Mythology Assignment University Of Maryland

Mythology Assignment

Discussion 1

Cite your myths using MLA format in a Works Cited list at the end

Assignment

Identify and briefly recount a set of myths (or mythology) from a particular Native American tribe or nation, using the learning resources.

Using the material in the learning resources, describe how this mythology represents this tribe or nation's cultural identity by using ten adjectives in a paragraph. For instance, “Based on the following myths, the Navajo's mythological identity is …”.

Discussion 2

Assignment

1. Conduct some research in reliable, scholarly resources and identify an artifact that appears in Egyptian mythologies.
2. Find an image of the artifact and include it in your post if you can. If you cannot, offer a detailed description of it.
3. Explain the artifact’s significance to one of the Egyptian myths by retelling the story in your own words and relating the artifact to the myth. Consider the following questions:
   1. What is the relationship between artifacts and myths?
   2. How do artifacts {"hold"} stories, history, or cultural memories, or do they?

Discussion 3

Assignment

1. Conduct some research in reliable, scholarly resources from the UMUC library and the learning resources and identify a historical event in ancient Indian history, in the biography of a guru, or in more recent history of India that is associated with an Indian myth or that has been mythologized.
2. Identify the date (or approximate dates) of the specific historical or biographical event and the specific Indian myth associated with it. Or describe how the event has been mythologized.
3. Explain how you think this event took on mythological meaning or how specific mythic themes or myths are used to explain this event.What specific traits make these stories mythical and not historical? How does the historical or biographical event differ from the myth?

Discussion 4

Assignment

1. Identify and describe a creation myth from Chinese mythology in the learning resources, or identify and describe a creation myth from another culture.

2. Compare and contrast this myth to other myths that you have read so far in this course. Consider the following questions:
   1. What common motifs and underlying structures do you notice in cosmogonic myths?
   2. What new elements are in these myths that are not in the others we have looked at so far?
   3. What function do you think these new elements could serve in the culture from which the myth came?

Discussion 5

Assignment

1. Identify and describe a specific “other,” a monster, a villain, or an enemy in Roman mythology, using the learning resources.
2. Use a specific myth of the “other” you have identified in #1 to analyzethe purpose of {"the other"} in Roman mythology. Compare and contrast “the other” you have found in Roman mythology to an instance of “the other” you see in our world today. Why do humans need a concept of “the other,” and what function does it serve?

Discussion 6

Assignment

1. Identify a Greek hero or heroine from the learning resources.
2. Briefly describe this character’s journey according to Joseph Campbell’s pattern of the hero’s journey.
3. Compare and contrast this character’s journey with that of a contemporary hero or heroine in a specific book or film and your own life. Do both characters fit the pattern of the hero's journey as outlined by Campbell? Why or why not?
4. Does your life fit parts of the heroic journey pattern in any way? Explain and give a specific example.

Discussion 7

Assignment

1. Identify one specific Norse myth from the learning resources and explain the vision of the future in it, using the learning resources.
2. Identify the elements in the myth that relate to both hope and fear. What is there to hope for in the future? What it there to fear?
3. Discuss the role of myth in our understanding of the future and provide an example of the stories we have in film, books and television shows about the future that express our culture's hopes and fears.