The Oxford Companion to World Mythology David Leeming
...explores the role of mythology, or myth-logic, in history and determines that the dreams of specific cultures add up to a larger collective story of humanity.
Oxford Companions
Oxford University Press
November 2005
516 pages ISBN: 0195156692 Hardcover Add to Wish List
Cave paintings at Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain,
fraught with expression thousands of years later; point to
an early human desire to form a cultural identity. In the
Oxford Companion to World Mythology, David Leeming explores
the role of mythology, or myth-logic, in history and
determines that the dreams of specific cultures add up to a
larger collective story of humanity. Stopping short of
attempting to be all-inclusive, this fascinating volume
will nonetheless be comprehensive, opening with an
introduction exploring the nature and dimensions of myth
and proposing a definition as a universal language. Briefly
dipping into the ways our understanding of myth has changed
from Aristotle and Plato to modern scholars such as Joseph
Campbell, the introduction loosely places the concept in
its present context and precedes articles on influential
mythologists and mythological approaches that appear later
in the Companion.
The main body of Leeming's work consists of A-Z entries
covering all aspects of mythology, including substantial
essays on the world's major mythological traditions (Greek,
Native American, Indian, Japanese, Sumerian, Egyptian),
mythological types and motifs (Descent to the Underworld,
the Hero, the Trickster, Creation, the Quest), mythological
figures (Odysseus, Zeus, Osiris, Spider Woman, and Inanna)
as well as numerous interrelated subjects such as fairly
tales and legends. The Companion also locates myth in our
lives today, relating it to language patterns, psychology,
religion, politics, art, and gender attitudes. Many of the
better-known and more significant myths are vividly retold
in this volume that will be illustrated with maps, more
than 70 black and white images, and eight pages of color
highlighting the central role art has often played in the
transmission and perpetuation of myth. Following the
entries, a rich section of appendices will include family
trees of the major pantheons, equivalency charts for the
gods of Greece and Rome, Babylon and Sumer, as well as
other traditions, an extensive bibliography, and an index.
75 halftones, 16 color illus.
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