Myths and Legends

[pokemoll]

Spoiler

Lots of different cultures and countries have various myths and legends, whether it be to do with the people or their history. Some cultures even have beliefs of mythological creatures, such as dragons, mermaids, sirens and centaurs. Probably the most famous mythological belief is the Greek Gods, like Zeus and Apollo. Of course, Roman Gods are famous too, with the planets being named after them.

Personally, I find the stories surrounding Greek, Roman and Welsh myths fascinating. I know this might sound childish, but I do actually believe strongly in some of the myths/legends surrounding places and parts of history. For example, a popular British myth is King Arthur of Camelot. If you don't know that legend, I'd recommend reading up on it sometime, in my mind it's pretty fascinating, and something I believe actually happened. I also believe that the Greek Gods exist too, though perhaps some of the stories are less believable than others. As for mythological creatures, I believe dragons, mermaids, sirens and others existed, even though that might seem ridiculous to others.

What about you, do you believe in any myths or legends? Are there any in particular you find to be more interesting than others, or perhaps ones that you believe in more strongly? Of course, if you don't believe in them there's nothing wrong with that, but neither is believing in them. If your culture/country has a famous or interesting myth, you could share that, too.

Discuss~

 

[Zexy]

I am Greek and I can assure you that Greek gods has become something like a religion for some people. This has been a problem over the years because the state does not want new temples for the Greek gods to be built, as it would reduce the quality of the Ancient Temples that serve as cultural heritage and tourist attractions. Yet, the most conflict here happens in two myths:

1) Homer: Most people can asssume that the Greek Gods are just a myth. However, Iliad and Odyssey are an issue of major debate. Archaeological finds have revealed that there was a Trojan war, and its heroes were real. However, both "poems" are not considered historical sources. There is also the opinion that "Helen", the woman who supposedly started the whole Trojan war, was never brought to Troy! Instead, the Gods protected her by creating a stunt double for Paris to take as she fled to Egypt. The official historical opinion on that is that Helen existed but had nothing to do with a war, as the only reason it happened was because the Troyans tried to stop the Greek's commercial system.

2) The "Hidden School": This myth is more or less true. It is much more modern, taking place at 16th-18th century. When Greece was under Turkish control, any attempt of educating Greek kids was foridden because it would cause a revolution (it actually did). To this extent, Orthodox priests had founded "Hidden Schools", aka monasteries situated in the most treacherous and hard-to-find places, which were actually schools for the Greek children to attend. The priests themselves were the teachers, and the Bible was the only book they had access to.
At present day, the monsteries exist, but since the schools were unofficial, there is no undisputable proof that they existed. However, as I said before, even the most trustworthy historians say that it is true, albeit arbitarliy.

 

[Jolene]

I have a strong belief in the phrase "Within every myth, there is a grain of truth". People don't just randomly make stuff up. Everything story that has been told is based on a true story, just with varying levels of hyperbole.

Proof of the truth of my argument is dragons. They are metioned in Welsh and Chinese legends as well as the Bible. These were written in very different parts of the world at a time when communication between cultures was almost nonexistant. I highly doubt they would come together to start a conspiracy to trick future generations.

I also do not dismiss the legends of other religions as myths because as a Christian, I get annoyed when people say "the bible is a fairytale". I have noticed that many religions tell of a gread flood in the disatant past. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and even Ancient Greek myths speak of a great flood. As stated before, I cannot believe that such differing cultures invented conspiracies, so it can ve deduced that there was a world flood.

Last thing in this rant regards the supernatural. You guys might think I'm crazy, but I do believe that demons and other supernatural beings exist. Why? It is fruitless to explain why to people who dismiss these things but I just do. So yeah, this is basically what I believe about myths and legends.

 

[Zexy]

Yeah, I agree that all myths have a REASON to exist, but that doesn't mean that there is TRUTH in that reason!

Per example, I believe that Demons etc were created by the religions in ancient times in order to fear people into joining them. Back then, it was important. It may not be that needed now, but the myths still remain.

As for the dragons... yeah, creatures big and powerful as them can and did exist, but there is no way there are beings around who can spit fire or lightning or ice by breathing! Plus, the fact that every culture symbolizes dragons differently adds to the fact that there wasn't a single big animal called "dragon", but lots of large serpentine or flying creatures. Or, it could just be the hypothesis after a huge fire or thunderstorm...

 

[pokemoll]

I'm not sure if any of you would've heard of it, but my absolute favourite collection of myths is the "Mabanogion", or Welsh book of fairytales. Some of them are particularly believable, like the story of Gelert, which is about a hound saving his master's son from a wolf and then getting blamed for it. Obviously (if you couldn't tell from the flag!) Wales also has a high connection with dragons, especially the red dragon from the story of the Red Dragon vs the White Dragon, which is basically the couragous red dragon conquering a vicious white one.

So, I myself, after being raised on these fairytales, myths, and folkstories, believe much about them, and am able to locate sufficient truth within them. For example in the story of Gelert it mentions that his master dedicated an entire town to him, which actually exists. It's called Beddgelert, which in Welsh, translates to "Gelert's grave".

Obviously there are some myths and legends which exist for the purpose of scaring people or teaching lessons, but that's not to say there aren't ones that have some truth within them. Being a religious person I guess it might be easier for me to believe some of the stories surrounding different things, but that's a bit of a generalisation from myself. Of course, there are myths I don't believe in, but none that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Zexy]

IWales also has a high connection with dragons, especially the red dragon from the story of the Red Dragon vs the White Dragon, which is basically the couragous red dragon conquering a vicious white one.

The closest I know to that is Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dueling with Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White. )
To be serious, we've had red horses battling white horses in Orthodox religion. Saint George and Demetrios.

As for Gelert, I just can't figure out why would people make a myth about something like that.