What legends exist in the world. The most interesting legends and myths associated with famous landmarks of the world
In the general religious understanding of the ancient Hellenes, there was a variety of cult concepts. All this is confirmed by numerous archaeological excavations and artifacts. It has been proven in which area certain gods were extolled. For example, Apollo - in Delphi and Delos, the capital of Greece was named after Athena, the god of healing Asclepius (son of Apollo) - in Epidaurus, Poseidon was respected by the Ionians in the Peloponnese, and so on.
The shrines of the Greeks were opened in honor of this: Delphi, Dodon and Delos. Almost all of them are shrouded in some kind of mystery, which is deciphered in myths and legends. We will describe the most interesting myths of Ancient Greece (short) below.
Cult of Apollo in Greece and Rome
He was called "four-armed" and "four-eared." Apollo had about a hundred sons. He himself was either five or seven. There are countless monuments in honor of the saint, as well as huge temples named after him, located in Greece, Italy, and Turkey. And this is all about HIM: about Apollo - the mythical hero and god of Hellas.
The ancient gods did not have surnames, but Apollo had several: Delphic, Rhodes, Belvedere, Pythian. This happened in the territories where his cult grew most.
Two millennia have passed since the birth of the cult, but the fairy tale about this handsome man is still believed today. How did he enter into “naive mythology” and why was he invented in the souls and hearts of the Greeks and residents of other countries?
The veneration of the son of Zeus originated in Asia Minor two thousand years BC. Initially, myths depicted Apollo not as a man, but as a zoomorphic creature (the influence of pre-religious totemism) - a ram. A Dorian version of the origin is also possible. But, as before, the important center of the cult is the Sanctuary at Delphi. In it, the soothsayer made all kinds of predictions; according to her instructions, twelve mythical exploits of Apollo’s brother Hercules took place. From the Hellenic colonies in Italy, the cult of the Greek god took hold in Rome.
Myths about Apollo
God is not alone. Archaeological sources provide information about various sources of its origin. Who were Apollos: the son of the guardian of Athens, Corybantus, Zeus the third and several other fathers. Mythology attributes to Apollo the thirty heroes he killed (Achilles), dragons (including Python), and Cyclops. They said about him that he could destroy, but he could also help and predict the future.
Mythology spread about Apollo even before his birth, when the supreme goddess Hera learned that Leto (Laton) was to give birth to a boy (Apollo) from her husband Zeus. With the help of a dragon, she drove the expectant mother onto a deserted island. Both Apollo and his sister Artemis were born there. They grew up on this island (Delos), where he vowed to destroy the dragon for persecuting his mother.
As described in ancient myth, the quickly matured Apollo took his bow and arrows into his hands and flew away to where Python lived. The beast crawled out of the terrible gorge and attacked the young man.
It looked like an octopus with a large scaly body. Even the rocks moved away from him. The alarmed monster attacked the young man. But the arrows did their job.
Python died, Apollo buried him, and the real Temple of Apollo was built here. In its premises there was a real priestess-soothsayer from peasant women. She uttered prophecies allegedly through the lips of Apollo. Questions were written on tablets and handed over to the temple. They were not fictional, but from real earthly people from different centuries of the existence of this temple. Archaeologists found them. No one knows how the priestess commented on the questions.
Narcissus - a mythical hero and a real flower
To paraphrase the ancient sage, we can say: if you have extra money, then do not buy more bread than you can eat; buy a narcissus flower - bread for the body, and it is for the soul.
Thus, the mythical short story about the narcissistic young man Narcissus from Ancient Hellas grew into the name of a beautiful spring flower.
The Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, took cruel revenge on those who rejected her gifts and who did not submit to her authority. Mythology knows several such victims of it. Among these is the young man Narcissus. Proud, he could not love anyone, only himself.
I found anger at the goddess. One spring, while hunting, Narcissus approached a stream; he was simply captivated by the purity of the water, its mirroriness. But the stream was truly special, perhaps also enchanted by Aphrodite. The goddess did not forgive anyone if they did not pay attention to her.
No one drank water from the stream; not even a branch or flower petals could fall into it. So Narcissus looked at himself. He leaned down to kiss his reflection. But there is only cold water there.
He forgot about hunting and the desire to drink water. I admire everything, I forgot about food and sleep. And suddenly he woke up: “Did I really love myself so much, but we can’t be together?” He began to suffer so much that his strength left him. Feels like he will go into the kingdom of darkness. But the young man already believes that death will end his torments of love. He is crying.
