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The Myths Portal

Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is totally different from the ordinary sense of the term myth, meaning a belief that is not true, as the veracity of a piece of folklore is entirely irrelevant to determining whether it constitutes a myth.

Myths are often endorsed by religious and secular authorities, and may be natural or supernatural in character. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. (Full article...)

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Ahalya by Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906)

In Hindu mythology, Ahalya (Sanskrit: अहल्या, IAST: Ahalyā) also spelt as Ahilya, is the wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi. Many Hindu scriptures describe her legend of seduction by the king of the gods Indra, her husband's curse for her infidelity, and her liberation from the curse by the god Rama.

Created by the god Brahma as the most beautiful woman, Ahalya was married to the much older Gautama. In the earliest full narrative, when Indra comes disguised as her husband, Ahalya sees through his disguise but nevertheless accepts his advances. Later sources often absolve her of all guilt, describing how she falls prey to Indra's trickery. In all narratives, Ahalya and Indra are cursed by Gautama. The curse varies from text to text, but almost all versions describe Rama as the eventual agent of her liberation and redemption. Although early texts describe how Ahalya must atone by undergoing severe penance while remaining invisible to the world and how she is purified by offering Rama hospitality, in the popular retelling developed over time, Ahalya is cursed to become a stone and regains her human form after she is brushed by Rama's foot. (Full article...)

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... that Tamil Hindu parents dedicate their one-month-old children to the goddess Periyachi (pictured), who is depicted ripping a woman's womb?

...that the most popular deity worshipped by the Duala peoples of Cameroon is a mermaid called a jengu?

... that in Mesoamerican folklore, it is believed that a dog (mythical dog pictured) carries the newly deceased across a body of water into the afterlife?

...that in Greek mythology, Arion (or Areion) was an extremely swift immortal horse that could talk?

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The stoor worm, or Mester Stoor Worm, was a gigantic evil sea serpent of Orcadian folklore, capable of contaminating plants and destroying animals and humans with its putrid breath. It is probably an Orkney variant of the Norse Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent, or world serpent, and has been described as a sea dragon.

The king of one country threatened by the beast's arrival was advised to offer it a weekly sacrifice of seven virgins. In desperation, the king eventually issued a proclamation offering his kingdom, his daughter's hand in marriage, and a magic sword to anyone who could destroy the monster. Assipattle, the youngest son of a local farmer, defeated the creature; as it died its teeth fell out to become the islands of Orkney, Shetland and the Faroes, and its body became Iceland. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various myth-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Yama advances to smite Ravana with the weapon of death (from List of mythological objects)
Image 2An angel (Camael) expelling Adam and Eve with a flaming sword (from List of mythological objects)
Image 3Image showing the sacred tree to the right of the temple, from Olaus Magnus' Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555). To the right of the tree is a depiction of a man being sacrificed in the spring (from List of mythological objects)
Image 4Goetia seal of solomon (from List of mythological objects)
Image 5Yama with his famous Yama Pasha (from List of mythological objects)
Image 6Jacob blesses Joseph and gives him the coat of many colors (from List of mythological objects)
Image 7Claíomh Solais on an Ireland stamp printed in 1922 (from List of mythological objects)
Image 8Vishnu with his Panchajanya (from List of mythological objects)
Image 9Golem and Loew (from List of mythological objects)
Image 10"The Fall of Man" by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Tree of Knowledge is on the right (from List of mythological objects)
Image 11Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' Song, a mythological painting by Francesco Hayez, 1813–1815 (from Myth)
Image 12Artist's impressions of the (unseen) Imperial Regalia of Japan (from List of mythological objects)
Image 131929 Belgian banknote, depicting Ceres, Neptune and caduceus (from Myth)
Image 14Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons (from Comparative mythology)
Image 15Veronica holding her veil, Hans Memling, c. 1470 (from List of mythological objects)
Image 16Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mountain, in a print from the Ravi Varma Press, 1910's (from List of mythological objects)
Image 17Hop-o'-My-Thumb stealing the Seven-league boots from the Ogre, by Gustave Doré (from List of mythological objects)
Image 18The Giving of the Seven Bowls of Wrath / The First Six Plagues, Revelation 16:1–16. Matthias Gerung, c. 1531 (from List of mythological objects)
Image 19"Tizona", the sword attributed to El Cid, on exhibit in the Army Museum of Madrid (from List of mythological objects)
Image 20Greek God Kronos/Saturnus with sickle (from List of mythological objects)
Image 21Houyi, the God of Archery (from List of mythological objects)
Image 22Hand of God (from List of mythological objects)
Image 23The Argo (c. 1500 – 1530), painting by Lorenzo Costa (from List of mythological objects)
Image 24Ahimelech giving the sword of Goliath to David, by Aert de Gelder. (from List of mythological objects)
Image 25Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules (from List of mythological objects)
Image 26As is usual in bestiaries, the lynx in this late 13th-century English manuscript is shown urinating, the urine turning to the mythical stone Lyngurium (from List of mythological objects)
Image 27Azoth, a universal medicine or universal solvent sought in alchemy. (Medieval legend) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 28The Crown of Immortality, held by the allegorical figure Eterna (Eternity) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 29Voodoo doll with pins in it, Museum of Witchcraft (from List of mythological objects)
Image 30Sampo, a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought riches and good fortune to its holder, in the Finnish epic poetry Kalevala (The Forging of the Sampo, Joseph Alanen, 1911) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 31Tissot Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle (from List of mythological objects)
Image 32Adam's Bridge also called as Rama Setu (from List of mythological objects)
Image 33seven angels with seven trumpets (from List of mythological objects)
Image 34Thor wearing the magic belt Megingjörð (from List of mythological objects)
Image 35Rectangular tablets passed down by the Hand of God in the 10th century Byzantine Leo Bible (from List of mythological objects)
Image 36Fountain of Youth (from List of mythological objects)
Image 37Riding a Flying Carpet, an 1880 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov (from List of mythological objects)
Image 38Fig trees often represent talismans with the udumbara (from List of mythological objects)
Image 39Longinus with his famous Spear (from List of mythological objects)
Image 40Golden cosmic egg Hiranyagarbha by Manaku (from List of mythological objects)
Image 4114th century Goryeo painting of Ksitigarbha holding a cintamani (from List of mythological objects)
Image 42The fall of Icarus (from List of mythological objects)
Image 43Achilles wearing his armor (from List of mythological objects)
Image 44Pied piper (from List of mythological objects)
Image 45The Celestial Chariot, Pushpaka Vimana from Ramayana (from List of mythological objects)
Image 46Thor kicks Litr onto Baldr's Hringhorni, illustration by Emil Doepler (ca. 1905) (from List of mythological objects)
Image 47Edith Hamilton's Mythology has been a major channel for English speakers to learn classical Greek and Roman mythology (from Myth)
Image 48The Deluge, frontispiece to Gustave Doré's illustrated edition of the Bible. Based on the story of Noah's Ark, this engraving shows humans and a tiger doomed by the flood futilely attempting to save their children and cubs. (from Comparative mythology)
Image 49Heracles would use arrows dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood to kill other foes during his Labours, such as Stymphalian birds and the giant (from List of mythological objects)
Image 50Joan of Arc with her famous sword (from List of mythological objects)