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Don't Know Much About Mythology
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Don't Know Much About

Don't Know Much About Mythology (2005) (edit title/settings)

Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned

by Kenneth C. Davis (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The latest installment in the New York Times bestselling Don't Know Much About® series -- a magical journey into the timeless world of mythology It has been fifteen years since Kenneth C. Davis first dazzled audiences with his instant classic Don't Know Much About® History , vividly... read more

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  • “A myth is a…projection of a…group’s sense of its sacred past and its significant relationship with the deeper powers of the surrounding world and universe. A myth is a projection of…a culture’s soul.””
  • “It is literally possible to stand with one foot in the dry desert and the other in the moist soil watered by the river—fertility and life on one side, sterility and death on the other. That clear demarcation between life and death carried over into Egyptian myths and beliefs.”
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  • Legends are really an early form of history—stories about historical figures, usually humans, not gods, that are handed down from earlier times.
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • All share a central belief that the sun—or more precisely, a sun god—was at the center of the creation, which emerged from a primeval watery chaos called Nun, an endless, formless deep that existed at the beginning of time and was the source of the Nile.
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • The image of Isis suckling the infant Horus, one of the most familiar themes in Egyptian art, was later adopted by early Christians to represent the Virgin Mary. The traditional blue dress of the Virgin Mary, the title Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), the reference to Mother of God, and the symbol of the crescent moon associated with Mary were all borrowed from the Roman cult of Isis.
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • These nine deities—Atum, his children Shu and Tefnut, their children Geb and Nut, and their children Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys—were responsible for bringing all other life into being. They are traditionally known by the Greek word for nine, ennea, as the Great Ennead.
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
  • “A myth is a…projection of a…group’s sense of its sacred past and its significant relationship with the deeper powers of the surrounding world and universe. A myth is a projection of…a culture’s soul.”
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
  • To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong in the ranks of devoutly religious men.”
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • Fables are simple, usually brief, fictitious stories, typically teaching a moral, or making a cautionary point, or, in some cases, satirizing human behavior.
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • In his groundbreaking book Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond singled out the power of belief as one of the key means for the wealthy and powerful—what he calls the “kleptocracy”—to maintain their hold over the poor and powerless.
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • Possession of the me meant to hold supreme power, and Enki, the chief god of Sumer, was the keeper of the me.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • It is literally possible to stand with one foot in the dry desert and the other in the moist soil watered by the river—fertility and life on one side, sterility and death on the other. That clear demarcation between life and death carried over into Egyptian myths and beliefs.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
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First Sentence edit see section history

In the olden days"-that seems like a good opening for a book about myths-when I was about eleven years old, I could not sit still at my fifth-grade desk.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Introduction
1. All Men Have Need of the Gods
2. Gift of the Nile - The Myths of Egypt
3. By the Rivers of Babylon - The Myths of Mesopotamia
4. The Greek Miracle - The Myths of Greece and Rome
5. An Age of Swords, an Age of Swords - The Myths of the Celts and Norse
a. Bridge to the East
6. The Radiance of a Thousand Suns - The Myths of India
7. Everywhere Under Heaven - The Myths of China and Japan
a. Ancient People, New Worlds
8. Out of Africa - The Myths of Sub-Saharan Africa
9. Sacred Hoops - The Myths of the Americas and Pacific Islands
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Don't Know Much About. (publisher series)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Kenneth C. Davis (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Country: The United States of America
Publication Date: November 1, 2005
ISBN: 006019460X
Page Count: 545

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