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Permalink Reply by Keenan Fry on October 11, 2013 at 6:45am

Easy, the Norse Myths are the best. Super creative and some of the most enticing tales to have ever been told. My profile picture is actually a drawing of the god Heimdall, who defends Bifrost (the rainbow bridge) and who will sound the horn at his side at the coming of Ragnarok. 

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Permalink Reply by H3xx on October 11, 2013 at 11:02am

I would have to agree, with the works of Homer to be a close second.

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Permalink Reply by Emperor Milos on October 11, 2013 at 12:44pm

Agreed. I can't count how many times I have re-read the Iliad and the Odyssey.

I really enjoy the Norse myths, but I have always been partial to Greek mythology, as that was what got me interested in history as a child.

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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on October 11, 2013 at 11:03am

I like the Adam and Eve story for a few reasons.  What I find most interesting is that ancient people imagined that, at some point in their ancestry, early humans likely didn't wear clothes and didn't even think to do so.  I tend to think that the earliest 'philosophers' of human origins were likely in proximity of uncivilized folk who still ran around nude eating fruit from trees or something like that.

It is also notable that they realized human birth was much more traumatizing than for other animals - and tried to explain why.  There are also the patriarchal seeds woven into the story, compensating the male inability to bear children by saying the first man 'gave birth' (by way of a rib) to the first woman.

From a psycho-literary perspective, many of the old testament stories reveal a lot about Bronze Age thinkers that I think is worth noting. 

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Permalink Reply by RobertPiano on October 11, 2013 at 3:19pm

Jack Wilson's ghost dance religion. I think it was beautiful. Unfortunately one version of it led to Wounded Knee.

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Permalink Reply by Gallup's Mirror on October 11, 2013 at 8:19pm

Which ancient or modern Religion/Mythos is the most interesting to you as a story.

That would be the modern mythology of J. R. R. Tolkien and Middle Earth, as glimpsed in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and more fully explained in The Silmarillion. Tolkein based much of his work on aspects of Norse mythology and ancient stories such as Beowulf, but made up most of the rest. I find it more fascinating, interesting and complete as a story (but no less fictional of course) than any other of the many mythologies and religions I've read about.

A small sample synopsis:

Eru ("The One"), also called Ilúvatar ("Father of All"), first created the Ainur, a group of eternal spirits or demiurges, called "the offspring of his thought". Ilúvatar brought the Ainur together and showed them a theme, from which he bade them make a great music. Melkor — whom Ilúvatar had given the "greatest power and knowledge" of all the Ainur — broke from the harmony of the music to develop his own song. Some Ainur joined him, while others continued to follow Ilúvatar, causing discord in the music. This happened thrice, with Eru Ilúvatar successfully overpowering his rebellious subordinate with a new theme each time. Ilúvatar then stopped the music and showed them a vision of Arda and its peoples. The vision disappeared after a while, and Ilúvatar offered the Ainur a chance to enter into Arda and govern over the new world. Many Ainur descended, taking physical form and becoming bound to that world. The greater Ainur became known as Valar, while the lesser Ainur were called Maiar. The Valar attempted to prepare the world for the coming inhabitants (Elves and Men), while Melkor, who wanted Arda for himself, repeatedly destroyed their work; this went on for thousands of years until, through waves of destruction and creation, the world took shape.

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Permalink Reply by Brendan on October 11, 2013 at 11:54pm

Good call

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on October 12, 2013 at 2:15am

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Permalink Reply by M on October 12, 2013 at 2:55am

Norse myths were fun to read ... it seemed like the first superhero comic book in history.

The ibrahemic religions mythology is unique of it's own ... i remember that someone drew the book of Genesis as a comic book keeping the original script as a narration to the story .. it was fun to read .. but still not as fun as the Greeks.

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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on October 12, 2013 at 11:27am

The Greeks and Norse had far better myths than the Semites

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Permalink Reply by Ed on October 12, 2013 at 8:52pm

Without imagination we would be truly boring beings. Unfortunately the early instigators of supernatural thought saw it fit to blur the lines of reality and fairy tales. We are suffering the consequences to this day.

Greek or Norse it matters not, mythology is hugely entertaining. But Bilbo Baggins is more my speed today.

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Permalink Reply by Gallup's Mirror on October 13, 2013 at 1:09am

By way of religious non-fiction, I've always been rather fond of the story of the Mountain Meadows massacre during the Mormon Reformation. Under the direction of a Mormon leadership at war with the United States; the Mormon Militia tried to frame Native Americans for their xenophobic attacks on innocent civilians. They got caught and covered it up by killing the innocent civilians.

That's just as good as any blood-drenched Bible story I've ever heard. Maybe better, since this was the old west and the Mormons did their slaughtering with modern firearms, not primitive swords and arrows.

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The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857, with the mass slaughter of most in the emigrant party by members of the Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district, together with some Paiute Native Americans.

The wagon train—composed almost entirely of families from Arkansas—was bound for California on a route that passed through the Utah Territory during a turbulent time period, later known as the Utah War. After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker–Fancher party made their way south, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, nearby militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack the wagon train.

The militia, officially called the Nauvoo Legion, was composed of Utah's Mormon settlers (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church). Intending to give the appearance of Native American aggression, their plan was to arm some Southern Paiute Native Americans and persuade them to join with a larger party of their own militiamen—disguised as Native Americans—in an attack. During the militia's first assault on the wagon train, the emigrants fought back and a five-day siege ensued. Eventually fear spread among the militia's leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of white men, and had likely discovered the identity of their attackers. As a result militia commander William H. Dame ordered his forces to kill the emigrants.

By this time the emigrants were running low on water and provisions, and allowed some approaching members of the militia—who carried a white flag—to enter their camp. The militia members assured the emigrants their protection and escorted them from the hasty fortification. After walking a distance from the camp, the militiamen, with the help of auxiliary forces hiding nearby, attacked the emigrants. Intending to leave no witnesses and to prevent reprisals to complicate the Utah War, the perpetrators killed all the adults and older children (totaling about 120 men, women, and children). Seventeen children, all younger than seven, were spared.

Following the massacre, the perpetrators hastily buried the victims, leaving the bodies vulnerable to wild animals and the climate. Local families took in the surviving children, and many of the victims' possessions were auctioned off. Investigations, temporarily interrupted by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments during 1874. Of the men indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, Lee was convicted by a jury, sentenced to death, and executed.

Today historians attribute the massacre to a combination of factors, including war hysteria about possible invasion of Mormon territory, and hyperbolic Mormon teachings against outsiders which were part of the excesses of the Mormon Reformation period. Scholars debate whether senior Mormon leadership, including Brigham Young, directly instigated the massacre or if responsibility lay with the local leaders in southern Utah.

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