TODD M

TODD M. COMPTON

toddmagos[at]yahoo[dot]com

BOOKS

Victim of The Muses: Poet as Scapegoat, Warrior and Hero in Greco-Roman and Indo-European Myth and History. Washington DC: Center for Hellenic Studies / Harvard University Press, [May] 2006. See http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COMVIC.html.

A Widow’s Tale: The 1884-1896 Diary of Helen Mar Whitney. Introduction, Notes and Register by Todd Compton. Transcription by Charles Hatch and Todd Compton. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, [September] 2003.

· Finalist, 2004 Willa Literary Awards for Nonfiction, awarded by Women Writing the West.

· Finalist, the Penny Kanner Prize, from the Western Association of Women Historians

Some reviews:

Richard Holzapfel and David M. Whitchurch, review in Mormon Historical Studies 5.2 (Fall 2004), 189-202. “For most readers, Compton’s tireless, meticulous, and readable scholarly apparatus will not only provide a historical context but also will allow the reader to access a wealth of information based on recent scholarly activity by Compton himself and by other important working historians—providing both breadth and depth to the many contributions the diaries provide themselves.” “The notes section, covering 111 pages of small print ... is a ‘book within a book’ itself. Based on years of reading and research among primary documents in major institutions, Compton illuminates a variety of subjects, events and personalities.” “The diaries are really significant as a dream diary ... most people will be fascinated by the idea of ‘history through dreams’—the dreams reflect how the dreamer feels about historical events, such as the terrible period known as the ‘raid.’” “The diaries provide an insight into the struggles of widowhood at the end of the nineteenth century (see pp. 8-19 and 20-22 for Compton’s helpful and poignant analysis). Helen Mar’s diaries provide a better source for this subject than any other Mormon, Utah, or even Western Americana document known today.” Richard Holzapfel and his wife Jeni Broberg Holzapfel edited A Woman’s View: Helen Mar Whitney’s Reminiscences of Church History. Together, A Woman’s View and A Widow’s Tale give a fuller view of a single nineteenth-century Mormon woman than any other published source.

Janet Burton Seegmiller, review in Utah Historical Quarterly 72.4 (Fall 2004): 375-76. Available online at http://history.utah.gov/history_programs/utah_historic_quarterly/. “It was a prodigious undertaking by both the editors and the press to bring this diary to publication in such a remarkable manner.” “Compton’s introduction is comprehensive ... the endnotes are exhaustive ... The Register of Names ... is more helpful than the normal index to a book.” “At times, while reading Helen Mar’s diary entries, I felt like an intruder into her private life.... Some readers will find her details describing health problems, women’s work and social life tedious, while others will wish for even more details ... I recommend these diaries to anyone writing biography, especially Mormon or women’s biography of the late nineteenth century, and also to those trying to understand the changes in society, the LDS church, and government at the time ... It is a remarkable record of the life of a very observant woman.”

Henry A. Wolfinger, review in Journal of Mormon History 32.1 (Spring 2005): 205-209.

In Sacred Loneliness: the Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, [December] 1997.

· Winner, Best Book of the Year, Mormon History Association;

· Winner, Best Book of the Year, John Whitmer Historical Association;

· Finalist, Evans Award for Biography

Some reviews:

Kay Meredith Dusheck, review in Library Journal, May 1, 1998. In Sacred Loneliness is “a meticulously researched and masterly study of Mormon Joseph Smith’s 33 wives.”

B. Carmon Hardy, review in Journal of Mormon History 25.2 (Fall 1999), 222-27. “In Sacred Loneliness is a major work that will long be essential to anyone studying Mormon history. Apart from the illumination the stories provide concerning the Prophet himself, Todd Compton’s portraits of Smith’s plural companions elevate the importance of women in Mormonism generally.”

Lawrence Foster, “Plural Marriage, Singular Lives,” Dialogue 33.1 (Spring 2000): 184-86. In Sacred Loneliness is “a massive and path-breaking, 788-page study” ... The core of the book consists of “thirty well-written and thoroughly documented chapters” ... that retell the lives of the 33 women in In Sacred Loneliness. Compton “masterfully reconstructs the often poignant stories of these women without reducing them to stereotypical heroines or victims, as so many earlier accounts have done.” ... “Equally if not more important, Compton has provided in this study the massive primary documentation from widely scattered sources that will allow both scholars and the general public alike to form their own opinions about just what was going on in Joseph Smith’s polygamous relationships.”

