13

I was wondering if there is interest in a monthly mythology reading group; it would be conducted similarly to the Buddhism Stack Exchange's monthly reading group. Basically, we would select a myth to read every month, read it, and then ask questions about the myth on the site.

While we all seem to read a lot, I think we should aim to read shorter myths, or maybe specific sections of larger myths/books. That way everyone can fit the reading into their schedule.

Judging by the upvotes, there is clearly interest in this, so please nominate books/myths that you would be interested in reading by adding an answer to this question, and I (or anyone else) will create a meta post for whichever text has the most upvotes.


  1. Myth of the Month #1: Gylfaginning
  2. Myth of the Month #2: The Epic of Gilgamesh
  3. Myth of the Month #3: Lebor Gabála Érenn
9
  • 3
    I think it's a good idea: a bit similar to the concept of the weekly topic challenges that some beta do, but with a focus on the myth sources themselves.
    – plannapus
    Jun 9, 2015 at 14:32
  • 1
    @plannapus we could do weekly topic challenges, but I think monthly would allow people to do more research, and the topics that we would choose would probably be myths themselves.
    – user62
    Jun 9, 2015 at 14:34
  • 5
    I don't think we need another meta post, anyone interested in participating should go ahead and nominate books/myths with an answer here.
    – yannis Mod
    Jun 9, 2015 at 14:37
  • @Yannis done [additional text to go over length minimum]
    – user62
    Jun 9, 2015 at 14:40
  • This would have to be something that anyone could do a quick google search to find. Arthurian Legends are good as well as some of the classical Greek Myths. I would suggest maybe something between 10-20 pages long so it doesn't seem like a task to read. But I would definitely give this my stamp of approval. Jun 11, 2015 at 5:55
  • 1
    Like I need another reason to add to my growing reading list. Yeah, I'll probably try. lol
    – user93
    Jun 13, 2015 at 16:32
  • How would this work? I can't read Sumerian or Ancient Egyptian or Ancient Greek or Latin or vulgar Latin (of Dante) or Old English or Finnish or Chinese etc in original, and it's very hard to get good translations of most works, so you'd have to plan a lot of time ahead. I mean, I know some of you can read Latin and Ancient Greek or Old English at least, so don't let me stop you have your fun, but still, do you have some plan for others?
    – b_jonas
    Jul 12, 2015 at 20:22
  • That's unless you're planning to read one of the very few works where it's easy to find translations, such as the Bible, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and perhaps Sophocles, but those are exactly the myths people here would have already read anyway.
    – b_jonas
    Jul 12, 2015 at 20:27
  • @b_jonas we're reading texts that have english translations. We didn't plan anything for people who don't feel comfortable reading in english, but our current myth -- The Epic of Gilgamesh -- is well known and should have good translations in other languages.
    – user62
    Jul 17, 2015 at 3:16

3 Answers 3

4

The . It's reasonably short, has excellent translations available online, and is reasonably complex. It's also relatively short, and you can skip some parts of it at the end if you don't want to read the whole thing.

2
3

I might as well nominate something , so I'll suggest the Three Arthurian Romances.

They're each fairly short, and each one comprises a new story, but they're still all linked.

They comprise one of the more "modern" mythologies - to some extent - and they feature an interesting setting, and some really unpronounceable names.

Plus, I think a lot of us have thought about being in the Arthurian world . . . once upon a time.

3

The Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)

It's a well-known and famous story, and it's only one story so it would be short.

translation: http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/tain_faraday.pdf
tag:

1

You must log in to answer this question.