TTC Video - Myth in Human History [repost]

A warrior embarks on a voyage to retrieve a mysterious fleece. A man lassoes the sun to lengthen the day. A giant boar raises the earth from the sea with its enormous tusks.

These are just a few of the thousands of myths from around the world. They are tales of powerful gods, fearless heroes, frightening monsters, ingenious tricks, and epic battles.

But more important: These stories are the keys to truly grasping the ways that principles, rituals, codes, and taboos are woven into the fabric of a particular society or civilization. It's through myths that we can answer these and other fundamental questions:

How was the universe created, and why?
What is the purpose of evil?
Why is society organized the way it is?
How did natural features like rivers, mountains, and oceans emerge?

Grasping the deep-seeded truths behind myths is an illuminating and rewarding journey that reveals provocative new insights into the ways that beliefs are passed on from generation to generation.

And it's a journey you can experience and own with Myth in Human History. This entertaining and illuminating course, delivered by engaging storyteller and award-winning Professor Grant L. Voth of Monterey Peninsula College, plunges you into the world's greatest myths. Taking you from ancient Greece and Japan to North America and Africa to New Zealand and Great Britain, these 36 lectures survey some of the world's most enduring myths and the cultures behind them. By the close of the final lecture, you'll find yourself looking at and understanding world mythology in startling new ways.

Explore Hundreds of Captivating Stories …

Surveying the greatest myths may seem like an impossible task. So to make learning about world mythology all the more accessible, Myth in Human History is structured into five units.

Myths about creation and destruction
Myths about gods and goddesses
Myths about heroes
Myths about tricksters
Myths about sacred places

By approaching myths in this way, you'll be better able to understand mythology's profound importance in shaping nearly every aspect of culture. You'll also discover the hidden connections between them-a comparative approach that emphasizes the universality of myths across cultures.

… and Meet a Wealth of Fascinating Characters

Along with the stories themselves, you'll encounter fascinating characters, including

Herakles, the ancient Greek hero whose life illustrates the idea that all heroic stories have a similar structure;
Loki, the shape-shifting trickster who introduces the concept of time into the Norse realm of Asgard; and
King Arthur, the Celtic lord and founder of the Knights of the Round Table.

An Engaging Tour, a Master Storyteller

A veteran Great Courses instructor, Professor Voth draws you into each myth, and, in doing so, celebrates the same enchanting oral tradition that helped to spread so many of them. With almost every myth in the course, he first tells it as a story to be listened to and savored. Then he explains how different readings and interpretations shed meaning on the myth's role in larger culture. And finally, he invites you to develop your own interpretations of these age-old tales, as well as to ponder the role that myths-both ancient and everyday-play in your own life.

Myths, according to Professor Voth, are "gifts from the ancestors to be cherished." Myth in Human History is the perfect way for you to celebrate these cherished gifts, to learn more about them than you ever thought possible, and to discover how mythology has the power to shape human history.

Lectures:

01 Myth and Meaning
02 The Continuing Importance of Myth
03 Creation Myths
04 Mesopotamian Creation—Enuma Elish
05 Hebrew Creation Myths
06 Emergence and World-Parent Creation Myths
07 Cosmic Egg and Ex Nihilo Creation Myths
08 Earth-Diver and Dismembered God Creation Myths
09 Mesopotamian and Hebrew Flood Myths
10 Other Flood Myths
11 Myths of Cosmic Destruction
12 Greek and Norse Pantheons
13 The Great Goddess Remembered?
14 The Goddess—Inanna and Dumuzi
15 The Goddess—Isis and Osiris
16 The Eclipse of the Goddess
17 Shamans and Vegetation Gods
18 Sky Gods and Earth Goddesses
19 Creator Gods
20 Gods and Goddesses of India
21 Hero Myths
22 Mythic Heroes—Gilgamesh
23 Mythic Heroes—King Arthur
24 Mythic Heroes—Jason and the Argonauts
25 The Monomyths of Rank and Campbell
26 Mythic Heroes—Mwindo
27 Female Heroes—Demeter and Hester Prynne
28 Female Heroes—Psyche and Beauty
29 The Trickster in Mythology
30 Tricksters from around the World
31 Native American Tricksters
32 African Tricksters
33 Mythic Tricksters—Eshu and Legba
34 The Places of Myth—Rocks and Lakes
35 The Places of Myth—Mountains
36 The Places of Myth—Sacred Trees