Mythology of Ancient Civilizations

by
Usman Ghani & Zubair Shaukat
Ancient Civilizations on World Map
Area, Region, Time period and Discovery
of Civilizations
Civilization Name Timeline Area Region River
Mesopotamia Sir Leonard Wolley 3500 B.C - 5,800 sq mi Modern Iraq Tigris and
(1920) 539 B.C Euphrates
Egypt Flinders Petrie (1880) 3100B.C - 387,050 sq mi Egypt Nile
30B.C
Indus Valley J. Marshall (1921) 3200B.C-! 900 miles Pakistan Indus
500B.C
Chinese Li Ji (1928) 2000B.C- 3,700,000 sq China Yangtze and
1912A.D mi Yellow
Greek Sir Arthur Evans (1900) 900B.C- 50,949 sq mi Greece
600A.D
Roman 625B.C- 1,900,000 sq Italy Tiber
476A.D mi
Persian Ernest Herzfeld (1923) 550B.C- 2million+sq Iran
331B.C mi
Sources

 Anthes, Rudolf (1961). "Mythology in Ancient Egypt".

 Zivie-Coche, Christiane (2004) [French edition 1991]. “Gods and Men in Egypt”.
 Hart, George (1990).“Egyptian Myths”.
 “Myths from Mesopotamia : creation, the flood, Gilgamesh, and others”. Dalley, Stephanie. Oxford [England]: Oxford
University Press. 1989
 Abzû is a 2016 adventure game that was influenced by Sumerian mythology of Abzu. Fate Grand order.
 Bellingham, David; Whittaker, Clio; Grant, John (1992). “Myths and Legends”.
 Christie, Anthony (1968). “Chinese Mythology”.
 Wu, K. C. (1982). “The Chinese Heritage”.
 “Greek Mythology: An Introduction”, translated by T. Marier.
 Cameron, Alan. 2004. “Greek Mythography in the Roman World”.
 Mark, J. J. (2020, January 09). “Twelve Gods of Persian Mythology”. World History Encyclopedia.
 Curtis, V. S. “Persian Myths”. University of Texas Press, 1993.
 Wright, Rita P. (2009). “The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society”. Cambridge University Press
 Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). “The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective”.
Main Features of Ancient Civilizations

 Some of the main feature of Past Civilizations are as follows:

 Mesopotamia Civilization
 The Code of Hammurabi ,Ziggurat of babylon (The Tower of Babel), hanging
gardens of babylon
 Egyptian Civilization
 Pyramids ,Mummies ,Pharaohs
 Indus Civilization
 The great bath ,Grid planing system ,Underground sewerage
 Chinese Civilization
 Silk Road ,Terracota Army ,The Great Wall of China
Conti...

 Greek Civilization
 Alexander The great
 Persian Civilization
 Cyrus The great
 Roman civilization
 Augustus ceasur ,colosseum
What is Mythology?

 A mythology is a collection of myths or stories about a specific person, culture,

religion, or any group with shared beliefs. Most people don’t
consider mythology to be entirely true, but they still take it seriously.
 A myth is a story about the olden days, often featuring supernatural characters,
and a mythology is a bunch of myths that are related to each other.
 Mythology can also mean the study of myths in an academic situation, like
studying mythology at a university.
Ancient Mythology

 Ancient civilizations had their own mythologies which they believed or followed.
 Here we will discuss mythologies of 7 ancient civilizations:
 Mesopotamia civilization
 Egyptian civilization
 Chinese civilization
 Indus valley civilization
 Persian civilization
 Greek civilization
 Roman civilization
Egyptian Civilization Mythology

 According to Egyptian civilization myth.the origin of world is like this (Ra Version)
 In the beginning the universe consist of a primordial chaotic ocean and benben
emerged amid this primordial chaos.Benben was a huge pyramidal mound there was
lotus flower within benben this lotus when blossomed brought Ra to the world and
brought light with him. Ra by himself created the first generation of gods. Shu, the
god of the air. Tefnut, the goddess of rain. The universe was enwrapped by a vast
amount of primordial water. Shu and Tefnut plunged into water to explore it’s
immensity. Ra felt afflicted after realizing that their children were taking a long time
to return and fearing never seeing them again he sent his best messenger to find them.
Shu and Tefnut returned safe and sound Ra’s tears was so immense that humans were
born from them. After returning children generated in turn Geb the god of earth and
Nut the goddess of sky therefore earth and sky were created…..
Conti…

