Origin of death

The origin of death is a theme in the myths of many cultures. Death is a universal feature of human life, so stories about its origin appear to be universal in human cultures.[1] As such it is a type of origin myth, a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. No one type of these myths is universal, but each region has its own characteristic types.[2][3] Such myths have therefore been a frequent topic of study in the field of comparative mythology.[4]

  1. ^ Green, James (2008). Beyond the Good Death. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-8122-4042-9.
  2. ^ Dundes, Alan (1984). Sacred Narrative, Readings in the Theory of Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 73. ISBN 0-520-05192-0.
  3. ^ Patton, Laurie (1996). Myth and Method. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. pp. 149–150. ISBN 0-8139-1657-7.
  4. ^ See for example, Littleton, C. Scott (1973). The New Comparative Mythology. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02404-4.