THE IMPORTANCE OF MYTHOLOGY

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Good day humans and demigods.

Today on the Maximus show, I'm going to be talking about a topic called mythology.

Now most of you know what mythology is,
especially if you are a geek like me.

But it won't be professional if I talk about a topic without giving it some level of definition...
and I am a professional 😑

The English dictionary defines mythology as a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition.
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Now this definition tells us that mythologies are myths i.e non factual, not real and so on.

And that's mostly due to the rise of science and technology which disproves basically everything mythology is about.

But back then, it was way different.
what we call mythology now was religion then. it was what people believed in. some people even died for these things.

And one of the major reasons why mythology exists is because there was hardly any scientific presence back then, so people had to come up with some sort of explanation for natural phenomenon. People created gods to help them wrap their heads around these things.

When people see lightning,
they don't think "oh it's the clash of positive and negative charges."
they think "oh it's just one bearded man throwing it all over the sky."

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When they see stars, they don't think "oh they are just balls of burning gas",
They think it's the souls of fallen heroes that have floated up to the sky and are watching over us. That's where the idea of most constellations come from. A notbale example is the Orion's belt constellation.

This type of thinking is called the rational myth theory; which states that myths were made to better understand natural events and forces that occurred in the everyday lives of people.

But even though they are myths as the name implies, they are and have always been an important part of culture and tradition.

Mythologies exist all around the world;
Greek, Norse, Roman, Chinese, Indian, Nigerian, Egyptian and many more.

Fun fact: there ere are over a hundred mythologies that we know of today.

Each one of these has their own gods, heroes and stories
and each of them have their contributions to culture and even the modern world.

Literature, architecture, language, art
the impact of mythology cannot be denied.
Do you know how many beautiful paintings or amazing structures have been erected based on the ideas of mythology?

The temple of Artemis, the statue of Buddha, even the pyramids in Egypt were based on Mythology as they were believed to be necessary for the pharaoh's journey to the afterlife.
do you know how many books have been written how many poems have been written that are still very relevant today because of mythology?
The epic of Gilgamesh, the illiad, even the Atlas was named after Atlas, the Titan that lifted the heavens in Greek mythology.

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Some people might think that they are silly stories about gods fornicating and gallivanting,
but that's just a surface level of it all.
Keep in mind that most of these mythologies were written by brilliant philosophers that are legends now.

Homer, Socrates, Plato, Neil Gaiman, even the legend J. R. R. Tolkien wrote mythology.

Sure there are some silly and mind boggling stories in mythology
but all that added to one of the most important part of human culture.

And let's not talk about the impact of mythology on modern media.

Basically you can find mythology in every Media form or every art form;
anime, movies, novels, games, comics e.t.c
Mythology is everywhere...

I'm sure you all remember clash of the titans.
It was entirely based on Greek mythology, the story of Perseus
and it was one of the most popular movies back then.
So that proves that even though mythology has lost its credibility as fact,
it is still very much relevant and appreciated.

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In a way, it has evolved from a way of life as it was back then to just a part of our lives now.
We've seen tons of mythology inspired movies, shows and novels.

In fact my favourite author is kind of a mythology writer.

Rick Riordan is his name.
If you've ever heard of Percy Jackson, then that's the author.

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He has written some very beautiful and awesome novels based on Greek, Norse and Egyptian mythology, there was even a book of his where a character in it was the son of Sango (a Nigerian deity).
So you can tell that this dude knows his stuff.

And that makes me happy, the fact that an American writer can know about Nigerian culture just because of his interest in our mythology shows that mythology connects cultures in a way that's under-appreciated.

I was never interested in Egypt, but because of my love for their mythology, I've been pushed to learn so much about them and their culture.
And to me, that's a beautiful thing.

To reiterate all I have said in a TL;DR version,
Mythology is important because:

  1. It is a huge part of culture and tradition.
  2. It has brought forth notable contributions to world art, structures and literature.
  3. Because of it, we have beautiful stories.
  4. It has inspired countless authors, directors and even academics.
  5. It connects people and cultures.

There are many more reasons, but I feel like these are enough to convey the weight of mythology on our world.

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CONCLUSION:

I really enjoyed writing this, even though I strayed away from my conventional way of writing,
I feel I did a pretty good job.

I had no idea how to end this so I decided to just drop some nice mythology/mythology inspired quotes I found

So, I hope you enjoy.

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Mythology is the story of good versus evil over a very long span of time. The storytelling is universal and timeless.

~Michael Franti

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Mythology is a subjective truth. Every culture imagines life a certain way.

~Devdutt Pattanaik

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Old myths, old gods, old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our minds, waiting for the call.
We have need for them. They represent the wisdom of our race.

~Stanley Kunitz

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I believe legends and myths are largely made of truth.

~J.R.R. Tolkien

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According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.

~Plato

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Thank you for reading.

Stay buzzing,

Maximus✍🏾



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8 comments
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Awesome piece maximus,always enjoy your writing

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My favourite mythology has got to be the Greek mythology, I have read a lot about their gods and also learnt about them from movies and games. I have read about other mythologies like Roman, India and Norse but Greek still remains my favorite

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Broooo
Greek mythology is my favorite too

You should check out the Percy Jackson novels
The author incorporated Greek mythology so well

After Greek it's probably Egypt for me

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Yeah I also love Egypt; Osiris and others 😁 I will check out the novels you recommended, thanks bro

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The Mythology that spawns throughout history has always been fascinating to me, to connect the dots and understand why people thought such creatures or beings existed. Thank you for your post on Mythology, it's well written and an interesting topic to discuss!

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Hmmmm
The psychology of mythology 🤔

Thank you so much for reading
Looking forward to discussing it with you🙌🏻🤗

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