 The great god Ra sovereigntly ruled the universe power and he was awarded the
title of First Pharaoh. The god gifted Egypt with different sacred animals like the
lion and ox but his greatest offering was the creation of nile river around it’s shore
man would edify a civilization glorifying their gods. But Ra had a premonition
that is his grand children would give birth to new generation of gods that will
dethrone him from his rule so he forbid the sky and earth to have any offspring
whatsoever but Geb and Nut disobeyed and give birth to a powerfull offspring
Isis,Neft,Osiris and Seth. They dethroned Ra and Osiris started to reign over the
world but the new god’s throne was not safe because Seth was eager to take the
power from his brother. So the saga of Egyptian gods began.
Ra

 Ra was the ancient Egyptian deity of the Sun. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th
and 24th centuries BC, he had become one of the most important gods in ancient
Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon-day sun. Ra ruled in all parts
of the created world: the sky, the Earth, and the underworld. He was believed to
have ruled as the first pharaoh of Ancient Egypt He was the god of the sun, order,
kings and the sky. Ra was portrayed as a falcon and shared characteristics with the
sky-god Horus.
 The chief cultic center of Ra was Iunu "the Place of Pillars", later known to
the Ptolemaic Kingdom as Heliopolis and today located in the suburbs of Cairo.
Ra
Ra and the Sun Boat

 Solar barques were the vessels used by the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian
mythology. During the day, Ra was said to use a vessel called the Mandjet or
the Boat of Millions of Years.
 According to Egyptian myth, when Ra became too old and weary to reign on
earth he relinquished and went to the skies. Ra was said to travel through the sky
on the barge, providing light to the world. Each twelfth of his journey formed one
of the twelve Egyptian hours of the day, each overseen by a protective deity.
When the sun set and twilight came he and his vessel passes through the akhet,
the horizon, in the west, and travel to the underworld. Every night
enormous serpent Apophis, the god of chaos (isfet) attempted to attack Ra and
stop the sun-boat's journey. After defeating the snake, Ra would leave the
underworld, returning emerging at dawn, lighting the day again.
Ra and the Sun Boat
Osiris

 Osiris was the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life,
and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was classically depicted as a
green-skinned deity with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs,
wearing a distinctive atef crown, and holding a symbolic crook and flail. He was
one of the first to be associated with the mummy wrap. When his brother Set cut
him up into pieces after killing him, Osiris' wife Isis found all the pieces and
wrapped his body up, enabling him to return to life. Osiris was widely worshipped
until the decline of ancient Egyptian religion during the rise of Christianity in the
Roman Empire. Osiris was at times considered the eldest son of the earth
god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, as well as being brother and husband of Isis,
and brother of Set, Nephthys.
Osiris and Isis
Seth/Set

 Seth was god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient
Egyptian religion. Set had a positive role where he accompanies Ra on
his barque to repel Apep, the serpent of Chaos. In art, Set is usually depicted as an
enigmatic creature referred to by Egyptologists as the Set animal, a beast not
identified with any known animal. The animal has a downward curving snout;
long ears with squared-off ends; a thin, forked tail with sprouted fur tufts in an
inverted arrow shape; and a slender canine body. Set was worshipped at
the temples of Ombos (Nubt near Naqada) and Ombos (Nubt near Kom Ombo),
at Oxyrhynchus in Upper Egypt, and also in part of the Fayyum area.
Seth/Set and Nephtyus
Set on sun boat repelling Apep
Osiris Myth

 The Osiris myth is the most elaborate and influential story in ancient Egyptian
mythology. It concerns the murder of the god Osiris, a primeval king of Egypt,
and its consequences. Osiris's murderer, his brother Set, usurps his throne.
Meanwhile, Osiris's wife Isis restores her husband's body, allowing him to
posthumously conceive their son, Horus. The remainder of the story focuses on
Horus, the product of the union of Isis and Osiris, who is at first a vulnerable child
protected by his mother and then becomes Set's rival for the throne. Their often
violent conflict ends with Horus's triumph, which restores maat (cosmic and
social order) to Egypt after Set's unrighteous reign and completes the process of
Osiris's resurrection.
Horus

