Mythology (art) Style

The word mythology (from the Greek mythología, meaning "a story-telling, a legendary lore") refers to a body or collection of myths.For example, the collection of myths from ancient Greece is called Greek mythology.

Mythology also refers to the branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths, also known as mythography.The study of myths from multiple cultures is called comparative mythology.

Myths are not necessarily the same as fables, legends, folktales, fairy tales, anecdotes or fiction, although the distinction between these categories is not always clear. Within the system used by folklorists, myth is one of the three major categories of traditional stories:

Myths
stories traditionally considered true and sacred, set in the remote past, in another world or an earlier stage of this world, whose main characters are non-human

Legends
stories traditionally considered true, set in the recent past of this world, whose main characters that are human; can be either sacred or secular

Folktales/fairytales
stories traditionally considered fictional and secular, set at any time and any place, whose main characters can be either human or non-human

However, some scholars use the term "myth" more inclusively, to encompass legends and folktales.

Fairytales are often interpreted as secularized myths.
When detached from the spiritual leadership of its society, a myth will often acquire the traits typical of fairytales. During the period of Romanticism, many folktales and fairy tales were perceived as eroded fragments of earlier mythology (famously by the Brothers Grimm and Elias Lönnrot).

Mythological themes are also very often consciously employed in literature, beginning with Homer. The resulting literary work may take place in a mythological setting without itself being part of a body of myths (e.g. Cupid and Psyche).

Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time. For example, the Matter of Britain and the Matter of France, based on historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, were made into epic poetry and became partly mythological over the following centuries. "Conscious generation" of mythology has been termed mythopoeia by J. R. R. Tolkien, and was notoriously also suggested, very separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg

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