What Is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1

Welcome to Crash Course World Mythology, our latest adventure (and this series may be literally adventurous) in education. Over the next 40 episodes or so, we and Mike Rugnetta are going to learn about the world by looking at the foundational stories of a bunch of different cultural traditions. We’re going to look at the ways that people’s stories define them, and the ways they shape their culture. We’re going to learn about gods, goddesses, heroes, and tricksters, and a lot more. We’re going to walk the blurry line between myth and religion, and we’re going to like it.

Thanks to the following Patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever:

Mark, Kathrin Janßen, Ken Penttinen, Yana Leonor, Advait Shinde, Meshal Alshammari, Robert Kunz, Cody Carpenter, Annamaria Herrera, Nathan Taylor, Andrea Bareis, Eric Prestemon, Les Aker, William McGraw, Justin Zingsheim, Bader AlGhamdi, Kyle Anderson, Vaso, Melissa Briski, Joey Quek, Andrei Krishkevich, Rachel Bright, Rizwan Kassim, Alex S, Mayumi Maeda, Kathy & Tim Philip, Jessica Wode, Brian Thomas Gossett, Montather, Caleb Weeks, Jirat, Tim Curwick, Eric Kitchen, Daniel Baulig, Moritz Schmidt, Ian Dundore, Chris Peters, Eric Knight, Sandra Aft, SR Foxley, Jason A Saslow, Steve Marshall, Jeffrey Thompson

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[Maddin]

Spiders swallow 8 Australians every night!

[alieh]

crash course mythology: exists


that kid that read all of the rick riorodan has entered the chat

[patrickjackson]

Just in case people were wondering, this is what the writing is on the little 'thought bubble' intro:

*Egypt*
- The Egyptian Creation myth of the world rising out of water is a common motif associated with chaos in contrast to “order” that is the universe.
- The legend of Osiris, Isi and Horus was the most popular and influential myth in ancient Egyptian mythology.
- Thoth is the Egyptian god of communication and knowledge. He’s depicted with an ibis head, holding a scroll and pen reed.
- Egyptian mythology is among the oldest in recorded history!
- Ma’at is the goddess of morality, justice, law and divine order. Her feather determined if people got into the afterlife peacefully.

*Greek*
- _Mount Olympus_ is where the Olympian Gods reside. It was created after the _Titanomachy_, the great battle between the Olympians and the Titans.
- Athena is responsible for turning Medusa’s hair into serpents! Medusa was always a gorgon in Greek mythology, but the origin story didn’t appear until _Metamorphoses_ by Roman poet Ovid.
- Persephone’s descent into the underworld and reunion with her mom Demeter is the origin story of the seasons.
- The capture of Artemis’ sacred _Ceryneian Hind_ was one of the twelve labours of Heracles.
- Artemis and Apollo are two of Zeus’ many, many, many, many children.

*Indian*
- The _Ramayana_ is considered the _adi-kavya_ (first poem) in Hindu mythology and is the largest ancient epic in world literature!
- _Rakshasas_ are described as deadly blood-drinking creatures, they convey several similarities to vampires in Western mythology.
- The hero of this epic, _Rama_, is the seventh avatar of god Vishnu.
- Sita is the daughter on Mother Earth and the avatar of goddess Laksmi, Vishnu’s wife.
- Hanuman is a die-hard devotee of Rama. He leads an army of _Vanaras_ (aka monkeys) into battle against the _Rakshasas_ in order to save Sita.

*Norse*
- In Norse mythology, _Ragnorak_ is the pre-destined series of events, from natural disasters to the infamous battle between major Gods resulting in the apocalypse.
- _Ragnorak_ was not the ultimate end of the universe! After the earth was consumed in flames and submerged in water, a fresh, new earth was destined to resurface, even better than before!
- Thor’s hammer, Mjönir, symbolizes creative and destructive power.
- The cosmology of Norse mythology has nine realms which are unified by the _Yggdrasil_ tree.
- When Heimdell sounds his trumpet, _Gjallarhorn_, it will signify the beginning of _Ragnorak_ and can be heard across all nine realms!

