Looking for myths about journalism / sharing information

sethvincent

New Member
I'm looking for myths, legends, folklore, fairy tales, etc. that include elements similar to the following:

journalism
news
investigating
reporters / messengers
gathering, organizing, distributing information


Any ideas would be appreciated.

one that i've found so far:
iris - messenger of the gods in greek myth
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
The messenger of the Greek gods was Hermes, actually and in Roman was Mercury. In Greek, Hermes regularly went to the underworld to carry messages to and from Hades, one story in particular being the abduction of Persephone. Hermes was the only god, let alone anything living or dead, who was able to regularly go back and forth between Olympus and the Underworld.

I don't know if this would count, but in Norse myth, the ruler of the gods, Odin, traded in one of his eyes to the norns for a sip from the well of wisdom, which was how he gained knowledge of the war to come called Ragnarok. It's "learning information", anyway.
 

sethvincent

New Member
Oh, right! Hermes is a messenger. Thanks!

Odin sipping from the well of wisdom is a pretty good example, thanks for that, too.

Iris seems to be another messenger, but maybe not a primary messenger?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_(mythology)

OK, so we've got some basic metaphors for sharing or learning information:
sip from the well of wisdom
messenger

It seems like there might be other, similar metaphors. Or metaphors that map to more complex models of sharing information.

Any pointers to myths with these kinds of elements would be great!
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
Iris is pretty important. She was Juno's favorite messenger.
Hermod is a messenger god from Norse myth. He traveled to Nifleheim to try and get back balder.
Odin threw his eye into Mimir's well, not the well of the Norns.
I think any god of wisdom would have something to do with sharing info.
Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, gave man the heiroglyphs. It is with the gift of writing that we all can share info.
 
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