Narcissus's head dropped completely to the ground. He died. The nymphs cried in the forest. They dug a grave, went for the body, but he wasn’t there. A flower grew on the grass where the young man's head fell. They named him Narcissus.
And the nymph Echo remained forever to suffer in that forest. And she didn’t respond to anyone else.
Poseidon - Lord of the Seas
Zeus sits in all his divine majesty on Mount Olympus, and his brother Poseidon went into the depths of the sea and from there the water boiled, bringing trouble to the sailors. If he wants to do this, he takes his main weapon in his hand - a club with a trident.
He also has a better palace than his brother on land. And he reigns there with his charming wife Amphitrite, the daughter of the sea god. Together with Poseidon, she rushes across the waters in a chariot harnessed to horses or zoomorphic creatures - tritons.
Poseidon looked for a wife from the waters on the shores of the island of Naxos. But she ran away from him to the handsome Atlas. Poseidon himself could not find the fugitive. He was helped by dolphins, who took her to the palace at the bottom of the sea. For this, the lord of the sea gave the dolphins a constellation in the sky.
Perseus: almost like a good person
Perseus is perhaps one of the few sons of Zeus who did not have negative character traits. Like the drunken Hercules with his attacks of inexplicable anger, or Achilles, who did not take into account the interests of others and admired only his own “I”.
Perseus was handsome, like a god, brave and dexterous. I always tried to achieve success. The mythology of Perseus is like this. His grandfather, one of the kings of the earth, dreamed in a dream that his grandson would bring him death. Therefore, he hid his daughter in a dungeon behind stones, bronze and locks, away from men. But all the obstacles were nothing to Zeus, who liked Danae. He came to her through the roof in the form of rain. And a son was born, named Perseus. But the evil grandfather hammered the mother and child into a box and sent them floating in the box on the sea.
The prisoners still managed to escape on one of the islands, where the waves washed the box to the shore; fishermen arrived in time and rescued the mother and son. But a man reigned on the island, no better than Danae’s father. He began to pester the woman. And so the years passed, and now Perseus could stand up for his mother.
The king decided to get rid of the young man, but so as not to incur the wrath of the god Zeus. He cheated by accusing Perseus of non-divine origin. To do this, it was necessary to perform a heroic act, for example, kill the evil Gorgon jellyfish and drag her head to the king’s palace.
It really was not only a sea monster, but also a flying monster that turned those who looked at it into stone. It was impossible to do without the gods here. The son of Zeus was helped. He was given a magic sword and a mirror shield. In search of the monster, Perseus traveled through many countries and through many obstacles set up by his opponents. The nymphs also gave him things useful for the journey.
Finally, he reached the abandoned country where the sisters of that same Gorgon lived. Only they could lead the young man to her. The sisters had one eye and one tooth out of three. While the younger gorgon with the eye led, the others could not do anything. Further across the sky he flew to the monster. And right away I came across a sleeping jellyfish. Before she woke up, the young man cut off her head and put it in his bag. And set course across the sky to his island. So he proved his destiny to the king and, taking his mother, returned to Argos.
Hercules gets married
Many accomplished feats and slave labor of Queen Omphale took away the strength of Hercules. He wanted a quiet life at home. “It’s not difficult to build a house, but you need a loving wife. So we need to find her,” the hero made plans.
I once remembered a boar hunt near Calydon with a local prince and a meeting with his sister Deianira. And he went to South Aetolia to get married. At this time, Deianira was already being married off, and many suitors arrived.
There was also a river god - a monster whom the world has never seen. Deianira's father said that he would give his daughter to the one who defeats God. Only Hercules remained among the suitors, since the others, seeing their rival, changed their minds about getting married.
Hercules grabbed his opponent with his hands, but he stood like a rock. And so on several times. The result for Hercules was almost ready when the god turned into a snake. The son of Zeus strangled two snakes in the cradle, and did it here too. But the old man became a bull. The hero broke one horn, and it gave up. The bride became the wife of Hercules.
These are the myths of Ancient Greece.
Tags: ,The debate between supporters of the theory of creationism and evolutionary theory continues to this day. However, unlike the theory of evolution, creationism includes not one, but hundreds of different theories (if not more).
The Myth of Pan-gu
The Chinese have their own ideas about how the world came into being. The most popular myth is the myth of Pan-gu, the giant man. The plot is as follows: at the dawn of time, Heaven and Earth were so close to each other that they merged into a single black mass.