 Horus in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian

deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship, healing,
protection, the sun and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the
late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt.
Conflict between Horus and Set

 Horus was told by his mother, Isis, to protect the people of Egypt from Set, the
god of the desert, who had killed Horus' father, Osiris Horus had many battles
with Set, not only to avenge his father but to choose the rightful ruler of Egypt. In
these battles, Horus came to be associated with Lower Egypt and became its
patron.
Anubis

 Anubis in Ancient Egyptian is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and
guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as
a canine or a man with a canine head. In some myths he was the sun of Seth and
Nepthys and in some myths Osiris and Nepthys.
Hathor

 Hathor was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide
variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky
god Horus and the sun god Ra, both of whom were connected with kingship, and
thus she was the symbolic mother of their earthly representatives, the pharaohs.
She was one of several goddesses who acted as the Eye of Ra, Ra's feminine
counterpart, and in this form she had a vengeful aspect that protected him from
his enemies. Her beneficent side represented music, dance, joy, love, sexuality,
and maternal care, and she acted as the consort of several male deities and the
mother of their sons.
 Hathor was often depicted as a cow, symbolizing her maternal and celestial
aspect, although her most common form was a woman wearing a headdress of
cow horns and a sun disk.
 In some myth she is also daughter of Ra.
Hathor
Sekhmet

 Sekhmet is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of medicine. Is also a solar deity,

sometimes given the epithet 'the eye of Ra'. She is often associated with the
goddesses Hathor and Bastet. Sekhmet is the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and is
among the more important of the goddesses in the Egyptian Pantheon. Sekhmet
acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra's power.
 In a myth about the end of Ra's rule on the earth, Ra sends the goddess Sekhmet,
to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust
was not quenched at the end of battle and this led to her going on a bloody
rampage that laid Egypt to waste and almost destroyed all of humanity. To stop
her, Ra and the other gods devised a plan. They poured out a lake of beer dyed
with red ochre or so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood,
Sekhmet drank it all and became so drunk that she gave up on the slaughter and
returned peacefully to Ra.
Sobek

 Sobek was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and
nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and
is represented either in its form or as a human with a crocodile head. Sobek was
also associated with pharaonic power, fertility, and military prowess, but served
additionally as a protective deity with apotropaic qualities, invoked especially for
protection against the dangers presented by the Nile.
Ammit and Apep/Apophis

 Ammit was an ancient Egyptian goddess with the forequarters of a lion, the
hindquarters of a hippopotamus, and the head of a crocodile—the three largest
"man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians. In ancient Egyptian religion,
Ammit played an important role during the funerary ritual, the Judgment of the
Dead.
 Apep/Apophis was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied darkness
and disorder, and was thus the opponent of light and Ma’at. He appears in art as a
giant serpent.
Maat/Maʽat and Thoth

 Maat is both the goddess and the personification of truth, cosmic balance, and
justice. Her ostrich feather represents the truth. Maat was the goddess of harmony,
justice, and truth represented as a young woman. Sometimes she is depicted with
wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head. The
meaning of this emblem is uncertain, although the god Shu, who in some myths is
Maat's brother, also wears it.
 Thoth is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the
head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. He was the god of the Moon,
wisdom, knowledge, writing, hieroglyphs, science, magic, art and judgment.
Maat/Maʽat and Thoth
Shu and Tefnut

 Shu was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, spouse and brother to the
goddess Tefnut, and one of the nine deities of the Ennead of
the Heliopolis cosmogony. He was the god of peace, lions, air, and wind.
 Tefnut is a deity of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian
religion. She is the sister and consort of the air god Shu and the mother
of Geb and Nut.
 In a much later myth, representing a terrible weather disaster at the end of the Old
Kingdom, it's said that Tefnut and Shu once argued, and Tefnut
left Egypt for Nubia (which was always more temperate). It was said that Shu
quickly decided that he missed her, but she changed into a cat that destroyed any
man or god that approached. Thoth, disguised, eventually succeeded in
convincing her to return.
Geb and Nut

