A mythology is the entirety of all the myths, legends, and traditional beliefs of a specific culture, people, or region. The term can also mean "the study of myths," but in colloquial usage and around this wiki, expect the former meaning. Though these are often thought of as "dead" genres that only contain ancient works, most religions and cultures have mythology, and mythological stories continue to be created and reinterpreted all the time in living religions.
The terms myth and legend are used more or less interchangeably in everyday language. When things are interpreted a little more strictly, then myths are lore about gods and other entities of cosmic relevance, while legends are narratives with human protagonists. A third segment of mythology is so-called "low mythology," which encompasses folk beliefs about lesser non-human mythical beings.
Mythology is one of the oldest known genres and exists in different media. It's certainly grounded in Oral Tradition, but all known and troped mythological stories are necessarily Literature. Mythology has inspired copious visual Art since ancient times and, in some cultures, Theatre. The modern Fantasy and Mythopoeia genres are also strongly influenced and inspired by mythology.
Mythological stories are (or were) not usually considered Fiction by the people or community which create(d) them — instead, they are often interpreted as true accounts of past events or the present state of the world. As such, mythology is directly relevant to the society that made it: Myths especially form an important part of Religion and shape the worldview and the practices of worship of their believers. Legends supposedly record history and may evoke a sense of cultural or national identity, as well as reinforce a society's social norms and values. All in all, mythology provides a people or community with ideas about their own place in the greater context of the universe and history. This doesn't mean it can't provide more mundane services like entertainment, too.
Overlaps with Legends and Fairy Tales, which tend to be more cultural than religious.
Myths, legends, folktales, and religions with their own pages:
The Americas
- General - Native American Mythology (many different indigenous cultures of the Americas)
- Indigenous North Americans:
- Inuit Mythology (indigenous Arctic tribes from Alaska, Northern Canada, and Greenland)
- Mesoamerican Mythology (pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America)
- Aztec Mythology (Nahua peoples)
- Mayan Mythology
- Taíno Mythology (indigenous people of the Caribbean Islands)
- Indigenous South Americans:
- Inca Mythology (Quechua and other Andean peoples)
- Tupi-Guarani Mythology (native tribes in Brazil and the Amazon region)
- Post-Colonial Folklore:
- Brazilian Folklore (Brazilian folktales influenced by European, African, and indigenous cultures)
- Mountain Folklore (Appalachian region of the United States)
Asia-Pacific and Oceania
- Central and North Asian Mythologies:
- Ainu Mythology (indigenous people of northern Japan and eastern Russia)
- Altaic Mythology (Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Hunnic, and Xiongnu peoples of the Eurasian Steppes)
- Siberian Mythology (various indigenous peoples of Asian Russia)
- East Asian and Mainland Southeast Asian Mythologies:
- Maritime Southeast Asian and Oceanian Mythologies:
- Aboriginal Australian Myths (indigenous ethnic groups of Australia)
- Austronesian Mythologies:
- Malaysian Mythology
- Pacific Mythology (Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian peoples)
- Philippine Mythology
- Papuan Mythology (indigenous ethnic groups of New Guinea)
Europe, North Africa, West and South Asia
- Afro-Asiatic (and Semitic) Mythologies:
- Abrahamic Mythology and Religions:
- Amazigh Mythologies (North Africa):
- Guanche Mythology (indigenous people of the Canary Islands)
- Kabyle Mythology (Northeast Algeria)
- Tuareg Mythology (Sahara desert)
- Arab Mythology (pre-Abrahamic Arabian paganism)
- Canaanite Mythology (pre-Abrahamic Levantine paganism)
- Egyptian Mythology (ancient Egyptian religion)
- Mesopotamian Mythology (ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian religions of the Fertile Crescent)
- Finno-Ugric Mythologies:
- Indo-European Mythologies:
- Armenian Mythology (ancient Armenian religion)
- Baltic Mythology (various Baltic tribes around the Baltic Sea, including present-day Latvia and Lithuania)
- Celtic Mythology (ancient Celtic peoples of Britain and Ireland)
- Arthurian Legend (the legends and stories about the founding of Britain)
- Classical Mythology (ancient Greco-Roman and Hellenistic religions)
- Hindu Mythology (various religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent)
- Hittite Mythology (ancient Anatolia in present-day Turkey)
- Lusitanian Mythology (ancient tribes of the Iberian Peninsula)
- Norse Mythology (extension of Germanic paganism in Scandinavia)
- Persian Mythology (ancient Iranian religions)
- Scythian Mythology (nomadic Iranian tribes from Central Asia)
- Zoroastrianism (ancient Persian religion, one of the oldest in the world)
- Romani Mythology (folktales and religious traditions of the Roma people)
- Slavic Mythology (various Slavic peoples of Central/Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula)
- North Causasian Mythology:
- Nart Sagas (mythology of the North Caucasus)
Sub-Saharan Africa
- General - African Mythology (many different cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa)
- Austronesian Mythologies:
- Malagasy Mythology (indigenous religion of Madagascar)
- Central African Mythologies:
- Beti-Pahuin Mythology (the Beti speaking peoples of Central Africa)
- Kongo Mythology (the people of the lower Congo River)
- Mbuti Mythology (the pygmy peoples of Northeast Congo)
- Mongo Mythology (the legends of the Mongo and related peoples of central Congo)
- Nyanga Mythology (the lore of the Nyanga and related peoples of Kivu)
- Sawa Mythology (the Sawabantu of coastal Cameroon)
- East African Mythologies:
- Great Lakes Bantu Mythology (the peoples of the Great Lakes region of East Africa)
- Nilotic Mythologies
- Alur Mythology (the southern Luo people of East Africa)
- Maa Mythology (Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania)
- Swahili Mythology (the people of the Southeast African coast)
- West African Mythologies:
- Akan Mythology (the Twi people of Lower Guinea)
- Fulani Mythology (the Fula speaking pastoralists of the Sahel)
- Gbe Mythology (the Gbe people of Lower Guinea)
- Voudoun (Afro-American religion and culture with influences from multiple traditions)
- Hausa Mythology (the traditional beliefs of the Hausa of the Central Sahel)
- Ibibio Efik Mythology (the Ibibio-Efik people of Lower Guinea)
- Igbo Mythology (the Igbo people of Lower Guinea)
- Ijaw Mythology (the people of the Niger Delta)
- Jukun Mythology (the Jukun and related peoples of Nigeria and Cameroon)
- Mande Mythology (pre-Islamic beliefs and lore of the Mande people of West Africa)
- Mende Mythology (tales of the Mende of Sierra Leone and Liberia)
- Woi Epic (the Kpelle people of Upper Guinea)
- Mossi Mythology (the Mossi people of the Sahel)
- Senufo Mythology (the Senufo people of the Sahel)
- Serer Mythology (the Serer people of Senegambia)
- Songhai Mythology (the Songhai people of the Western Sahel)
- Yoruba Mythology (the Yoruba people of Lower Guinea)
Miscellaneous Folklore
- Nautical Folklore (sea-related legends)
- Wiccan Mythology (Wicca neopaganism)
