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How are Myths made?

Joined
Feb 13, 2019
I’m talking about old Greek/Japanese/Norse Myths, not about their gods per say ,but more about the monsters. Did they see a very big animal or was it all made up stories? I thought this would be a good discussion.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
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Most likely as stories told around a fire in some village and then the tales becoming widespread and evolving over time and of course written and painted works.

The stories were initially probably to tell a moral lesson to children or to warn people away from certain areas. If kids went missing in a particular neck of the woods tales of a dragon or monster would put others off going there and getting killed.

Also people like to be scared and told scary stories so monsters were a better more interesting tale than just bears.
 
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Feel free to use what pronouns you want. I use both sexed pronoun sets interchangeably.
Well, a possibility is that many of the tales were originally different, but through retelling and distortion and exaggeration became the myths we remember.

For example, the King Arthur legends. In the earliest stories recorded, Morgan la Fey was a loyal member of Arthur's court to the very end. But as new authors took on the stories and added their own twists, she evolved from a loyal member of the court into the semi-villainous sorceress we all remember now.

It's also key to remember that some events likely were accountings of actual events, with some distortion due to the understanding of the speaker. It helps to remember some cultures saw no difference between mythology and history and freely mixed the two, accepting that any historical accounts remembered will be allegorical accountings of real events. For example the Trojan War likely happened, but not with quite the same amount of mythic involvement as the story we remember suggests.

And some stories were just propaganda. For example, about 90% of what is remembered about Emperor Nero.
 
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
This is quite the topic, dear! Indeed, myths are an engrossing and highly fascinating topic of which there is far too much to be said to give even a fair sampling in a single post. However, generally, myths can be found to have their roots in either historical, but romanticized events, or, more commonly in the case of the very ancient myths of antiquity, in the heavens and the drams which unfold upon them. Very commonly, one finds that a cornerstone of a 'myth' is indeed a case of euhemerization of some historical of quasi-historical figure. Such is oft the case especially in the Norse and Greek myths (see Mallet's Northern Antiquities as well as Hesiod, and Plato's Dialogues for further study). A brief example of this is to be found in the Phaedrus of Plato:

Phaedrus: Tell me, Socrates, isn't it from somewhere near this stretch of the Ilisus that people say Boreas carried Orithyia away?

Socrates: So they say.
Phaedrus: Couldn't this be the very spot? The stream is lovely, pure and clear: just right for girls to be playing nearby.
Socrates: No, it is two or three hundred yards farther downstream, where one crosses to get to the district of Arga. I think there is even an altar to Boreas there.
Phaedrus: I hadn't noticed it. But tell me, Socrates, in the name of Zeus, do you really believe that legend is true?
Socrates: Actually, it would not be out of place for me to reject it, as our intellectuals do. I could then tell a clever story: I could claim that a gust of the North Wind blew her over the rocks where she was playing with Pharmaceia; and once she was killed that way people said she had been carried off by Boreas...

In the ancient Egyptian and Chaldean myths, much the same is to be found. It is also to be noted that many of the familiar myths of classical Antiquity and the early Middle Ages may be found to have certain familiarities with the elder myths from which they doubtless owe at least some of their lineage to. The Greeks themselves we know from the likes of Plotinus and Plato, as well as Pythagoras and so on, were greatly indebted to the hierophants of Egypt, particularly those at Heliopolis, Thebes, and Alexandria. There is also a great deal to be said about the mythic wisdom acquired by many like Pythagoras from journeys into the near East as well as India. See Cory's Ancient Fragments for some related background on the ancient world.

The import of the zodiacal mysteries and ancient star cults cannot be overstated in regard to the role they played in the development of the familiar myths. Indeed, a quick perusal of classical Greek mythology offers telling insight into the astral mindset of these ancient authors and the creation of the otherwise indecipherable and fantastical myths that many are so familiar with, as they have been preserved and passed down to us from the Romans, through Mother Church and onto a great dispersal under the scatterings of medieval Europe.

