Favorite Myths?

[Agaliha]

I'm not even going to make a poll for this as the possibilities are literally endless. I'm curious what everyone's favorite myth (or myths) is and if you want to share, why it's your favorite.
:reading:

[Agaliha]

Okay, so I guess I'll go first. I don't really know what myth is my favorite. I never really gave it much thought.
I like the story of Klytie (Clytie) and Helios.
Here's a version:

"Clytie was a water-nymph and in love with Helios [the god of the Sun], who made her no return. So she pined away, sitting all day long upon the cold ground, with her unbound tresses streaming over her shoulders. Nine days she sat and tasted neither food nor drink, her own tears and the chilly dew her only food. She gazed on the sun when he rose, and as he passed through his daily course to his setting; she saw no other object, her face turned constantly on him. At last, they say, her limbs rooted in the ground, her face became a flower which turns on its stem so as always to face the sun throughout its daily course; for it retains to that extent the feeling of the nymph from whom it sprang."
- from Bulfinch's Mythology

Oh and I found out that the flower being described here is not a sunflower that we all know. Technically it's a Heliotrope, a flower found in parts of Europe; its a weed actually. Looks nothing like the yellow one we get our seeds from.
From a site:

It is only for convenience that the modern poets translate the
Latin word HELIOTROPIUM, by the English sunflower. The
sunflower, which was known to the ancients, was called in Greek,
helianthos, from HELIOS, the sun; and ANTHOS a flower, and in
Latin, helianthus. It derives its name from its resemblance to
the sun; but, as any one may see, at sunset, it does not "turn to
the God when he sets the same look that it turned when he rose."
The Heliotrope of the fable of Clytie is called Turn-sole in old
English books, and such a plant is known in England. It is not
the sweet heliotrope of modern gardens, which is a South American
plant. The true classical heliotrope is probably to be found in
the heliotrope of southern France, a weed not known in America.
The reader who is curious may examine the careful account of it
in Larousse's large dictionary.
(here) (http://www.online-mythology.com/clytie/)

There's a pic of the actual flower (Heliotropium europaeum)
Heliotropium europaeum (Common Heliotrope) - Wild Plants of Malta (by Stephen Mifsud) (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuqJAw1FFk7gACS1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE4dnZkNnVuBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANZUzEwN l8xMjM-/SIG=12tru0svh/EXP=1163072704/**http%3a//www.marz-kreations.com/WildPlants/BORG/Heliotropium_europaeum.html)
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/8597/heliotropiumeuropaeumyi5.png
Not the prettiest flower, perhaps that's why the Sunflower was chosen instead. :2G:

Oh and here's a bust of her:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1424/com3061xs2.jpg
Roman, about AD 40-50
Said to be from near Naples, Italy
From here (http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/goto?id=OBJ3061)

Anyway, I admire her devotion. Though it was a little obsessive :2G:
She stayed steadfast and never gave up. I like the water and fire thing too.

_inabox_

[LostSheep]

I can't help thinking Helios might have felt a little nervous when she was around. :2G: She sounds like the kind of person who'd sit in their car outside your house all day, watching you ...

[_Banbha_]

I like this myth too. I also like the heliotrope but it's poisonous. I think that it's more analogous to the myth than the modern replacement of the Sunflower. Klytie's love for Apollo is an unhealthy love. Sunflowers are so wholesome. She's like Narcissus (http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/n/narcis01.html), another poisonous flower, with an unhealthy obsession. Poor Echo (http://www.loggia.com/myth/echo.html)....echo....echo...

I love the folklore of plants, trees and flowers. It often explains why they were named and even some of the mysteries of their medicinal and magickal propeties. Here's a site on flower folklore (http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/WildflowerFolklore.asp). :)

[coaxialkettle]

and the forget-me-nots
white lily
and the LotusBorn
from my innermost heart
http://www.uwm.edu/~rkornman/Translation.Sample.1.html
and many others
undead


for Ever.
B:.B:.

[Agaliha]

I can't help thinking Helios might have felt a little nervous when she was around. :2G: She sounds like the kind of person who'd sit in their car outside your house all day, watching you ...

:lol: Yeah, hence why I said she was a little obsessive. Still though, I admire her dedication. I mean, I can't keep that amout of focus on anything really. Not saying she was healthy about it though.
The common interpretation is she turned into a Sunflower and I like that more than the flower posted. The sunflower holds more sunny symbolism.

