Here I present: E. J. Michael WITZEL, “Origins of the World’s Mythologies”, 2012.
INTRODUCTION.
E. J. Michael WITZEL, “Origins of the World’s Mythologies”, 2012 is a book on myths and it consists of eight (8) chapters. The “table of contents” of the book is listed BELOW.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
1. Introduction.
1.1 What Is Myth, and How Do We Study and Compare It?
1.2 Definition of Myth and Its Study in the Past.
1.3 Comparative Mythology.
1.4 Laurasian Mythology.
1.5 Earlier Explanations of Myth.
1.6 Ur-Forms, History, and Archaeology.
1.7 Summary.
2. Comparison and Theory.
2.1 Theory and Practice of Comparisons.
2.2 Reconstructing Laurasian Mythology.
2.3 Enhancing the Reconstruction.
2.4 Reconstructing the Laurasian Mythological System and Inherent Problems.
2.5 Structure and Content in Some Macro-Areas of Laurasian Mythology.
2.6 Some Objections to the Approach of Historical Comparative Mythology.
2.7 Conclusion.
3. Creation Myths: The Laurasian Story Line, Our First Novel.
3.1 Primordial Creation.
3.2 Father Heaven, Mother Earth.
3.3 Separation of Heaven and Earth, the Prop.
3.4 Creation of Land.
3.5 The Demiurge or Trickster.
3.6 Generations, Four Ages, and Five Suns.
3.7 The Creation of Humans.
3.8 Descent of “Noble” Lineages.
3.9 The Flood.
3.10 Heroes.
3.11 The Final Destruction.
3.12 Summary.
4. The Contributions of Other Sciences: Comparison of Language, Physical Anthropology, Genetics, and Archaeology.
4.1 Linguistics.
4.2 Physical Anthropology.
4.3 Genetics.
4.4 Archaeology.
4.5 Other Items of Comparison.
4.6 Conclusions Resulting from the Comparison of the Sciences Involved.
5. The Countercheck: Australia, Melanesia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
5.1 Possible Ways to Countercheck.
5.2 Beyond Laurasia.
5.3 Gondwana Mythologies.
5.4 Individual Gondwana Myth Types and Their Common Characteristics.
5.5 Secondary Influences on Gondwana Mythology.
5.6 Conflicting Myths in Gondwanaland.
5.7 Counterchecking Laurasian Mythology Based on Gondwana Mythology.
6. First Tales: Pan-Gaean Mythology.
6.1 Beyond Laurasia and Gondwana.
6.2 Our First Tales.
7. Laurasian Mythology in Historical Development.
7.1 Late Paleolithic Religion.
7.2 Changes from the Late Paleolithic to State Societies.
7.3 Dating Gondwana and Laurasian Mythology.
8. Outlook.
8.1 The Meaning of Laurasian Mythology.
8.2 Beyond Laurasia, Gondwana, and Pan-Gaea.
8.3 Epilogue.
COMMENTS.
E. J. Michael WITZEL, “Origins of the World’s Mythologies”, 2012 is an interesting book. The study of myth in Persian is interesting. The “Fire Temple of Yazd, PERSIA” is shown in photograph ABOVE. While the Zoroasterian faith was established formally at 539 BC, the “fire ritual” is much older (possibly 3,200 BC). Beyond Zoroastrian, Hindu and Buddhist traditions the “fire ritual” is practiced today along side the Zoroastrian “fire ritual”. E. J. Michael WITZEL, “Origins of the World’s Mythologies”, 2012 gives comparative mythological insight into global practices still present today.
