Introduction
When I was young,
I would listen to my mother, who would enchant me with tales of Gods
and heroes; of good and evil dancing an eternal waltz, lost in a mythical
eternity. The Seige of Troy sounded like it was yesterday's headlines,
or the slaying of Medusa. At least for the child I was, it was fun to
imagine. Many of us know of the Trojan War, of Ragnarok and of many
mythical tales. The English word 'myth' is in fact derived from the
Greek world 'mythos' which meant 'story'. Yet, they were more than just
stories. To the early people, mythology explained the mysteries of the
world and the meaning of life.
And yet, reality
has caught up with that age of innocence and make belief, and the stories
of Zeus from my childhood no longer fascinate me as it used to. However,
the world around us certainly has not forgotten its ancient past. Many
religions today have its roots deep in mythology, and till this day,
many books and games still draw inspiration from the ancient tales.
In this site, we hope
to recreate the age of mythology, by retelling tales of the past from
all over the world. Be it for the study of literature, anthropology or
just for fun, it would definately be an intruiging experience. There is
surely more to these stories than there is on the surface. On a literary
note, we shall also take do a short examination
on the recurring themes and underlying ideas in various cultures. Lastly,
we will also consider the relavence of mythology to our modern society,
to evaluate the impact of mythology on society today, and to ponder its
possible applications thereof.
Come join the ride
through the age of Mythology: to grin knowingly as familiar stories are
repeated to you, or to be enchanted by tales of Gods and Man that you
never knew of. Either way, it is an exciting ride, and we bid you jump
in.
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About
the site
The primary aim of
this web site is to provide the visitor with a greater insight into mythology.
For ease of navigation, the site has been divided into five sections.
1. The Norse
Pantheon
See how a mythological system works as a whole, spanning from Creation
to the end of the world, in the story of the Norsemen.
2. Mythical
Tales
To enhance anyone's knowledge of myths, this section showcases the famous
Greek myths as tales which require little prior reading to enjoy.
3. The Orient
To offset the western emphasis in the site, this section is devoted to
the retelling the myths of the Orient.
4. The Great
Themes
This section culminates the myths discussed in the previous sections
by discussing recurrent themes in myths. This may require previous reading
to better appreciate.
5. Past and
Present
A look at how mythology has affected us today, and what we may learn
from mythology. This may require the reading of the other sections to
fully appreciate.
The five sections
are intended to provide the visitor sufficient grounding in mythology,
so that they would better be able to consider the ideas put forth in the
later sections. The site however does not serve as an exhausive source
for information on mythology. We hope instead that we spark off an interest
in mythology in you that will spur you on to find out more. We
encourage visitors to join in the many discussions, as well as to pit
themselves against the various challenges on site.
Through the making
of this website, the team had learnt much about mythology. We hope you,
as the visitor, would learn much from visiting this site, and have as
much fun as we had making it.
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Epilogue
At the end
of your visit to this site, I hope that you have enjoyed yourself and
have learn much about mythology in the world today. However, the vast
world of mythology spans a lot more distance than what the site has covered,
and those who are interested should go on and read more about mythology,
and perhaps at the end of that, return and share your new insights with
us.
There is in fact still
much debate over various issues of mythology such as its origins and its
true bearing on ancient cultures. And new discoveries in ancient mythologies
are still being found from the excavations of ancient ruins.
Mythology also plays
a large part alongside other subjects like archaeology, anthropologyand
literature. More recent scietific studies by psycho-analysts such as that
of Freud have also started shed new light on the workings of the human
brain.
The age of mythology
is certainly an amazing one, full of olden wisdom and imagination that
will continue to enthrall and inspire people for generations to come.
The End.
ThinkQuest Team C0118142
2001
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Bibliography
& References
General
References
Willis, R.G.(1996). World Mythology. USA: Henry Holt Books.
Wilkinson, P. (1998). Illustrated Dictionary of Mythology. London: Dorling
Kindersley.
Norse
Mythology
Green, R.L. (1994). Myths of the Norsemen. London: Penguin.
Grant, J. (1996). An Introduction to Viking Mythology. London: Grange
Books.
http://149.144.201.234/~myths/NorseMyths.html
http://todd.reimer.com/norse/myth.html
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/myth.cgi/Figures.html
http://www.urd.nu/
Oriental
Mythology
Whittaker, C. (1996). An Introduction to Oriental Mythology. London: Grange
Books.
Minford, J. (1988). Favourite Folk Tales of China. Singapore: Grahem Brash
Pte. Ltd.
Christie, A. (1996). Chinese Mythology. Hong Kong: Chancellor Press.
http://www.chinavista.com/experience/story/story.html
http://members.tripod.com/~srinivasp/mythology/stories.htm
Greek Mythology
McLeish, K. (1983). Children of the Gods. Great Britain: Longman Group.
Bulfinch, T. (1989) Bulfinch's Complete Mythology. London: Octopus Publishing
Group.
Lines, K. (1986) The Faber Book of Greek Legeds. Great Britain: Faber
& Faber Ltd.
http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/
http://www.hsa.brown.edu/~maicar/
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/labors.html
Themes
of Myths
Philip, N. (1999). Eyewitness Guide- Mythology. China: Dorling Kindersley.
Cherry, J. (1995). Mythical Beasts. Italy: British Museum Press.
http://www.mythinglinks.org/
http://www.slider.com/enc/37000/mythology.htm
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/tour.cgi?link=/mythology/mythology.html&frp=/wi......
http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~gt0035d/nordoc.html
Past
and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~Moon_Circle/bos/lore09.html
http://www.humanities-interactive.org/ancient/myth/myth_essay.htm
http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lessons/698ClimbMtO.htm
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Acknowledgements
Kudos to...
Michael Greenhalgh
of the National Australian University
for the gorgeous pictures of Greek Architecture that just came in so useful!
PJCriss, Book
of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, etc.
for the pictures of
Gods, Goddess, Heroes, etc? Uhh!
Srinivas Padmanabhuni,
Indian Mythology
for the "commonly available pictures of the gods"! Hehe!
Joel Ong, Victoria
Junior College
for helping us overcome all the picture copyright stuff by drawing, and
for lending his lecture notes when Yaowei falls asleep during lectures
because of ThinkQuesting the previous night!
dhtmlcentral.com
& klagaffe, forum user
for the menu script! this place has the best user community support!
Jennifer Bergman,
Windows to the Universe
for permission to use pictures on her huge page!
Mike Miller from
the National Geographic Society
and
Pete Schreiber from ESRI
for permission to use the really nice map of Scandinavia
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Graphics
Version
These interactive features are not available in the text version of
the site. Please enter the graphic version of the site here.
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Contact
Contact
the team:
Corrie Side
Sheenae Kimn
Yaowei Yeo
Contact the coaches:
Del Taylor
Gi Soong Chee 
Mayank Gandhi
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About
The Team
Students:
Corrie Side, Sheenae Kimn, Yeo Yaowei.
Coaches:
Del Taylor, Gi Soong Chee, Mayank Ghandi.
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Disclaimer
The content
provided in this site is meant solely for educational purposes only. While
every effort has been made in the production of this site, and every attempt
will be made to remove inappropriate materials contributed by visitors
at the earliest opportunity, neither Team C0118142 nor ThinkQuest will
be liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused either directly
or indirectly by this site. References to any external products or services
do not constitute any endorsement by Team C0118142 or ThinkQuest. We welcome
visitors' queries and comments. Please direct these to C0118142@thinkquest.org.
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