I just started the Encyclopedia , It's still small and very vague. It doesn't have very much information yet. but I'll add more very .
*Arien*
Celtic mythology consists of three groups:
The Goidelic, including Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the western highlands of Scotland. In language, race, and tradition these form a homogenous block.
The Insular Brythonic, including Wales and Cornwall, also inhabited by kindred people with a somewhat similar history.
The Continental Brythonic, that is, Brittany. Though racially akin to the Welsh and Cornish, the Bretons have had a very differently history and enjoy a distinct culture.
The Etruscans:
The Etruscans were a people who lived in central Italy. Their state was a federation of cities, and included areas such as Etruria, Latium and Campania. They also founded Rome. Latium separated somewhere around 500 BCE, soon followed by Rome and other cities. The Etruscans lost their independence in the 4th century BCE and were assimilated in the Roman Republic in 265 BCE. However, their influence remained in Roman culture (laws, architecture, sacral acts, etc.).
Latvian mythology
by Aldis Putelis
There is no mythological system in the Latvian tradition resembling that of Greeks or Romans. All the bulk of facts entitled this way is just a derivation from the Latvian folklore material, and mostly - song texts. This makes all the study on it just speculation. Not much clarity is added by the written documents of the ancient days. All of these accounts are analyzed in the book Letto-Preussische Goeterlehre by the outstanding mythologist Wilhelm Mannhardt (prepared 1870, published in Riga, 1936). The first ever account mentioning any of the Baltic tribes (Mannhardt created his term "Letto-Preussen" to designate the same by the Southern and Northern extremes) is that of a Roman traveler Tacitus in 98 CE. It mentions the worship of female deities (mahtes). Mannhardt suggests to think twice before relying too much on this as the traveler definitely did not speak the language and spent comparatively little time in the region. Still - it's all we have! The first chronicles deal mostly with the Christianization of the natives, telling very little of their ancient religions and myths, giving just some descriptions of traditions along with facts giving ground to conclude that some Latvian tribes have had a period of decline of their religion, with it turning into merely formal ritual (allowing the Christianity to substitute it easily) while other tribes (like Curonians, Semigallians) were not willing to give up their rites. Later texts show clear attempts to ?create? Latvian deities, planting a number of actually Prussian ones, adding unlikely explanations and etymologies.
After such an introduction it might seem that there can be no Latvian mythology at all. Still there are several outstanding researchers having contributed to this field of study. Let me mention some of them.
Wilhelm Mannhardt is the greatest of the world's well-known scholars having ever dealt with the Baltic mythologies including that of Latvians. His highly informative (but equally difficult to read because of quoting the documents in original - Latin, Old German, Greek, Russian!) book (see above) covers all the known accounts on the Baltic religions, deities and myths, giving examples of texts in the original language - Latin, Old Russian, Old German, even Greek.
The first of Latvian mythologists is Prof. Peteris Smits (1869-1938), Dr.h.c. of Uppsala University. He has studied Slavic languages, received masters degree in Chinese, devoted himself to ethnography and folkloristic, both Latvian and that of other nations. This gives him the comparative perspective.
Latvians have had no national state or significant kingdom before the 1918 when the Republic of Latvia was proclaimed. Therefore also literacy was brought to Latvia by outsiders - German knights and missionaries, not interested in local pagan traditions. This led to absence of any texts written by the actual bearers of the tradition or just non-biased persons. Smits took the scarce material of chronicles and church visitations and tried to re-establish some truth about the existence of cult and deities. His book Latviesu mitologija (Latvian Mythology) was first published in 1918, with a second edition in 1926. He dismantled to some extent the romantic views of the first Latvian revivalists of the mid XIX century, who insisted on the presence of wide polytheism and developed cult in Latvian tradition in ancient times.
Norse mythology:
The collective myths of the Scandinavians (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland). The main sources for Norse mythology, Indo-European in origin, are the Icelandic Eddas. The shaping of Norse mythology itself took place in Germanic Europe, including those elements of the myths which were current in Scandinavia in the millenium before that
Aboriginal mythology:
The original inhabitants of Australia who have occupied the continent for at least 40,000 years (or maybe even 60,000 years). The Aborigines arrived either by way of the now-submerged Sahul Shelf or by rafts and canoes, in one or more waves.
The people and languages (or dialects) were associated with stretches of territory, and the largest entities recognized by the people were language-named groups. These groups made up smaller, local groups (clans) which consisted not only of men and women but also of several species. A group bore the name of one of these species, its totem. The men of the clan were divided into lodges, with each man custodian of the mythology, ritual, sites, and symbols associated with one or more natural species and with ancestral heroes. Through ritual reenactment, the creative past became operative in the present, and the life of species and man was assured. The myths and ritual constituted the Dreaming, or Dreamtime, which signified the continuity of life unlimited by space and time.
