There is a whole hidden world in the myths and stories from the ancient era. Myths have fed the imaginations of people and their souls for over thousands of years. Myths are basically a part of every culture in the world, and these are used to explain natural phenomena, where people came from or how their civilization developed. Myths help in expressing the beliefs and values about various subjects held by a certain culture.
In this article, we have listed some famous myths that every student must know about.
1. Jupiter and the Bee
According to the myth, there was a bee who was very tired of the humans and animals of stealing his honey, so one day he brings in Jupiter, the king of Gods, fresh honey from the hive and asked him for help. Jupiter and his wife Juno were delighted with the honey, hence they agreed to help the bee out. The bee asked Jupiter for a powerful stinger saying that if anyone tried to steal the honey from its hive, he would be able to protect it by stinging them. But then Juno suggested that the wish would only be granted if the bee would pay for it that too with its life. The bee was scared and reluctant, but Jupiter had already given the power to him. The bee, thanked the God and later its way home, noticed that every bee was granted with this gift. Initially, all the bees were happy but later when they realized that they would have to pay with their life, they became terrified. So, the legend says that even today if any bee that uses its stinger pays for it with its life.
2. The myth of Janus
Janus is one of the most important ancient Roman Gods, known as the man with two heads. According to this myth, Janus ruled over the ancient population of Latium, bringing good rules and laws to the people. He lived on the Janiculum hill until one day, encountered Saturnus who was the God of agriculture. Saturnus was recently overthrown by Jupiter, so Janus offered him to reign together so in return Saturnus rewarded Janus with the gift of seeing both the future and the past. This is considered as a seminal myth in Roman mythology.
3. The story of Re
This is also known as the Myth of Creation. The Story of Re revolves around an egg which named all the living beings, including mankind. Once all the living beings were named, the egg turned into a man that served as the 1st Pharaoh of Egypt for thousands of years. However, soon the Egyptians started to make fun of him as he was getting too old to be their Pharaoh, but things cooled down as the Isis intervened.
4. The mythical creature of the Roc
The Roc, a quite popular mythology of the ancient Arab. This mythology revolves around an enormous legendary bird of prey and is often written about fishermen or sailors who swore they saw this huge magical creature while on their adventures. The Roc has often been compared to Western mythical creature as well, such as the thunderbird or phoenix.
5. Pandora’s box
Everyone must be familiar with the myth of Pandora’s box, except for it wasn’t a box but it was a jar. Pandora was the first woman in Greek mythology and according to Hesiod, her curiosity led her to take the lid off the jar in the care of her husband which eventually released all emotional and physical curses upon mankind.
6. Medusa
In Greek mythology, Medusa is known as the most famous monster figures. But she wasn’t always a monster, she was once a beautiful maiden. Until one day, the God Poseidon saw her and decided that he wanted her, and he attacked Medusa in Athena’s temple. When Athena found out that Medusa was attacked in her temple, she did not punish Poseidon but instead punished Medusa and turned her into a terrible monster so no man could ever look at her and even if someone did, they would turn into a stone. Later, the hero, Perseus was sent off to kill Medusa, he was able to defeat the Gorgon by ripping off her head which he later used it against his enemies to turn them to stone. An image of Medusa’s head was placed on Athena’s own armor as a symbol of power.