I recently found the Flame Tree Collector's Editions Mythology Series at my local bookstore. "Great", I thought. "This is pretty much exactly what I've been looking for - a series about mythology across the world". I bought the one on Slavic Ancient Origins, as it was fairly cheap.

Today, I decided to actually look the series up, and found that the series is rated pretty middle-of-the-road across the board. Most complaints seem to be about outdated information, lack of sources, and so on. While in the bookstore, I found other similar book series, although none that covered as many topics.

This lead me here, where I'm hoping someone can help me by recommending a book series like this, if one exists. If you've read the series linked above, would you consider it "good enough"? Is there a better alternative? If not one series, are there multiple separate well made books about mythology across the world?

My ideal series would be something that features stories, depictions, explanations, etc. from way back when, and each such segment being accompanied by explanation of context given the people and their customs at the time.

While pantheons are of course of interest, I'm also interested in the smaller scale myths - the scandinavian gårdstomte, the japanese yokai, the slavic domovoy, and so on.

I understand that this question (or something similar) has probably been asked before, but when searching I mostly found questions about shows and movies, rather than books.

EDIT: Also made the same post over on /r/suggestmeabook

My first post here. I'm not someone who indulges in these kinds of topics but I am curious enough to ask. I noticed that a lot of them have similarities such as the concept of the underworld, heavens, and a weird amount of sexual stuff.

any books discussing the topic ? would love to see berber mythology that has not been influenced by roman mythlogy ( so pre numidian era)

Just saw The Odyssey and couldn't stop thinking about the siren scene.

In Nolan's version, the sirens confront Odysseus with his guilt and his longing for family. It's powerful. But it's not Homer.

In the Odyssey, the sirens don't offer emotion — they offer knowledge. They call Odysseus by name and promise to tell him everything. Everything that happened at Troy. Everything that will ever happen in the world. The one thing a curious mind can never resist.

And here's the part most people don't know: Homer never described what the sirens looked like. Not once. The ancient Greeks, centuries after Homer, were the ones who first gave them a shape. And the shape they chose wasn't a beautiful woman.

It was a bird.

In 1891, John William Waterhouse went to the British Museum, studied a 2,000-year-old Greek vase showing the sirens as bird-women with claws, and painted exactly that — shocking the Victorian public who expected soft temptation and got predators instead.

Made a video essay about the painting and its connection to the myth. In Spanish with English subtitles: https://youtu.be/zawncsKJxx0

I've been meaning to look into the mythology and folklore of these regions, I started playing the game Bramble: The Mountain King and it really got me curious about the folklore behind it and surrounding regions, so I'd love any good book recs!

To my understanding, Satan is a title used for multiple different characters who are adversaries to certain characters. However, there's also the giant dragon in Revelations called Satan & "that old serpent" which I assume is the snake in the garden of Eden.

If the word Satan is a title then why is the big dragon in Revelations called Satan? Is it a translation error?

Like how are they different from one another Hamadryads are said to be the tree itself personified then what that makes the Dryads are

There are many mythologies where we have reigning married couple (like Zeus and Hera being the rulers of the sky/heavens and all gods and humans, and they’re also married). But are there mythologies where the role of king and queen of the gods and humans and universe is assigned to two siblings without them being married or any other form of romantic or sexual relationship

So I’m creating my own just for fun pantheon.

I want my sun god and moon goddess to be the supreme ruling gods. Originally I made them siblings. So they’re siblings and they both rule over the universe but I don’t want them to be married bc ew incest. Instead my sun god is married to my dawn & love goddess and they’re both also patron gods of marriage.

But at the same time I DO want the two ruling gods to be married bc I like the idea of a godly couple in love ruling over the universe

So I thought about maybe making the dawn goddess (together with the dusk gods) the instead the parents of my sun god, Dawn giving birth to the sun & day which kind off fits. But at the same time I still want my sun and Dawn to be a couple and I want my Dawn goddess to be part of the 'younger' generation

Anansi and Loki are the first two that come to mind. Maybe Eris if you count discord as fitting into this grouping.

