History NewerThanTheyThink / Mythology

* The idea that ghosts are intangible and can't touch anything and only been silent witness of things around them may have some precedents in literature but at least for PopCulture comes from movies like ''Film/Ghost1990'' and ''Film/GhostDad'' in the 1990s. In traditional folklore ghosts can touch whatever they want, in fact that's why they are scary, because they can actually kill you. This was also common in many previous horror movies and, of course, is what we see in such films as ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' and ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'', however is nowadays so ingrained in popular conception that has to some degree turn into the de-fault version of ghosts in most media.

* Much of the modern folklore related to the UsefulNotes/HolyLance comes from Trevor Ravenscroft's 1972 novel ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spear_of_Destiny_(Ravenscroft) The Spear of Destiny]]'', including the name "Spear of Destiny" as well as its association with {{Ghostapo}} (there is no actual evidence that the Nazis had particular interest in the Spear of Vienna beyond its symbolic value as part of the Imperial Regalia of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire and the [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Austrian Empire]]). This notably features in Franchise/TheDCU, where the canonical reason why the Justice Society [[ReedRichardsIsUseless never stopped Hitler]] was that he used the power of the Spear to prevent any Allied superhumans from entering Europe, in a {{Retcon}} that was established as late as [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks 1977]].

* The idea that ghosts are intangible and can't touch anything and only been silent witness of things around them may have some precedents in literature but at least for PopCulture comes from movies like ''Film/Ghost1990'' and ''Film/GhostDad'' in the 1990s. In traditional folklore ghosts can touch whatever they want, in fact that why they are scary, because they can actually kill you. This was also common in many previous horror movies and, of course, is what we see in such films as ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' and ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'', however is nowadays so ingrained in popular conception that has to some degree turn into the de-fault version of ghosts in most media.

* Although the Golem has been an element of Jewish folklore for multiple centuries, one of the most famous elements of the story, that of the Golem rescuing Jews from a blood libel in 16th century Prague, was [[http://www.traditiononline.org/news/originals/Volume%2036/No.%201/The%20Adventure%20of%20the.pdf more or less created]] in a 1909 novel by a Rabbi Yudl Rosenberg. Rosenberg basically use a DirectLineToTheAuthor in which he claimed he was editing a much older work found in a (nonexistent) library and skillfully mixed in actual sources/traditions with elements of his own invention. While the novel is little known today, it was really influential and pretty much all subsequent tellings of the Golem legend contain facets original to Rosenberg.

** Gorgons having snakes ''for'' hair is also a more recent innovation. Most Hellenistic images depict Medusa, et. al., with snakes ''in'' their hair, not replacing it.
** Medusa's story depicting her as a priestess of Athena who was seduced and/or raped by Poseidon and cursed by Athena for defiling her temple is old in an absolute sense -- but it only goes back to early Roman times, and has no presence in Greek legends or narratives. Early myths about the Gorgons depict them as always having been monsters and originating as children of the primordial sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, and as such as being siblings of other monstrous being such as the Sirens and Ladon; they were also depicted with several monstrous features, such as wings and large tusks, that are usually absent today. Athena only entered their story by means of being one of four gods who gave aid to Perseus (alongside Zeus, Hermes and Hades); Poseidon doesn't feature at all. The most commonly-known version was penned by the Roman poet Ovid, hundreds of years after the oldest known myths concerning Medusa were recorded; its negative depiction of the gods matches the tone of several of his other poems and is believed to reflect his stance against the recent establishment of monarchic imperial rule. However, in the Middle Ages, Greek texts and knowledge of Greek in general were largely lost while Latin writing remained well-documented, making the Roman version of the myth the more widely-known one.

* The notion that Achilles was invulnerable except for his heel seems to have arisen long after the composition of ''Literature/TheIliad'', where he doesn't appear to be less vulnerable than anyone else: Nothing suggests that his heel is a weak point, he doesn't fight until his lost helmet and breastplate are replaced, he gets wounded on the arm, etc. The oldest surviving work that talks about his AchillesHeel -- though perhaps based on older ones -- dates to the 1st century AD, maybe eight centuries after Homer is thought to have lived.

* {{Shinigami}} are not part of classic Japanese myth. The term itself comes from the Edo period (1603-1868), and back then it had many meanings, including metaphorical ones (it only means "god of death" after all). The concept of them as a distinctive class of spirits seems to date to only the mid-19th century via European images of the GrimReaper and translations from Creator/TheBrothersGrimm, especially the tale ''[[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm044.html Godfather Death.]]'' With how extreme the variation is between different fictional shinigami, with the only similarity at all between any of them being the whole "death" thing, it's pretty obvious that there isn't any mythology behind them.