According to legend, this mass was an egg, and Pan-gu lived inside it, and lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one fine day he got tired of such a life, and, swinging a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, splitting it into two parts. These parts later became Heaven and Earth. He was of unimaginable height - about fifty kilometers in length, which, by the standards of the ancient Chinese, was the distance between Heaven and Earth.
Unfortunately for Pan-gu and fortunately for us, the colossus was mortal and, like all mortals, died. And then Pan-gu decomposed. But not the way we do it. Pan-gu decomposed in a really cool way: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the earth's surface, and his head became the Cosmos. Thus, his death gave life to our world.
Chernobog and Belobog
This is one of the most significant myths of the Slavs. It tells the story of the confrontation between Good and Evil – the White and Black gods. It all started like this: when there was only one continuous sea around, Belobog decided to create dry land, sending his shadow - Chernobog - to do all the dirty work. Chernobog did everything as expected, however, having a selfish and proud nature, he did not want to share power over the firmament with Belobog, deciding to drown the latter.
Belobog got out of this situation, did not allow himself to be killed, and even blessed the land erected by Chernobog. However, with the advent of land, one small problem arose: its area grew exponentially, threatening to swallow everything around.
Then Belobog sent his delegation to Earth with the goal of finding out from Chernobog how to stop this matter. Well, Chernobog sat on a goat and went to negotiate. The delegates, seeing Chernobog galloping towards them on a goat, were imbued with the comedy of this spectacle and burst into wild laughter. Chernobog did not understand the humor, was very offended and flatly refused to talk to them.
Meanwhile, Belobog, still wanting to save the Earth from dehydration, decided to spy on Chernobog, making a bee for this purpose. The insect coped with the task successfully and learned the secret, which was as follows: in order to stop the growth of land, you need to draw a cross on it and say the cherished word - “enough.” Which is what Belobog did.
To say that Chernobog was not happy is to say nothing. Wanting to take revenge, he cursed Belobog, and he cursed him in a very original way: for his meanness, Belobog was now supposed to eat bee feces for the rest of his life. However, Belobog was not at a loss and made bee excrement as sweet as sugar - this is how honey appeared. For some reason, the Slavs did not think about how people appeared... The main thing is that there is honey.
Armenian duality
Armenian myths resemble Slavic ones and also tell us about the existence of two opposite principles - this time male and female. Unfortunately, the myth does not answer the question of how our world was created; it only explains how everything around us works. But that doesn't make it any less interesting.
So here's the quick gist: Heaven and Earth are a husband and wife separated by an ocean; The sky is a city, and the Earth is a piece of rock, which is held on its huge horns by an equally huge bull - when it shakes its horns, the earth bursts at the seams from earthquakes. That, in fact, is all - this is how the Armenians imagined the Earth.
There is an alternative myth where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and Leviathan floats around it, trying to grab onto its own tail, and constant earthquakes were also explained by its flopping. When Leviathan finally bites its tail, life on Earth will cease and the apocalypse will begin. Have a nice day.
Scandinavian myth of the ice giant
It would seem that there is nothing in common between the Chinese and the Scandinavians - but no, the Vikings also had their own giant - the origin of everything, only his name was Ymir, and he was icy and with a club. Before his appearance, the world was divided into Muspelheim and Niflheim - the kingdoms of fire and ice, respectively. And between them stretched Ginnungagap, symbolizing absolute chaos, and there Ymir was born from the fusion of two opposing elements. And now closer to us, to the people. When Ymir began to sweat, a man and a woman emerged from his right armpit along with the sweat. It’s strange, yes, we understand this - well, that’s how they are, harsh Vikings, nothing can be done. But let's get back to the point. The man's name was Buri, he had a son Ber, and Ber had three sons - Odin, Vili and Ve. Three brothers were gods and ruled Asgard. This seemed to them not enough, and they decided to kill Ymir’s great-grandfather, making a world out of him.
Ymir was not happy, but no one asked him. In the process, he shed a lot of blood - enough to fill the seas and oceans; From the skull of the unfortunate man, the brothers created the vault of heaven, broke his bones, making mountains and cobblestones out of them, and made clouds from the torn brains of poor Ymir.
Odin and the company immediately decided to populate this new world: so they found two beautiful trees on the seashore - ash and alder, making a man from the ash, and a woman from the alder, thereby giving rise to the human race.