 Geb was the Egyptian god of the earth and a mythological member of
the Ennead of Heliopolis. He could also be considered a father of snakes. It was
believed in ancient Egypt that Geb's laughter created earthquakes and that he
allowed crops to grow.
 Nut also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars,
cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the ancient Egyptian
religion. She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the Earth, or as
a cow. She was depicted wearing the water-pot sign that identifies her.
Myth of Nut and Ra

 Ra, the sun god, was the second to rule the world, according to the reign of the
gods. He decreed, "Nut shall not give birth any day of the year." At that time, the
year was only 360 days. Nut spoke to Thoth, god of wisdom, and he had a plan.
Thoth gambled with Khonsu, god of the Moon, whose light rivaled that of Ra's.
Every time Khonsu lost, he had to give Nut a piece of his moonlight. Khonsu lost
so many times that Nut had enough moonlight to make five extra days. Since
these days were not part of the year, Nut could have her children. She had five
children on each of the five days: Osiris, later ruler of the gods and then god of
the dead, Horus the Elder, god of war, Set, god of discord and the desert, Isis,
goddess of magic, and Nephthys, goddess of water. When Ra found out, he was
furious. He separated Nut from her husband Geb for eternity. Her father, Shu, was
given the job to keep them apart. Nevertheless, Nut did not regret her decision.
Mythological Creatures

 The Sphinx, Teller of Riddles

 The Serpopard, Harbinger of Chaos
 The Griffin, Beast of War
 El Naddaha, the Siren of the Nile
 Bennu, the Bird of Fire
 Apep, the Enemy of Light
 Uraeus, the Cobra of the Gods
Mesopotamia Civilization Mythology

 Mesopotamians have their own version of Creation myths. Which we will discuss
here:
 Atra-Hasis
 Eridu Genesis
 Enuma Elish
Atra-Hasis

 Atra-Hasis refers both to one of the Mesopotamian myths focusing on the earth’s
creation, and also the main character of that myth. The myth possibly has
Assyrian roots, as a fragmented version may have been found in the library of
Ashurbanipal, though translations remain unsure. Its most complete surviving
version was recorded in Akkadian. The myth begins with humans being created
by the mother goddess Mami to lighten the gods' workload. She made them out of
a mixture of clay, flesh, and blood from a slain god. Later in the story though, the
god Enlil attempts to control overpopulation of humans through various methods,
including famine, drought, and finally, a great flood. Mankind is saved by
Atrahasis, who was warned of the flood by the god Enki and built a boat to escape
the waters, eventually placating the gods with sacrifices
Atra-Hasis & Eridu Genesis & Enuma
Elish
Eridu Genesis

 Eridu Genesis has a similar plot to that of the Akkadian myth, Atra-Hasis, though
it is harder to tell what happens exactly in Eridu Genesis because the tablet upon
which it was recorded is badly damaged. The two stories share the flood as the
major event however, although the hero who survives in Eridu Genesis is called
Zi-ud-sura instead of Artahasis. Eridu Genesis was recorded around the same time
as Atra-Hasis, however the fragmented tablet that held it was found in Nippur,
located in modern-day east Iraq, while the version of Atra-hasis that came from
the same time was found in the library of Ashurbanipal, in modern-day north Iraq.
Enuma Elish

 Enuma Elis (also spelled Enuma Elish) is a Babylonian creation myth with an
unclear composition, though it possibly dates back to the Bronze Age. This piece
was thought to be recited in a ritual celebration of the Babylonian new year. It
chronicles the birth of the gods, the world, and man, whose purpose was to serve
the gods and lighten their work load. The focus of the narrative is on
praising Marduk, the patron god of Babylon, who creates the world, the calendar,
and humanity.
Tiamat

 Tiamat is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of
the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of
primordial creation. She is referred to as a woman and described as "the glistening
one". It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat myth. In the first, she is
a creator goddess, through a sacred marriage between different waters, peacefully
creating the cosmos through successive generations. In the
second Chaoskampf Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment
of primordial chaos. Some sources identify her with images of a sea
serpent or dragon.
 In Enuma Elish she was slain by Marduk, son of Enki after she waged war against
them for his Husband Abzu’s Death.She used monsters against them. Monsters
was of the Mesopotamian pantheon, including the first dragons, whose bodies she
fills with "poison instead of blood“.
Abzu

