mythoiogy

[Fr. my tho logie, from Latin my tho logia; Gr. my tho logia, from mythos a fable, and logos a word, a discourse; lego to tell.] 1. Gen .: The science of myths or legends; that branch of science which investigates the meaning of myths, and the relationship between the myths of different countries or peoples; a treatise on myths. "Parts of mythology are religious, parts of mythology are historical, parts of mythology are poetical, but mythol ogy as a whole is neither religion nor history, nor philosophy, nor poetry. It comprehends all these together under that peculiar form of expre ion which is natural and intelligible at a certain stage, or at certain recurring stages in the development of thought and speech, but which, after becoming traditional, becomes frequently unnatural and unintelligible."-Max Müller : Science of Religion , pp. 252, 253. 2. Spec.: A system of myths or fables in which are embodied the beliefs of a people concerning their origin, deities, heroes, . "What we call a religion differs from mythology in the same way as a civilized state does from a savage tribe." Sayoe : Comparative Philology (1874), p. 290. Comparative mythology : The comparison of the mythologies of all nations. Profe or Sayce considers that it is but a branch of the science of language. Mythology, he says, is founded on words, IMG:content-1540.png:[blocks in formation] and the history, therefore, of words must explain of this family are popularly known as Hag-fish, its external side, which is its most important one. Glutinous Hags, or Borers; they are marine, and The religious instinct will explain the internal one. their distribution is similar to that of the Gadidae, The leading mythologies of cla ical literature are in the abdominal cavity of which they are fre- the Greek and Latin. As the Latin was to a great quently found buried. They secrete an immense extent derived from the Greek, there is a similarity, varied only in detail (and nomenclature in some instances) to be noted between the two. The fol- lowing are the names of the principal Greek deities and their Latin equivalents: IMG:content-1541.png:[blocks in formation] Roman. Saturn) Cybele parents of Jupiter (Diovis-pater). Pluto. Neptune. Juno. JUPITER'S CHILDREN. Athena or Athene. Aphrodite. Artemis.. Ceres. Vesta, . Bacchus. Apollo. Mars. Mercury. Vulcan. Minerva, Venus. Diana. The chief Hindu gods are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer, but there have been many changes in the Hindu Pantheon.