Talk:Arab mythology

How about 'us in the South' or 'them in the East'? Wiki is global you know. nl:Gebruiker:Jcwf

No kidding, but "West" is typically used to define the Indo-European realm just as mankind is used to define humankind. It may not be technically accurate but it remains in use and everyone gets what it means. Sure there might be someone from Singapore trying to research mythology, but if they can stand to learn English and conduct research in it they can accept that particular usage of "West."

I understand mythology to mean sacred texts (written or unwritten) that exolain the creation of the world and its many creatures. The Thousand and One Nights are tales, and not myths. Anyone has information on Arab sacred stories prior to the coming of Islam? Thank you!

We in the West is dreadful. Wikipedia is international and should not(hopefully does not) push a Eurocentric/Americocentric world view. I don't understand how 'West' can mean 'Indo-European' - when you use that I'm pretty sure you don't mean to include India, same as when people in the US use 'caucasian' they don't mean the Caucusus.

Mythology does not refer to "sacred" or creation texts exclusively. Greek mythology mostly involves adventure tales, who Zeus slept with/raped, how fast Hermes can travel and other such matters. There are creation stories in Greek mythology but they are only representative of a small portion of the large corpus called, "myth." That being said, I agree that someone knowledgeable should attach some such creation stories to this entry.

wrong info

I removed:

The West has been exposed to the mythology of the region -- albeit one packaged for its tastes -- in the Arabian Nights. In these tales there is an initial taste of the mythology of the pre-Islamic Arabian peninsula. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, Sindbad and the other tales in Arabian Nights are all stories containing echoes of pre-Islamic mythology.

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, is not an example of Arab pre-Islamic mythology. Its stroies were taken during the 9th century from Persian and Indian sources. Arabs didn't have much in the way of a culture prior to their Islamic out-burst from the Arabian peninsula. Kaveh 11:02, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)