 The Abzu is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was
given a religious fertilising quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes,
springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their
water from the abzu. In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, it is referred to as
the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma)
above.
 Abzu (apsû) is depicted as a deity only in the Babylonian creation epic,
the Enūma Eliš, taken from the library of Assurbanipal (c. 630 BCE) but which is
about 500 years older. In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and
a lover to another primal deity, Tiamat, a creature of salt water.
Lahamu and Lahmu

 Lahamu was a minor figure in some variants of Mesopotamian cosmology, the

feminine counterpart of Lahmu.In some god lists she was one of the ancestors
of Anu. In Enuma Elish she is the first-born daughter of Tiamat and Abzu. With
her brother Lahmu she is the mother of Anshar and Kishar, who were in turn
parents of the first gods.
 Lahmu is the first-born son of Abzu and Tiamat. He and his sister Laḫamu are the
parents of Anshar and Kishar, parents of Anu and thus ancestors of Ea and
Marduk according to this specific theogony. Both of them bestow 3 names upon
Marduk after his victory.
Anshar and Kishar

 Anshar was a Mesopotamian god regarded as a primordial king of the gods. He

was not actively worshiped. He was regarded as the father of Anu.
 Kishar is the daughter of Lahamu and Lahmu, the first children
of Tiamat and Abzu. She is the female principle, sister and wife of Anshar, the
male principle, and the mother of Anu. Kishar may represent the earth as a
counterpart to Anshar, the sky,and can be seen as an earth mother goddess. Her
name also means "Whole Earth".
Anu and Enlil

 An was the divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of
many of the deities in ancient Mesopotamian religion. He was regarded as a
source of both divine and human kingship, and opens the enumerations of deities
in many Mesopotamian texts.
 Enlil, later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind,
air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian
pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians,
and Hurrians. Enlil's primary center of worship was the Ekur temple in the city of
Nippur, which was believed to have been built by Enlil himself and was regarded
as the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth.
Anu and Enlil
Enki and Ninhursag

 Enki is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge, crafts, and creation , and one of
the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea or Ae in Akkadian (Assyrian-
Babylonian) religion, and is identified by some scholars with Ia in Canaanite
religion.
 Ninhursag was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one
of the seven great deities of Sumer. She is known earliest as a nurturing or fertility
goddess.
Innana , Nanna and Shamash

 Inanna is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also
associated with beauty, sex, divine law, and political power. Originally worshiped
in Sumer, she was known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians, and Assyrians as
Ishtar.
 Nanna also know as Sin was the Mesopotamian god representing the moon. There
is some evidence that he could serve as a judge of the dead in the underworld.
 Shamash was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god, earlier known as Utu.He was
believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was
therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he
could be associated with the underworld.
Innana , Nanna and Shamash
Other Major Dieties

 Adad was regarding was storm or rain god.

 Dumuzid is an ancient Mesopotamian and Levantine deity associated with
agriculture and shepherds.
 Enkimdu was a Mesopotamian god associated with agriculture and irrigation.
 Ereshkigal was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian
mythology.
 Kingu was a god in Babylonian mythology, and the son of the gods Abzu and
Tiamat.
 Marduk was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of
Babylon who eventually rose to become the king of the gods in the First Millennium.
 Nergul he was primarily associated with war, death, and disease, and has been
described as the "god of inflicted death".
Ereshkigal
Heroic Epics

 There are two heroic epics available:

 Epic of Gilgamesh
 The Myth of Adapa
Mythological Creatures

 Anzu
 Lamassu
 Humbaba
 Tiamat's dragon
 Scorpion man
Chinese Civilization Mythology

 Chinese myths involve the creation and cosmology of the universe and its deities
and inhabitants.
 According to Chinese mythology cosmos mythological places like:
 Heavenly realm
 Subterranean realm
 Earthly realm
Mythological concepts and Directional

