Discover the world’s mythologies

Mythologis.com is a richly illustrated site dedicated to mythologies, religious beliefs and legends of civilizations around the world and their representations in the arts.

The term mythology applies to two distinct concepts:
1) to the set of deities and the legends that concern them, adopted by a tribe or a nation: Greek mythology, Scandinavian mythology, etc. ;
2) to the science of myths, i.e. to the critical research of their origin, their meaning, and their development within a community.

The similarity of mythologies

Browsing through a general mythology site like “mythologis.com” you will be struck both by the very large number and great diversity of deities that are found in different beliefs around the world, but also by the way in which patterns and themes are repeated.
Almost every culture has its creator god, its gods concerned with the local importance of climate, its fertility goddesses, its gods whose duty is to protect the city or the country. The same mysteries (death, disease, climatic phenomena…) have intrigued the peoples of all the continents, the same fears have assailed them and they have all tried to explain the mysteries of the universe and to appease their fears in the same way through the cult of the deities.

When man’s mind seeks reason

But why does the human mind nourish such a need to believe in deities?

The beginnings of an answer to this question can be found in the beliefs of the simplest cultures. Primitive people attribute to all nature, everything that exists in the physical state, an ever-present but invisible spiritual identity that can be conjured or appeased by the special powers held by certain individuals in the tribe, the shamans or sages. These spirits may be ill-defined and have human or animal form. They have human habits: they walk, talk, love, show anger or joy.