Why Myths and Legends?

Myths and Legends are fascinating. How I got interested in this topic? I love reading and I am also fascinated by archaeology which is what brought out my interest in myths and legends. Legends involve heroic characters or fantastic places while myths are stories based on tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning. I am interested in various legends and in the mythology of Greece, Rome, South America, Asia and Egypt.

Myths and legends are not only stories that entertains people imaginations, behind every story is the footprint and history a culture left behind for future generations. According to Shahan (n.d) throughout time various cultures used myths and legends to record their values and history; so that their culture would not be forgotten with time. It was a way for them to immortalize their existence. This is what I see when I read about myths or legends, I do not only see the stories as tales with imaginary characters, I see the symbols and meanings that gives an idea of the history and way of living of cultures from the past.

What first comes to people mind when thinking about myths and legends is that they are stories that are not based on reality, but every tale is at least based on reality and partial truths. If we think about ancient civilizations and how they were ahead of their time we could ask ourselves if there was really a higher power which was at work throughout history. For example, the Mayans and their temples, the crystal skulls, the Egyptians and the pyramids all those form part of myths and legends but they really existed at a point in time. How could such civilizations which did not live in the era of technology that we live in today build such formidable structures and objects. Did they have the help of Gods or another power beyond our imagination. What is for us nowadays only stories was in the past real beliefs for ancient cultures. Whatever the past culture we look at they all believed in gods and superstitions; and nowadays in our modern era people still hold different beliefs. Whether those beliefs and superstitions are real or not depends on the opinions and way of thinking of people. This is what I find very interesting about myths and legends as it borders on the verge of reality and imagination. What I want to transmit to people is this idea that those stories does contain a partial truth or a part of reality.  

Reference for photo: http://www.staffordshirearts.co.uk/2013/05/26/myths-legends-beckon-young-performers-in-staffordshire/