What is Myth Myths must do something Explanatory power E g creation myths Etiologies the cause set of causes or manner of causation of a disease or condition Myths often teach moral lessons E g Icarus and Daedalus flew too close to the sun Adam and Eve The morality might not be immediately obvious to us E g The Iliad A book about the trojan war Myths are imbedded in culture Definitions of Myth Maruizio Bascom s Table Form Belief Time Place Attitude Principal Characters Myth Fact Sacred Nonhuman Remote Past Different world other or earlier Cuppit s Definition So we may say that a myth is typically a sacred story of anonymous authorship and archetypal or universal significance which is recounted in a certain community and is often linked with ritual that it tells of the deeds of superhuman beings such as gods demigods heroes spirits or ghosts that it is set outside historical time in primal or eschatological i e last or ultimate time or in the supernatural world Myth is a religion that nobody believes anymore What about visual depictions of myth E g Apotropaic Powers protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye Poetry and Poetic License E g Pindar Apollodorus and Lucian all have versions of the Medusa What is Myth
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