TOP 10 MYTHOLOGIES

(SPECIAL MENTION: APOCALYPTIC RANKINGS)

 

You know the drill. I have my Top 10 Mythologies but how do they rank against each other by their apocalypses?

And yes – their apocalyptic rankings see some big shake-ups from their rankings within my Top 10 Mythologies, although two of my top three entries remain at the top. No prizes for guessing the mythology in the top apocalyptic spot…

 

 

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

(1) BIBLICAL – APOCALYPSE

 

As I said, no prizes for guessing the mythology in the top apocalyptic spot. The most definitive and iconic apocalypse in mythology, again outranking other mythologies, not surprisingly since it is the source of the very name for apocalypse.

Indeed, in apocalyptic rankings, Biblical mythology is its own god tier within god tier, such that one could have compiled this top ten entirely from it.

I’m joking and I’m serious – but seriously, one could compile at least two top ten apocalyptic rankings lists entirely from Biblical mythology.

Firstly, the Book of Apocalypse so overshadows any other apocalypse that it is easy to forget that it is only one of many Biblical apocalypses – that is, in other Old Testament and New Testament books, albeit these tend to be conflated with or swallowed up by what has become THE Apocalypse.

Secondly, the apocalypse in the Book of Apocalypse has so many distinctive demarcations or features that it could comprise its own top ten apocalypses.

And yes – the Biblical Apocalypse and apocalypses also have their positive or redemptive transformation among the destruction and end of the world – that is, the concept of millennium or eucastrophe. Indeed, the ultimate redemption or salvation of the Apocalypse is kind of the point.

 

 

(2) NORSE – RAGNAROK & GOTTERDAMERUNG

 

While the Biblical apocalypse (or apocalypses) may be the god tier of the god tier, Norse mythology easily ranks among god-tier apocalypses with one of the most famous and iconic apocalypses of mythology – Ragnarok or Gotterdamerung, heralded by Fimbulwinter.

Interestingly, unlike the Biblical apocalypse, it is not so much the divine victory of good over evil as it is the mutually assured destruction of both – although from that destruction, there is a millennial transformation or eucatastrophe of a new age, as in the Biblical Apocalypse.

Hence Norse mythology bumps up a place to second place in apocalyptic rankings from third place in my general top ten mythology rankings.

 

 

(3) NATIVE AMERICAN (LAKOTA) – GHOST DANCE

 

Lakota mythology indeed has its apocalypse and one of the most famous at that, as well as one of my personal favorites – the Ghost Dance. While it certainly was to be an apocalypse for the United States, it was more in the nature of a positive transformation or eucatastrophe for the Lakota.

The Ghost Dance sees Lakota mythology as one of the biggest shake-ups as third place in apocalyptic rankings – up six places from ninth place in my general mythology top ten rankings.

 

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(4) HINDU – KALI YUGA

 

Hindu mythology has one of the most famous apocalypses as part of its cyclical cosmology – the Kali Yuga, “the fourth, shortest , and worst of the four yugas” or world ages, ending in cosmic cataclysm and rebirth.

The Kali Yuga spins Hindu mythology to top tier, and aptly enough for the fourth world age, fourth place in apocalyptic rankings, up three places from its seventh place in my general mythology top ten rankings.

 

(5) MESO-AMERICAN (AZTEC) – FIFTH WORLD

 

And how!

Aztec mythology is a post-apocalyptic mythology

Indeed, a post-post-post-post-apocalyptic world since the Aztecs believed themselves to be living in the Fifth World, after the apocalyptic destruction of the previous four worlds.

The Fifth World itself teetered on the brink of apocalypse, kept at bay only by the literal blood and hearts of human sacrifice on a scale that was also apocalyptic – or least in implication that the sun (or cosmos) would otherwise be extinguished without human sacrifice to empower (or repay) the gods.

The Fifth World pushes the apocalyptic rankings of Aztec mythology into top-tier, and again aptly enough, fifth place – the latter up three places from eighth place in my general mythology top ten rankings. It might well have pushed it higher but for its comparative lack of profile in popular culture or imagination – although its fellow Mezo-American mythology of the Mayans did earn a certain cachet in popular culture and imagination for its apocalypse of 2012, a somewhat apocryphal apocalypse as 2012 simply represented the end of their calendar without any predictions of impending doom.

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(6) MIDDLE EASTERN (BABYLO-SUMERIAN)

 

Middle Eastern mythology ranks in the high tier of apocalyptic rankings for its influence on the apocalypses of other mythologies, particularly Biblical mythology.

There’s the apocalypse of the Persian mythology or Zoroastrianism – with its dualistic cosmology and the final triumph of the supreme good divine being Ahura Mazda over the evil destructive divine force Angra Mainyu, which is argued to have influenced the apocalypses of Biblical mythology, including the Book of Apocalypse.

Even Babylo-Sumerian mythology plays its part in the Apocalypse of Biblical mythology, albeit through the symbolic personification of Babylon itself in the Book of Apocalypse.