->''"Hello internet user whose entire concept of feminism comes from Website/{{tiktok}}. In front of you are three ancient myths about women. You have five minutes to figure out which one of them was made up in the 1970s. If you choose wrong, you will be ripped to pieces by Maenads."''

** For that matter, in fantasy fiction, stone and metal golems show up frequently -- perhaps moreso than their clay counterparts. Though the idea of animated creatures made of stone or metal has been around as long as stone or metal, their being referred to as golems appears to have been a creation of, once again, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture Rapture]], the idea that God will take all the believers into heaven prior [[note]] there are different schools of thought as to when God will rapture his believers, but the most prominent one, popularized by Literature/LeftBehind, is pre-tribulation [[/note]] to the events in Revelation (four horseman, seven seals, etc), stems from the early 19th century (to the 1833 translation of the Bible by John Nelson Darby to be exact). While books like Literature/LeftBehind make it seem like this is a widespread belief in Protestant circles, the fact is that almost every mainline protestant church (Episcopalian, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and most Reformed Christian churches do not subscribe to this belief, never mind the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches) reject this interpretation.

* The idea of {{Satan}} being the [[TheAntiGod evil opposite]] of {{God}} did exist early on in some [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] sects, but these groups were generally small and didn't have much influence. For most time in Christianity, he was generally portrayed in that even though he ''represented'' opposition to God, he was far less powerful, and in fact, any human with enough faith and wisdom could fend him off (granted, having those in turn was obviously considered not as easy as it sounds). The idea that Satan has an irresistibly power over common man, unless through witchcraft or the like, didn't become truly mainstream until about the late 19th century.

* ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'' is not a medieval or early modern folktale like many other Disney classics; he didn't appear until 1883 while [[{{WesternAnimation/Pinocchio}} the Disney movie]] was made in 1940. To put that in perspective, Charles Judels, who voiced Stromboli and the Coachman in the film, was born in ''1882''. In fact, the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon includes about as many films based on 19th and 20th century literature as ones based on folktales or mythology. (Eg. Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Bambi...)

* The tale of the Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs was only first published in its familiar form in 1890. An earlier variation, with the wolf tormenting pixies rather than pigs, dates back to 1840. The basic tale may well be much older, but no one's found any earlier variants. To put this into perspective, the story had only been in wide circulation for around four decades when Disney made ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeLittlePigs'' in 1933.

* The perfect example would be [[GripingAboutGremlins the gremlin]] (not the car, or [[UglyCute the lovable 1980s movie monster]]). The word first appeared in British airfields during the First World War, and indicated a malicious "thing" (most often in the plural) that would cause aircraft to malfunction. The most consistent explanation for the origin of the word is that a light-hearted reference to [[http://www.dover-kent.com/Breweries/Fremlins-Brewery-Maidstone.html Fremlin's Ales]] in a missive from an airfield commander got mis-typed, i.e. "...no explanation yet for the sudden rise in crashes, although I personally blame the Fremlins." The word (and the as-yet unvisualised creature) spread from there, first appearing in print in 1929. However many people seem to think that gremlins are far, far older than that, due to how "at home" they seem among the more traditional types like goblins and leprechauns (especially after fantasy RPG writers got hold of them). Americans were first introduced to gremlins in a 1943 Creator/RoaldDahl book, his first children's book. It almost became a Creator/{{Disney}} movie.

* The ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegv%C3%ADsir vegvísir]]'' or "wayfinder" symbol, a stylized representation of a compass popular in UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}}, is often assumed to be an ancient Norse charm for sailors and travelers to find their way in bad weather. However, it dates from a mid-19th century manuscript and has no earlier attestations.

* The first [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circle crop circles]] appeared in the late 1970s, with the term being coined in the early 1980s by Colin Andrews. The phenomenon may have been inspired by the 1974 horror film ''Film/PhaseIV'', which depicts armies of ants making similar patterns. The term "crop circle" itself [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crop%20circle dates]] only to 1990.

* The first [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circle crop circles]] appeared in the late 1970s, with the term being coined in the early 1980s by Colin Andrews. The phenomenon may have been inspired by the 1974 horror film ''Film/PhaseIV'', which depicts armies of ants making similar patterns.