BOOKS: FORTHCOMING

Fire and the Sword: A History Of The Latter-Day Saints In Northern Missouri From 1836 To 1839. By Leland Gentry and Todd M. Compton. This is an updating of Gentry’s foundational 1965 dissertation. To be published by Greg Kofford Books, hopefully in 2007.

Cyril of Jerusalem: Initiatory Lectures, translation and commentary. Manuscript has been delivered to F.A.R.M.S. for publication.

ARTICLES: MORMON HISTORY, SCRIPTURE, AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

“Civilizing the Ragged Edge: The Wives of Jacob Hamblin.” Journal of Mormon Studies 33.2 (summer 2007): 155-98.

“Forward” to Devery S. Anderson & Gary James Bergera, eds., Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005).

“The New Mormon Women’s History.” In Newell G. Bringhurst and Lavina Fielding Anderson, eds., Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, [June] 2004), 273-302.

“’Kingdom of Priests’: Priesthood, Temple and Women in the Old Testament and in the Restoration.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36.3 (Fall 2003): 41-60. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

“John Willard Young, Brigham Young, and the Development of Presidential Succession in the LDS Church.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 35.4 (winter 2002): 111-34. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

· Winner of 2001-2002 Dialogue Writing Award in History and Biography. (See Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36.1 [Spring 2003]: 8.)

“Was Jesus a Feminist?” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 32.4 (Winter 1999 [December 2000]): 1-18. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

“‘Remember Me in My Affliction’”: Louisa Beaman Young and Eliza R. Snow Letters, 1849.” Journal of Mormon History 25.2 (fall 1999): 46-69.

“In Sacred Loneliness, an Introduction, and Some RLDS Portraits.” The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 19 ([November] 1999): 63-78.

“Thoughts on the Possibility of an Open Temple.” Sunstone 22.1 #113 (March-April 1999): 42-49.

“Heaven and Hell: The Parable of the Loving Father and the Judgmental Son.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29.4 (winter 1996): 31-46. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

“A Trajectory of Polygamy: An Overview of Joseph Smith’s Plural Wives.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29.2 (summer 1996): 1-40. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

· Winner, Thomas Lyon award, Mormon History Association.

· Winner of 1996 Dialogue Writing Award in History and Biography. (See Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 30.1 [Spring 1997]: 1.)

“Fawn Brodie on Joseph Smith’s Plural Wives and Polygamy: A Critical View.” In Newell Bringhurst, ed., Reconsidering No Man Knows My History: Fawn Brodie and Joseph Smith in Retrospect (Logan, Utah: University of Utah State Press, 1996), 154-94.

“Fanny Alger Smith Custer: Mormonism’s First Plural Wife?” Journal of Mormon History 22.1 (spring 1996): 174-207.

Response by Janet Ellingson, “Alger Marriage Questioned,” Letter to Editor, Journal of Mormon History 23.1 (spring 1997), vi-vii.

“The Spirituality of the Outcast in the Book of Mormon.” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2.1 (spring 1993): 139-60.

“Non-Hierarchical Revelation.” In Women and Authority, ed. Maxine Hanks, 185-200. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992. Revised version of “Counter-Hierarchical Revelation” (Sunstone, June 1991).

“Apostasy.” The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: MacMillan, 1992).

“The Organization of the Church in New Testament Times.” The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: MacMillan, 1992).

“Symbolism.” The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: MacMillan, 1992). This is a fine article, mostly written by Robert Rees, though his name was withdrawn from the article. I added the first paragraph and edited his text slightly.

“Counter-Hierarchical Revelation.” Sunstone 15.2 #82 (June 1991): 34-41.

“The Handclasp and Embrace as Tokens of Recognition.” In By Study and By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 27 March, 1990, ed. by Stephen Ricks, vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book/ F.A.R.M.S., 1990), 611-42.

“Foreword” to Hugh Nibley, Mormonism and Early Christianity, edited by Todd Compton and Stephen Ricks (Salt Lake City: Deseret / F.A.R.M.S., 1987), vii-xiii.

“Aztec Herbalism.” The Herbalist 4.7 (Sept. 1979): 4-5.

