Mythic Asian Crossroads

Asia

Afghan, Anatolian, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Near Eastern, Persian, Southeast Asia

Afganistan A-Z has a very good article on Folklore and Folk Music.

Anatolian (Altaic, Hittite, Turk)

	The Hittite/Hurrian Mythology Reference by Christopher B. Siren presents the history of the Hittites, their deities and their cosmology, along with references to source material on the Hittites.
	Poems from the Turkish Epic are adapted by Gene Doty from Gulten Yenner's prose translation. Includes the Altaic creation myth, how God Kara-han gets splashed, and the mythical origin of the Altaic tribes.
	Turkish Mythology by Handan Oz discusses Turkish myths from their origins in Central Asia. Much of the site is in Turkish, some is in English.

	1001 Sites is an Arab Internet Directory and search engine.
	Arab Folk Tales has three stories The Price of Pride (Saudi), The Good Neighbor (Iraq), and Two Mothers Mourning (Algeria).
	Arabian Nights is the "original" translation of the Arabian Nights into English, made by Sir Richard Francis Burton.
	Arabian Nights (ALF LAYLAH WA LAYLAH) is another
	Arabian Nights Entertainments selected and edited by Andrew Lang. This version is tamer than Burton's.
	Djuha and the Figs is a humorous tale from Iraq.
	Encyclopaedia of the Orient has hundreds of entry words covering all kinds of subjects for 22 countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
	Internet Islamic History Sourcebook is a subset of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook & Internet Ancient History Sourcebook and Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
	Islamic Glossary is handy for westerners unfamiliar with the terminology.
	Jinn and the City of the Pillars is a well written description of the Jinn. (offline)
	Miriam's Story Park by Miriam Ispahani is an excellent collection of stories of mostly Sufi origin.
	Story of Djuha and the Figs is a humorous tale from Iraq. It is from, 'Arab Folktales' by Inea Bushnaq.

	Chinese Culture has an excellent collection of Chinese legends and stories.
	Chinese Folktales contains the stories The Old Man of the Steppes Finds a Horse and Old Man Yu Moves the Mountains.
	Dragons in Ancient China discusses one of the most important Chinese symbols, the dragon, in architecture, paintings, and royal robes. Includes information on the mythical Nine Sons of Dragon.
	Internet East Asian History Sourcebook is a subset of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook & Internet Ancient History Sourcebook and Internet Modern History Sourcebook (features China but includes other far eastern countries).
	Monkey King , or "Journey West," is a classic Chinese novel over four hundred years old based loosely on the travels of the monk Xuan Zang in the seventh century A.D.
	Mulan is a 360-word poem written in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD) by an anonymous poet and tells the tale of a legendary heroine.

	Animals of Indian Mythology by Dr. Krishnanand Kamat has examples of how animal activities are used to impress abstract concepts on commoners.
	Bhagavad-Gita is the great Hindu religious poem from 400 BC.
	Bullfinch's Mythology section on Hinduism, including Vishnu, Siva, Juggernauts, and caste system.
	Devi: The Great Goddess is a Smithsonian Institution site that looks at the six aspects of the Indian goddess Devi.
	Folklore of West Bengal by Arghya Chatterjee describes folktales, folk music, and folk dances of West Bengal.
	Internet Indian History Sourcebook is a subset of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook & Internet Ancient History Sourcebook and Internet Modern History Sourcebook.

	Folktales in Akita offers several tales from Akita, including the story of Hachiro-Taro, the story of Dakiai-no-matsu, 999 stone stairs, and a sparrow and a woodpecker.
	Japanese Myth by Cycle recounts the stories of the Palace under the Sea, the Lord of the Land, the Sun Behind the Rock, the Serpent with Eight Heads, and the Underworld.
	Japanese Starlore offers the story of the separation of Orihime and Kengyu, the role of the Pleiades and Great Bear in Japanese folklore, and much more about the history of astronomy in Japan.
	Story of Kaguyahime by Michael Owen recounts the tale of the beautiful princess who was taken up to the skies.

About Korea has some very good articles subtitled Korean Myths and Tales:

	Tangun, The Father of Our Nation
	Koguryo's First King - Gojoomong
	Shilla's First King - Pak Hyokkose
	Kyonu the Herder and Chiknyo the Weaver

Near Eastern (Assyrian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Hebrew, Hittite, and Sumerian)

	Assyro-Babylonian Mythology FAQ by Christopher B. Siren offers a look at the history, gods, and cosmology of the Near East.
	Babel is a wide-ranging exploration of the myths and legends surrounding the Tower of Babel and its equivalents in different cultures.
	Babylonian Magic has incantations, rituals , myths, and a map of Babylon.
	Canaanite/Ugaritic Mythology FAQ by Christopher B. Siren is an impressive compendium based on John C. Gibson's Canaanite Mythology and S. H. Hooke's Middle Eastern Mythology.
	Gateways to Babylon is a tribute to Mesopotamia, its myths, religion, gods and goddesses.
	Gods of the IIB by J. L. Valverde offers a brief description of the gods after which computers at this site are named.
	Hittite Mythology REF by Christopher B. Siren is another of his excellent FAQs.
	Mesopotamia by Richard Hooker (part of his World Cultures site) provides histories of each of the successive ruling peoples/cultures of the region.
	Myth of Baal by Lilinah biti-Anat offers a personal translation of the Ugaritic myth of Ba'al.
	Mythology of the Mid-East is an alphabetical list of references to Sumerian, Assyrian, Mesopotamian, and Persian mythological figures.
	Sumerian Mythology FAQ (Christopher B. Siren)

	Avesta Web Server provides the complete text of the extant Avesta, the most ancient scriptures of Zoroastrianism, as well as later Pahlavi scriptures.
	Epic of Kings: Hero Tales of Ancient Persia offers a translation of Firdausi's work by Helen Zimmern.

	Asian Elephant Legends is a very short description of the legendary character of elephants in Thailand.
	Malacca's Trivia & Folklore has stories of the
	Malaysian Chamber of Horror contains a collection of ghost stories.
	Malaysia - Myth & Legend by the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board.
	Myths and Legends contains three myths from Singapore.
	Ramakein is a Thai version of the tale of Prince Rama and his wife Sita, and of the struggles between good and evil.
	Singing Ape of Thailand the tells how in Thai folklore, the gibbons are thought to be the reincarnation of disappointed lovers.
	Vietnamese Myths by Nguyen Ngoc Bich is an article written for the Asia Society's Vietnam: Essays on History, Culture, and Society 1985.

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