Section I of 5

Comparative Myth

Myths, folktales and motifs from different cultures compared source by source: who wrote each version down, when and where, without assuming a shared origin.

3 entries

Image credit
"夏禹治水（廿一史通俗衍義）" by Unknown artist — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E5%A4%8F%E7%A6%B9%E6%B2%BB%E6%B0%B4%EF%BC%88%E5%BB%BF%E4%B8%80%E5%8F%B2%E9%80%9A%E4%BF%97%E8%A1%8D%E7%BE%A9%EF%BC%89.jpg — Public domain (anonymous woodcut in a book dated 1736 on the source page (PD-old there); US: published before 1931; EU: anonymous work published more than 70 years ago; faithful reproduction of a two-dimensional print)

Flood Myths Compared: The Famous Flood Tablet Is a Late Copy

The Flood Tablet George Smith read in 1872 is a 7th-century BC copy from Nineveh. Nine flood texts compared, from Atrahasis and Gilgamesh to Genesis and Manu.

Comparison table or list · October 20, 2026
Image credit
"Plate facing page 200 of Tanglewood Tales (1921)" by Virginia Frances Sterrett — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plate_facing_page_200_of_Tanglewood_Tales_(1921).png — Public domain (illustrator Virginia Frances Sterrett d. 1931; US: published 1921 (Penn Publishing Company edition of Tanglewood Tales), before 1931; EU: 70 years after the artist's death (since 2002))

Persephone's Pomegranate: The Hymn Says One Seed, Not Six

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hades gives Persephone one pomegranate seed and a third of each year below. Ovid has seven or three; Hawthorne has six.

Catalogue entry · October 20, 2026
Image credit
"MET JIB28 005" by Kobayashi Eitaku; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, JIB28, Rogers Fund, 1918 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MET_JIB28_005.jpg — CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

Izanami: In the Nihon Shoki's Main Text, She Never Dies

In the Kojiki (712), Izanami dies after bearing the fire god and stays in Yomi. The Nihon Shoki's main text (720) never records her death; its variants do.

Catalogue entry · October 20, 2026

Comparative Myth

Flood Myths Compared: The Famous Flood Tablet Is a Late Copy

Persephone's Pomegranate: The Hymn Says One Seed, Not Six

Izanami: In the Nihon Shoki's Main Text, She Never Dies