1. What is a myth? What is a legend?
ESL6
Wiesbaden Middle School
L. Nabulsi

2. Legends Based on historical event Based on real people Oral literature
Exaggerated
Examples – folk tales and tall tales

3. Myths Basis of a system of beliefs
Depicts the moral values of a culture
Defines the needs of a culture
Teaches the morals of a culture
To those who believe, it is their religion; to those who do not believe, it is a mythology

4. TYPES OF MYTHS
CREATION
HEROIC
MORAL
ETIOLOGICAL
DEATH
HISTORICAL

5. CREATION MYTHS ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS
HOW MAN CAME INTO BEING
HOW THE WORLD WAS FORMED
HOW THE UNIVERSE WAS FORMED

6. TYPES OF CREATION MYTHS
DELUGE FLOOD
EDICT PRONOUNCEMENT
ORDER OUT OF CHAOS --BIG BANG
TRANSFORMATION – CHANGING SHAPE
DISMEMBERMENT – TEARING APART
BIRTH – PARENTS

7. HEROIC MYTHS DREAM OF A NATION – TO SOLVE PROBLEMS OF THE NATION
DESTINED OR FATED TO BE A HERO
HAS HELP FROM THE GODS
EXAMPLES –Theseus, Jason, Hercules

8. MORAL MYTHS TEACH THE VALUES OF THE CULTURE
HUBRIS- TOO MUCH PRIDE, COMPARING SELF TO GOD
FATE – GODS CONTROLLED HUMAN DESTINY
APOLLONIAN – MODERATION
DIONYSIAN - EXTREME

9. ETIOLOGICAL MYTHS NON-SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF NATURE
WHY SPIDERS SPIN WEBS?
WHY BERRIES TURN FROM WHITE TO RED?
ETIOLOGICAL MYTHS CAN ALSO REFLECT A MORAL CONCEPT

10. DEATH MYTHS WHY DO PEOPLE DIE? WHERE DO PEOPLE GO AFTER DEATH?
STRUCTURE OF HADES:
EREBUS
TARTARUS
ELYSIAN FIELDS
ISLE OF BLESSED

11. RIVERS OF HADES Acheron – River of Sadness
Cocytus – River of lamentation
Lethe – River of forgetfulness
Phlegethon – River of fire
Styx – River of hate

13. CHRONOLOGY OF DEATH PERSON DIES – BEST WAY TO DIE IS IN BATTLE
BODY WASHED AND COIN PLACED UNDER TONGUE
BODY BURIED OR BURNED
LIBATIONS POURED OVER BODY
HERMES COMES FOR SHADE

14. JOURNEY TO HADES
HERMES DELIVERS SHADE TO SHORE OF HADES, THE RIVER OF FORGETFULNESS, LETHE
CHARON TAKES COIN TO PAY FOR FERRY ACROSS THE RIVER
CERBERUS, a three headed dog, GUARDS THE GATES OF HADES

15. JUDGMENT/PLACEMENT
THREE JUDGES, Rhadamanthys, Minos, and Aeacus, DETERMINE WHERE SOUL GOES
GOOD PERSONS GO TO ELYSIAN FIELDS
BAD PERSONS GO TO TARTARUS AND ARE PUNISHED FOR ETERNITY
PERSONS WHO HAVE LED THREE GOOD LIVES CAN GO TO THE ISLE OF BLESSED

16. HISTORICAL MYTHS BASED ON REAL BATTLES AND EVENTS ORAL TRADITION
HOMER – THE BLIND BARD
The Iliad and The Odyssey

17. The End