1、the word “myth” originates from the roman word “mythos”, meaning “speech, tale, fiction or narrative”.
2、myth is an anonymous account with supernatural characteristics that tends to explain natural phenomena and origin of humanity, culture, and other incidents.
3、mythology can be defined as the study of myths or can be used to refer to a collection of myths that usually describe a particular group of people or culture, such as their history, religion, and ancestry.
4、different cultures often reveal some similar themes or images in their myths. some scholars believe that these similarities result from archetypes present in the conscious levels of every person's mind.
5、chthonic myths that involve death and rebirth motifs, typically characterized by natural disasters such as flood, storm, hurricane, earthquake and other natural phenomena unexplainable to ancient people.
6、pan gu was often regarded as the god who created heaven and earth and nvwa as the goddess who created humans.
7、the story of nvwa creating mankind provided an explanation for the social hierarchy in ancient china. it was said the few people created by her own hand became the rich and the powerful and the majority she flung as drops from the rope became the poor and the weak.
8、fu xi and nvwa were credited with creating the eight trigrams, which formed the basis for the philosophy of the book of changes.
9、it is said that the current custom of a bride covering their face with a fan or a veil at a marriage ceremony originated from the story of the creation of mankind by the union of fu xi and nvwa, who were brother and sister.
10、shennong is honored as the ancestor of chinese herb medicine and agriculture.
11、shennong often used cha, which originally meant “to drink or to eat” as an antidote.
12、the social position of the businessmen was superior in our feudal society.
13、wang hai is now honored as the ancestor of commerce of china and highly respected by the later generations as a result of his initiating commercial trade.
14、one of wang hai’s ancestors named xi zhong penned the wild horses and put fodder into mangers to raise them. later, he created halters to lead the horses for carrying goods.
15、wang hai found the most sensitive place of an ox was its nose. he later created vehicles pulled by oxen and they became the important tool for transferring people and goods.
16、with the help of vehicles pulled by horses and oxen, wang hai led his clansmen to do business with other tribes on a large scale. soon, their tribe became the richest and the most influential one.
17、the influence and prosperity of shang tribe laid the solid material foundations for defeating the xia dynasty and setting up of a new one --- the shang dynasty.
18、comparative mythology has uncovered a number of recurring themes between the myths of different cultures, such as the creation myth, disaster myth and hero myth. among them, disaster myth is at the foundation of almost every culture.
19、the creation of the universe, the earth, and humans, are three major subjects covered in nearly, if not all creation mythology.
20、in norse mythology, ymir’s brothers and sisters slew him and fashioned the cosmos from his corpse.