An interesting legend. The most beautiful legends of the world

Every nation has beautiful and amazing legends. They are diverse in subject matter: legends about the exploits of heroes, stories about the origin of names of geographical objects, terrible stories about supernatural beings and novelistic tales of lovers.

Definition of term

The legend is an unreliable narrative about an event. It is very similar to the myth and can be considered its approximate analog. But the legend and the myth can not be called completely identical concepts. If we are talking about myth, then there are fictitious heroes who have nothing to do with reality. The legend also allows for real events, later supplemented or embellished. Since they add a lot of fictional facts, scholars of legend do not accept a reliable source of information .

If we take as a basis the classical meaning of the word, then the legend is a legend, set forth in an artistic form. Almost all peoples have such legends.

The best legends of the world - they will be discussed in the article.

Types of traditions

1. Oral legends are the most ancient kind. They spread through stray tellers.

2. Written traditions - recorded oral stories.

3. Religious legends - narrations about events and persons from church history.

4. Social traditions - all other legends that are not related to religion.

5. Toponymic - explaining the origin of the names of geographical objects (rivers, lakes, cities).

6. Urban legends - the newest form, which has spread in our days.

In addition, there are many more varieties of legends, depending on what the plot lies at their basis - zootropomorphic, cosmogonic, etiological, eschatological and heroic. There are very short legends and long narrations. The latter are usually associated with the story of the heroic accomplishments of a person. For example, the legend of King Arthur or the hero Ilya Muromets.

How did the legends come about?

From the Latin language, legenda translates as "what should be read." The history of legends goes back to the deep past and has the same roots as the myth. Primitive man, who has no idea of the causes of many natural phenomena around him, composed myths. Through them, he tried to explain his vision of the world. Later, on the basis of mythology, amazing and interesting legends about heroes, gods and supernatural phenomena began to appear. Many of them are preserved in the legends of the peoples of the world.

Atlantis - a legend about a lost paradise

The best legends that arose in antiquity, survived to the present day. Many of them still captivate the imagination of adventurers with their beauty and realism. The story of Atlantis says that in ancient times there was an island whose inhabitants reached incredible heights in many sciences. But then it was destroyed by a strong earthquake and sank together with the Atlanteans - its inhabitants.

It is necessary to express gratitude to the great ancient Greek philosopher Plato and the equally revered historian Herodotus for the story of Atlantis. An interesting legend worried minds even during the life of these outstanding scientists of ancient Greece. It has not lost its relevance in our days. A wonderful island that sank thousands of years ago, continue to search now.

If the legend about Atlantis turns out to be true, this event will be among the greatest discoveries of the century. After all, there was no less interesting legend about the mythical Troy, the existence of which sincerely believed Heinrich Schliemann. In the end, he managed to find this city and prove that in ancient legends there is some truth.

Founding of Rome

This interesting legend is among the most famous in the world. The city of Rome originated in ancient times on the banks of the Tiber. The proximity of the sea made it possible to engage in trade, and at the same time the city was well protected from the sudden attack of sea robbers. According to legend, the Romulus and Remus brothers, founded by the she-wolf, founded Rome. On the orders of the ruler they were to be killed, but the negligent servant threw the basket with the children in the Tiber, hoping that she would drown. She was picked up by a shepherd and became a foster father for twins. When they got to know each other about their origins, they rebelled against a relative and took away his power. The brothers decided to found their city, but during the construction they quarreled, and Romulus killed Remus.

Built the city, he called his name. The legend of the origin of Rome refers to toponymic legends.

The Legend of the Golden Dragon - the Way to the Heavenly Temple

Among the stories, stories about dragons are very popular. They have many peoples, but traditionally this is one of the favorite themes of Chinese folklore.

The legend of the golden dragon says that between heaven and earth there is a bridge that leads to the Heavenly Temple. It belongs to the Lord of the World. Only pure souls can get into it. Two golden dragons stand guard over the shrine. They feel an unworthy soul and can break it when they try to enter the temple. One day one of the dragons angered Vladika, and he drove him out. The dragon descended to the ground, met other creatures, and dragons of different colors were born from him. The Lord was angry when he saw them, and destroyed all but the unborn ones. Having appeared in the world, they hid for a long time. But the Lord of the World did not begin to destroy the new dragons, but left on the earth as his governors.

Treasures and treasures

Legends of gold are not the last place in the list of popular legends. One of the most famous and beautiful myths of ancient Greece tells of the search for argonauts of the golden fleece. For a long time, legend was simply a legend about the treasure of King Agamemnon, while Henry Schliemann did not find a treasure of pure gold at the site of the excavations of Mycenae, the capital of the legendary king.

Kolchak's gold is another well-known legend. During the Civil War, Admiral Kolchak was in the hands of most of Russia's gold reserves - about seven hundred tons of gold. Transported it in several echelons. What happened to one echelon, historians know. He was captured by the insurgent Czechoslovak Corps and handed over to the authorities (the Bolsheviks). But the fate of the remaining two is unknown to this day. The precious cargo could be dropped into a mine, hidden or buried in a vast territory between Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk. All the excavations that have been conducted so far (since the Chekists) have not yielded any result.

Well in hell and the library of Ivan the Terrible

Russia also has its own interesting legends. One of them, which appeared relatively recently, is among the so-called urban legends. This is a story about a well in hell. This name was given to one of the deepest man-made wells in the world - the Kola. Its drilling began in 1970. The length is 12 262 meters. The well was created exclusively for scientific purposes. Now it is mothballed, as there is no money to maintain it in working order. The legend of the Kola borehole appeared in 1989, when the American television broadcast the story that the sensors, lowered to the very depth of the well, recorded sounds similar to groans and cries of people.

Another interesting legend, which may well turn out to be true, speaks of a library of books, scrolls and manuscripts. The last owner of the precious collection was Ivan IV. It is believed that she was part of the dowry of Sophia Paleologus, the niece of the Byzantine emperor Constantine.

Fearing that the precious books in wooden Moscow could burn out in the fire, she ordered to place the library in the cellars under the Kremlin. According to the seekers of the famous Liberia, it can number 800 volumes of priceless works of ancient and medieval authors. Now there are about 60 versions of where the mysterious library can be stored.