| |
| |
| Foreword | |
| |
| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| |
| Great Themes of Myth | |
| |
| |
| |
| Creation/The origins of the world | |
| |
| |
| Cosmic Architecture/The structure of the universe | |
| |
| |
| Myths of Humanity/Causes of life and death | |
| |
| |
| Supernatural Beings/Gods, spirits and demons | |
| |
| |
| Cosmic Disasters/The end of the world | |
| |
| |
| Heroes and Tricksters/Agents of change | |
| |
| |
| Animals and Plants/Energy, transformation and kinship | |
| |
| |
| Body and Soul/Spirit and the afterlife | |
| |
| |
| Marriage and Kinship/Myths of the social order | |
| |
| |
| A World Mythography | |
| |
| |
| Egypt | |
| |
| |
| |
| The First Gods/Order from chaos | |
| |
| |
| The Ennead/The Nine Gods of Heliopolis | |
| |
| |
| Osiris/Upholder of order | |
| |
| |
| Isis/The devoted widow | |
| |
| |
| Horus and Seth/The struggle for the throne of Osiris | |
| |
| |
| Solar Myths/The eternal cycle of renewal | |
| |
| |
| Myth and Magic/The secret name of Ra; the Book of Thoth | |
| |
| |
| Snakes and Scorpions/Agents of chaos | |
| |
| |
| Powerful Goddesses/Neith, Sekhmet and Bastet | |
| |
| |
| Other Goddesses/Anat, Astarte, Hathor and Taweret | |
| |
| |
| Kings and the Gods/The sacred role of the pharaohs | |
| |
| |
| Priest-Magicians/Setna Khaemwese and Imhotep | |
| |
| |
| Life After Death/The soul in the underword | |
| |
| |
| The Middle East | |
| |
| |
| |
| Sumer and Babylon/Myths from the first cities | |
| |
| |
| Gilgamesh/The great epic of mortality | |
| |
| |
| Ishtar and Tammuz/The descent to the underworld | |
| |
| |
| Myths of Creation/Enki, Marduk and the divine decrees | |
| |
| |
| The Flood/Destruction and survival | |
| |
| |
| Ugaritic Myths/Kingship and succession | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Hittites/Dragons and lost gods | |
| |
| |
| Persian Myths/Ahura Mazdah and the battle between good and evil | |
| |
| |
| India | |
| |
| |
| |
| Origins of the World/Sacrifice and conflict | |
| |
| |
| Indra/Warrior and king of the gods | |
| |
| |
| Brahma/The creator god | |
| |
| |
| Vishnu/Protector of the world | |
| |
| |
| Vishnu's Incarnations/The avatars | |
| |
| |
| Rama/The righteous avatar | |
| |
| |
| Krishna, the Adorable/The eighth avatar of Vishnu | |
| |
| |
| Shiva/The erotic and ascetic combined | |
| |
| |
| Devi/The manifold goddess | |
| |
| |
| Shiva's Family Circle/Shiva, Parvati, Skanda, Ganesha | |
| |
| |
| Jain Myth/A response to Hinduism | |
| |
| |
| The Enlightened One/Myths of Buddhism | |
| |
| |
| China | |
| |
| |
| |
| Order Out Of Chaos/Pan Gu and Hun Dun | |
| |
| |
| Nu Gua and Fu Xi/The creation of humanity; flood myths | |
| |
| |
| Sun, Moon and Stars/Myths of the heavenly bodies | |
| |
| |
| Chinese Buddhism/Amitabha and Guanyin | |
| |
| |
| Taoist Myth/Gods and Immortals | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Family/Filial piety and household gods | |
| |
| |
| Tibet and Mongolia | |
| |
| |
| |
| Myths of Origin/Radiant, Black Misery and the karmic wind | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Ancient Kings/The sky-descended rulers | |
| |
| |
| King Gesar/The warrior-king | |
| |
| |
| The Taming of the Gods/The impact of Buddhism | |
| |
| |
| Mongolian Shamanism/Encounters with the spirit realm | |
| |
| |
| Japan | |
| |
| |
| |
| Izanagi and Izanami/The primal couple | |
| |
| |
