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I am looking for a book or books with short stories outlining a bunch of real world mythological legends and stories. I used to know a bunch of stories from any Pantheon from Native American, African, Greek, Norse, the various oriental and Indian, and many others but my knowledge has atrophied (must be the beer) and I want to inject more flavor in my upcoming campaign and I thought to refresh my literal knowledge so I could think "on the fly".
So anyone who has a good book that is easily available (Borders, waldenbooks, etc.) and that covers as much as possible, please post a title and author(s).
FH (I know Lilith will have a few.)
i have found a great site online that gives the jist of the story associated with the hero heroine or deity and many mythologies. http://www.pantheon.org/ and then just search by
culture or use the scroll menu and then it is by name alphabetical or you can search by name as well and get resuts. maybe that will help you.
I'm all about pantheon.org as well.
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Joseph Campbell has some books about Occidental and Oriental mythologies that are really great. He doesn't recite stories per se, just get into the symbolism of it all; what it all means. It's good stuff. George Lucas used his ideas when slapping together Star Wars, which isn't great literature or anything, but it's a well-loved mythology in the making.
Joseph Campbell has some books about Occidental and Oriental mythologies that are really great. He doesn't recite stories per se, just get into the symbolism of it all; what it all means. It's good stuff. George Lucas used his ideas when slapping together Star Wars, which isn't great literature or anything, but it's a well-loved mythology in the making.
I'm a big fan. I saw some of his classes at Sarah Lawrence. He'd stay on a drawing of a room in Sumeria, show the cow head on the wall and just riff explanations and philosophies for an hour. It was mezmerizing.
Joseph Campbell's stuff is a great resource. His study of the hero's journey, which is kind of an archetypal story which almost all of the world's stories and mythologies are based on, is detailed in his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." Christopher Vogler has condensed these ideas down into a more manageable format for writers and storytellers in "The Writer's Journey". I find both books to be highly inspirational for adventure writing.
-Fang
Ohhh...crap I've got so many books on mythology that it verges on the insane. Will be back with a list later tonight. :)
Do you want synopses and summaries, or readable narratives?
Wikipedia is a useful source if you want thumbnail sketches on particular topics, with links that zero in on specific figures or epic cycles. I've found some useful external links as well, including a great one that has all kinds of public domain Celtic mythology. I'll post the link tonight when I get home and can call up the bookmark.
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Do you want synopses and summaries, or readable narratives?
Wikipedia is a useful source if you want thumbnail sketches on particular topics, with links that zero in on specific figures or epic cycles. I've found some useful external links as well, including a great one that has all kinds of public domain Celtic mythology. I'll post the link tonight when I get home and can call up the bookmark.
I used to have several books that had 10-20 pages on each god/hero/legend that would outline a few of the more popular legends/stories about the subject of that section. Such as Zeus slept with blank to father blank and blank. They in turn grew jealous of Zeus and did blank but were caught and punished with blank for eternity.
That type of stuff.Wikipedia just isn't doing it for me on this type of subject.
FH
Wikipedia is great, but far too often, they act as an online Wal-Mart; a little bit of everything, a lot of nothing.
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Aww, come on. They're at least Target.Wikipedia is great, but far too often, they act as an online Wal-Mart; a little bit of everything, a lot of nothing.Exactly, and I can't seem to get what I really want from them.
FH
How dare you sully Target's good name!!! They are to Wal-mart what Macy's is to JCPenney's. I feel the urge to fong and fong mightily! Must restrain Back-hand of Tooth-loosening!
FH
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How dare you sully Target's good name!!! They are to Wal-mart what Macy's is to JCPenney's. I feel the urge to fong and fong mightily! Must restrain Back-hand of Tooth-loosening!FH
Walmart pimps Target out for cigarettes.
Walmart makes Target sleep on the top bunk.Target fisses Walmart a sammich when Walmart says,
"now go fiss me asammaaaaaaaaaach!"
Any of the Bulfinch books (Age of Chivalry, etc) are good. If you're looking for a good primer, "Mythology" by Edith Hamilton is a good place to start.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (most often found translated by Budge) is also a very interesting read as well. I still think Ammut, the Soul Eater, would be a great epic level creature to make. Budge has also done several books concerning Egyptian gods and mythologies.
I've found American Indian Myths and Legends to be a great introduction to a variety of native mythologies. Japanese Tales is good as well - I keep trying to find it at the bookstore, I should just get it the next time I see it and call it good.
Other pieces of work I consider essential and come in a variety of translations are:
1001 Arabian Nights
The Upanishads
The Iliad
The Odyssey
The Kojiki
Nihongi
The Tale of Genji
The Volsung Saga
The Edda
The Kalevala
The Legend of the Nibelungenlied
The Mabinogion
There's one from China which I can't remember the name of, but it deals with the Seven Gods of Fortune in their boat (help me, Peruhain!) I've only dabbled in Tibetan, Indian or Korean mythos, so I can't really give a good suggestion as far as that's concerned.
Not quite mythology per se, but still a damn good read, is Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost. The translation of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney is good - it's a dual-language setup, with the translated version on the right hand side.
Don't forget to go to your library. A good place to start is the religion section, mythology will show up in there somewhere. The aforementioned Joseph Campbell is excellent, but I'd read him after you've got some material to reference to. Out of all of his stuff, I'd read "The Power of Myth" first. If you can get a hold of the video interview, I'd watch that too.
Hopefully you're not overwhelmed yet. Start small, look at the bibliographies for further suggestions.
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All right, I finally remembered the list. Here it is:
- Penguin Classics Series: The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey.
- Greek Gods and Heroes by Robert Graves
- Dictionary of Mythology by Bergen Evans
- Sumerian Mythology by Samuel Noah Kramer
- Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas by H.A. Guerber
- The World of Myth: An Anthology by David Adams Leeming
- Legends and Lore of the American Indian edited by Terry Hardin (a Barnes and Noble Book)
- World Mythology (3rd Edition) by Donna Rosenberg
- Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend by Mike Dixon-Kennedy
-Dictionary of Ancient Deities by Patricia Turner and Charles Russell Coulter
- Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth by Carol Rose
An absolute top resource for weird magical rites (although VERY heavy reading) is Frazer's "The Golden Bough." My copy, alas, has almost moldered into dust, so I'm afraid to pick it up anymore.