The Universal Myth: Defining and Finding the Oldest Myths

To find the oldest myths, first you must know what you're looking for, then find the best way to find to find it. This is an introduction into Mythology, and the methods used to find older myths and ways we can reconstruct them.

If you want to support my research and see behind the scenes work, watch my videos early and without adverts, and have access to the mythology database, along with other insights then please become a *Patreon* here: https://www.patreon.com/crecganford

Jackson Crawford's videos can be found below, and are worth watching;
On the "Universal" Myth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbS4ck6uhZQ
Dream Logic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1PiDR_H6-s

These are two papers from other academics that will help define a myth;
Bascom, William. 1965. The Forms of Folklore - Prose Narratives. The Journal of American Folklore. Vol.78
Scott Littleton, C. 1965. A two-dimensional scheme for classification of narratives. The Journal of American Folklore. Vol.78

Chapters
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0:00 Introduction
0:42 The Myth Quiz
1:19 Defining Myth
4:25 Religion vs Myth
5:55 The Myth Quiz Answers
8:31 Bascom and Scott Littelton's definitions of myth
10:18 The "Universal" Myth
14:24 Method and Research in Tracing Myths
16:22 Genetics and Phylogentics in Mythological research
20:47 Examples of Tracing Myths
22:30 Further considerations