Polynesian mythology:
One of the three major ethnographic (with Melanesia and Micronesia) divisions of Oceania. It encompasses a huge triangle of islands in the east-central and southern Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiian islands are at the apex of the Polynesian triangle with New Zealand and Easter Island at the base corners. Other islands are the Cook Islands, the Marquesas Islands, the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu), Tokelau, Tonga, Tahiti (Otaheite), and Samoa. Fuji is also included in this area, because a large proportion of its population is of Polynesian descent.
Hindu mythology:
by Stephen T. Naylor
The Hindus have created a rich, complex mythology which is still very much alive. Hundreds of millions of people continue to believe in the multitudes of gods which inhabit the Hindu pantheon. This tapestry of religion is the result of millennia of integration. The Indian sub-continent has been a crossroad for several cultures, and the Indian people have incorporated numerous ideas from different faiths.
Still, one cosmic Truth holds in Hindu thought, and that is that all things are simply a part of a greater, whole One. In early Hindu belief, which still holds true, for nothing in Hinduism is ever discarded, this Universal whole was called Brahmam. All beings and things, from the gods and demons, through humans, on to the lowliest pebble on the beach, were and are part of this One. In later times, the neuter Brahmam became equated with the masculine Brahma, but the original idea is still very much a part of Hindu thought.
The history of Hindu mythology can be broken up into several different ages, all of which have contributed to the faith as a whole. The first is the pre-Vedic age, which goes back to the time of the early Indus valley civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, which were established around 2400 BCE. These cities were destroyed by 1700. Some think that the Aryan invaders who came to dominate the sub-continent destroyed those cities, but current archeological evidence suggest they may have disappeared before the Aryans arrived.
In any event, the Indo-European invaders known as the Indo-Aryans came and conquered both much of India and Persia by about 1500 BCE. They brought with them new gods and hymns dedicated to them. These hymns came to be called collectively the Vedas. The Vedic age is when Hinduism proper begins. The Indo-Aryans became the lords of India, and their gods became the most important in the pantheon, but earlier gods were still revered; they were just given different roles. The Aryans also brought with them a distinct class structure, which included a priestly class, a warrior or ruling class, and the trade or merchant class. The native peoples who were subject to Aryan rule were incorporated into a fourth class. This is the basis for the caste system which still is very much a part of Indian life. By the end of the Vedic period, these castes were called, respectively: Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. The Vedic gods were led by Indra, the archetypical thunder god, and they got their strength from the drink Soma, a form of ambrosia.
From around 900 BCE to 500 BCE, as Aryan culture spread further into the sub-continent, Hinduism underwent some major changes. This period has been referred to as the Brahmanic Age, for it was during this time that the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas fought for supremacy over Indian life. New thought had been adopted, with the idea of the soul or atman becoming a major part of Hinduism and the transmigration of that soul becoming a foundation of the religion. It was during this time that the Brahman caste asserted that the gods need human priests to keep their power, and some of the rishis, or sages, became more powerful than the gods. Sacrifice became the chief form of worship. The major Vedic deities began to fall from their high positions and were slowly usurped by the cults of the three gods who came to dominate Hinduism: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
From 500 BCE to about 100 CE, the age of Buddhism and Jainism put Hinduism in decline. The Buddha's doctrine took India by storm, and the older religion almost was suppressed entirely. Hinduism still included its child into itself, however, and was able to survive the storm with new ideas. Sacrifice went out of favor, and influence by the ascetic worshipers of Jainism and Buddhism led to the composition of the Upanishads. It was also during this time that Vishnu and Shiva completed their eclipse of Indra and the other Vedic gods.
The next age was the Epic or Classical period, the time of the great Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These great works were compiled into their present form during thins time, but their origins go back at least to Vedic times. The Puranas were also composed at this time. Finally, around 1000 CE we come to modern Hinduism, when the religion once again became the dominant faith on the sub-continent.
Mesopotamian mythology:
The deities of Akkadian, Babylonian and Sumerian mythology.
Mesopotamia was a region between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in western Asia. In general terms, it constitutes the greater part of what is now Irag. It was one of the cradles of human civilization. The name is Greek, meaning "Land Between the Rivers".
Persian mythology:
Much of the information about Persian (old-Iranian) gods can be found in the religious texts from Zarathustra such as the Avesta, and in later sources such as the Boendahisjn and the Denkard. The original Avesta dates back to 1400 - 1200 BCE, and was kept in Istachr until Alexander the Great destroyed it. The current version dates from the 13th or 14th century, and contains only a fragment of the original text.
