Myths, Legends and Magic

As a race, humans are creatures blessed with a curiosity about the world we lived in with an incredibly rich imagination supported by the ability to articulate extensively the details of such imagination into words, music and imagery. These rich tales of myths, legends and magic stemmed not only from the attempts throughout the ages to seek explanations for the things and events that were and still are happening around us, but also from skilled story-tellers who could weave the trials and tribulations of daily struggles into a mystical world of wonder.

Here is a list of some of these writing, poems, songs and other compilation of this fertile imagination. In these, we could find mythical creatures, amazing plants, divine begins, demons, acts of heroism (greed, and cowardice), the struggles for power, strange stories and many more.

English Original Title Author/Time Origin Contents Remarks
Europe
Cotton Vitellius A.xv Anglo-Saxon One of four major Anglo-Saxon poetic manuscript that contains the epic poem about Beowulf. Sometimes known as the Beowulf manuscript.
Liber Monstrorum Anglo-Saxon Late seventh-or early eighth-century Anglo-Latin catalogue of monsters.
Aberdeen Bestiary ~12th cen English Illuminated manuscript of bestiary
Historia Brittonum History of the Britons ~Year 823 English
Codex Regius Codex Regius 1270 Iceland Unnamed collection of Old Norse anonymous poems written in a vellum manuscript dated from about 1270. Icelandic medieval manuscript which contains the Poetic Edda, sometimes known as the elder Edda.
Edda Often attributed to Snorri Sturluson, early 13th century Iceland  Old Norse literature. Also known as Prose Edda or Younger Edda.
Völsunga saga Völsunga Saga Iceland About origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd, Brynhild, the Burgundians). Many operatic and literary adaptations, including one by J.R.R. Tolkein.
The Song of the Nibelungs Nibelungenlied Compiled around 1200s Germany Epic heroic tragedy.
Mabinogion Mabinogion Compiled in 12th to 13th cen Welsh Collection of diverse stories.
Natural History Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elder Roman A more factural encyclopedia of the ancient world with a small section on magic.
Metamorphoses Ovid, 8 CE Greek/Roman Collection of myths and legends, many taken from Greek sources.
Physiologus Maybe 2th AD Greek Descriptions of animals, birds, and fantastic creatures, sometimes stones and plants.
Bibliotheca 1st or 2nd AD Greek Compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends in three books. 1st, 2nd CE
Illiad Homer Greek About the Trojan War
Odyssey Homer Greek About Odysseus, King of Ithaca, around 20 years after the fall of Troy during his journey home.
Book of Taliesin Llyfr Taliesin ~10th to 14th AD Welsh
Kalevala Kalevala Elias Lonneort (9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) Finland 19th-century compilation of of epic poetry describing Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology.
Ulster Cycle Before 1st AD Ireland Medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid.
Book of Invasions Leabhar Gabhála Éireann ~ 11th century AD Ireland 11 cen BCE
Americas
General History of the Things of New Spain Historia general de las cosas de nueva España Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, 1499-1590 Spain About Mexico (which was under Spanish Conquest then), a record of the lives and beliefs of the Aztec people. Was previously known as the Florentine Codex.
Book of the People Popol Vuh ~1550 AD Guatemala Cultural narrative that recounts the mythology and history of the K’iche’ people who inhabit the Guatemalan Highlands.
Middle East and Africa
Enuma Elish Enûma Eliš ~1894-1595 BC Old Babylonian Creation myth Recorded in Old Babylonian on seven clay tablets.
The Epic of Gilgamesh around 1300 to 1000 B.C Mesopotamia About Sumerian Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, and his misdeeds and adventures. Written in cuneiform on 12 clay tablets.
Royal Library of Ashurbanipal 7th century BC Mesopotamia A collection of thousands of clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Egyptian Book of the Dead around 50 BCE Egypt Consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person’s journey through the underworld.
Avesta Persia Primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism.
Origin of Gods Theogony Hesiod, 8th – 7th century BC Greek About the origins of the Greek gods.
Asia
Of Ancient Mountains and Seas 山海经 Before 221 BCE China A collection of creatures, plants, divine beings and people of the ancient Chinese world, divided into 18 volumes.
Record of Ancient Things 古事記 712 AD Japan A history book commissioned by the royal family then. Includes a section on the divine beings related to the ancestry of the royal family then.
Chronicle of Japan 日本書紀 618 to 720 AD Japan Another history book commissioned. Includes contents in “Record of Ancient Things”.
A Night Parade of One Hundred Demons 画図百鬼夜行 Sekien Toriyama (鳥山石燕), published in 1776 Japan A series of illustrations with short descriptions of various Japanese demons and spirits.
Itihasa Ancient India Include Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas, a collection of records of history of ancient India.
Mahabharata Probably 3rd century BC Ancient India Sometimes translated as “the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty”, this is an epic legendary narrative of the Kuruksetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes. Along with the Ramayana can be considered as part of the Hindu Itihasa.
Ramayana Earliest text is said to originate 7th to 4th century BCE. Usually ascribed to the sage, Valmiki. Ancient India About the struggle of the divine prince, Rama, to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king, Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata can be considered as part of the Hindu Itihasa.
Puranas Ancient India Massive collection of Indian literature about many topics, include myths, legends and folklore.
Rig Veda 1700–1100 BCE Ancient India Ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, one of the four sacred canonical texts known as the Vedas.