μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Pre-existing world of gods above. Such a world is assumed before the real creation of the universe. Though this belief is not explicitly set forth in many mythologies, it seems to be implied in most of the North American Indian systems. See, for example, motif A31, Creator's grandmother.

Mythological motifs. · Cosmogony and cosmology. · The universe. · Creation of the universe. · Series of creations. · view the constellation · filed as A631

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Scholars’ trail — 2references

The index’s own references — the collections where scholars sighted this story-shape, tradition by tradition. Titles on our shelf are live links; the rest is the frontier, not yet shelved.

  • Jewish*Neuman. – Samoa: Dixon 18f.
  • HawaiiBeckwith Myth 45.
Within the index

Filed under Series of creations. The present universe is the last of a succession of creations.

Filed beside it
Succession of creations and cataclysms. From the ruins of each earlier creation a new one is raisedEarlier universe opposite of present. Everything in the earlier world was the reverse of the present world. Cf. A855New creation shouted away. It is unstable and therefore unsatisfactory

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