SOLVED. Comp Lit book with strange title about creation myths and other early culture beliefs. [s]

[Lomendil]

Many years ago I read a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I cannot reconstruct the name.

The book is a comparison of early gods and creation myths, together with some other comparative literature of early writings. It's quite interesting.

The title is strange, so if you know this book, it should come to mind... It's called something like Zarathaxyon, or Xymaxion, or Zoroaxymia. Those are all probably quite wrong, but the title has that flavor. I've tried searching several catalogs and indexes for different combinations like this without finding anything.

I checked this out of a university library around 2007 (I did try searching the catalog there). I'm not sure when it was published.

If you know that comparative mythology book with the crazy title, please help!

[Abigail]

Could the title have been something about Zoroastrianism or its founder Zoroaster? (Zoroaster has several spelling/transliteration variants, as well, including Zarathustra, Zarathushtra, and Zaradusht.)

[Lomendil]

The title was very reminiscent of Zarathustra/Zoroaster; I was meaning to imply that with my title guesses, but I should have been more explicit. I remember it being most similar to Zarathustra, but had some letter combinations that I had never seen in a transliteration before.

Thank you for your reply!

[Kris]

Lomendil, which cultures/countries/time periods were compared?

Were all the myths about creation?

Any chance the creation myths are from a single cultural group? For example: Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle by Marc; de Civrieux?

[Lomendil]

Hi Kris, good questions. There was a healthy chunk of native american legend, but there were other groups as well. There were several sections of the book, not all of them about creation myths. That is what sticks in my mind the most, since a lot of time was spent detailing legends that involve a bird diving into water and bringing up mud to make the land. That theme was identified across several cultural groups. I'm pretty sure there was also a section on shamanism. The book was more about the cross-cultural narratives than anything trying to make connections in a spooky "maya factor" kind of way (in case it's starting to sound like that).

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lomendil, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Lomendil]

I haven't found it; I have mostly given up.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

We can keep your thread open indefinitely, if you still want it to be found. However if you have zero interest in finding it, we can move this to Abandoned.

[Lomendil]

Let's keep it going. Interest is still high!

[Lomendil]

The book is Mircea Eliade's Zalmoxis, The Vanishing God.

[Abigail]

Thank you for updating us!

[Lomendil]

By the way, I also just found out Eliade was a raging fascist :/

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Lomendil. Here's the link - Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God: Comparative Studies in the Religions and Folklore of Dacia and Eastern Europe by Mircea Eliade.