| Amaterasu and Susano/The contest of the sibling deities | |
| |
| |
| The Divine Crisis/Amaterasu's removal of the sun | |
| |
| |
| The Izumo Cycle/Susano's descent to earth; Okuninushi and the White Rabbit | |
| |
| |
| Gods, Heroes and Demons/Inari, Hachiman and the Oni | |
| |
| |
| The Realm of Saga/The exploits of Jimmu-tenno and Yamato-takeru | |
| |
| |
| Buddhist Myths/Three figures of mercy | |
| |
| |
| Greece | |
| |
| |
| |
| Myth and Society/Public and private observances | |
| |
| |
| The Birth of the Gods/The rise of the Olympians | |
| |
| |
| The Origins of Humanity/Prometheus, Pandora, Deucalion, Pyrrha | |
| |
| |
| Zeus/King of the gods | |
| |
| |
| The Couplings of Zeus/Human and divine consorts | |
| |
| |
| Athene/The virgin goddess | |
| |
| |
| Poseidon/God of the sea | |
| |
| |
| Apollo/The brilliant god | |
| |
| |
| Artemis/Chaste goddess of the hunt | |
| |
| |
| Dionysos/God of wine and altered states | |
| |
| |
| Goddesses of the Soil/Demeter and Persephone | |
| |
| |
| Ares and Aphrodite/War, love and sex | |
| |
| |
| Home, Hearth and Fire/Hermes, Hestia and Hephaistos | |
| |
| |
| The Underworld/The kingdom of Hades | |
| |
| |
| Heroes and Monsters/The world's prodigies | |
| |
| |
| Herakles/The archetypal hero | |
| |
| |
| Theseus/Athenian hero and statesman | |
| |
| |
| Jason/The great adventurer | |
| |
| |
| The Argonauts/Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece | |
| |
| |
| Perseus/Slayer of Medusa | |
| |
| |
| The Trojan War/Homer's warrior epic | |
| |
| |
| After Troy/Odysseus and Agamemnon | |
| |
| |
| Transgressors/Breakers of the natural order | |
| |
| |
| Centaurs and Amazons/Races of fabulous beings | |
| |
| |
| Transformations/Myths of metamorphosis; Orpheus | |
| |
| |
| Rome | |
| |
| |
| |
| Gods and Goddesses/The borrowed pantheon; household gods and civic virtues | |
| |
| |
| The Foundation of Rome/The destiny of Aeneas the Trojan | |
| |
| |
| Romulus and the Kings of Rome/The she-wolf and the myths of the past | |
| |
| |
| The Celtic World | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Celtic Pantheon/A miscellany of gods | |
| |
| |
| Myths and Gods of Ireland/The Mythological Cycle | |
| |
| |
| The Hero of Ulster/Tales of Cu Chulainn | |
| |
| |
| Finn and His Warriors/The Fenian myths | |
| |
| |
| Goddesses/Motherhood, war and sovereignty | |
| |
| |
| Otherworldly Voyages/Conla, Mael Duin and Bran | |
| |
| |
| Stories of Wales/The "Mabinogion" | |
| |
| |
| The Arthurian Legend/Arthur and his knights | |
| |
| |
| Northern Europe | |
| |
| |
| |
| Early and Lost Gods/Fragments of Northern myth | |
| |
| |
| Cosmology in the Viking Age/The World Tree and its realms | |
| |
| |
| Loki and Ragnarok/The trickster, the wolf and the last great battle | |
| |
| |
| Odin/Ruler of Asgard | |
| |
| |
| Thor/The thunder god | |
| |
| |
| Freyr and the Vanir/Gods of sky, land and water | |
| |
| |
| Goddesses and Female Spirits/Freyja, Golden Apples, Valkyries and Norns | |
| |
| |
| The Dragon-Slayers/Beowulf and Sigurd | |
| |
| |
| Central and Eastern Europe | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Other World/The thrice tenth kingdom | |
| |
| |
| The Baba Iaga and the Amazons/Female creatures of folk tale | |
| |
| |
| Ancestors and Hearth Spirits/Ivan the Fool and the domovoi | |
| |
| |
| Spirit Souls of the Departed/The rusalka, vila and other visitors | |
| |
| |
| Malevolent Spirits/Forest creatures, werewolves and vampires | |
