what is mythology?

Answer 1

What is myth?
A starting point for looking at the nature of myths is to say that myths are stories shared by a group, and which are a part of their cultural identity. As such, they are important to understand when looking at the history of a people. There is no completely satisfactory definition of myth*, although many of the world's greatest thinkers have provided partial answers.
They are often stories of origins, how the world and everything in it came to be in illo tempore (Eliade).
Sometimes they are public dreams which, like private dreams, emerge from the unconscious mind (Freud).
Indeed, they often reveal the archetypes of the collective unconscious (Jung).
They orient people to the metaphysical dimension, explain the origins and nature of the cosmos, validate social issues, and, on the psychological plane, address themselves to the innermost depths of the psyche (Campbell).
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Some of them are explanatory, being prescientific attempts to interpret the natural world (Frazer).
Religious myths are sacred histories (Eliade)
They are both individual and social in scope, but they are first and foremost stories (Kirk).
To help define myth, people often compare myth with science and religion. Usually, this comparison is unfavorable and myth is relegated to the area of lies.
Myth vs. Science
Questions closely related to the nature of myth are "what is truth?" and "how do we know anything?" It seems fair to say that myth is not the same as scientific fact, but what exactly does even that mean? If we look at one of the ancient Greek creation stories, the world was originally Chaos. From Chaos suddenly Order appeared, and from the conflict between the two of them, all else in the world was created. Did the Greeks think of this as the literal truth? How would they know for sure? Perhaps they extrapolated from their observations and powers of reasoning to construct this world view as an allegory. Paul Veyne in Did the Greeks Believe Their Myths? writes:

"Myth is truthful, but figuratively so. It is not historical truth mixed with lies; it is a high philosophical teaching that is entirely true, on the condition that, instead of taking it literally, one sees in it an allegory."
How different is this allegory from the Big Bang Theory with its inexplicable components? Instead of an explosive force originating out of nowhere but coming from within the cosmic soup, the Greeks had some kind of primeval disorganized and chaotic soup with the principle of order suddenly asserting itself.
Maybe we should say that myth is like scientific -- not knowledge, but -- theory. That would work for some myth, like the creation out of Chaos, but it won't work when we examine the supernatural stories that appear to defy scientific knowledge, like the story of the chthonic creature Hercules tried to wrestle. Every time Hercules hurled Antaeus to the ground, he became stronger. Clearly this is what we might politely call a tall story. But maybe there is a scientific logic behind it. What if Antaeus had some sort of magnet (you can invent the scenario) that made him stronger each time he hit the earth and weaker when held away from his power source? Or how about Cerberus, the three-headed hound guarding the Underworld? There are two-headed people. We call them Siamese or Conjoined Twins. Why not three-headed beasts? And, as far as the Underworld goes, some of the stories of the Underworld mention a cave at the western edge of the world that was thought to lead downwards. While there could be some scientific basis for this, even if there isn't, is this story any more a "lie" to be scoffed at than "Journey to the Center of the Earth"? Yet people dismiss such myths as lies created by primitive people who lack scientific knowledge -- or as lies created by people who haven't found the true religion.

Answer 2

Ancient Greek Mythology

Answer 3

Mythology deals with a belief in higher beings or gods/godesses along with mythical creatures such as a unicorn, monsters, and usually a hero. It explains often how the universe was created or how a constellation of stars formed. Famous mythology creators and still used in some form today are the Norse, Romans, Ancient Greece, and the Ancient Egyptians.

Answer 4

Shortly put, mythology is the study of myths: stories of a particular culture that it believes to be true and which feature a specific religious or belief system.

Answer 5

Mythology is the study of 'mystery' as articulated by one with a lisp. It is the mystery of who we were and where we come from in an attempt to shed light on who we are and are becoming and where we are heading. People in this field are renowned for having a lot on their mind.

Answer 6

mythology is a series of stories and ideas used to BS explanations about many things that couldn't be explained until science caught up with the questions.

Answer 7

In each community there is somewhat linked with god who have different power to serve the public and according to the belive in each community and the story of these gods and their stories is known as the mythology.

Answer 8

Depiction of time before history. But some of them had spilled over to actual history as well. It may be human imagination of an utopia.

Answer 9

They were ways to explain things in early man. A myth is a now proven-false defination.

Answer 10

Related to Dharma (religion)