For further reference, see:
https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/myths/constellations/
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/art...my-as-manifestations-of-ancient-greek-culture

To truly get at the primordial origins of the world's great mythic tradition, coming out of that Cimmerian darkness of the 'antedeluvian' world, it is important to understand fully the implications of this astrological basis of humanity's great many, but ultimately facsimile stories.





The monsters of myth themselves often arise from frightening astronomical or earthy events, such as comets, meteors, eclipses, and a panoply of catastrophic events. In particular, with many of the greatest and more fearsome beasts of mythology, there is an underlying connection to the stars and our zodiacal travels.

zodiac-constellations-with-astrological-signs.jpg


Examination of classical astrological charts will give one some insight into such things, as there is a clear, cyclical "war" in the heavens, one which recurs at every season, every year, changing slightly as the earth wobbles through space.

In the case of classical Greek mythology, many of the beasts we meet such as the Minotaur, are essentially representations of the wretched perversions of form arising from the interference of the gods (sidereal archetypal principles) in the material, lower world of man. Often these stories of monsters, across all cultures, are dual purpose and are to teach the masses moralistic or profane lessons about life and how it is to be lived. In this way they are essentially archetypal aphorisms not unlike common fairy tales and proverbs. On an esoteric level, they often contain wisdom for the initiated, primarily about the astral realm and the true meaning of the zodiac and star systems.

Many monsters of mythology also arise as personifications and elementals of the various conditions existing upon this earth. The 'salamander' and fire, is one such example.
10500.jpg


There are many of these such cases, and are as varied -- though, on a whole of consistent theme -- as the world's traditions. Commonly, "monsters" are the mythic personages of great dangers and cataclysms, usually with a practical message rolled into their characteristic about said dangers.

Finally, I would add that study and reflection upon Freemasonic, Rosicrucian and Kabbalistic symbolism and historiography would be of great value to those wanting a deeper understanding into the primeval myths of man...
 
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Oh that was my essay topic... about myths. Myths are created by entire nations, for years and even decades. They come up on the basis of fables that every child in society knows, so the creation of myths for each nation is a completely different process. PapersOwl helped me a lot to write right paper work on this topic and I also improved my knowledges about myths in general. I can say I am pro now:D
 
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Beauts

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Myths form from a combination of fiction and fact. Myths from ancient societies were often used to teach morals or to explain what was then unexplainable.

If you’re really lucky someone will write down the myths in a book and everyone will worship the fiction and in a few centuries time it will be a religion or doctrine.
 

Jirohnagi

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Oral tradition for the most part, as people gathered around and told each other stories things were lost or embellished and so eventually turned into Myths. Of course sometimes they were mythstaken in their stories but hey gives us something to think about.
 
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Well, that's a difficult question. I think the best answer is that myths are the reflection of the culture that produced them. They came to exist in Greek culture because the nature and behavior of the gods fit in well with the culture. I'm working on my essay about Greek Gods. I use a little help of this writing service https://anonymous-essay.com/college-essay.html . Hope I'll finish it on time.
 
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Maghy

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For example, I really like to read the myths of Ancient Greece and it’s not at all important for me where they came from) it's cool that they are)
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2020
I believe that Myths are like rumors, they start out as fact and get more and more exaggerated as each new person tells the story. Like when a teenager suddenly moves, his or her best friend tells someone that the reason why they moved was because their mom or dad was transferred. Then they tell someone what happened and when that person tells someone else they add some small detail like the parent was fired. Then that person tells someone else and adds the fictional detail that they were fired because they stole from the company.And it just keeps getting more and more exaggerated over time until everyone believes the parent that got transferred was arrested and awaiting trial for embezzlement and the family moved out of shame. The same thing with the ancient myths. Their might have really been someone named Heracles/Hercules who was really strong and done some amazing things when he was alive. But as his story was told and retold he was eventually portrayed as the son of a god with superhuman strength.
 

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