| |
| |
| The Arctic Regions | |
| |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Inuit/Spirits of sea and sky | |
| |
| |
| Myths of Siberia/Animals, trees and shamans | |
| |
| |
| North America | |
| |
| |
| |
| Creation Myths/Great Spirit and Earth Diver | |
| |
| |
| The Origins of Humanity/The first human ancestors | |
| |
| |
| Gods and Heroes/Shapers and controllers of the world | |
| |
| |
| Shamans/Vision quests and guardian spirits | |
| |
| |
| Tricksters/Entertainers and mischief-makers | |
| |
| |
| Navajo Myths/Curing ceremonies and Coyote tales | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Plains/Wakan Tanka and the sacred pipe | |
| |
| |
| Animal Myths/The relatives of humankind | |
| |
| |
| Mesoamerica | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Old Gods/The jaguar and the fire deity | |
| |
| |
| Creations and Cataclysms/The myth of the suns | |
| |
| |
| Tezcatlipoca/Lord of the Smoking Mirror | |
| |
| |
| Quetzalcoatl/The feathered serpent | |
| |
| |
| Huitzilopochtli/God of sun and war | |
| |
| |
| Tlaloc and Fertility/Aztec gods of rain and corn | |
| |
| |
| Gods of the Sacred Calendar/Sacred and solar cycles | |
| |
| |
| Gods of the Maya/The three-layered cosmos | |
| |
| |
| South America | |
| |
| |
| |
| Ancient Religions/Spirits, sacrifice and sacred journeys | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Andes/The Incas and their predecessors | |
| |
| |
| The Inca Pantheon/Viracocha, Inti, Mama Kilya and Ilyap'a | |
| |
| |
| The Sacred Skies/Animal constellations and sacred lines | |
| |
| |
| Spirit Worlds/The universe transformed | |
| |
| |
| The Ancestral Forest/Origin myths of the forest peoples | |
| |
| |
| Africa | |
| |
| |
| |
| Origins of the World/Africa's creation myths | |
| |
| |
| The Upside-Down World/The realms of the living and the dead | |
| |
| |
| Death and Sex/The loss of immortality | |
| |
| |
| Myths of Kingship/The divine lineage of earthly rulers | |
| |
| |
| Tower Myths/The folly of human presumptuousness | |
| |
| |
| Eshu The Trickster/Cunning mediator between heaven and earth | |
| |
| |
| Animal Myths/Tricksters, inventors and transformers | |
| |
| |
| Australia | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Big Flood/Myths of origin | |
| |
| |
| Death and Mourning/The origins of mortality | |
| |
| |
| The Origins of Marriage/Eaglehawk and Crow; Wodoy and Djunggun | |
| |
| |
| Tricksters/The ancestral order disrupted | |
| |
| |
| Shaping the Landscape/Myths of ancestral wanderings | |
| |
| |
| Oceania | |
| |
| |
| |
| Myths of Origin/Creator gods and culture heroes | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Sky/Human and heavenly realms | |
| |
| |
| Food and fertility/Sex and the origins of horticulture | |
| |
| |
| Myths of the Maori/Rangi, Papa and the Polynesian pantheon | |
| |
| |
| Ku and Lono/The Hawaiian ritual cycle | |
| |
| |
| Maui/Oceania's trickster hero | |
| |
| |
| Cargo Cults/The European impact | |
| |
| |
| Myth and Magic/Living myth on Goodenough Island | |
| |
| |
| Southeast Asia | |
| |
| |
| |
| Myths of Origin/The creation of the world and humanity | |
| |
| |
| Humans, Gods and Spirits/The origins of civilization | |
| |
| |
| Encounters With Magic/Barbarians, demons and witches | |
| |
| |
| The Giver of Life/Myths about rice | |
| |
| |
| Further Reading | |
| |
| |
| Picture Credits | |
| |
| |
| Index | |