Greek myth about marbles
Like many other peoples, the ancient Greeks believed that before our world appeared, there was only complete Chaos around. There was neither the sun nor the moon - everything was dumped into one big pile, where things were inseparable from each other.
But then a certain god came, looked at the chaos reigning around, thought and decided that all this was not good, and got down to business: he separated the cold from the heat, the foggy morning from a clear day, and everything like that.
Then he set to work on the Earth, rolling it into a ball and dividing this ball into five parts: at the equator it was very hot, at the poles it was extremely cold, but between the poles and the equator it was just right, you couldn’t imagine anything more comfortable. Then, from the seed of an unknown god, most likely Zeus, known to the Romans as Jupiter, the first man was created - two-faced and also in the shape of a ball.
And then they tore him in two, making him a man and a woman - the future of you and me.
Urban legends are often exciting stories containing many folkloric elements, and they spread quite quickly through society. Stories are told dramatically, as if they were true stories about real people - when in fact they may be 100% fictitious.
Local touches are often added to the legend, so it will be quite strange to hear the same story in different versions in different countries. Urban legends often carry a warning or some meaning that motivates society to preserve and spread them. One thing is for sure - some of these creepy urban legends have kept many people awake. Below are ten of the best urban legends:
10. Choking Doberman
This urban legend originates from Sydney, Australia and tells the story of a Doberman pinscher who choked on something. One night, a married couple went out for a walk and sat in a restaurant, when they returned home, they saw their dog choking in the living room. The man panicked and fainted, and the wife decided to call her old friend, a veterinarian, and arranged to bring the dog to the veterinary clinic.
After she took the dog to the clinic, she decided to return home and help her husband go to bed. This takes her some time and meanwhile the phone rang. The veterinarian screams hysterically into the phone that they need to quickly get out of their house. Without understanding what is happening, the married couple leaves the house as quickly as possible.
As they descend the stairs, several police officers run towards them. When the woman asks what happened, one of the officers replies that their dog choked on a man's finger. There is most likely still a burglar in their house. Soon after, the finger's former owner was found unconscious in the couple's bedroom.
9. Suicidal guy 
This story, also known as "Death of the Boyfriend", is told in many variations and is considered a general warning not to stray too far from the safety of your home. Our version will focus on Paris in the 1960s. A girl and her boyfriend (both college students) kiss in his car. They parked near the Rambouillet forest so that no one could see them. When they finished, the guy got out of the car to get some fresh air and smoke a cigarette, while the girl waited for him in the safety of the car.
After she waited five minutes, the girl got out of the car to find her boyfriend. Suddenly she sees a man hiding in the shadow of a tree. Frightened, she gets back into the car to quickly leave - but while she was getting in, she heard a very quiet creaking sound, followed by several more creaking sounds.
This continues for several seconds, but the girl eventually decides that she has no other choice and decides to leave. She presses the gas pedal, but can’t go anywhere - someone tied a cable from the car’s bumper to a tree growing nearby.
As a result, the girl presses the gas pedal again and hears a loud scream. She gets out of the car and finds her boyfriend hanging from a tree. As it turned out, the creaking sounds were made by his shoes dragging along the roof of the car.
8. Woman with a torn mouth 
In Japan and China, there is a legend about the girl Kuchisake-Onna, also known as the woman with the torn mouth. Some say she was the wife of a samurai. One day, she cheated on her husband with a young and handsome man. When the husband returned, he discovered her betrayal, and in a rage he took his sword and cut her mouth from ear to ear.
Some say that the woman was cursed - she will never die, and still walks around the world so that people can see the terrible scar on her face and feel sorry for her. Some claim that they saw a beautiful young girl who asked them: “Am I beautiful?” And when they answered positively, she tore off her mask and showed a terrible wound. Then she repeated her question - and anyone who stopped considering her beautiful would face a tragic death.
There are two morals to this story: it costs nothing to give a compliment, and honesty is not the best approach in all situations.
7. Bridge of the Crying Child
According to this legend, a couple was driving home from church with their child and arguing about something. It was raining heavily, and soon they had to cross a flooded bridge. As soon as they drove onto the bridge, it turned out that there was much more water than they thought, and the car was stuck - they decided that they had to go for help. The woman remained waiting, but got out of the car for a reason that one can only guess about.
When she turned away from the car, she suddenly heard her child crying loudly. She returned to the car and discovered that her child had been swept away by the water. According to the same legend, if you are on the same bridge, you can still hear a child crying there (the location of the bridge, of course, is unknown).
