Thank you for visiting. This article is the complete index (the gateway) to a series that explains the “original texts” of the world’s myths and religions.
The stories of gods like Zeus, Osiris, and Amaterasu — “in which book, and where, are they actually written?” In this series, I explain in detail what each myth’s and religion’s “original text (the source book)” actually is, and how its contents unfold, following the source texts themselves.
From this page you can move on to the guide-index page for whichever myth or religion interests you.
The “strength” of the gods and heroes who appear in each tradition is also presented separately in a power-ranking format.
There Are Two Types of Original Text
When you look at the original texts of each myth and religion, you find that they fall broadly into two types. This is an important perspective for reading through this series.
The myths and religions currently covered in this series are listed below. From each title link, you can move to the relevant guide-index page of original-text explanations.
| Myth / Religion | Type | Main Original Texts |
|---|---|---|
| Christianity | Scripture | The Bible, 66 books (39 OT, 27 NT) |
| Judaism | Scripture | Tanakh (Hebrew Bible, 24 books), Talmud |
| Islam | Scripture | The Qur’an, the Hadith |
| Zoroastrianism | Scripture | Avesta (the Gathas), Bundahishn |
| Greek Mythology | Myth-literature | Theogony, Iliad, Odyssey, and more |
| Japanese Mythology | Myth-literature | Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, Fudoki |
| Norse Mythology | Myth-literature | Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, Völsunga saga |
| Egyptian Mythology | Myth-literature | Pyramid Texts, Book of the Dead, and more |
| Mesopotamian Mythology | Myth-literature | Enūma Eliš, Epic of Gilgamesh, and more |
| Celtic Mythology | Myth-literature | Ulster Cycle, the Mabinogion, and more |
| Chinese Mythology | Myth-literature | Shanhaijing, Huainanzi, Shiji, and more |
| Aztec Mythology | Myth-literature | Codices (Borgia, Florentine Codex), and more |
| Maya Mythology | Myth-literature | Popol Vuh, the codices (Dresden Codex), and more |
| Roman Mythology | Myth-literature | Aeneid, History of Rome, Fasti, and more |
| Canaanite Mythology (Ugarit) | Myth-literature | Baal Cycle, Epic of Kirta, Tale of Aqhat |
| Hindu Mythology | Scripture | Vedas, Upanishads, the two epics, Puranas |
| Buddhism | Scripture | Tripitaka (Sutra, Vinaya, Abhidharma), Prajñā, Lotus, Pure Land sutras |
| Taoism | Scripture | Tao Te Ching, Zhuangzi, Daozang |
| Confucianism | Scripture | Four Books and Five Classics (Analects, Mencius, I Ching, Book of Songs, etc.) |
Now, let me guide you through the original-text explanations of each myth and religion.
World Mythology for Beginners (illustrated)View on Amazon →
An Illustrated Introduction to the World’s 5 Great MythologiesView on Amazon →
The Original Texts of Christianity (the Bible, 66 books)
Across all 66 books — 39 of the Old Testament and 27 of the New — I explain what each book of “the Bible,” the most widely read book in the world, contains, in a series of eight articles. They cover everything from the Creation, through the life of Jesus Christ (the Gospels), the birth of the Church (Acts), the letters of the apostles, and on to the end of the world depicted in the Book of Revelation.
The Original Texts of Greek Mythology
Greek mythology — known for Zeus, Heracles, and the Trojan War — is explained in five articles drawn from classics such as Hesiod’s Theogony, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and the plays of the three great tragedians (Oresteia, Oedipus Rex, Medea). They cover everything from the origin of the gods to the heroic sagas and Greek tragedy.
The Original Texts of Japanese Mythology
Japanese mythology — known for Amaterasu, Susanoo, and the slaying of Yamata-no-Orochi — is explained text by text in five articles. From the oldest history, the Kojiki (upper to middle volumes), to the Nihon Shoki (the official history that records variant traditions side by side), and the Fudoki (which preserve land-pulling and other myths not found in the Kojiki/Nihon Shoki), each is treated according to its own source.
