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30-568: Leuce may refer to: Leuce (mythology) , in Greek mythology, a nymph, daughter of Oceanus Leuce (island) , the Greek name of an island of the Black Sea Leuce (titular see) , a Roman Catholic titular see in Thrace Populus sect. Leuce , an old name for the white poplar trees and aspens, see Populus section Populus Topics referred to by

60-580: A founding myth of the 1st century BC, Herakles is supposed to have established the Arvernian oppidum of Alesia , the name of which likely derives from the Gaulish word for poplar. Celebrants of the Bacchic rites wore a wreath of poplar leaves to honor the chthonic aspect of Dionysus . At Elis , white poplar was the only wood used in sacrifices to Zeus , according to Pausanias , because Herakles imported

90-407: A branch of this tree. Maurus Servius Honoratus identifies the tree as the white poplar , the leaf of which is distinctively two-sided, one white and one dark. The double color, Servius says, made a wreath that represented the duality of the hero's labors in both the upper and the underworld. The association of white poplar leaves with Herakles is also attested by archaeological remains, such as

120-459: A cultural investment. In the Greek view, the mythic past had deep roots in historic time, its legends treated as facts, as Carlo Brillante has noted, its heroic protagonists seen as links between the "age of origins" and the mortal, everyday world that succeeded it. A modern translator of Apollonius of Rhodes ' Argonautica has noted, of the many aitia embedded as digressions in that Hellenistic epic, that "crucial to social stability had to be

150-416: A goddess of regeneration. Robert Graves used the myth of Leuce in developing his poetic theories of mythology. Graves, for instance, holds that the back of the poplar leaf was turned white by the sweat of Herakles. In The White Goddess , he names the white poplar as one of the "three trees of resurrection", along with alder and cypress. Aition An origin myth is a type of myth that explains

180-819: A heroic model national origin myth, including the Hittites and Zhou dynasty in the Bronze Age; the Scythians , Wusun , Romans and Goguryeo in Antiquity ; Turks and Mongols during the Middle Ages; and the Dzungar Khanate in the late Renaissance . In the founding myth of the Zhou dynasty in China, Lady Yuan makes a ritual sacrifice to conceive, then becomes pregnant after stepping into

210-444: A historian, argues that in many traditional cultures, almost every sacred story can be considered an origin myth. Traditional societies often pattern their behavior after sacred events and view their lives as a cyclical return to a mythical age. As a result, nearly every sacred story portrays events that establish a new framework for human behavior, making them essentially stories of creation. An origin myth often functions to justify

240-451: A myth that clarifies an origin, particularly how an object or custom came into existence. In modern political discourse the terms "founding myth", "foundational myth", etc. are often used as critical references to official or widely accepted narratives about the origins or early history of a nation, a society, a culture, etc. Origin myths are narratives that explain how a particular reality came into existence. They often serve to justify

270-464: Is common for the recitation of an origin myth to be preceded by the recitation of a cosmogonic myth. Within academic circles, the term myth is often used specifically to refer to origin and cosmogonic myths. Folklorists, for example, reserve the term myth for stories that describe creation. Stories that do not primarily focus on origins are categorized as legend or folk tale , which are distinct from myths according to folklorists. Mircea Eliade ,

300-488: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Leuce (mythology) Hades fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld . She lived out the span of her life in his realm, and when she died, the god turned her into a white poplar which he placed in the Elysian Fields . To celebrate his return from the underworld , the hero Heracles crowned himself with

330-591: Is the collective name for the first five books of the Bible: Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers , and Deuteronomy . It forms the charter myth of Israel, the story of the people's origins and the foundations of their culture and institutions, and it is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the relationship between God and his chosen people was set out on Mount Sinai through the Torah, though many stories are adapted from older religions. A founding myth may serve as

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360-485: The Covenant of Mount Sinai . During the Middle Ages, founding myths of the medieval communes of northern Italy manifested the increasing self-confidence of the urban population and the will to find a Roman origin, however tenuous and legendary. In 13th-century Padua , when each commune looked for a Roman founder – and if one was not available, invented one—a legend had been current in the city, attributing its foundation to

390-509: The beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place after the initial origin. These stories aim to explain the origins of natural phenomena or human institutions within an already existing world. In Greco-Roman scholarship, the terms founding myth or etiological myth (from Ancient Greek : αἴτιον aition 'cause') are occasionally used to describe

420-420: The bow would become king. All tried, but only the youngest was successful. On his attempt, three golden objects fell from the sky: a plow and yoke, a sword, and a cup. When the eldest two tried to pick them up, fire prevented them. After this, it was decided the youngest son, Scythes, would become king, and his people would be known as Scythians. The Torah (or Pentateuch, as biblical scholars sometimes call it)

450-505: The current state of affairs. In traditional cultures, the entities and forces described in origin myths are often considered sacred. Thus, by attributing the state of the universe to the actions of these entities and forces, origin myths give the current order an aura of sacredness: "[M]yths reveal that the World, man, and life have a supernatural origin and history, and that this history is significant, precious, and exemplary". Many cultures instill

480-492: The established order by attributing its establishment to sacred forces (see § Social function ). The line between cosmogonic myths which describe the origin of the world and origin myths is not always clear. A myth about the origin of a specific part of the world assumes the existence of the world itself, which often relies on a cosmogonic myth. Therefore, origin myths can be seen as expanding upon and building upon their cultures' cosmogonic myths. In traditional cultures, it