* The word "vampire" is first recorded in English in 1734, and even in other languages, it does not appear to predate the 18th century.

** Medusa's story depicting her as a priestess of Athena who was seduced and/or raped by Poseidon and cursed by Athena for defiling her temple is old in an absolute sense -- but it only goes back to early Roman times, and has no presence in Greek legends or narratives. Early myths about the Gorgons depict them as always having been monsters and originating as children of the primordial sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, and as such as being siblings of other monstrous being such as the Sirens and Ladon; they were also depicted with several monstrous features, such as wings and large tusks, that are usually absent today. Athena only entered their story by means of being one of four gods who gave aid to Perseus (alongside Zeus, Hermes and Hades); Poseidon doesn't feature at all. The most commonly-known version was penned by the Roman poet Ovid, hundreds of years after the oldest known myths concerning Medusa were penned; its negative depiction of the gods matches the tone of several of his other poems and is believed to reflect his stance against the recent establishment of monarchic imperial rule. However, in the Middle Ages, Greek texts and knowledge of Greek in general were largely lost while Latin writing remained well-documented, making the Roman version of the myth the more widely-known one.

* While most people think of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible as long predating the New Testament, ''early'' estimates of its compilation into its recognizable final form are around 100 BCE. Some estimate that it wasn't finalised until ''after'' Jesus' death. That said, some of the individual books ''within'' the Old Testament date back as far as the 8th century B.C.

* The current depiction of angels as winged, haloed humanoids didn't originate in either Jewish or Christian scriptures. Classical biblical angels were either not physically described or looked terrifying -- there's a reason why they introduced themselves with "Fear not!" The earliest winged angel yet found was in a sarcophagus dated to the 4th century AD. Depictions of female angels ''as'' female didn't come around until the 19th century; before then, most angels were perceived as genderless, and were more likely to look male than female (and none had womanly breasts). That being said, the gender of angels is barely defined in the Torah and the Bible. In some places that resulted in tons and tons of discussions that wound up nowhere, hence the reason why the Dutch term ''over het geslacht van engelen discussiëren'' ("discussing the gender of angels") means "having meaningless discussions". Islam, incidentally, has it as a piece of explicit doctrine that there is no such thing as female angels as a result of Arabic pagans trying to pass off their old goddesses as angels.

* The idea of {{Satan}} being the [[TheAntiGod evil opposite]] of {{God}} did exist early on in some sects, but these groups were generally small and didn't have much influence. He was generally portrayed in that even though he ''represented'' opposition to God, he was far less powerful and any common man could outwit him with enough wisdom and faith. It didn't become truly mainstream until about the late 19th century.

** This may be a conflation with "the Horned God" {{Cernunnos}}, a man with [[HornedHumanoid a deer's/ram's head or just animal horns]], who ''does'' appear prominently in Celtic materials -- albeit specifically in Roman-era Gaulish art and inscriptions, and not from anywhere on the Isles.

* Norse mythology is by far the youngest major mythological tradition compared to [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian]] and [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek]] mythology, with which it is often grouped. While Norse mythology was transmitted orally beforehand, the primary written sources for the Norse myths, such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda Prose Edda]] date only to the 13th century, making them far younger than sources for Myth/ClassicalMythology or Christianity. We have no records of what it was like before the Middle Ages, as the Norse were not a literate society, and hardly anything was written down until after the Norse had already converted to Christianity, making separating what their religion was "really" like and what had been influenced by Christianity difficult. The earliest sources for Norse mythology date to two thousand years after those of Greek mythology, and ''three'' thousand years after those of Egyptian mythology.

* Carl Emil Doepler's costume designs for the Valkyries in the 1876 Bayreuth production of Wagner's Ring were based on the then most recent archaeological evidence, which was partly influenced by the horned helmets of much later medieval warriors. Cosima Wagner famously loathed the winged helmets, which she said looked less like ancient Germans than "Red Indian chiefs." The "archaeological evidence" were not helmets as one thought, the horns were found separate and actually were intended for ''drinking''.

* {{Shinigami}} are not part of classic Japanese myth. They date to only the mid-19th century via European images of the GrimReaper and translations from Creator/TheBrothersGrimm, especially the tale ''[[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm044.html Godfather Death.]]'' With how extreme the variation is between different fictional shinigami, with the only similarity at all between any of them being the whole "death" thing, it's pretty obvious that there isn't any mythology behind them.