 One concept encountered in some myths is the idea of travel between

Earth and Heaven by means of climbing up or down the pillars separating
the two, there usually being four or Eight Pillars.
 The Four Symbols of Chinese cosmology were the Azure Dragon of the
East, the Black Tortoise of the North, the White Tiger of the West, and
the Vermillion Bird of the South. These totem animals represented the four
cardinal directions, with a lot of associated symbolism and beliefs.
Creation myths

 Various ideas about the creation of the universe, the earth, the sky, various deities
and creatures, and the origin of various clans or ethnic groups of humans have
circulated in the area of China for millennia. One common story
involves Pangu. Among other sources, he was written about by Taoist author Xu
Zheng c. 200 CE, as claimed to be the first sentient being and creator, "making the
heavens and the earth".
Important deities, spirits, and mythological people

 Jade Emperor Chinese mythology holds that the Jade Emperor was charged with
running of the three realms: heaven, hell, and the realm of the living.
 Tian Tian can be either a sky deity by that name or Heaven – the Sky itself. Tian
appeared in literature c. 700 BCE.
 Nüwa is considered a mother goddess of Chinese mythology. She was involved in
the creation of humanity and repairing the Pillars of Heaven. Nüwa is often
depicted as half snake, half human, and is sometimes considered one of the Three
Sovereigns, along with her brother and husband Fuxi.
 Fuxi is the first of the Three Sovereigns. He created humanity alongside his sister
and wife Nüwa, and like her, is depicted as half snake, half human.
Daoism and Chinese mythology

 One of the founders of Daoism was Old Man Laozi, who himself entered into legend or mythology.
There is much overlap between religion and mythology, and between Chinese folk religion and
Daoism.In Daoist-related mythology there is often a strong presence of sorcery and magic, such as
spells, charms, magical abilities, and elixirs.
 Buddhist influences
 Buddhism was historically introduced to China, probably in the first century CE, accompanied by the
import of various ideas about deities and supernatural beings including Kṣitigarbha who was renamed
Dizang. the Four Heavenly Kings, the main Buddha himself Shakyamuni Buddha who after a few
centuries metamorphosized into Guanyin (also Kuanyin) a bodhisattva of compassion, and Hotei the
Laughing Buddha.ver time, Guanyin also became a Daoist immortal and was the subject of much
mythology.
Buddhist influences

 Guanyin the Goddess of Mercy and many other names.

 Kṣitigarbha was a Buddhist deity from the area of India who was renamed Dizang,
In China.
 Four Heavenly Kings group known as the Four Heavenly Kings, one for each
cardinal direction.
 Laughing Buddha The depiction of a fat, laughing Buddha developed in China.
 Confucian influence
 A major factor in Chinese mythology is shown in the development of the tradition
known as Confucianism, named after a writer and school master who lived around
551–479 BCE.The legitimacy of the Confucian movement was bolstered by the
claim that its origins could be found in the mythology (often claimed to be history)
of Yao and Shun
Sharing between folk religion and
mythology
 Guandi began as a Three Kingdoms general, became promoted by official decree
to be the god Guandi.
 Three Star deities Fu (fortune), Lu (prosperity) and shou (longevity)
 Star God of Longevity
 Afterlife and family
 Immortals (xian) Daoist immortal is Wong Tai Sin.
 Magu associated with the elixir of life, and is a symbolic protector of females in
Chinese mythology.
 Jiangshi
 Zhong Kui vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings.
Astronomical deities

 Sun One solar deity is Xihe, goddess of the sun. There is a myth of Kua Fu.
 Houyi and the Ten Suns
 Moon Chang'e is goddess of the moon.
 Rabbit in the Moon
 Wu Gang and the Magic Tree
 Three-legged toad
 Deities of places
 Xi Wangmu Queen Mother of the West
 Mazu is a major goddess. She is a goddess of the sea.
 Xiang River goddesses They are associated with the Xiang River in the former Chu area
of China. Named Éhuáng and Nǚyīng.
Mythological Creatures

 Ao
 Ao Guang
 Azure Dragon
 Baihu
 Huli Jing
 Nian
 QingNiao
Greek Civilization Mythology

 Greeks also have their own creation myth:

 n the beginning there was an empty darkness. The only thing in this void was
Nyx, a bird with black wings.With the wind she laid a golden egg and for ages she
sat upon this egg. Finally life began to stir in the egg and out of it rose Eros, the
god of love. One half of the shell rose into the air and became the sky and the
other became the Earth. Eros named the sky Uranus and the Earth he named Gaia.
Then Eros made them fall in love.
 Children and Grandchildren of Eros and Gaia.Cronos’s evil deeds and Rhea’s
scheme.
 Zeus saves his siblings and young generation’s war with chronos.With Zeus as
their leader, they began to furnish Gaia with life and Uranus with stars.
Conti...

