Mythology is the collection of traditional stories that a culture tells about its gods, heroes, and the origins of the world. Greek mythology includes tales of Zeus hurling thunderbolts from Mount Olympus and heroes like Odysseus outsmarting monsters. Norse mythology features Thor's mighty hammer and the world tree Yggdrasil. Every ancient civilization developed its own mythology to explain mysteries like why the sun rises, where humans came from, or why the seasons change.

These weren't just entertaining stories. People believed their myths were true and used them to understand their world before science could explain natural phenomena. The ancient Greeks thought Poseidon caused earthquakes when he was angry. Vikings believed a giant wolf would one day swallow the sun.

Today we study mythology to understand how ancient people thought and what they valued. When you read about Athena rewarding wisdom or Anansi the spider using cleverness to overcome stronger opponents, you're learning what those cultures admired. Mythology also gave us words we still use: a herculean task means something incredibly difficult, named after the strong hero Heracles.

The word can also mean a set of widely believed but false ideas, like “the mythology that success comes without hard work.” In this sense, a myth is something commonly believed but untrue.