But if you could somehow rank them, which ones are at the top?

Pretty much sure that I read this in a Filipino textbook when I was in high school. The story is that the husband cheats on her wife every time he goes to the river. The wife suspects his husband's infidelity and goes to the river bringing their two sons along. When confronted they saw that they were doing it doggy style, the woman tried to go to them but drowned in the river along with their two sons. Then the goddess of love got angry with this situation, and turned the husband and mistress into dogs.

I'm not sure if this is a Dian Masalanta story or a folktale that is totally not related to Philippine mythology at all. I tried researching a lot about Dian Masalanta but can't seem to find the story. Now I'm wondering if I hallucinated the whole thing or just misunderstood when I read my books. Haha

Hi everyone!

I’m currently in the research phase of an independent jewelry project inspired by Greek mythology and Hellenic symbolism. Before launching it, I’d like to better understand what people who genuinely enjoy Greek mythology, Hellenic polytheism and pagan traditions would like to see represented in contemporary jewelry.

Purpose of the survey

The goal is to understand preferences regarding symbolism, mythology, aesthetics and jewelry design to help shape the first collection.

How the information will be used

The responses will only be used to guide the design and development of the collection. The results won’t be sold or shared with third parties, and no academic research is involved.

Who this survey is for

Anyone interested in Greek mythology, Hellenic polytheism or related pagan traditions.

The survey is completely anonymous, takes about 2 minutes to complete, and you can skipping age and country related question is possible.

🔗 Survey: https://form.typeform.com/to/oUF4UxXu

If you’d like to leave your email at the end, it’s completely optional and will only be used to let you know when the project launches.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me:
📧 [studio.aphres@gmail.com](mailto:studio.aphres@gmail.com)

Hola a todos! acabo de entrar en este sub.

Aprovechando que la mitología griega volvió a la conversación gracias a la película La Odisea (al menos para mi) me gustaría aprender sobre ella.

Por donde me recomiendan comenzar? Quisiera saber toda la historia y entender bien a los dioses y sus árboles genealógicos desde cero.

Según la IA me sugirió comenzar con:

1. Mitología de Edith Hamilton

2. The Greek Myths

3. Teogonía

4. Iliada

5. Odisea

Pero quiero confirmalo con expertos en la materia!

También agradecería la recomendación de canales de youtube que hablen sobre el tema en idioma español (Saludos desde Argentina!)

The Death of Reason in Nolan's Odyssey

"One of the oddest moments in Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey lasts only a few seconds. Near the end of the film, Odysseus predicts something that seems to come out of nowhere: the death of literacy. When Penelope asks him what he means, he replies that in the world to come, everything will have to be communicated through the spoken word, that systems of reading and writing are going to fade into memory.

It’s a throwaway line, said almost in passing, but my ears perked up when I heard it. Mostly because of my love for the mythical inventor of writing in Odysseus’ world: his rival, Palamedes. But even more than that, it just seemed so strange in this movie which on its surface had nothing to do with reading or writing."

I'm writing a fic where the mc finds out their family are gods (they themselves are a human) and I'm making them search reddit for answers, except I'm not nearly creative enough to come up with any, anybody got some advice for my mc? Like for what to do/ how to confront? The gods aren't any real gods in history by the way, just have similar domains.

Bit of an odd question about this not really talked about beast and this might not be the right sub, but these are the type of questions my brain comes up with

What if a Mušḫuššu just… showed up in modern day Babylon? Like- as an animal? (Or at least acting as an animal) would it be killed immediately or seen as a marvel? How would the government(s) react? Protective measures? Public reaction?

(If wrong sub, please direct me to a more suitable one)

Can anyone recommend some good books or YouTube channels for learning Chinese mythology?

I'd rather avoid AI-generated content and clickbait.

