, Japanese, and many more: click here.
  2. If you're serious-minded about myth, plan to spend lots of time at the Mythology page of the Digital Librarian web site. It contains scores of references to books and other kinds of resources about myth, including over fifty links to some of the finest mythology web sites: click here.

...Coming.

Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6


 



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