Flood Myth: Did you mean...?

Myths are a part of every culture in the world and are used to explain natural phenomena, where a people came from and how their civilization developed, and why things happen as they do. At their most basic level, myths comfort by giving...

On this Crash Course in World Mythology, Mike Rugnetta is teaching you about floods and deluges, specifically in China. In Chinese myth, flood stories pretty much all revolve around a guy named Yu the Great, or Yu the Engineer. In the distant...

The Instructions of Shuruppag (c. 2000 BCE) is the most famous work of the genre of Sumerian wisdom literature whose purpose was to encourage proper behavior in conformity with cultural values and standards. It is among the oldest works of...

Cover of Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth by Gordon Campbell. Published by Oxford University Press.

In our interview with Gordon Campbell, we chat all about his new book Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth. The book tells two stories. One story is that of the Norse proceeding in the 10th and 11th century from mainland Scandinavia...

This calcite cylinder seal depicts the myth of Etana, the shepherd and the legendary king of Uruk, who was carried up to heaven by an eagle to obtain an heir. Etana's ascent is watched by the shepherd and his dog, with two markhor-type goats...

A Roman floor mosaic emblemata depicting the myth of Iphigenia and her (almost) sacrifice by Agamemnon, her father, prior to the Trojan War. From a Roman villa, Empuries, 1st century BCE. (Archaeological Museum, Empuries, Spain)

Fragment of a Neo-Assyrian clay tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal, part of the Adapa myth, with 21 lines of inscription.

Lare jar painted in red and black on beige. The paintings show animal scenes in two registers. In the lower register, two large snakes lie opposite each other. In the upper one, framed by horizontal lines and a zigzag motif on the jar's shoulder...

Examine the myth of the Lost Cause: a campaign created by pro-Confederates after the Civil War to promote the lie that they seceded for state's rights. In the 1860’s, 11 southern states withdrew from the United States and formed the Confederacy...