* Many {{Youkai}} are believed by both Japanese and foreigners to have originated from ancient myths passed down from thousands of years ago. In reality, a good chunk of them first appeared during the ''Edo'' period (1603-1868) when storytellers began making up their own Youkai to entertain audiences or writers started recording their own inventions down. The {{Karakasa}} is one such example and perhaps the most notable one. And while the kuchisake-onna may have been mentioned before then, the modern interpretation is based on the story of a real mentally ill woman from the 1970s who had a Glasgow grin and surgical mask, and stalked children before being fatally hit by a car.

** Interestingly, two of the most famous "Arabian Nights stories"--the stories of Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves--aren't actually in the Arabian Nights. However, contrary to what some might say, they aren't European forgeries--they are instead other Arab folktales which weren't included in the collection. The confusion comes from the fact that once the Arabian Nights hit Europe, they were an instant hit. However, there were many versions running around, meaning that anyone could pass off any collection of "Oriental" tales as the real deal and not get caught. So Europeans started going to the Middle East--Syria, for the most part--collecting stories from old village storytellers. These storytellers were more than happy to oblige, as the Europeans were offering money for a good story. It's very difficult to say what is actually in the Arabian Nights. The very structure of the books allows one to easily add or remove stories, and some experts count half a dozen major layers of different periods.

** This may be a conflation with "the Horned God" {{{Cernunnos}}, a man with [[HornedHumanoid a deer's/ram's head or just animal horns]], who ''does'' appear prominently in Celtic materials -- albeit specifically in Roman-era Gaulish art and inscriptions, and not from anywhere on the Isles.

** Medusa's story depicting her as a priestess of Athena who was seduced and/or raped by Poseidon and cursed by Athena for defiling her temple is old in an absolute sense -- but it only goes back to early Roman times, and has no presence in Greek legends or narratives. Early myths about the Gorgons depict them as always having been monsters and originating in as children of the primordial sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, and as such as being siblings of other monstrous being such as the Sirens and Ladon; they were also depicted with several monstrous features, such as wings and large tusks, that are usually absent today. Athena only entered their story by means of being one of four gods who gave aid to Perseus (alongside Zeus, Hermes and Hades); Poseidon doesn't feature at all. The most commonly-known version was penned by the Roman poet Ovid, hundreds of years after the oldest known myths concerning Medusa were penned; its negative depiction of the gods matches the tone of several of his other poems and is believed to reflect his stance against the recent establishment of monarchic imperial rule. However, in the Middle Ages, Greek texts and knowledge of Greek in general were largely lost while Latin writing remained well-documented, making the Roman version of the myth the more widely-known one.

*** Writers of the popular mid 20th century American TV show have since admitted what antisocialists always suspected, that modern Robin Hood characters were being shaped into a politically convenient mold as a subtle-for-its-day commentary on both capitalism and, by implication, the Cold War. Depending whether you sympathized more with the left or the right, the popularity of such obvious propaganda either demonstrated the organic appeal of socialism or the devious cunning of subversive artists. It is unlikely those in the middle completely missed the implications, but there was some plausible deniability in that Robin's existence could be portrayed as a cultural reaction to the failure of corporations and the rich to give the level of tithes recommended by the Church or donations requested by the community.

*** Writers of the popular mid 20th century American TV show have since admitted what antisocialists always suspected, that modern Robin Hood characters were being shaped into a politically convenient mold as a subtle-for-its-day commentary on both capitalism and, by implication, the Cold War. Depending whether you sympathized more with the left or the right, the popularity of such obvious propaganda either demonstrated the organic appeal of socialism or the devious cunning of subversive artists. It is unlikely those in the middle completely missed the implications, but there was some plausible deniability in that Robin's practices could be interpreted as a precursor to regulatory agencies under a healthy liberal capitalism... if you really wanted to.

* The vanishing Scottish village of Brigadoon is not an old local legend, but was entirely created for the 1947 American play ''Theatre/{{Brigadoon}}''.
* The idea that ghosts are intangible and can't touch anything and only been silent witness of things around them may have some precedents in literature but at least for PopCulture comes from movies like ''Film/Ghost1990'' and ''Film/GhostDad'' in the 1990s. In traditional folklore ghosts can touch whatever they want, in fact that why they are scary, because they can actually kill you. This was also common in many previous horror movies and, of course, is what we see in such films as ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' and ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'', however is nowadays so ingrained in popular conception that has to some degree turn into the de-fault version of ghosts in most media.
* The Barcelos rooster, often held to be a folk legend and national symbol of Portugal, was only created in the 1930s by António Ferro, UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar's propaganda man, who also created Lisbon's Popular Marches.
* Belief in [[OurGiantsAreBigger giants]] seems ridiculously Medieval and backwards from our modern eyes, but even the most reputable sources reported Patagonia (i.e., the southernmost region of South America) to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia#Patagonian_giants:_early_European_perceptions populated by giants]] until the late 18th century. Bones of mammoths and mastodons (and even whales) were often assumed to belong to ancient giants (or dragons), a belief that held for about as long.
* The character of Literature/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer was actually created in 1939 as a holiday marketing gimmick for Montgomery Ward department stores. The song itself was written in 1949. The other eight are traced straight to ''A Visit From St. Nicholas'' (also known as ''Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas'').