6 Alien Abduction of Zanfretta 
The story of the kidnapping of Fortunato Zanfretta has become one of the most famous urban legends in Italy over the past few decades.
According to his own stories (originally made under hypnosis), Zanfretta was abducted by aliens Dragos from the planet Teetonia, and over the course of several years (1978-1981) he was repeatedly abducted several times by the same group from another planet. No matter how terrifying and creepy this story may sound, if we take into account the words of Zanfretta, spoken by him during a hypnosis session, we can evaluate the intentions of the aliens from an optimistic point of view:
“I know that you want to fly more often... no, you can’t fly to Earth, people will be scared of what you look like. You can't become our friends. Please fly away."
Zanfretta has perhaps provided more details about his alien abduction than any other person in history - his detailed accounts can make even the most ardent skeptic wonder if there is some truth to it. Until this day, the Zanfretta case remains one of the most interesting and mysterious "secret files".
5. White Death
This story is about a little girl from Scotland who hated life so much that she wanted to destroy everything connected with her. Finally, she decided to commit suicide, and soon after, her family discovered what she had done.
In a terrible coincidence, all members of her family died a few days later, their limbs torn off. Legend says that when you hear about the White Death, the ghost of a little girl may find you and knock on your door many times. Each knock gets louder until the man opens the door, after which she kills him so that he will not tell anyone else about her existence. Her main task is to make sure no one knows about her.
Like most urban legends, this story is most likely the product of the unbridled imagination of a modern Aesop.
4. Black Volga
According to rumors, on the streets of Warsaw in the 1960s, a black Volga was often spotted - in which people who kidnapped children were sitting. According to legend (no doubt aided by Western propaganda), Soviet officers rode around Moscow in the black Volga in the mid-1930s, kidnapping young, pretty girls to satisfy the sexual needs of high-ranking Soviet comrades. According to other versions of this legend, vampires, mystical priests, Satanists, human traffickers and even Satan himself lived in the Volga.
According to different versions of the legend, children were kidnapped in order to use their blood as a treatment for rich people from different parts of the world suffering from leukemia. Naturally, none of these versions were ever confirmed.
3. Greek soldier
This lesser-known legend tells of a Greek soldier who returned home after World War II to marry his bride. Unfortunately for him, he was captured by his compatriots with enemy political beliefs, tortured for five weeks and then killed. In the early 1950s, mainly in northern and central Greece, stories circulated of an attractive Greek soldier in uniform who would appear and quickly disappear, seducing beautiful widows and virgins with one goal - to give them a child.
Five weeks after the child was born, the man disappeared forever - leaving a note on the table in which he explained that he was returning from the world of the dead so that he could have sons who could avenge his murder.
2. Elisa Day
In medieval Europe, there lived a young girl named Eliza Day, whose beauty was like the wild roses growing by the river - bloody and red. One day a young man came to town and instantly fell in love with Eliza. They met for three days. On the first day he came to her house. On the second day, he brought her one red rose and asked her to meet where wild roses grow. On the third day, he took her to the river, where he killed her. The terrible man waited until she turned away from him, after which he took a stone and, whispering “All beauty must die,” killed her with one blow to the head. He put a rose in her teeth and pushed her body into the river. Some people claim to have seen her ghost wandering along the river bank, holding a single rose in her hand and blood streaming from her head.
Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave have a very beautiful song on the theme of this legend - “Where The Wild Roses Grow”:
1. Well to Hell
In 1989, Russian scientists drilled a well in Siberia to a depth of approximately 14.5 kilometers. The drill fell into a cavity in the earth's crust, and scientists lowered several devices into it to figure out what was going on. The temperature there exceeded 1000 degrees Celsius, but the real shock was what they heard on the recording.
Only 17 terrifying seconds of sound were recorded before the microphone melted. Many of the scientists, convinced that they had heard the cries of the damned from hell, quit their jobs - or so the story goes. Those who remained were even more shocked that night. A stream of luminescent gas shot out from the well, transforming into the shape of a giant winged demon, and then the words “I have won” could be read in the lights. Although the story is currently considered fiction, there are many people who believe it actually happened - the urban legend "The Well to Hell" is told to this day.
Among the main gods, the Egyptians especially singled out the married couple - Osiris and Isis. Osiris was revered because he taught the Egyptians various crafts, healing, showed how to build cities and houses, grow cereals and grapes. Isis was the goddess of fertility. Women turned to her for help...