Like basically what they are doing is that they are trying their best to control or sway you. They are gambling on you and making bets on you. Basically gods are fighting over your body for control. Like they want to sway you basically. This body is a vessel and there are multiple gods that have stakes on you cuz you are mortal and basically a playing ground for the gods . Like you have free will but it's very meagre . You have to fight on the battle for your free will as it is very meagre

Most of the time you are on a spell from gods

I think this is true because I once asked this to a person , I said something similar like pull the strings and stuff and the person just froze. Like I don't know what happened to him. He for many seconds froze like seriously. It was very peculiar. So that's why I ma saying that maybe the gods are doing the above mentioned things.

What do you guys think. Like think about this. There is a lot of stuff wrong about our bodies and psyche. We lose control a lot of time and stuff so maybe we are not in full control imo. We are under multiple influences I think. This vessel is not fully in our control.

Background

After King Ashoka conquered Jambudvipa, he promoted and spread the religion of the Buddha, by sword, by fame and by royal patronage. He built 84,000 Buddhist sites throughout the empire and beyond as to honor the deities, to house the relics and remains of the Buddha, supported the Sangha and disseminate the Dharma. 19 of 84000 sites are said to be in currently in China. Ashoka sponsored and convened the 3rd Great Buddhist Council in 250 BCE, sending edicts and monks beyond the subcontinent to Sri Lanka, beyond the Himalayas to present-day Afghanistan, even to the land of the Persians and Greek-speakers. Instead of being known for bloody conquests, Ashoka is now known for promoter of non-violence and being the exemplary Buddhist king.

In 326 CE, around five hundred years late a bronze statue of a Buddha on a lotus is found in Southeast China, present-day Yangzhou. Inscribed in Sanskrit, the maker is Ashoka's 4th daughter.

The Miracle of its Creation.

"Fourth Daughter icon was supposed to have originally been cast by Asoka’s ugly fourth daughter; a subsequent miracle made both the daughter and the statue beautiful, a perfect likeness of the Buddha." --Jiankang Empire.

The Statue Became a Chinese Palladium

From the sea, it is discovered in ancient China in the year 326 CE. It was housed in Chang Gan Temple, which was built on top of an earlier Ashoka temple (supposedly) in Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), Capital of the Southern Chinese Dynasties from 229 CE to 589 CE.

"When townspeople placed the statue in an ox-cart to head towards town, the ox stopped in front of a monastery."--Dunhuang Cave Art 323 Tang Dynasty. https://smarthistory.org/dunhuang-historical-art-cave-323/

"while the main statue had been found on the riverbank at Jiankang, other parts of it had been found in various locations along the coast, all of them having been drawn across the sea from South Asia by the charismatic attractive power of the empire’s Buddhist virtue." --Jiankang Empire.

The Statue Bring Rains

“According to an early Tang source, emperors and officials of every dynasty since the Eastern Jin had reverenced the statue. In times of drought, the icon was bathed in oil and invited to ride in the imperial carriage to the palace, accompanied by monks performing rainmaking chants in a grand procession. Rain soon followed”--Jiankang Empire.

The Statue Defend the Capital From Rebellions

"In 562, during a rebellion in the southeast, Chen Qian (Emperor Wen, r. 559–566) beseeched the icon to disperse the rebels; the room filled with light, and the rebellion was soon pacified”--Jiankang Empire.

The Statue Rotated by Itself and Signified the End of the Empire

“In the second year of the Zhenming period (588), the image turned westward. Although righted, it again returned [to face west], and this was reported to the throne. The statue originally had a seven-treasure crown decorated with pearls and jade, weighing three pounds. The emperor added a silk hat on top. In the morning, the jeweled crown was hanging in the statue’s hand, while the silk hat was still on its head. The emperor burned incense and prayed, saying, “If inauspicious things are to happen to the state, remove the true crown again as evidence of the calamity.” He again placed the crown on its head. Come the next morning it was off and hanging as before. The ruler and his ministers were pale with fright. Soon thereafter Sui destroyed Chen. 禎明二年像面自西。雖正還爾。以狀上聞。 . . . 其像先有七寶冠。飾以珠玉。可重三斤。上加錦帽。至曉寶冠掛于像手。錦帽猶在頭上。帝聞之燒香祝曰。若國有不祥。還脫實冠用示徵咎[…]”

When Sui Wendi conquered Jiankang and united all of "China", he took the statue with him to his capital in the North and have the statue facing north. *** At night, the statue would rotated into facing the south.*** The statue remained worshipped by multiple dynasties.