“Historical Herb Gardening.” The Herbalist 4.6 (Aug. 1979): 12-14.

REVIEWS AND MISCELLANEOUS: MORMON HISTORY, SCRIPTURE, AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

Review of Laura L. Bush, Faithful Transgressions in the American West: Six Twentieth-Century Mormon Women’s Autobiographical Acts. The Western Historical Quarterly 37 no. 1 (spring 2006): 95-96.

Review of Shirley N. Maynes, Five Hundred Wagons Stood Still: Mormon Battalion Wives. Journal Of Mormon History 32.2 (summer 2005): 261-62.

Review of Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. In Journal of Mormon History 29.2 (fall 2003): 255-60. Online at http://mha.wservers.com/pubs/book_reviews_2003.php.

“A Positive View: Polygamy in Nineteenth Century Manti.” A review of Kathryn M. Daynes, More Wives Than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840‑1910. In Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 35.4 (winter 2002): 161-64. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue

“Textual Tradition, the Evolution of Mormon Doctrine, and the Doctrine and Covenants.” A review of H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary, in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 33.3 (fall 2000):180. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

Review of Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Holzapfel, A Woman’s View: Helen Mar Whitney’s Reminiscences of Church History, in Journal of Mormon History 25.2 (fall 1999): 231-33.

“Ambiguous Polygamy.” A letter to the editor. Journal of Mormon History 25.2 (fall 1999): ix-xi.

“Response to Janet Ellingson.” Journal of Mormon History 23.2 (fall 1997): xvii-xix.

Participation in “Scripture, History, and Faith: A Round Table Discussion.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29.4 (winter 1996): 89-118. Available online at http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/browseresults.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue.

“Christian Scholarship and the Book of Mormon.” A review of Brent Lee Metcalfe, New Approaches to the Book of Mormon and Daniel C. Peterson, Review in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6:1, in Sunstone 19:3 (Sept. 1996): 74-81.

“Response to Matthew Stannard on ‘Counter-Hierarchical Revelation’.” Sunstone 15.5 #85 (November 1991): 52-53.

“A Kindler, Gentler Research.” A letter to the editor. Sunstone 15.1 #81 (1991): 5-7.

Review of John W. Welch, The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount. In Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 3 (1991): 319-23.

Review of Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites; An Approach to the Book of Mormon; Since Cumorah. In Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1 (1989): 114-18.

ARTICLES AND REVIEWS: CLASSICS

“The Herodotean Mantic Session at Delphi.” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 137 (1994): 217-23.

“The Trial of the Satirist: Poetic Vitae (Aesop, Archilochus, Homer) as Background for Plato’s Apology.” American Journal of Philology 111.3 (Fall 1990): 330-47.

· Reprinted in Gregory Nagy, ed., Greek Literature Volume 6: Greek Literature and Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2002). According to the publisher, this nine-volume anthology brings together “the articles that have shaped modern classical studies.” “Since the study of Greek literature encompasses the roots of all major modern humanities disciplines, the collection also includes seminal articles exploring the Greek influence on their development.”

“What are the TOPNOI in Philebus 51c?” The Classical Quarterly 40.2 (1990): 549-52.

“The Barbed Rose: Sappho as Satirist.” Favonius 1 (1987): 1-7.

“Review of Bruno Gentili, Poetry and Its Public in Ancient Greece.” Favonius 2 (1988): 74-75.

“Review of Pierre Vidal-Nacquet, The Black Hunter.” Favonius 1 (1987): 53-55.

“The Re-united Symbol: Mystery Structures in Classical Recognition Drama.” Epoche 13 (1985): 1-81.

ARTICLES AND REVIEWS: POPULAR CULTURE

“McCartney or Lennon? Beatle Myths and the Composing of the Lennon-McCartney Songs.” Journal of Popular Culture 22.2 (Fall 1988): 99-132.

Review of Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun. In Seventh East Press 2.2 (Oct. 12, 1982): 15.

PAPERS PRESENTED

“Hamblin in Tooele: The Makings of a Pacifist.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 10, 2006.

“‘Polygamists in Faith’: The Persistence of Polygamy, as Doctrine, in the Modern LDS Church: Some Historical Background.” My short contribution to the session “The Persistence of Polygamy in the Contemporary Mormon Church.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 10, 2006.

