Netflix official promotional art for their TV series Twilight of the Gods
No, not a repetition of ranking mythologies by their apocalypses but more metaphorically in terms of their decline in actual or active belief in them.
These essentially fall on a sliding cultural-religious scale – from those that have declined to cultural impact or influence with diminished, if any, belief in them, to those that remain as the subject of religious belief.
By happy chance, half my top ten mythologies (or five entries) rank in the cultural end of the scale, while the other half rank in the religious end.
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CULTURAL
(1) MIDDLE EASTERN (BABYLO-SUMERIAN)
My top ten mythology ranked highest for twilight of the gods at the cultural end of the scale, due to the lack of name recognition for all but a few of its deities or figures limiting even its cultural impact or influence – which is mostly filtered through other mythologies in any event.
The epic of Gilgamesh is probably its most enduring cultural impact or influence but even that is limited compared to other mythic epics.
If we expand it to the full extent of Middle Eastern mythology such as Persian Zoroastrianism, then it jumps up the scale to rank just into the religious end of the scale, with a tiny residual population of active religious belief.
(2) EGYPTIAN
One of the mythologies where divine figures have faded away in the twilight of the gods, apart from their small reconstruction or revival within neo-paganism – and one for which I feel that loss more acutely than most. They remain far more within cultural impact and influence as compared to other ancient Middle Eastern mythologies, mainly due to the enduring fascination with ancient Egypt in popular imagination.
(3) CELTIC (ARTHURIAN)
The once and future king!
The figures of Arthurian legend rank at the cultural end of the scale for twilight of the gods, since they were not figures of religious belief as such and have waned even in historical belief. However, they remain as vivid presences in Western culture.
(4) NORSE
Having the days of the week named for its deities (in English) has to count for cultural impact!
The trope namer – since that is what Gotterdammerung literally translates as – but ironically not in the way I’m using it here for ranking mythologies by their decline in belief.
As such, Norse mythology ranks at the cultural end of the scale, as the Norse deities have faded from active religious belief by all but the tiny slither of population that is neo-pagan or “heathen” (and even then I query how much of that is genuine religious belief). However, they continue to loom large in culture and popular imagination, second to none but one other mythology in this top ten list when it comes to European pantheons.
(5) CLASSICAL
“What ailed us, gods, to desert you?”
Desert yes, but preserve in cultural impact and influence.
Alas, I can’t deny the twilight of the gods of classical mythology – or that it is the one where I feel the loss of its deities most acutely.
Like Norse mythology, the gods of classical mythology have faded from religious belief and ritual by all but a tiny neo-pagan following. However, they loom even larger than those of Norse mythology in cultural impact and influence.
RELIGIOUS
(6) NATIVE AMERICAN (LAKOTA)
A mythology in my top ten that persists in religious belief among Native Americans, albeit at the smallest scale among those top ten mythologies. Huston Smith included a chapter on the primal religions among major religions in his book The World’s Religions – with the Lakota religion featuring prominently.
(7) MESO-AMERICAN (AZTEC)
I’ve ranked Meso-American mythology just above Native American mythology at the religious end of the scale for persistence in religious belief.
This is based on my understanding that Meso-American religious belief has persisted whether absorbed into Catholicism (in the style of classical or Roman paganism absorbed by the early Church), disguised or hidden within it (in the style of the Afro-American religions), or just existing parallel or juxtaposed to it – although I also understand this may be more apposite to the Maya than the Aztecs.
(8) AFRO-AMERICAN (VOODOO)
Afro-American mythology or voodoo may seem ranked oddly high – third out of my top ten mythologies – for persistence of religious belief, since Afro-American religions are usually omitted from studies of world religion. However, the African diaspora religions may well rank among the major world religions in number of adherents, but it is difficult to tell since those adherents are often disguised or hidden within Christianity.
(9) HINDU
Now we get to the big guns of my top mythologies going strongest against the twilight of their gods, for persistence in religious belief – with Hinduism as a major world religion by any metric, indeed as the worlds’ third largest religion.
(10) BIBLICAL
What can I say? The biggest gun of my top ten mythologies for sheer persistence as well as scale for endurance in active religious belief – outranking all others in my top ten, indeed, probably all of them combined in terms of scale.
