World Myths
English Matters 46/2014 had an interesting article about Norse Myths. In it, the author explained a number of stories and traditions associated with the vikings. Today we’ll take a look at some other ancient myths from around the world.
Mayans
Ixchel was the Mayan Goddess of medicine (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Ixchel was one of the main gods in Mayan mythology. She took the form of an aged jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine. She was called the “goddess of making children.” The traditional story was that, together with her spouse, she had thirteen sons, two of whom created heaven and earth. She was also probably linked to the sweat baths where Mayan women would go before and after childbirth.
Greek
A baby Achilles is dipped into the river Styx. Painted by Antoine Borel (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Achilles was a demigod (half god, half human) who was a hero of the Trojan War. During the fighting, enemies soon learned that Achilles was immune to the arrows they shot at him. The story started when he was a boy. His mother dipped him head down in the river Styx to make him immortal. The problem was that she held him by the ankle, which did not make contact with the sacred water and therefore became his weak spot. Years later, Paris shot Achilles near his heel, thus killing him. Even today, English people talk about something having an Achilles heel, meaning the weak point of an idea, structure or individual.
Hindu
Ganesha is still a popular figure in contemporary India (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Most Westerners are familiar with the Hindu deity Ganesha – the pot-bellied god with an elephant head. The myth goes that the powerful goddess Parvati realised she did not have a loyal servant like some of the other gods. So, she created a being from turmeric which she treated like her own son. To cut a long story short, this boy was beheaded by the other gods because they were jealous of his loyalty. Parvati was furious and threatened to destroy the whole world. She was talked out of it, however, and asked a servant to go out and find a new head for the boy. She requested the head of the first animal facing North which the messenger saw. And this is how Ganesha has the head of a powerful Indian elephant.