The Original Texts of Norse Mythology
Norse mythology — known for Odin, Thor, and Ragnarök, the end of the world — is explained in three articles drawn from the two Eddas and the heroic legend of the Völsunga saga. They cover the creation of the world, the adventures, doom and rebirth of the gods, and the tale of Sigurd the dragon-slayer.
The Original Texts of Egyptian Mythology
Egyptian mythology — known for the sun god Ra and Osiris, king of the dead — is explained in four articles drawn from funerary texts such as the Pyramid Texts and the Book of the Dead. They cover the creation myth, the Osiris myth, the judgment of the dead, and the pantheon of Amun-Ra and the other gods, including the “Aten religious reform.”
The Original Texts of Mesopotamian Mythology
Mesopotamian mythology, born of humanity’s oldest civilization, is explained in four articles drawn from clay-tablet texts such as the creation epic Enūma Eliš and the world’s oldest literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh. They cover the creation of the world, the hero’s journey, the great flood, and the descent of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar) into the underworld.
The Original Texts of Celtic Mythology
Celtic mythology — known for the hero Cú Chulainn and the origins of the fairies — is explained from medieval Irish and Welsh manuscripts (the Ulster Cycle, the Mabinogion, and others). It covers the battles of the gods, the heroic sagas, and the roots of the Arthurian legends.
The Original Texts of Chinese Mythology
Chinese mythology — known for Pangu, who gave birth to heaven and earth, and Nüwa, who created humankind — is explained from classics such as the Shanhaijing, the Huainanzi, and the Shiji. It covers the creation myth, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and the tales of the heroes.
The Original Texts of Hindu Mythology
Hindu mythology — known for Shiva, Vishnu, and his avatars Rama and Krishna — is explained in detail across seven articles, drawn from the oldest scriptures, the Vedas and Upanishads, the Puranas that collect the myths of the gods, the ten avatars of Vishnu, and the two great epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, together with the Bhagavad Gita.
The Original Texts of Islam (the Qur’an and the Hadith)
Islam, the faith in the one God Allah, is explained in detail across six articles, drawn from the Qur’an — held to be the very word of God — and the Hadith, the record of the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. They cover the compilation and structure of the Qur’an, the Six Articles of Faith, the Five Pillars and religious life, the prophets and stories it tells, the end times and Last Judgment, and Islamic law (Sharia) with its four schools and the Sunni/Shia divide.
The Original Texts of Buddhism (the Tripitaka and Mahayana sutras)
Buddhism, one of the world’s three great religions, is explained clearly across seven articles, drawn from the “Tripitaka” that collects the teachings of the Buddha (Shakyamuni) and Mahayana sutras such as the Prajñāpāramitā, Lotus, and Pure Land sutras. Mahayana thought (the bodhisattva, emptiness, Yogācāra) and the major sutras are explored in their own dedicated articles. It covers the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, the six realms of rebirth, the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and schools such as Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren.
The Original Texts of Taoism (Lao-Zhuang thought and the Daozang)
Taoism, one of China’s three great religions, is explained clearly across five articles — from the philosophy of Laozi’s Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi, through the cult of the immortals, to organized Taoism and the “Daozang.” It covers the Tao and wu wei, the butterfly dream, the deathless immortals, and the gods of the Three Pure Ones.