I like this myth too. I also like the heliotrope but it's poisonous. I think that it's more analogous to the myth than the modern replacement of the Sunflower. Klytie's love for Apollo is an unhealthy love. Sunflowers are so wholesome. She's like Narcissus (http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/n/narcis01.html), another poisonous flower, with an unhealthy obsession. Poor Echo (http://www.loggia.com/myth/echo.html)....echo....echo...
I love the folklore of plants, trees and flowers. It often explains why they were named and even some of the mysteries of their medicinal and magickal propeties. Here's a site on flower folklore (http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/WildflowerFolklore.asp). :)

Yeah, it is an unhealthy love. Going with the modern Sunflower interpretation, though, she became something beautiful and giving (seeds, nourishment)...like channeling all that into something positive. Or something. But with the original Heliotrope, it's different.
Cool link :)


Another myth I love is Persephone and Hades...though I have a feeling that one could use it's own thread to discuss. Lots of stuff with that one.

[_Banbha_]

Another myth I love is Persephone and Hades...though I have a feeling that one could use it's own thread to discuss. Lots of stuff with that one.


Ashpodels and pomegranates. :D

[Agaliha]

Yup. Pomegranates and Asphodels. Flower and tree lore is interesting. Got an idea.

[LostSheep]

Another myth I love is Persephone and Hades...though I have a feeling that one could use it's own thread to discuss. Lots of stuff with that one.
Oh yes, Persephone and Demeter and Isis and Osiris ... they're some of my favourite myths. I'm always a sucker for stories of undying devotion ...

[Nitefalle]

One of my favorite myths (or is this a fairy tale?) is the Japanese story about the Fox Wedding - apparently, if you witness a fox wedding in the forest and they see you, you have to kill yourself!

I love most Greek myths, for the familiarity factor. I grew up listening to them, they are part of my childhood. I am really growing to love Norse myths, particularly involving Freyja and Loki.

[Toby Stimpson]

I have too many favs....but there is one that stands out in my mind right now.

Its the old story from Buddhist mythology that says that through the many Lives of he Buddha, he sacrificed himself.

Theres one charming story about how Buddha was incarnated as a deer, and how he sacrificed hismelf so that a starving tiger and her cubs could live.

[_Banbha_]

The deer :2G: tale is beautiful Galadraal.

So many favorite myths, it's hard to choose! :awilly:

While I imerse my self in Irish myth and folklore to my bones, I enjoy and appreciate myths from many cultures. I like to dig deep and find clues to mysteries of the ancient cultures that created them; but I also just love a great story.

Thinking Greek: I really enjoyed Roberto Calasso's The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. (http://www.ivarhagendoorn.com/personal/literature/cadmusandharmony.html) It's a poetic re-telling that flows like water. I've read it many times. I'm not sure what an Hellenic Recon's opinion would be of his interpretaions and connections. I'd like to read his book re-telling Hindu myths: Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India (http://www.amazon.com/Ka-Stories-Mind-Gods-India/dp/0679775471).

Among my favorite Greek myths is the Robert Graves translation of Apuleius' Cupid and Pysche (http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mjoseph/Apuleius.html). I'm fascinated by every element of Persphone's myth and anything I can find about Hecate. They're all very meaningful to me. :)

[Zephyrstorm]

Too many to choose from!

In Greek mythology I like Baucis and Philemon (http://www.online-mythology.com/baucis_philemon/) a lot - such a sweet ending. I'm a sap, I know.

I'm re-reading Bullfinch's Mythology - an abridged version right now.

In Egyptian Mythology I like the story of HetHert cheering Ra up. ;) but I can't find a copy of that online.

Celtic Myth... I've always had a love for Fionn MacCumhal, and Cuculain. And the stories of Brighid are wonderful!

Norse... almost anything to do with the journey and structure of Yggdrasil.
And so it goes hehe!

[RainInanna]

Can't choose! I'm reading Ovid's Metamorphoses now and trying to finish The Iliad. Too much to learn, too little time :D

[coaxialkettle]

naughty_wedgie_ :wave: _inabox_ 8O
http://www.bretagne-celtic.com/accueil_legende.htm
l'or des chats...

[Zephyrstorm]

naughty_wedgie_ :wave: _inabox_ 8O
http://www.bretagne-celtic.com/accueil_legende.htm
l'or des chats...

Merci beaucoup pour le site! C'est parfait pour moi.
:hugz:

[dragoncrone]

I have a (reproduction) painting of 'Circe Invidiosa' by John William Waterhouse, and it mesmerizes me.
Circe was in love with a fisherman or sailor, but he was attracted to Scylla, a water nymph. So Circe poured poison into the sea, which turned Scylla into a hideous sea monster. The picture shows her holding a great bowl of greenish liquid, as a stream of it flows down into the sea at her feet; the intense look of cold concentration on her face is fascinating.
It may not be my all-time favorite myth - but I look at that painting every day and am entranced anew.