“The Hunchback Prophet: Victim of the Muses.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 11, 2006.

“The Hunchback Prophet: Stories From My New Book.” Sunstone Symposium West, Claremont, California, April 22, 2006.

“My 'Possible' Category: Joseph Smith's Lesser-Known Wives?” Sunstone Symposium West, San Francisco, April 23, 2005.

“’Blessed Are You Who Are Poor’: Rich and Poor in the Gospel and Politics.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 14, 2004.

Panel Presentation, on “Glimpses into the Past: Editing Mormon Diaries.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 13, 2004.

Panel Presentation, on “Excavating Mormon Pasts.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 12, 2004.

“Dealing With Family Crisis In 1886: The Death Of Charley Whitney And The Marriage Of Gen Whitney.” Sunstone West, Claremont, California, April 17, 2004.

“Keeping The Faith.” Sunstone West, Claremont, California, April 17, 2004.

Panelist on session discussing Jon Krakauer's Under The Banner Of Heaven, Sunstone West, Claremont, California, April 17, 2004.

Panelist on “Women, Priesthood, And The Church: From Early Christianity To Latter-Day Saints.” Sunstone West, Claremont, California, April 17, 2004. (Excerpts from “‘Kingdom of Priests’”: Priesthood, Temple and Women in the Old Testament and in the Restoration,” in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36.3 (Fall 2003): 41-60.)

“The Wrong Indian, the Wrong Mormon: Violence on the Mormon-Navajo Frontier.” John Whitmer Historical Society, September 2003.

“Why You Should Read the Helen Mar Whitney Diaries.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 15, 2003.

Response to “The Other Massacres That Could Have Occurred,” by Edward Leo Lyman, Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 15, 2003.

“The Parable Of The Good Samaritan: 'Orthodoxy,' Priesthood, Temple.” Sunstone West, San Francisco, April 19, 2003.

Panelist on “Author Meets Critic: Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 9, 2002.

“Our Greatest Challenge: Why Women's Priesthood Needs to Be Recognized in the LDS Church Today.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 8, 2002.

“John Willard Young & Presidential Succession In Mormon History.” Sunstone West, Pasadena, California, April 20, 2002.

“The Spiritual Roots of the Democratic Party.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 11, 2001.

Panelist on “My Creed.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 10, 2001.

Response to “The Domestic Life of Brigham Young,” by Jeffrey Johnson, Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 10, 2001.

“Helen Mar Whitney as Dreamer and Priestness.” Sunstone West, Millbrae, California, March 21, 2001.

“Austin Cowles: Nauvoo Dissenter and RLDS Maverick.” John Whitmer Historical Society, September 2000.

“The 1884-1896 Diaries of Helen Mar Whitney: Four Themes.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 4, 2000.

“Christian Treasure: Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and Folk Magic in Sympathetic Sources.” Sunstone West, Los Angeles, April 29, 2000.

“Response” to Newell Bringhurst on Writing his Biography of Fawn Brodie, Sunstone West, Los Angeles, April 29 2000.

“Plural Marriage, Abuse of Women, and Heavenly Rewards in Mormonism.” In a conference sponsored by the Council for Secular Humanism, “Imagine There’s No Heaven, a Future without Religion,” May 6, 2000. George Smith asked me to give this talk and I was happy to do it, though I am a believer in God, myself. I knew very little about this organization before I attended the conference for a half day, and have not followed it since. But it was a very interesting half day and I enjoyed hearing what people had to say. When I gave this talk, I assumed that any intelligent person would realize that if you give at talk at a Methodist university, for instance, that doesn’t make you a Methodist. I assumed that, only to find that Lou Midgley had made it a component of his latest critique of Mormon liberals.

“Was Jesus a Feminist?” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, July 1999.

“Making Sense of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith.” 1998 Washington D.C. Sunstone Symposium (Arlington, Virginia), November 21, 1998. Plenary session.

“Sacred Loneliness, an Introduction, and some RLDS Portraits.” John Whitmer Historical Society Meetings, 1998. Plenary session.

Participant in “Making Sense of Joseph Smith and Nineteenth Century Mormon Women and Polygamy: Todd Compton’s In Sacred Loneliness.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 1, 1998. Other panelists: Linda Thatcher and Fred Christensen.

