Great Mythologies of the World - Ancient Legends & Folklore Books for Mythology Lovers | Perfect for History Buffs, Classroom Learning & Cultural Exploration

The series “Great Mythologies of the World” is a fascinating series of lectures about various religious stories and folktales from around the world. Unlike other courses from the Teaching Company, this series of lectures, interestingly, is done by three professors---Prof. Kathryn McClymond, Prof. Julius H. Bailey, Prof. Robert André LaFleur, and Prof. Grant L. Voth. Lectures 1-9 focus on Greco-Roman religious stories and folklore. Lecture 1 is a general overview of Greco-Roman religion. Lecture 2 discusses various stories of the Greco-Roman goddesses Athena (the goddess of women, weaving, war and politics) (known to the Romans as Minerva) Hera (the queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage, known to the Romans as Juno) and Aphrodite (known to the Romans as Venus) (goddess of love, beauty, sexuality and fertility). Lecture 3 discusses the Greek view of the relationship between humanity and the Greek deities. Lecture 4 discusses the story of Hercules (known to the Greeks and Heracles or Herakles). Lecture 5 discusses Homer’s Odyssey. Lecture 6 talks about the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, along with a few lesser stories having to do with Jason and/or Medea. Lecture 7 discusses the Roman story of Romulus and Remus, which explains the founding of Rome. Lecture 8 focuses on various stories that are unique to Rome (as opposed to ones that are shared amongst the Greeks and Romans) such as the story of Romulus and Remus, Virgil’s Aeneid, and many others. Lecture 9 talks about the concept of the Mother Goddess in various religious traditions. Lecture 10 deals with various ancient Celtic religious stories and folktales. What I found especially fascinating was that the story in the legends of King Arthur about Arthur pulling the sword from the stone was inspired by the fact that among the ancient Celts, whenever a chieftain would be crowned, they would go to the famous site of Tara known as the Seat of Kings and put their foot on it while being crowned. Lectures 11 and 12 talk about ancient Norse religious stories. It is interesting to note, however, that small numbers of Scandanavians and others still practice the ancient Norse religion, which is called Asatru. Surprisingly, Prof. McClymond does not mention this. Lecture 13 deals with the ancient Mesopotamian epic poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest epic poem. One could legitimately consider Gilgamesh to be the Hercules of ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). Lecture 14 discusses the Enuma Elish, the ancient Babylonian creation story. In both lectures 13 and 14, one notices many similarities between both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Enuma Elish on the one hand, and the Judeo-Christian and Islamic creation story as found in the Bible and the Quran on the other. Lecture 15 talks about the ancient Egyptian creation story. Lecture 16 tells various stories of Horus, Osiris and Ra. Lecture 17 talks about legends surrounding the various pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Lecture 18 talks about the Book of Job. Lectures 19 and 20 deal with the ancient Hindu epic poems, the Ramayana (which tells the story of the Hindu god and historical king Rama and his fight to save his wife Sita from Ravana who, in the poem, is portrayed as a demon but who, from a historical perspective, may have been an actual king of Sri Lanka) and Mahabharata as well as the Bhagavad Gita (the dialogue between the Hindu god Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna found in the Mahabharata). Lecture 21 is devoted to folklore regarding the Buddha. Lecture 22 talks about the famous epic poem, the Shahnama, or “Epic of Kings,” a medieval epic poem written in the late-tenth or early eleventh century by the poet Firdausi (940-1020 CE), about the lives and exploits of fifty kings of ancient Persia---some of whom are historical, some of whom are legendary. It starts at the creation of the world and ends with the Muslim conquest of Iran, and then tells the sagas of fifty kings of ancient Persia and several other heroes, one of the most famous of whom is Rustam, who one could call the Hercules of Iran. This epic poem is considered, even today, to be the national epic poem of Iran. Lecture 23 talks about the famous collection of Middle Eastern---primarily Iranian---folktales known as the 1001 Nights, known to Arabs as the Alf Layla Wa Layla, or known in their original Persian version as the Hazar Afsan (1000 Nights). Lecture 24 deals with the fact that many different cultures across history had a flood story. Lecture 25-34 focus on various folktales and religious stories from different parts of Africa, while lectures 35 and 36 deal with the various conceptions of the afterlife in various traditional African religions. Lectures 