When they severed earth from sky : how the human mind shapes myth

When they severed earth from sky : how the human mind shapes myth / Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber.

Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Barber, E. J. W., 1940- (Author), Barber, Paul, 1941- (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2004.
Subjects:
Myth.
Mythology.
myths.
mythology (literary genre)
Myth
Mythology
Online Access:Click for online access
Description
Summary:Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these ""myths"" did not begin as fiction. This absorbing book shows that myths originally transmitted real information about real events and observations, preserving the information sometimes for millennia within nonliterate societies. Geologists' interpretations of how a volcanic cataclysm long.
Physical Description:1 online resource (xv, 290 pages) : illustrations
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-263) and indexes.
ISBN:9781400842865
1400842867
1283379902
9781283379908
9786613379900
6613379905
9780691099866
0691099863
Language:English.

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