Mythology

Mythology is found in every culture that a person can image. From the Greeks, to Egyptians, to the Celtics. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, mythology is: a body of myths about the origin and history of a people. Although each culture's myth's are different, they are also alike in ways. Characters may have different names and back rounds but they do a lot of the same activities and rituals. However, in each of the myths told, each region, whether it be Greek, or Celtic, there are also main differences in the characters. In Greek mythology, one of the hero's is a man named Oedipus. He is a hero in the Greek culture because of his strong mind and wisdom he holds. On the other hand, in Celtic Mythology, there is a hero by the name of Cuchulainn. He is a hero because of his strength and power. Celtic and Greek mythology also differ in some of there endings of there myths. In Oedipus' case he is on top of the world and fights these mental games then in the end he is a ruined man. The Greek hero's have more human emotion involved in the endings, as for the Celtic endings the hero comes out on top and ready for more. Oedipus, a hero in all of his stories, is not the hero because he can kill everyone, but simply because he can out think everyone. Don't misunderstand, he is also very physically strong. "He was the strongest and most athletic of the youths of his circle and aroused the envy of many" (Gray 48). He could fight with the best of them, but he is mostly remembered for his wisdom, his wit and his intelligence. When he became king of Thebes, he did so not by fighting for it with a sword or his fists but with his mind. The town had just lost there king and was endanger from the monstrous Sphinx, who had taken over the town. Oedipus came and saved the day by solving the riddle that no other man could. The riddle was: A thing there is whose voice is on, Whose feet are two and four and three. So mutable a thing is none That moves in earth or sky or sea. When on most feet this thing doth go Its strength is weakest and its pace most slow. (Grant 221) Because he solved the sphinx riddle, she knew that she had come across some one much smarter than her and so she left and died because of her own rage. To the entire