37-39 focus on folktales of ancient China, while lectures 40 and 41 talk about ancient Korean folklore. Lectures 42 and 43 talk about folktales of ancient Japan. Lectures 43-46 talk about religious stories and folktales of the South Pacific. Lecture 47 talks about pre-Islamic and pre-Christian Indonesian and Filipino creation stories. Lecture 48 is devoted to discussing Aboriginal and colonial folktales and religious stories from Australia. Finally, lectures 49-60 discuss Native American religion and folklore---from the Inuit in Alaska to various Native American peoples in the Continental United States as well as in Mexico, Central America and South America. One thing I found to be simultaneously surprising and cool about this series was that while certain lectures deal primarily with the stories given in the title, all four of the professors on this series also manage to weave in other related stories as well. I was fascinated to learn that both amongst the Iroquois and amongst a couple of tribes in Africa, there was a tale of two sons fighting against one another in the womb because, as many people know, this was what happened when Jacob and Esau were about to be born according to the Bible (Genesis 25:22-23). Another Biblical parallel which I found surprising and fascinating was a tale from the Nez Percé people about a coyote who attempts unsuccessfully to bring his wife back from the underworld. This was particularly interesting because of its similarities to the Greco-Roman story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as the Biblical account of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt after looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah (which many historians think may very well have been inspired by the Orpheus and Eurydice story) (Genesis 19:26). I do, however, have a problem with how the term “myth” or “mythology” is used in this course. Unlike Professor McClymond, I draw a sharp distinction between a myth, a folktale, and a religious story. No matter how PC these professors try to be, and no matter how many times they try and bend over backwards to make the term “mythology” out to imply a story that is worthwhile, meaningful or significant, as a scholar of religion, I just cannot shake my own contention---and conviction---that the term “myth” has a negative connotation. Indeed, the word “myth” itself comes from the Greek word mythos, which literally means “falsehood.” In some ways, much like the famous folklorist and religion scholar Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) these professors---particularly Prof. McClymond---use the term “myth” or “mythology” almost as a catch-all term for all folklore and religion. When I think of a myth, I think of a misconception or an objective falsehood which, despite having been objectively debunked, continues to be believed and/or propagated by the elites in a society often for socio-cultural or socio-political reasons and often with a negative agenda behind it. Indeed, one dictionary definition I looked up for "myth" was "an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution." When I think of a myth, I think of such things as the myth of the superiority of one group of people over another, or the myth that the Earth is flat. When I think of a myth, I also think of common superstitions such as the notion that black cats bring bad luck, the notion the horseshoes bring good luck, etc. Unlike the professors on this series, I do not see the term “folktale” as being negative or derisive at all. When I think of folktales or folklore---such as the 1001 Nights, the African-American tales of Brer Rabbit (which originated amongst the Gola (or Gullah) people of Liberia in West Africa), the famous Iranian epic poem the Shahnamah, Cervantes’ story of Don Quixote De La Mancha, etc---I actually think of stories that are seen by a society as worthwhile and as meaningful and which, therefore, are passed down from generation after generation. Furthermore, religious stories should only be considered myths if they have been shown through objective research to have been, if not false, at the very least, unlikely. For example, the creation story which we find in both the Bible and the Quran can be considered both religion AND myth since it has objectively been debunked with the confirmation of Charles Darwin’s contention that organisms do evolve over billions of years. In fact, I would go so far as to say the trendy---and, in my view, offensive---practice of putting religion, folklore, superstitions, and propagandistic stereotypes into the same box and labeling them all "mythology" is actually offensive to so many different cultures for whom these stories---whether they are religious stories or folktales---are part of the fabric of their culture. If someone were a nonbeliever (i.e. an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, an adherent of Scientism (the philosophy which sees science as the only source of truth), etc), then