[Aconite]

My favorite myth is every greek myth ever written. Particuallrily 3

The myths of Persephone (Being tricked into eating the pommegranet and spending time in hades every year)

Echo ( Who talked so much she was banished i believe, and now the myth is, whenever your out in the woods, if you speak up, she'll talk back, hence Echo)

And Pandora, because,well, who doesnt

[Lolair]

I would have to say the myth of Demeter and Persephone and her transformation into Kore, basically the Eleusinian mysteries fascinate me! My second favourite would be the myths of the Cailleach or Gyre-Carline and her affect on the seasons. She causes winter by washing her plaid or blasting the crops and plants with her magic wand until the sun and rain overcome her and Bride takes over for the Spring and Summer.

[Tanya]

I don't know why but "East of Sun West of Moon" maybe the idea that you have to go beyond the known world to truely give yourself to love

[aluokaloo]

I love the myth of Pegasus, Pygmallion, the one where Thor and Loki lost the contests only to find out that there opponents had been Wild Fire, The Midgard Serpent, and Old Age. just to name a few.

[David19]

I have a lot of favourite myths, if I had to pick:

Sumerian: Nergal and Ereshkigal - when Nergal went down to the underworld to take over, and ended up having sex with Ereshkigal, who then fell in love with him, and ended up with them hooking up.

Descent of Inanna - it's a really cool one, especially when understood in the actual Sumerian context, without all the modern interpretations (basically, Inanna, a independent god, wanted more power and so tried to take over the Sumerian underworld).

myths with Eros in.

I also like the whole Seth vs. Horus one.

Quite a few Norse myths and also several Jewish ones too (and Canaanite).

[Windsmith]

Descent of Inanna - it's a really cool one, especially when understood in the actual Sumerian context, without all the modern interpretations (basically, Inanna, a independent god, wanted more power and so tried to take over the Sumerian underworld).The Descent is one of my favorites, too - mostly because Ereskigal kicks her rear.

I mean, essentially, Inanna puts on her most ostentatious "Look at me! I'm powerful!" clothes and heads down to the underworld, where she expects Ereshkigal to treat her the same way everyone does in her own realm. She wants to be the queen of her sister's queendom. Instead, Ereshkigal strips Inanna of all her symbols of power - and then kills her.

The other part of the story I love is that, after Ninshibur and Enki manage to rescue Inanna, she has to leave someone in the underworld in her place. Ereshkigal wants Ninshibur, but Inanna fights tooth and nail against that, because Ninshibur saved her. Ereshkigal wants Inanna's son, but Inanna rejects that, too, because her son mourned her while she was dead. Then Inanna gets home and finds her consort Dumuzi living it up on her throne, drinking and carousing with women of questionable character, and Inanna just points and says, "Him." It's a beautiful moment.

[David19]

The Descent is one of my favorites, too - mostly because Ereskigal kicks her rear.

I mean, essentially, Inanna puts on her most ostentatious "Look at me! I'm powerful!" clothes and heads down to the underworld, where she expects Ereshkigal to treat her the same way everyone does in her own realm. She wants to be the queen of her sister's queendom. Instead, Ereshkigal strips Inanna of all her symbols of power - and then kills her.

The other part of the story I love is that, after Ninshibur and Enki manage to rescue Inanna, she has to leave someone in the underworld in her place. Ereshkigal wants Ninshibur, but Inanna fights tooth and nail against that, because Ninshibur saved her. Ereshkigal wants Inanna's son, but Inanna rejects that, too, because her son mourned her while she was dead. Then Inanna gets home and finds her consort Dumuzi living it up on her throne, drinking and carousing with women of questionable character, and Inanna just points and says, "Him." It's a beautiful moment.

That's a lot of the reasons why I like it too, Ereshkigal does kick ass too ;).

I think Inanna probably got her pride knocked down a bit, she was expected to be treated like she was by everyone else, and Ereshkigal just, basically, knocked her on her ass, and said she wasn't having it.

I also love the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal. It's a really cool love story, when you think about it. Two very powerful gods find comfort in each other, and both are very strong-headed - Ereshkigal demands Nergal stay in Kur (Sumerian underworld) with her, and Nergal, at first, refuses, but she gets her man in the end (and they seem to have had a cool relationship since).

[Nightlady]

I really am a sucker for norse myths... cannot name a favorite... oh, and the creation myth from the Kalevala rules!!

[Nightlady]

...the one where Thor and Loki lost the contests only to find out that there opponents had been Wild Fire, The Midgard Serpent, and Old Age. just to name a few.

Oh, yeah, that one is AMAZING!!

[patch]

The rape of Persephone.
I just love the story.
My favourite part is where hekate joins the serach with Demeter.

The story of Eros and Psyce from Roma mythology is good too.

[Avant Tard]

The birth of Hermes and the slaying of the giant Argus, Loki and the death of Baldr, Enki and the flood, Eshu and the story of the man in black and red.

[Theres]

The rape of Persephone.
I just love the story.
My favourite part is where hekate joins the serach with Demeter.
yep, this one has to be my favorite as well. :thumbsup:

i also like Atalanta and the boar, and the various Theseus tales too.