Culture hero

A culture hero is a historical or mythological hero who changes the world through invention or discovery. A typical culture hero might be credited as the discoverer of fire, or agriculture.

In many cultures, particularly Native American, the mythical figure of the trickster and the culture hero are combined. To illustrate, Prometheus, in Greek mythology, stole fire from the gods to give it to humans. He is more of a culture hero than a trickster. In many North American Indian mythologies, the coyote spirit stole fire from the gods (or stars or sun) and is more of a trickster than a culture hero.

A partial list of culture heroes from various mythologies:

• Abenaki mythology
  • Bedig-wajo[?] (western)
  • Ktaden[?] (eastern)
• Aborigine mythology
  • Bunjil
  • I'wai
  • Wurrunna
• American mythology
  • George Washington
• Ashanti mythology
  • Anansi
• Etruscan mythology
  • Tarchon
  • Tyrrehenus[?]
• Finnish mythology
  • Ilmarinen
• Greek mythology
  • Phoroneus
  • Prometheus
• Inuit mythology
  • Apanuugak
• Lakota mythology
  • Iktomi
• Mayan mythology
  • Gukumatz
• Navaho mythology
  • the Diyin dine[?]
• Polynesian mythology
  • Atonga
• Roman mythology
  • Janus
• Ute mythology
  • Cin-an-ev[?]
• Zuni mythology
  • Yanauluha[?]

External links:

• http://www.antro.uu.se/acta/sample_trickster.html
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/om/om12.htm