 Soon the Earth lacked only two things: man and animals. Zeus summoned his sons
Prometheus (fore-thought) and Epimetheus (after-thought). He told them to go to
Earth and create men and animals and give them each a gift.
 As Epimetheus worked he gave each animal he created one of the gifts. After
Epimetheus had completed his work Prometheus finally finished making men.
However when he went to see what gift to give man Epimetheus shamefacedly
informed him that he had foolishly used all the gifts.
 Prometheus’s gift to men.
 Zeus’s fury on Prometheus.
 Epimetheus and Pandora and Zeus’s gift to Pandora.
 Release of horrors which plague the world today - pain, sickness, envy, greed. and
release of hope to world.
Roman Civilization Mythology

 According to tradition, Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC.
They were twin brothers, sons of a human mother and the god of war, Mars. After
their birth, the king ordered them killed. They were placed in a basket and put into
the Tiber River - left to die from exposure in the outdoors. But their basket
washed up on the river bank where they were found by a female wolf. The wolf
nursed the hungry babies and cared for them until they were found by a shepherd.
 The shepherd and his wife raised the babies as their own. Romulus and Remus
grew up and helped overthrow the king who had ordered their death. They wanted
to build their own city along the Tiber River where their basket had washed
ashore. They disagreed about where it should be, and Romulus killed Remus
during their quarrels. Romulus built the city of Rome on one of the seven hills
along the Tiber - the Palatine hill - and lived a long life as king of Rome.
Dieties of Greek and Roman Civilizations

 Roman mythology, like that of the Greeks, contained a number of gods and
goddesses, and because of the early influence of Greece on the Italian peninsula and
the ever-present contact with Greek culture, the Romans adopted not only their
stories but also many of their gods, renaming a number of them.One exception to
this practice is the god Apollo, the only god whose name is common to both
cultures.
 Early in the development of Roman mythology, there was Saturn, equivalent to the
Greek god Cronus. His temple at the foot of Capitoline Hill included the public
treasury and decrees of the Roman Senate.
 The most powerful god was Jupiter. The Romans adopted Jupiter from the Greek
god Zeus. God of thunder.
 Jupiter's queen was Juno. She was the wife and sister of Jupiter. Her Greek name
was Hera.She was goddess of marriage and childbirth.
Conti...

 Neptune was Jupiter's brother and considered to be another great god. Neptune was adopted
from the Greek god Poseidon. He was the god of the sea.
 Apollo and Minerva were two of Jupiter’s children.Apollo was the god of the sun, music, and
archery.Minerva, known as Athena in Greek mythology was goddess of wisdom.
 Venus is the equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She is the goddess of love and beauty.
 Pluto was adopted from the Greek god Hades.he was king of underworld.
 Vesta is the goddess of the hearth in Roman mythology. Identical to her Greek counterpart
Hestia.
 Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and forge, the equivalent of Hephaestus from Greek
mythology.he was god of metallurgy, and crafts.
 Ceres was the Roman counter part of Demeter from Greek Mythology.She was goddess of
Agriculture.
 Mercury was the Roman counter part of Hermes from Greek Mythology.
Astronomy

 Many astronomical objects are named after Roman deities, like the planets
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
 In Roman and Greek mythology, Jupiter places his son born by a mortal woman,
the infant Heracles, on Juno's breast while she is asleep so the baby will drink her
divine milk and thus become immortal, an act which would endow the baby with
godlike qualities. When Juno woke and realized that she was breastfeeding an
unknown infant, she pushed him away, some of her milk spills, and the spurting
milk became the Milky Way. In another version of the myth, the abandoned
Heracles is given by Minerva to Juno for feeding, but Heracles' forcefulness
causes Minerva to rip him from her breast in pain. The milk that squirts out forms
the Milky Way.
Mythological Creatures

