Mythology

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Mythology

• Drill
• Think about some of the stories family members
  have shared with you.
• Write a brief summary of one of these stories in
  the drill section of your binder.
• Why did your family member tell you that story?
  Write your answer in the drill section of your
  binder.

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MYTHOLOGY

• Take a binder divider from the stool
• in front of the room insert it into
• your binder.
• Write a definition of MYTHOLOGY
• in that section.

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Why do Myths exist?
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1. To Explain a Natural Phenomena

• To answer the questions we all ask at one time or
  another
• Examples
• Why do crops die every winter?
• Where does the sun go at night?

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2. To Control Natural Forces

• In order to control nature, people had to try to
  gain the gods favor. They did this by
• making sacrifices,
• offering prayers, or
• performing rituals.
• Once the gods were on their side, the people
  tried to influence the gods.
• Examples ask them to cure a disease or make the
  rain fall when needed

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3. To Bind a Clan, Tribe, or Nation Together

• Myths create strong social connections.
• They keep empires together.
• They generate a kind of family or team spirit.

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4. To Record Historical Events

• Events in a tribe or nation are recorded as
  legends/myths
• Example
• In Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
  were prone to flooding
• Judeo-Christian Noah story and Babylonian flood
  myth are believed to be tales of a disastrous
  flood of that area

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5. To Give a Verbal Geography Lesson

• Before maps, myths gave the only description
  of landmarks.
• People knew where other lands and peoples were
  based on the stories that travelers told.

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6. To Set Examples for Peoples Behavior

• Myths of the gods and of heroes showed people HOW
  to act, and how NOT to act.

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7. To Justify a Social Structure

• Arrangement of mythological heavens reflected the
  social arrangement of the culture.
• Society should be arranged a certain way to
  reflect the gods order of things.
• The Romans claimed their emperors were
  descendants of gods, so their word was law.

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8. To Control People

• Depending on the myth, you can
• control with authority (from the gods) and fear
• threaten with punishments during life and after
  death

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Can you think of any additionalreasons why myths
exist?

• 9.
• 10.

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Closure

• Why do myths exist?
• How are myths passed down over time?
• Why are some myths still present today?