I would understand, but there is no evidence of this. I just think that using the term "myth" or "mythology" has the potential to offend large numbers of deeply spiritual people.By contrast, other religious claims---such as the historicity of the Indian king Rama (who is worshipped as a god by many contemporary Hindus) as told in the Hindu epic poem the Ramayana or the Battle of Kurukshetra between the Pandavas and Kauravas (two sets of cousins who battled it out for the throne of India as told in the ancient Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata) have been proven to be either historically accurate (in the case of the Mahabharata) and partially so (in the case of the Ramayana). Indeed, in 1949, the archaeologist B.B. Lal found painted grayware as well as the original weapons of the Pandavas and Kauravas, along with the actual dice they used to play their famous dice game which they had played to see who would win the throne of India according to the Mahabharata. All of these artifacts were dated to about 836 BCE, the year when the Battle of Kurukshetra was thought to have occurred. Therefore, while the Mahabharata and Ramayana do both have mystical and religious elements to them, and while they are still used to teach religious lessons to Hindus, the events chronicled in the poem really did happen. Additionally, Prof. McClymond also mistakenly refers to Duryodhana, one of the Kaurava princes in the Mahabharata was the “king.” This is wrong. In both the Mahabharata and in history, Duryodhana was a prince, not a king. Duryodhana’s father, Dhritarashtra, was the king. I also found it odd that a separate lecture was devoted to the Bhagavad Gita since the Bhagavad Gita is, for one thing, a small part of the Mahabharata. Second of all, the Bhagavad Gita is a philosophical dialogue between Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna, NOT a separate story (as it is often thought of in the West). Furthermore, in the Ramayana, while Ravana and his allies are portrayed as demons, at the time of Valmiki (the author of the poem) (i.e. the fourth century BCE), Sri Lanka was, in fact, being invaded by armies from India. Furthermore, satellite imagery proves that the famous “Rama Sethu” (Bridge of Rama), which, according to the poem, Rama and his allies had built across the Palk Strait (the body of water separating Sri Lanka from India) was, through satellite imagery, found to have existed, although there is a debate as to whether it was manmade or whether it was a natural rock formation incorporated into the poem. FYI: You can learn about the historical Rama on a fascinating 40-minute documentary entitled “The Historical Rama” (directed by D.K. Hari). It is available on YouTube. I also thought it was odd when Prof. McClymond, when referring to the historical Battle of Marathon, put it in the category of "mythology," when the fact is that most historians agree that it was, in fact, a real battle which happened between the Greeks and Persians in the year 490 BCE. I also found it odd that Prof. McClymond’s discussion of the Bhagavad Gita (the dialogue between the Hindu god Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna) is separate from the discussion of the Mahabharata since the Bhagavad Gita is technically part of the Mahabharata. Furthermore, given the diversity found amongst the cultures of Africa, I think Prof. Julius H. Bailey should not have tried to draw a broad conclusion regarding the supposed general characteristics of “African” folktales. There are hundreds of thousands---if not hundreds of millions---of cultures and sub-cultures in Africa, all of whom have their own religions and folkloric systems which are distinct from one another. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to make a sweeping statement regarding the characteristics of “African” folklore or religion. I also found it odd that Professor Kathryn McClymond distinguishes between Greco-Roman and “European” religions and folkloric systems since, after all, Greece and Rome are in Europe. Another mistake Prof. McClymond makes is to say that the story in the 1001 Nights (Arabian Nights) in which Sinbad travels to an island where it is customary for surviving spouses to be buried with their dead lovers was the fourth voyage of Sinbad. I have read that story. That is the SEVENTH voyage of Sinbad, NOT the fourth. When talking about one of the folktales told by the Native Americans of the Plains, Prof. Grant L. Voth claimed that one of the interpretations of this particular folktale—the one which resembled the Greco-Roman tale of Orpheus and Eurydice—was that the characters were what the Nez Percé call “Berdashes” (gay transvestites). I did NOT get that impression at all. That seemed to me to be a bit of a stretch.I do have to say, however, that these minor shortcomings do not detract from the educational value of this course at all. I highly recommend this fascinating course to anyone interested in religion or folklore.