Comparative mythology

narrative in which a great flood destroys a civilization, commonly as divine retribution

symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it

goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation

thumb|The aegis on the so-called Athena Lemnia, a Roman statue type often identified as a copy of a work by the Classical Greek sculptor [[Pheidias (Dresden Skulpturensammlung)]]

sky deity who represents the Sun

creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity

1890 non-fiction work by James George Frazer

comparison of myths from different cultures

myths attributed to the Proto-Indo-Europeans

deity representing the Moon

personification of Earth's environment

common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed

deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron or protector of a particular place

biblical flood myth

thumb|Illustration depicting otherworld in Celtic mythology by Stephen Reid in [[T. W. Rolleston's The High Deeds of Finn (1910).]] In historical Indo-European religion, the concept of an otherworld, also known as an otherside, is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of orbis alius (Latin for "other world/side"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherworld.

world center in some religions or philosophies; connection between Heaven and Earth

1948 book on comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell

Russian philologist (1838-1906)

Russian philologist and art historian (1818–1897)

hypothesis that Proto-Indo-European society had 3 castes—priests, warriors, commoners—corresponding to the 3 functions of the sacral, the martial and the economic

religious motif in which a deity dies and is resurrected

mythical creature

In structuralism-influenced studies of mythology, a mytheme is a fundamental generic unit of narrative structure (typically involving a relationship between a character, an event, and a theme) from which myths are thought to be constructed—a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways ("bundled") or linked in more complicated relationships. For example, the myths of Greek Adonis and Egyptian Osiris share several elements, leading some scholars to conclude that they share a source, i.e. images passed down in cultures or from one to anoth

thumb|A map showing the generally defined area of the Fertile Crescent in red Panbabylonism (also known as Panbabylonianism) was the school of thought that considered the cultures and religions of the Middle East and civilization in general to be ultimately derived from Babylonian myths which in turn they viewed as being based on Babylonian astronomy, often in hidden ways.

mythological symbol

Arabish lament

motif in folklore and mythology

archetype

oldest surviving literary text in the world

book by Robert Graves

mythological interpretations of the origin of the Milky Way

nature deity whose disappearance and reappearance, or life, death and rebirth, embodies the growth cycle of plants

notion of a conception by miraculous circumstances in several religions and mythologies

Monarch with a religious significance

deity depicted with horns or antlers

Wikimedia list article

mythological and historical depictions of bees

comparative mythology study of Jesus Christ

Sumerian creation myth

symbological concepts pertaining to doves since the Mezopotamian age, dove used as symbol of a god, love, peace or even war

Sumerian creation myth

American academic (1931-2010)

sumerian creation myth

symbol in various mythologies and religions

non-fiction work by Christopher Vogler

In historical analysis, biblical criticism and comparative mythology/religion, parallelomania has been used to refer to a phenomenon (mania) where authors perceive apparent similarities and construct parallels and analogies without historical basis.

1987 film

traditional myths of Uralic-speaking cultures

American psychologist

miraculous birth theme in multiple mythologies