My Mythphile Blog
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The Blog For Mythology Lovers
Now, two MAs in classics (Greece and Rome) and mythological studies later, I continue to pursue that goal. With my Mythphile blog, launched in 2008, I share one of my passions which drew me to study classical literature in the first place: mythology.
Greek mythos originally just meant "story," "things spoken." With the advent of the web, we speak in new ways, including blogs.
Gather around. I'd like to tell you a story.
Left: Ancient Greek "Kore" (Persephone-figure), Acropolis Museum. Photo © 2005 Ellen Brundige.
Bonus! LISTEN to my original retelling of "The Tale of Two Jackals," a 4,000 year old Egyptian Folktale.
Latest 3 Posts from Mythphile
"All the myth that's fit to print"
Mythphile is Available on Kindle!
Read Mythphile while on the go, or give it as a gift!
Mehercle! (Latin for, roughly, "my Hercules!") Mythphile is now an official blog on Kindle.
I'm really excited about this, and am digging through my sources looking for some of the less well-known myths from world mythology to share with you!
Professor Tolkien on Mythology
Why an Oxford Scholar Wrote Fantasy Fiction
“I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth', and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and most always reappear.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien (Letters #130) explaining his "created" mythology, The Lord of the Rings, and his then-unpublished work The Silmarillion.
Why Myth Still Matters
Stories of the Soul
Myths skim the boundary between dreams and stories, history and imagination. Storytelling is part of what makes us human, the ability to think beyond food and shelter and reproduction to "who put stars in the sky?" and "why is there death?" For hundreds of thousands of years, before the scientific method gave us ways to analyze, observe, and test results, people used mythology to make sense of the world, of creation, of life's patterns, of animals, geography and weather, and of hard-to-fathom absolutes like death and sex.Science now gives us logical answers to some questions. But those answers ("the Milky Way is a collection of stars drawn together by gravity") don't always satisfy the soul as well as stories which hold more meaning ("And Chief Long Sash led the people on a long journey to find a place where they might live in peace, and now we see their cookfires twinkling in the night.") Myths are meaning-full.
Stories do not have to be literally true to convey some inner truth (Harry Potter on the power of friendship, which transcends magic). True myths trigger a leap of the heart, some "click" in that part of our mind which dreams, hopes, loves and fears. Those things can't be measured under a telescope or microscope, but they still matter. Myths, likewise, still matter.
They sing us songs about the universe. They paint rabbits on the moon and uplift us with timeless tales of adventure, magic, fear and love and death. They are a part of human culture, our collective soul.
Above right: massive sphinx which once stood on a tall column at the gateway to the Oracle of Delphi, Greece. Photo © Ellen Brundige.
Myth According to Joseph Campbell
Popular teacher of mythology Joseph Campbell used to say of mythology, "Mythology is what we call other people's religion."
And also, "A myth is a metaphor."
Read this fascinating interview with Joseph Campbell trying to explain "myth is metaphor" to a radio host who insists, "myth is a lie."
Myths Retold by Modern Storytellers
Mythology Videos
What Is Myth?
Another Fascinating Website
- Art Is Myth
- Blurb: "myth is ...what? In his ongoing video art work of 'speaking portraits,' poet/artist George Quasha puts this impossible, but inevitable, question before presenters at the 2004 and 2006 Mythic Journeys Conference & Performance Festival... Here we glimpse how accomplished thinkers, mythographers, poets, and artists come at this crucial question."
Some of My Squidoo Pages on Mythology
(On the Volcanoes lens, click the "mythology" tab at top)
Guestbook
For Dreamers
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TransplantedSoul
Apr 28, 2012 @ 9:45 am | delete
- It is a shame that so much of the history taught in schools is so dry. You are absolutley right about brining it to life. There are so many fascinating things to learn. I am reading a book Civilization by Niall Ferguson right now (not ancient history) and it does a great job of putting some things in perspective.
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Brookelorren
Jan 15, 2011 @ 3:31 am | delete
- I believe that many of the myths that we know today have their roots in real people that did extraordinary things. I don't have a favorite though.
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SereneSea Jan 8, 2011 @ 12:20 pm | delete
- Such nicely conveyed the myth - that we have faith n several myths and legends. They all absolutely convey a morale message , it is for us to decode.
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by Greekgeek
Storyteller, former Latin teacher, student of mythology and the ancient world: I've worn many hats, but always I've dabbled in computers and the web.
Until...
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The Book that Got Me Started
I still love this book
Tales of Ancient Egypt (Puffin Classics)
Amazon Price: $3.95 (as of 06/02/2012)
I first read this book when I was seven, and I fell in love with it. Other mythology books -- Hamilton's Mythology, or Greene's The Dolphin Rider on Greek myths also enchanted me, but this first book on Egyptian mythology left a profound impression on me. As a children's book, it skips over some of the "naughty bits" that crop up in most world mythologies, but still manages to tell powerful, moving, and entertaining stories that are 3000 to 5000+ years old.
