Portal:Myths

Inanna (later known as Ishtar in Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian traditions) was the central goddess of ancient Mesopotamia. Worshiped from at least 4000 BCE in the Sumerian city of Uruk, she held titles such as Queen of Heaven, Guardian of the Me, and Weaver of Cycles. Her domains included fertility, erotic power, political sovereignty, cosmic balance, and life-death regeneration, both framed as integrated in a continuum.

She was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, her early main religious center. In archaic Uruk, she was worshipped in three forms: morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud), evening Inanna (Inanna sig), and princely Inanna (Inanna NUN), the former two reflecting the phases of her associated planet Venus. Her most prominent symbols include the lion and the eight-pointed star. Her husband is the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), and her sukkal (attendant) is the goddess Ninshubur, later conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal. (Full article...)

• ... that the legend of Sumbha and Nisumbha, demons from Hindu mythology, is used as a warning against the dangers of seduction in Shashi Tharoor's novel The Great Indian Novel?

• ... that in Chinese mythology, Wu Gang had to chop down a tree on the moon that always healed itself, forcing him to keep trying forever?

• ...that in Colombian folklore the legendary Alligatorman (Hombre Caiman) is said to be a fisherman converted by the spirit of the Magdalena River into an alligator, that returns every year on St. Sebastian´s Day to hunt human victims?

• ... that Xiuhcoatl was a mythological Aztec fire-serpent, viewed as the spirit form of Xiuhtecuhtli, the fire god, and was the lightning-like weapon of the god Huitzilopochtli?

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The phoenix is a legendary immortal bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Originating in Greek mythology, it has analogs in many cultures, such as Egyptian and Persian mythology. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, while others say that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again. In the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, a tool used by folklorists, the phoenix is classified as motif B32.

The origin of the phoenix has been attributed to Ancient Egypt by Herodotus and later 19th-century scholars, but other scholars think the Egyptian texts may have been influenced by classical folklore. Over time, the phoenix motif spread and gained a variety of new associations; Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif. Over time, extending beyond its origins, the phoenix could variously "symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun, time, the Roman Empire, metempsychosis, consecration, resurrection, life in the heavenly Paradise, Christ, Mary, virginity, the exceptional man, and certain aspects of Christian life". Some scholars have claimed that the poem De ave phoenice may present the mythological phoenix motif as a symbol of Christ's resurrection. (Full article...)

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