All the myths we know say that the earth was created by some creator. In some countries, God was considered the creator, in others - some animal. In the myths of many Asian peoples, for example in Indian myths, the earth is created by a celestial being that descended from the sky. She's per...
When God created heaven and earth, far in the east he planted a wonderful Garden of Eden. And he called it Eden. Orange trees, apple trees, grapes, dates, and bananas grew in Eden. And there were many more amazing trees and flowers. There was eternal spring in Eden. The roses were blooming, the river was murmuring in the...
Gilgamesh is a real historical person who lived at the end of the 27th - beginning of the 26th century. BC e. Gilgamesh was the ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer. He began to be considered a deity only after his death. They claimed that he was two-thirds god, only one-third human, and reigned for almost 126 years. Sleep...
The beautiful daughters of Sultan Salim were orphaned early. The eldest, the unapproachable Mahiman Bano, became the ruler, and the people regretted that the throne did not go to the youngest, whom people called Shirin, which means Sweet. Only one circumstance reconciled the people with the government...
Hercules was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene. Hera, the wife of Zeus, could not come to terms with the birth of Hercules. One day she sent two terrible snakes to the cradle of Hercules, but the unusual child strangled them. Hercules grew up strong and dexterous, but was distinguished by his wayward nature. To about...
The Carpathians are a protected region, a kingdom of pristine nature. Plants and animals that have long since become rare and endangered have found refuge under the shadow of centuries-old beech forests. One of the most picturesque corners of Carpathian nature is the high-mountain lake Synevyr. Blue expanse of water, steep banks, overgrown...
It was so long ago that no one remembers when it was. They say, however, that in those days all people spoke the same language and everyone understood each other. And people wanted to leave a memory of themselves forever and ever. - Let's all get together and build a high tower!...
When people settled the earth, they first learned to sow bread, and then began to grow grapes and make wine from them. And when they drank wine, they became stupid and angry, offended the weak, praised themselves and deceived each other. God looked at the people, and he felt...
In the Middle Ages, Western Europe was Christian, but its legends are still associated with the myths of pagan times. In legends, information about real historical events has reached us, but these events have been changed and embellished. A legend is sometimes based on myth, but more often it includes...
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The world arose from Chaos. Chaos is translated from Greek as “yawn”, “empty extension”. According to one version of the myth, Gaia (mother earth) emerged from Chaos. She created Uranus (sky). Uranus and Gaia became husband and wife, and the Titans were born to them. One of the titans, Kronos, the moods of other...
One of the most terrible monsters in the mythology of Ancient Egypt was Apep (APEP) - a giant underground serpent. Every night he entered into battle with the sun god Ra. Every day Ra sailed over the world across the sky in a boat called the Boat of Millions of Years. Ra illuminated Egypt - the country...
Every nation has beautiful and amazing legends. They are varied in theme: legends about the exploits of heroes, stories about the origin of the names of geographical objects, scary stories about supernatural creatures and novelistic tales about lovers.
Definition of the term
A legend is an unreliable account of an event. It is very similar to the myth and can be considered its approximate analogue. But legend and myth still cannot be called completely identical concepts. If we are talking about myth, then there are fictional heroes who have nothing to do with reality. The legend is based on real events, later supplemented or embellished. Since many fictitious facts are added to them, scientists do not accept legends as reliable.
If we take the classical meaning of the word as a basis, then a legend is a legend presented in artistic form. Such legends exist among almost all nations.
The best legends of the world - they will be discussed in the article.
Types of legends
1. Oral legends are the most ancient type. They spread through wandering storytellers.
2. Written traditions - recorded oral stories.
3. Religious legends - stories about events and persons from church history.
4. Social legends - all other legends that are not related to religion.
5. Toponymic - explaining the origin of the names of geographical objects (rivers, lakes, cities).
6. Urban legends are the newest type that has become widespread these days.
In addition, there are many more varieties of legends, depending on the plot that underlies them - zootropomorphic, cosmogonic, etiological, eschatonic and heroic. There are very short legends and long narratives. The latter are usually associated with a story about the heroic achievements of a person. For example, the legend about the hero Ilya Muromets.
How did legends arise?
Legenda is translated from Latin as “that which must be read.” The history of legends goes back a long way and has the same roots as myth. having no idea about the causes of many natural phenomena occurring around him, he composed myths. Through them he tried to explain his vision of the world. Later, based on mythology, amazing and interesting legends about heroes, gods and supernatural phenomena began to arise. Many of them have been preserved in the traditions of the peoples of the world.