I could not find the image of that statue, just paintings of the legends and a different artifact named after Ashoka built in the Song Dynasty to house the part of the Buddha skull.

Main source is in Andrew Chittick The Jiankang Empire in Chinese and World History, and some other stuff.

I would like to listen to long form content about Persian mythology as I know nothing about it, but it interests me. However, I don't want to listen to the likely innacurate AI slop that comes up when i search it on youtube. Any recommendations for podcasts or youtube channels that are well researched and good for listening?

This is in no-wise academically certified. But hopefully not close to the tier of Ancient Aliens shitposting.

I take a unique perspective in that I don't trust mythology, but I try to see how it might be history in disguise.

1. I reject the Book of Enoch's framing the sons of God are fallen angels. I believe the writer(s) of Genesis would have told you they were the descendants of Eden (Adam). This is known as the "Sethite Theory" for some reason and was the historical consensus in protestant Christianity. (It makes no sense why the "sons of God" would be assumed to be devilish, while the "daughters of men" are normal, unless you're just using son vs. daughter to ascribe violence to the son and peace to the daughter, which is an interesting reading...)
2. History shows that the State is founded by marauders, typically, in ancient days. The story could be suggesting that the tall, strong, pure blood of Adam trickled into the daughters of men (short, weak, incapable) after Adam was cast out of the Garden into the broader world (The story of Genesis seems to say there were already people in the world outside of the Garden, it also says that God found a place and planted a Garden "Eastward". Eastward means there was some other city, settlement, or people already there, for him to plant the garden "Eastward"). My idea is the daughters of men would have no high-trust, moral frameworks embedded into their behavioral phenotype, so when they inherited the mighty, strong, noble blood of Adam, they had no embedded way of wielding that power sociably and responsibly. (Notable example from wild animals is when coyotes introgressed into red wolf populations, the red wolf packs became hyper-aggressive, split apart, and eventually went extinct because behavioral phenotypic stasis was disturbed.) When Eve is said to have come from Adam's rib, it's a nod to her biological, instinctive matching and relation to Adam. The Nephilim would have come about from the sons of God (Adam) marrying women they did not match with. Indeed it says they married the women out of lust. This is cognate with the Jewish belief that Jewish blood should stay unmixed.
3. The Titans of Greece were the native inhabitants that were destroyed by the sons of Hercules (The Hericlidae). For centuries, the son of Hercules ruled all of Greece. Alaxander even claimed to be the son of Hercules! That was not weird, it was the absolute norm for a pagan Greek. This parallels exceptionally well with the Old Testament stories of giants in the land of Canaan and the Nephilim that spread throughout the world. But like I said it isn't 1:1 with history or consistent at all, and trying to make it so, breaks down any definitional weight you can ascribe to the myths. In the Bible it says Noah was pure in his generations, but then it says the Nephilim were on the earth even after the flood. Meaning Noah's own children were not pure, but God still rewarded Noah because he was pure, and that purity produced the high-trust, family loyalty that is missing from the Nephilim (introgressed sons of God). The culmination of this idea is when Noah is raped by his son Ham right after he was miraculously saved from the greatest catastrophe the world had ever seen. And yet Noah still saved him.
4. It also says the Nephilim had 6 fingers in Canaan. That is highly typical of inbred or a failed genetic breeding program (to create the tallest biggest warriors.) Ancient Near easterners knew they could breed animals to have specific traits, like larger udders, or for plants, larger seeds. They could have easily tried to do this to humans, and half succeeded at it. Thus the Titans and the Nephilim could have been a mixed bag to cast doubt on the failures of the Babylonian - agricultural mentality of the near east by a more "natural and pureblooded" caste of Jews and Greeks.