This high tier apocalyptic influence sees Middle Eastern and Babylo-Sumerian mythology with the same sixth place in apocalyptic ranking as in my general mythology top ten rankings.

 

(7) CELTIC (ARTHURIAN)

 

Arguably, Arthurian legend is post-apocalyptic in its entirety with its setting in sub-Roman Britain, fending off Anglo-Saxon invaders after the fall of the Roman Empire.

However, Arthurian legend has its apocalyptic battle between good and evil, indeed one of the better known ones at that – the Battle of Camlann, the legendary final battle between Arthur and his son Mordred as usurper. It ends not so much in triumph but mutually assured destruction, after which the old world fades away with the birth of a new – although one of more popular Arthurian legends is that Arthur remains in some sort of suspended animation or “sleeper under the hill” with his knights, awaiting England’s greatest hour of need to rise again and do battle against its enemies.

Still, more famous mythic apocalypses (or the apocalyptic influence of Middle Eastern mythology) see Celtic mythology and Arthurian legend drop from fourth place in my general mythology top ten rankings to seventh place in apocalyptic rankings

 

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

X-tier or wild-tier in my apocalyptic rankings essentially signifies the lack of a definitive or distinctive apocalypse in a mythology, although it may still have some apocalyptic vibes.

 

(8) CLASSICAL

 

Classical mythology may only have some apocalyptic vibes but they are among the most famous, albeit not famously apocalyptic – the Titanomachy or Gigantomachy, revolts against or even the potential dethronement of Zeus, and the Trojan War.

Firstly, there’s the primal cosmic battle parallel to the Biblical war in heaven, encapsulated as the Titanomachy, when the Olympian gods led by Zeus overthrew the reigning Titans led by Zeus’ father Cronus. The Olympian gods in turn had to defend themselves by giants or other cosmic monstrous forces – the war of the giants against the gods or the Gigantomachy to match the Titanomachy, and more dangerously, the attack by the monstrous Typhon which came perilously close to defeating them, putting them to flight and even maiming Zeus himself.

Secondly, there are revolts against the supreme Olympian god Zeus and even hints of his potential (or future) dethronement – hints he will fall to the same sort of revolt against him as he led against his own father Cronus to rise to power (with Cronus in turn having risen to power by the same means against his father Uranus).

It’s one of the variant versions told of why Prometheus is chained to a rock with an eagle perpetually eating his liver – that he knew the secret of Zeus’ downfall, according to Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, albeit Prometheus ultimately reconciled with Zeus by confessing the secret. (The secret being that the nymph Thetis would have a son greater than his father, which obviously posed a problem for Zeus as one of her suitors – so instead he arranged for Thetis to marry a mortal Peleus, conceiving Achilles).

There was a similar prophecy for the goddess Metis, except here the problem was that Zeus had already impregnated her – so Zeus pulled the same stunt as his own father and swallowed her, only for his daughter Athena to be born fully grown (and armed) from his head. She was famously one of classical mythology’s virgin goddesses, which I’ve always presumed was in part to avoid any fulfilment of the prophecy through her.

There’s even at least one coup attempt by other gods, including Zeus’ wife Hera – as told in the Iliad.

Finally, the Trojan War is not usually thought of as apocalyptic, but it might well be considered the apocalypse of the Heroic Age of Greek mythology. It was obviously apocalyptic for Troy but also for the Greek heroes who fought in it. Even those Greek heroes who survived the battlefield to win it were famously unlucky when seeking to return to Greece, with many dying or founding colonies elsewhere.

As an apocalypse, the Trojan War even has its eucatastrophe or millennium – the legendary founding of Rome by Trojan exiles led by Aeneas.

However, the lack of any definitive or distinctive apocalyptic eschatology sees classical mythology with the biggest drop in apocalyptic rankings – down six places to eighth place from its second place in my general mythology top ten rankings.

 

(9) EGYPTIAN

 

Somewhat surprisingly for its focus on the afterlife, Egyptian mythology is mostly devoid of any apocalypse to popular recognition, although it did have its cosmic battles between good and evil.

However, like voodoo and meso-American mythology, I sometimes tend to see ancient Egypt itself as post-apocalyptic in mindset – a civilization huddled around the Nile with the apocalypse of the desert surrounding it on all sides. And while the Nile was reliably fertile, when it did fail it could be apocalyptic – those Biblical plagues had some basis in the historical reality of how apocalyptic it could get.

Still, the lack of any definitive apocalypse knocks Egypt down to ninth place in apocalyptic rankings, down four places from fifth place in my general mythology top ten rankings.

 

(10) AFRO-AMERICAN (VOODOO)

 

Look, I don’t know too much about any apocalyptic myths of Afro-American mythologies – apart from Rastafarianism – but they strike me as having a post-apocalyptic vibe, in this case the apocalypse of slavery and the slave trade. Haiti certainly seems locked into a permanent post-apocalyptic state.

However, in the absence of anything more concrete or distinctive, that sees Afro-American mythology and voodoo round out my apocalyptic rankings in tenth place, the same as for my general mythology top ten rankings.