Stage 1: Choose your Myth Introduction In the first paper project, you will examine a myth of your choice and write a paper. This is a staged assignment in three parts. These stages are: Week 3: Choos

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Stage 1: Choose your Myth

Introduction

In the first paper project, you will examine a myth of your choice and write a paper. This is a staged assignment in three parts. These stages are:

  • Week 3: Choose your Myth
  • Week 4: Archetypal Roles & Non-Material Culture
  • Week 5: Interpreting Myth

See the Project 1: Myths & Archetypes- Full Description for instructions about what to submit each week. Make sure to read through all the stages before choosing your myth to make sure you can address everything the assignment requires.

Instructions

This week you will choose an origin myth not covered in our Learning Materials. It can be an origin myth, broadly construed. That means that the myth can be the creation of the world, or the origin of a feature of the world, or even the origin of a particular community or country. 

Examples would include things like:

  • The myth about the founding of the city of Thebes
  • The myth that establishes the caste system in India
  • The myth about the formation of Mount Taranakias
    • Note: none of these should be chosen for this assignment

In a short essay of 200-250 words, please do the following:

  1. Very briefly summarize your chosen myth and identify two of its main characters. Be sure to specify which version of the myth you will use if there are multiple versions.
  2. Identify the culture this myth comes from.
  3. Identify the category(s) of creation myth for your chosen myth.
  4. Explain briefly why this myth interests you.
  5. Provide a citation in MLA format for the source of your myth.

Use a credible, scholarly source for your myth from the UMGC library.

Please see this list of books available in the UMGC library on myths that you can look up by their title.

If you absolutely cannot find something in the UMGC library that interests you, other places to look include the Internet Sacred Text Archive (https://www.sacred-texts.com/) and Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/). You might also find myths on official museum websites or official cultural websites from indigenous groups and different countries. Avoid personal blogs and webpages that are not from official organizations. 

You are not required to do any secondary research on your chosen myth at this stage, but you should cite the resource you will be using for your myth in MLA format at the end of this assignment. 

Please format this as a Word document. The text of the submission should be typed, double-spaced, and use a common 12 pt. font like Times New Roman or Calibri.