 Cerberus
 Charybdis
 Chimera
 Giants
 Gorgon
 Medusa
 Cyclops
Persian Civilization Mythology

 Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized

faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a
dualistic cosmology of good and evil.
 Creation Myth
 According to the Zoroastrian creation myth, Ahura Mazda existed in light and
goodness above, while Angra Mainyu existed in darkness and ignorance below.
Ahura Mazda first manifested seven divine beings called Amesha Spentas, who
support him and represent beneficent aspects of personality and creation, along
with numerous Yazatas, divinities worthy of worship. Ahura Mazda created the
floating, egg-shaped universe in two parts: first the spiritual (menog) and 3,000
years later, the physical (getig). Ahura Mazda then created Gayomard, the
archetypical perfect man, and Gavaevodata, the primordial bovine.
Conti...

 While Ahura Mazda created the universe and humankind, Angra Mainyu, whose
very nature is to destroy, miscreated demons, evil daevas, and noxious creatures
(khrafstar) such as snakes, ants, and flies. Angra Mainyu created an opposite, evil
being for each good being, except for humans, which he found he could not
match. Angra Mainyu invaded the universe through the base of the sky, inflicting
Gayomard and the bull with suffering and death. However, the evil forces were
trapped in the universe and could not retreat. The dying primordial man and
bovine emitted seeds, which were protect by Mah, the Moon. From the bull's seed
grew all beneficial plants and animals of the world and from the man's seed grew
a plant whose leaves became the first human couple.
 Mashya and Mashyana were the first man and woman whose procreation gave
rise to the human race.
Twelve Gods of Persian Mythology

 Ahura Mazda – King of the Gods

 Angra Mainyu – Principle of Evil, Chaos, and Discord
 Mithra – God of the rising sun, covenants, contracts, and kingship
 Hvar Ksata – God of the full sun
 Anahita – Goddess of fertility, health, water, wisdom, war
 Rashnu – An angel; the righteous judge of the dead
 Verethragna – Warrior god who fights against evil
 Tishtrya – Gods of agriculture and rainfall
 Atar – God of the divine element of fire; personification of fire
 Haoma – God of the harvest, health, strength, vitality; personification of the plant of the same name whose juices brought enlightenment
 Vayu – God of the wind who chases away evil spirits
 Zorvan – God of time, personification of Infinite Time
Mythological Creatures

 Simurgh
 Huma Bird
 Manticore
 Azhi Dahaka (Azhdaha)
 Suroosh and Daena
Indus Valley Civilization

 The religion and mythology of indus valley civilization is hard to determine due
to lack of knowledge about them.But some scholars or researchers gave their own
perspectives about their religion or possibly myths.
 The religion and belief system of the Indus Valley people has received
considerable attention, especially from the view of identifying precursors to
deities and religious practices of Indian religions that later developed in the area.
However, due to the sparsity of evidence, which is open to varying interpretations,
and the fact that the Indus script remains undeciphered, the conclusions are partly
speculative and largely based on a retrospective view from a much later Hindu
perspective.John Marshall, who in 1931 identified the following as prominent
features of the Indus religion: a Great Male God and a Mother Goddess;
deification or veneration of animals and plants; a symbolic representation of the
phallus (linga) and vulva (yoni); and, use of baths and water in religious practice.
Conti...

 Marshall identified the figure as an early form of the Hindu god Shiva (or Rudra),
who is associated with asceticism, yoga, and linga; regarded as a lord of animals,
and often depicted as having three eyes. The seal has hence come to be known as
the Pashupati Seal, after Pashupati (lord of all animals), an epithet of Shiva.
 Marshall hypothesised the existence of a cult
of Mother Goddess worship based upon excavation
of several female figurines and thought that this
was a precursor of the Hindu sect of Shaktism.
Mythology (possibly)

 Mythology might be related to seals present in IVC

 One seal from Mohenjo-daro shows a half-human, a half-buffalo monster
attacking a tiger, which may be a reference to the Sumerian myth of such a
monster created by goddess Aruru to fight Gilgamesh.
 Mythological Creatures
 Unicorn