510-485: The expectation that people take mythical gods and heroes as their role models , imitating their deeds and upholding the customs they established: When the missionary and ethnologist C. Strehlow asked the Australian Arunta why they performed certain ceremonies, the answer was always: "Because the ancestors so commanded it." The Kai of New Guinea refused to change their way of living and working, and they explained: "It

540-477: The footprint of the King of Heaven. She gives birth to a son, Hou Ji , whom she leaves alone in dangerous places where he is protected by sheep, cattle, birds, and woodcutters. Convinced that he is a supernatural being, she takes him back and raises him. When he grows to adulthood, he takes the position of Master of Horses in the court of Emperor Yao , and becomes successful at growing grains, gourds and beans. According to

570-585: The function of myths in providing explanations, authorization or empowerment for the present in terms of origins: this could apply, not only to foundations or charter myths and genealogical trees (thus supporting family or territorial claims) but also to personal moral choices." In the period after Alexander the Great expanded the Hellenistic world, Greek poetry— Callimachus wrote a whole work simply titled Aitia —is replete with founding myths. Simon Goldhill employs

600-547: The legend, he becomes founder of the Zhou dynasty after overthrowing the evil ruler of Shang. Like other civilizations, the Scythians also claimed descent from the son of the god of heaven. One day, the daughter of the god of the Dnieper River stole a young man's horses while he was herding his cattle , and forced him to lie with her before returning them. From this union, she conceived three sons, giving them their father's greatbow when they came of age. The son who could draw

630-399: The metaphor of sedimentation in describing Apollonius' laying down of layers "where each object, cult, ritual, name, may be opened... into a narrative of origination, and where each narrative, each event, may lead to a cult, ritual, name, monument." A notable example is the myth of the foundation of Rome—the tale of Romulus and Remus , which Virgil in turn broadens in his Aeneid with

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660-627: The odyssey of Aeneas and his razing of Lavinium , and his son Iulus 's later relocation and rule of the famous twins' birthplace Alba Longa , and their descent from his royal line, thus fitting perfectly into the already established canon of events. Similarly, the Old Testament's story of the Exodus serves as the founding myth for the community of Israel, telling how God delivered the Israelites from slavery and how they therefore belonged to him through

690-574: The poplar-leaf motif carved on a statue base found in a small sanctuary to Herakles (Roman Hercules ) along the Tiber river . It has been suggested that behind the vague outlines of this tale lurks an older myth having to do with Herakles' encounter with the river deity Achelous , who had chthonic associations and whose name was the subject of speculative theological etymology among the Greeks, in this case involving acherōïs , another Greek word for "poplar." In

720-530: The primary exemplum , as the myth of Ixion was the original Greek example of a murderer rendered unclean by his crime, who needed cleansing ( catharsis ) of his impurity. Founding myths feature prominently in Greek mythology . "Ancient Greek rituals were bound to prominent local groups and hence to specific localities", Walter Burkert has observed, "i.e., the sanctuaries and altars that had been set up for all time". Thus Greek and Hebrew founding myths established

750-406: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Leuce . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leuce&oldid=638541619 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

780-580: The special relationship between a deity and local people, who traced their origins from a hero and authenticated their ancestral rights through the founding myth. Greek founding myths often embody a justification for the ancient overturning of an older, archaic order, reformulating a historical event anchored in the social and natural world to valorize current community practices, creating symbolic narratives of "collective importance" enriched with metaphor to account for traditional chronologies, and constructing an etiology considered to be plausible among those with

810-581: The tree and used it to burn the thigh bones of sacrificial victims at Olympia . The oak is the customary sacred tree of Zeus, and the substitution among the Eleans may simply reflect the more widespread growth habit of the poplar there. The hero was supposed to have discovered the tree growing on the banks of the upperworld Acheron in Thesprotia . Pausanias says this is the reason for the Homeric epithet Acherōïda for

840-482: The way to make "founders" seem more desirable and heroic. Ruling monarchs or aristocracies may allege descent from mythical founders, gods or heroes in order to legitimate their control. For example, Julius Caesar and his relatives claimed Aeneas (and through Aeneas, the goddess Venus ) as an ancestor. A founding myth or etiological myth (Greek aition ) explains either: Beginning in prehistorical times, many civilizations and kingdoms adopted some version of

870-467: The white poplar, which was also called leukē in Greek. The white poplar might be worn as a crown at athletic contests in honor of Herakles, a patron of the Olympic games . Its infernal origin made it appropriate for funeral games , which played an important role in the development of Greek athletics. The white poplar was also sacred to Persephone , for whom Leuce seems to be a doublet or epithet , as

900-700: Was thus that the Nemu (the Mythical Ancestors) did, and we do likewise." Asked the reason for a particular detail in a ceremony, a Navaho chanter answered: "Because the Holy People did it that way in the first place." We find exactly the same justification in the prayer that accompanies a primitive Tibetan ritual: "As it has been handed down from the beginning of the earth’s creation, so must we sacrifice. … As our ancestors in ancient times did—so do we now." Founding myths unite people and tend to include mystical events along

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