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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 _Robert_ 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 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 Helium 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 archaeopteryx on October 13, 2013 at 2:01am

To bring that story to a more personal level, one of our former TA members, Blaine Leavitt, best known for his folksy, "There ya go!" comment, and who left us close to a year ago, finding a better way to spend his time, had a relative, Dudley Leavitt, a Mormon who actually participated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

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Permalink Reply by _Robert_ on October 13, 2013 at 7:27am

At least the Mormons were good enough to baptize their murder victims into their church:

http://1857massacre.com/MMM/lds_proxy_baptism_of_massacre_victims.htm

 

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