mythos - something spoken, said or talked

- has plot, characters, setting

- usually transmitted orally

- no authors

- elements of time and place important

- rooted in particularly society

- can be attached to a time and place, but not a specific time and place in history

- can arise through trades, wars

- not static, always moving

- can transform society

- have elements of the supernatural --> fairytales, folktales, legends, but unlike these, they have a role of importance in society

- hydra is a multiheaded serpent

- For Romans, Hercules was strong and wise

- son of a God

- portrays himself as a mortal

- divinity vs humanity: Hercules is a prime example

- sometimes characteristics of deities and humans overlap 

- foundation of series of religious performances in Greek world that were adapted in the Roman world

- reason why we have seasons

- Persephone is the daughter of Demeter (goddess of harvest)

- Hades steals Persephone, brings Demeter to grief --> reasons why we have seaons

- Hades offers her seeds of pomegranate (each seed she eats means she has to go back) 

Titan who stole fire from the Gods, thereofre was punished by being chained and then eaten by an eagle and had his livergrown again and the process would repeat

- symbolizes how he brings up civilization

- Titan who held up the celestial sphere (not Earth)

- During Titanomochy, after Zeus defeated the Titans, he made sure Gaea and Cronus to get together and would hold Uranus on his shoulder

Chinese culture

work of a single author dealing with myths that already exist

- study of myth

- transmission ans change over time

- influence from other cultures

- myths in context of society: time, place, genre, etc.

- Theories as "tools" 

- myths will differ based on time periods

- literary texts (papyri, manuscripts)

- inscriptions (found in God's sanctuary)

- objects from daily life (eg vases)

- works of art and decorations (eg statues, temples, friezes, paintings etc)