Some fun facts about mythology!

I love mythology, especially for usage in books. It’s also why I’m writing a fantasy book at the moment, including some myths and mythical creatures. So, I thought: why not write a post about some research I did for when I started my book? Let’s look into it!

Rainbow Serpent

The oldest (continuous) human myth is the one that Aboriginal tribes in Australia believed in. It’s said that summoning the Rainbow Serpent would bring rain. Summoning those ceremonies involved playing songs on a didgeridoo, while tribesmen performed a dance.

Seven Wonders

There were some Greek gods that inspired three of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There’s the Colossus of Rhodes that depicted the Greek god of the sun, Helios, shielding his eyes as he looked out over the Greek islands. There’s also the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, both stood to honour the gods and to provide followers with a place to worship.

Trojan War

It indicates that a major battle was fought at a city that seemed to be Troy. Victory in this battle provided ancient Greeks with a sense of cultural identity that hadn’t existed before. Also, subsequent generations used the victory to promote Greek pride.

Homer

No, I don’t mean the guy from The Simpsons 😉 The Iliad and The Odyssey author, is who I mean. They only tell a part of the story of the Trojan War. 10 poems originally existed, but the other eight seemed to have been lost.

Roman Gods

While the Greek gods heavily influenced Roman religious practices, the Roman gods didn’t share the personality traits of their Greek counterparts. The Romans viewed their gods as serving a specific purpose. They didn’t view them as mischievous tricksters.

Jupiter

The supreme god of the Roman religion was identical to the Greek god Zeus. Jupiter’s temple in the Roman capital was the most sacred Roman sanctuary, also being the centre of all political events.

Snakes

Viewed as malevolent creatures in Western myths, such as the Garden of Eden and Medusa, other cultures viewed snakes as representing the circle of life. The coiling snake represented the cycle of life, death and rebirth. It was to connect the earth to the underworld.

‘Beowulf’

Some said the classic mythological poem ‘Beowulf’ was an allegory warning against the warrior culture of its age. Beowulf’s swords repeatedly failing him when attempting to slay his enemies, was as an argument against violence, solving anything intended by the poem.

Family Tree

Because of Zeus’ wandering eye and the offspring of Poseidon, Hades (God of the underworld) is an uncle to half of all gods in Greek mythology.

Balder

The Norse god Balder, son of the chief god Odin, couldn’t be harmed by most objects. Stories tell that the other gods were amusing themselves by throwing things at Balder, knowing they couldn’t harm him. Until the evil Loki tricked the blind god Hod into killing Balder by throwing the one thing that could hard him: mistletoe.

Which other mythology facts do you have to share?

Love, Deem ❤

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