“The Ordeal of Josephine Lyon (Smith?) Fisher.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 1, 1998.

“Apostle’s Wife: Mary Ann Stearns Pratt.” Mormon History Association, Washington D.C., May 22, 1998

“On Being an Independent Scholar.” Talk given at Intermountain Booksellers Association Banquet, Salt Lake City, Feb. 25, 1998. Available on my website.

“Emily Partridge Smith Young: A Life in Polygamy.” Talk given at Mormon History Association, May 18, 1996, at Snowbird, Utah. Comment by Jessie Embry.

“Fawn Brodie on Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: A Critical View.” Paper given at Fawn Brodie Symposium, August, 1995, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Polygamy, Polygyny, Polyandry: An Overview of Joseph Smith’s Plural Wives.” Sunstone Symposium West, August, 1995, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“A Trajectory of Polygamy: An Overview of Joseph Smith’s Plural Wives.” Sunstone Symposium, March 1995, Oakland, California. Respondent: Carmon Hardy.

“Sacred Loneliness: The Ordeal of Presendia Lathrop Huntington Buell Smith Kimball.” Sunstone Symposium, August 19, 1994, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Agnes Moulton Coolbrith Smith Smith Smith Pickett.” Sunstone Symposium West, April 1994, Los Angeles, California.

“The Parable of the Loving Father and Judgmental Son.” Sunstone Symposium, August 1993, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Violence, Possession, Poetry: Dumézil’s Indo-European Warrior as Poet.” The Fifth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, May 29, 1993.

“Socrates on the Wasatch Front: Honest and Skillful Apologetics.” Sunstone Symposium West, San Francisco Airport Clarion Hotel, April 10, 1993.

“Mary Magdalene and the Recognition of Christ.” Sunstone Talks on the New Testament, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, July 9, 1991.

Participant on panel, “How Timely, How Timeless: Scholars Evaluate the Work of Hugh Nibley,” with Sheldon Greaves, Greg Dundes, Ed Ashment. Sunstone Symposium West, Pasadena, March 3, 1990.

“Non-Hierarchical Revelation.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 1989.

“Non-Hierarchical Revelation.” Sunstone Symposium West, Concord, California, March 4, 1989.

“Ancient Sources of Masonic Ritual.” Co-written with “David Ellis.” Sunstone Symposium West, Concord, California, March 4, 1989.

“Woman and Priesthood.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, Aug. 1988.

Response to Ian Barber and Susan Staker on Woman’s Authority and Mormon Splinter Groups,

Sunstone Symposium West, Los Angeles, Jan. 16, 1988.

“The Trial of the Poet: Aesop, Archilochus, Homer, Socrates.” American Philological Assocation, December 1987.

“Magic, Folklore, and Religion: Connections in Early Mormonism.” Southern California Academy of the Sciences, San Bernardino, California, May 2, 1986.

“Response to Lyn Jacobs on Baptism for the Dead in Early Christianity.” Sunstone Symposium West, San Francisco, January 31, 1987.

“Sexuality, Authority and Misogyny: Woman as Male in Gnostic Christianity.” Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, Aug. 1985.

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy in Classics, University of California, Los Angeles, 1988.

Master of Arts in Classics, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1982.

Bachelor of Arts in English, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1979.

THESES

“The Exile of the Poet: Bardic Expulsion and Death in the Archaic Greek and Indoeuropean Traditions.” Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1988. Jaan Puhvel, dissertation advisor.

“The Homeric Roots of Virgil’s Elysium” and “Notes on the Manuscript Montpellier 360 of Sallust.” Master’s Thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 1982.

ACADEMIC JOB HISTORY

1993-2007. Independent Researcher.

1992, Summer. Visiting Fellow, Huntington Library. Topic of research: Eliza R. Snow and Joseph Smith’s plural wives.

September, 1988 to March, 1989 (two semesters): Lecturer, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (Classics Department).

January to December, 1988 (two semesters): Lecturer, California State University, Northridge (Classics Department).

June, July 1988: Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles (Classics Department).

1983-1987: Teaching Fellow and Assistant, University of California, Los Angeles (Classics Department).

1979-1983: Teaching Assistant, Brigham Young University (English Department).

Classes taught: English composition, Latin Elements in English, Latin, Greek Civilization, Greek Religion and the Polis, Roman Civilization, Classical Mythology.