The Original Texts of Judaism (the Tanakh and the Talmud)
Judaism, the mother religion that gave rise to Christianity and Islam, is explained in detail across six articles, drawn from the Hebrew Bible “Tanakh” and the oral law “Talmud.” Drawing comparisons throughout, they cover the differences from the Christian Old Testament, the Torah and the 613 commandments, practices such as the Sabbath and kashrut, and a comparison of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Original Texts of Zoroastrianism (the Avesta)
Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest revealed religions, is explained in detail across four articles, drawn from the Avesta — the scripture centered on the hymns of the founder Zarathushtra. They cover the good–evil dualism of the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Angra Mainyu, fire veneration and the Towers of Silence, the creation and end of the world, the savior Saoshyant, and the influence that ideas such as angels, judgment, resurrection, and a messiah had on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Original Texts of Confucianism (the Four Books and Five Classics)
Confucianism, which underpinned East Asian morality, politics, and education for more than 2,000 years, is explained in detail across six articles, drawn from the Four Books (Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects, Mencius) centered on Confucius’s Analects, and the older Five Classics (I Ching, Book of Documents, Book of Songs, Book of Rites, Spring and Autumn Annals). They cover the teachings of ren, ritual, and filial piety, the Five Constants and Five Relationships, and the later development into Neo-Confucianism and the Wang Yangming school, and its spread to Japan.
The Original Texts of Aztec Mythology (the codices and the Five Suns)
Aztec mythology, known for human sacrifice to the sun, is explained in four articles drawn from the codices that survived the Spanish conquest and the records of Sahagún. They cover the world destroyed and remade four times and the present “Fifth Sun,” the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl who brought humankind and civilization, the patron god Huitzilopochtli and the founding of Tenochtitlan, and the human sacrifice meant to sustain the sun, along with a distinctive afterlife.
The Original Texts of Maya Mythology (the Popol Vuh)
Maya mythology — from the same Mesoamerica as the Aztecs — is explained in four articles based on the K’iche’ Maya scripture, the Popol Vuh, and the codices. It covers the creation myth in which humans are made from maize, the tale of the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque who challenge the underworld of Xibalba, how they receive the patron god Tohil and greet the dawn to found the K’iche’ royal line, and the old creator god Itzamna and other rich deities, along with the thousands-of-years-spanning “Long Count.” A major distinction: unlike the Aztecs, whose codices were burned and reconstructed from fragments, the Maya retained a scripture that can be read straight through.
The Original Texts of Roman Mythology (the Aeneid and the founding myth)
Roman mythology is explained in four articles based on Virgil’s Aeneid, Livy’s History of Rome, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. While the stories of the gods are borrowed from Greece, Rome’s own inventions are covered: Aeneas, who crossed over from Troy, the founding myth of Romulus and Remus raised by a wolf, Ovid, who gathered the myths of transformation and the calendar, and Rome’s own native gods and state cult, such as Janus and Vesta. Its distinct character — myth that tells the mission and destiny of a single nation — sets it apart from Greek mythology.
The Original Texts of Canaanite Mythology (Ugarit and the Baal Epic)
Canaanite mythology, believed in right next door to the Old Testament, is explained in five articles based on the clay tablets of Ugarit (Ras Shamra), discovered in the 20th century. They cover the Baal Cycle, in which the storm god Baal battles the sea god Yam and the death god Mot over death and rebirth, the Epic of Kirta and the Tale of Aqhat, which depict human kings, the Canaanite pantheon of the supreme god El, Asherah, and others, and the deep connections to the Old Testament (the divine name El, the “Rider on the Clouds,” the monster Leviathan, the council of the gods). A first-rate original text that mirrors the very world that gave birth to the Bible.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Myths and LegendsView on Amazon →
An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to Story-Making MythsView on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I have laid out the overall picture of the series explaining the original texts of the world’s myths and religions, together with the gateways to each tradition’s guide-index page. How was it?
Each myth and religion has an original text (the source book) that hands down its stories. Once you know in which book, and how, the stories of the gods you see so casually are actually recorded, the world of myth should come into far more vivid, three-dimensional focus.
This series also plans to add the original texts of Sikhism, Jainism, Finnish mythology, and more as the opportunity arises.
If you are curious about the strength of the gods and heroes, please enjoy the ranking articles as well.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