Atlantis - the legend of the lost paradise
The best legends that arose in ancient times have survived to this day. Many of them still captivate the imagination of adventurers with their beauty and realism. The story of Atlantis says that in ancient times there was an island whose inhabitants achieved incredible heights in many sciences. But then it was destroyed by a strong earthquake and sank along with the Atlanteans - its inhabitants.
We must express gratitude to the great ancient Greek philosopher Plato and the no less revered historian Herodotus for the story of Atlantis. An interesting legend excited the minds of these outstanding scientists of ancient Greece during their lifetime. It has not lost its relevance even today. The search for the wonderful island, which sank thousands of years ago, continues to this day.
If the legend of Atlantis turns out to be true, this event will rank among the greatest discoveries of the century. After all, there was an equally interesting legend about the mythical Troy, the existence of which Heinrich Schliemann sincerely believed. In the end, he managed to find this city and prove that there was some truth in the ancient legends.
Founding of Rome
This interesting legend is one of the most famous in the world. The city of Rome arose in ancient times on the banks of the Tiber. The proximity of the sea made it possible to engage in trade, and at the same time the city was well protected from a sudden attack by sea robbers. According to legend, Rome was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus, who were suckled by a she-wolf. By order of the ruler, they were supposed to be killed, but a careless servant threw the basket with the children into the Tiber, hoping that it would drown. She was picked up by a shepherd and became the foster father for the twins. Having matured and learned about their origin, they rebelled against a relative and took power from him. The brothers decided to found their own city, but during construction they quarreled, and Romulus killed Remus.
He named the built city after himself. The legend about the emergence of Rome belongs to toponymic legends.
The Legend of the Golden Dragon - The Path to the Heavenly Temple
Among the legends, stories about dragons are very popular. Many nations have them, but traditionally it is one of the favorite themes of Chinese folklore.
The legend of the golden dragon says that between heaven and earth there is a bridge that leads to the Heavenly Temple. It belongs to the Lord of the World. Only pure souls can enter it. Two golden dragons stand guard over the shrine. They sense an unworthy soul and can tear it apart when trying to enter the temple. One day one of the dragons angered the Lord, and he expelled him. The dragon descended to earth, met other creatures and dragons of different stripes were born from him. The Lord became angry when he saw them and destroyed everyone except those not yet born. Having been born, they hid for a long time. But the Lord of the World did not destroy the new dragons, but left them on earth as his governors.
Treasures and Treasures
Legends about gold occupy not the last place in the list of popular legends. One of the most famous and beautiful myths of ancient Greece tells about the Argonauts' search for the Golden Fleece. For a long time, the legend about the treasure was considered simply a legend until Heinrich Schliemann found a treasure of pure gold at the excavation site of Mycenae, the capital of the legendary king.
Kolchak's Gold is another famous legend. During the Civil War, most of Russia's gold reserves ended up in hands - about seven hundred tons of gold. It was transported in several trains. Historians know what happened to one train. He was captured by the rebel Czechoslovak Corps and handed over to the authorities (Bolsheviks). But the fate of the remaining two is unknown to this day. The precious cargo could have been dumped into a mine, hidden or buried in the vast area between Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk. All the excavations that have been carried out so far (starting with the security officers) have not yielded any results.
The Well to Hell and the Library of Ivan the Terrible
Russia also has its own interesting legends. One of them, which appeared relatively recently, is one of the so-called urban legends. This is a story about a well to hell. This name was given to one of the deepest man-made wells in the world - Kola. Its drilling began in 1970. The length is 12,262 meters. The well was created exclusively for scientific purposes. Now it is mothballed because there are no funds to maintain it in working condition. The legend appeared in 1989, when a story was heard on American television that sensors lowered to the very depths of the well recorded sounds similar to moans and screams of people.
Another interesting legend, which may well be true, speaks of a library of books, scrolls and manuscripts. The last owner of the precious collection was Ivan IV. It is believed that she was part of the dowry of the niece of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine.
Fearing that the precious books in wooden Moscow might be burned in a fire, she ordered the library to be placed in the basements under the Kremlin. According to the seekers of the famous Liberia, it may contain 800 volumes of priceless works of ancient and medieval authors. Now there are about 60 versions of where the mysterious library may be stored.