[nixgalexa]

I love Persephone because in some versions she just wanders into the underworld and Hades is just like 'Wtf? Little girl, what are you doing here?' And Kore is just like 'I like it here!' And Hades just lets her stay, Demeter is angry, etc. And Kore is renamed Persephone meaning destroyer because she is feared in the underworld with good reason. She's awesome.

[davefreier]

The purpose of this course is to promote myth-understanding.

[MordredsGirl]

So IDK if anyone's gonna start this argument but me, but no. Aphrodite would *not* win in an arm wrestling contest w/ Freya.

Do you know how much of a badass Freya is??? She's a *war* goddess, like, don't mess with her. She's killed people too; and rules over half of those slain in war. Don't discount her just because she cries golden tears.

[KwanzaaJuice]

Half of this episode is setting up barriers to keep people from getting offended

[jillianunrau]

It's interesting to me how many interpretations of the Persephone myth there are. In some versions, Hades kidnaps her and in others, she goes willingly. I prefer the versions where she goes and stays in the Underworld willingly, because she actually likes Hades. I also really like when Hades is portrayed in a non-villainizing way, since people seem to think that he was evil just because he's the god of the Underworld

[Eye-Of-The-Beholder]

I hope they include *aztec mythology*; like seriously; the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythology *always* take the cake.

[nathanielhellman]

Wow. The comment section looks reasonable and interesting. The moment we get to a story from the Bible I am betting things will go up in flames.

[emilycaballero]

My personal favorite version of Persephone is the one in the Percy Jackson Guide to Mythology:
Hades: Hey, Zeus, I really like your daughter and--
Zeus: Ikr she's a hot one
Hades:
Hades:
Hades: Well, how do you think I should win her favor? I thought of flowers, but that's stupid. She's the *goddess* of flowers. Maybe if I sang--
Zeus: What are you talking about man? All that mushy gushy stuff. You gotta assert yourself!
Hades: But--
Zeus: Kidnap her. Nothin' the ladies love more than being swept off their feet and kidnapped.
Hades: But she's your daughter!
Zeus: And?
Hades: I don't think this is a good idea.
Zeus: Look, who has gotten more girls before this? You, or me? Trust. Me. It. Will. Work.
Hades: I guess...

[brigidg]

I just wanted to say how *incredibly EXCITED I am for this*. I adore studying mythology and its modern references, I can't put my joy into words (especially about how you used Persephone to start this off), I'm beyond thankful as to how you're approaching this amazing course from a perspective that is mindful of religion (so as to not be offensive but to simply see the "whole" picture, however scattered that picture may be), and I just wanted to share my immense gratitude. I look forward to every episode!

[benjaminrobinson]

My favorite mythological story is of thelegend27. She once challenged the sun to staring contest and that's why we now have night.

[maryavatar]

A summary of this episode - OH MY GOD, PLEASE DON'T FLAME US IN THE

[ShaMfullyChatic]

Fun fact: it was only in later tellings that Hades kidnapped Persephone. In earlier versions she wandered into Hades and Hades was like “hey, who are you?” and then fell in love.

[eliehartman]

Mike, thank you for speaking carefully and slowly. This series is something I can show to my 6th grade students without them getting lost. Many of my students are English language learners and/or have learning disabilities, and I appreciate that this excellent content is available to them in a way they can understand.

[ajtomas]

I can already feel this becoming my favourite series

[BrianFrichette]

As an atheist, I'm feeling delightfully unencumbered to fully enjoy this course. Exciting!

[joyrowancasey]

I cannot explain how exciting I am for this series I absolutely love mythology I squealed so loudly when I saw this series trailer

[shubhammachhi]

Its funny that people will look at Greek, Roman, and Egyptian myths as just mythology, but view their own religion as the sole truth.