[[folder:Western mythology]]
* The perfect example would be [[GripingAboutGremlins the gremlin]] (not the car, or [[UglyCute the lovable 1980s movie monster]]). The word first appeared in British airfields during the First World War, and indicated a malicious "thing" (most often in the plural) that would cause aircraft to malfunction. The most consistent explanation for the origin of the word is that a light-hearted reference to [[http://www.dover-kent.com/Breweries/Fremlins-Brewery-Maidstone.html Fremlin's Ales]] in a missive from an airfield commander got mis-typed, i.e. "...no explanation yet for the sudden rise in crashes, although I personally blame the Fremlins." The word (and the as-yet unvisualised creature) spread from there, first appearing in print in 1929. However many people seem to think that gremlins are far, far older than that, due to how "at home" they seem among the more traditional types like goblins and leprechauns (especially after fantasy RPG writers got hold of them).
** Americans were first introduced to gremlins in a 1943 Creator/RoaldDahl book, his first children's book. It almost became a Creator/{{Disney}} movie.

* The idea of [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]] as slow, lumbering creatures that crave human flesh and can only be stopped by destroying the brain comes from ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'' and other movies. Medieval beliefs in revenants, and the original Caribbean conception of zombies, have none of that. Typical zombies of the early period of film, such as found in the film ''Film/WhiteZombie'', resembled Haitian "slave" zombies. The [[BrainFood craving for brains]] is even more recent, dating from the 1985 film ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead''.

* [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse mythology]] is by far the youngest major mythological tradition compared to [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian]] and [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek]] mythology, with which it is often grouped. While Norse mythology was transmitted orally beforehand, the primary written sources for the Norse myths, such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda Prose Edda]] date only to the 13th century, making them far younger than sources for Myth/ClassicalMythology or Christianity. We have no records of what it was like before the Middle Ages, as the Norse were not a literate society, and hardly anything was written down until after the Norse had already converted to Christianity, making separating what their religion was "really" like and what had been influenced by Christianity difficult. The earliest sources for Norse mythology date to two thousand years after those of Greek mythology, and ''three'' thousand years after those of Egyptian mythology.
* The depiction of Valkyries as fat ladies began with Music/RichardWagner's ''Die Walküre'', since corsets impeded achieving a powerful voice.
** Carl Emil Doepler's costume designs for the Valkyries in the 1876 Bayreuth production of Wagner's Ring were based on the then most recent archaeological evidence, which was partly influenced by the horned helmets of much later medieval warriors. Cosima Wagner famously loathed the winged helmets, which she said looked less like ancient Germans than "Red Indian chiefs."
*** The "archaeological evidence" were not helmets as one thought, the horns were found separate and actually were intended for ''drinking''.

* Neither Mab nor Titania appear as names for the queen of the fairies in Myth/CelticMythology; they, as well as most associated legends, originate with Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
** The name Mab was coined for a speech in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. Shakespeare had a habit of conflating several characters, and may have taken the name from Queen Medb, who most famously appears in ''Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley''.
** Titania ("daughter of titans") was originally a title used in Ovid's ''Literature/TheMetamorphoses'' to refer to the goddess Diana; Shakespeare attached the name to the fairy queen in ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream''.
* In the ''Táin Bó Cúailgne'', the translation of Cú Chulainn's ''riastrad'' as a "warp spasm" only dates from Thomas Kinsella's 1969 translation, but has spread beyond that to many works inspired by Myth/CelticMythology.

** "Wight" was probably taken from Tolkien's barrow-wights. The word itself was just another word for body, alive or dead. (Byron's Childe Harold is described as being a "shameless wight" precisely because he is [[TheCasanova too much of a living body]].)
*** It also meant any immaterial creature (demon, spirit, soul, ghost etc.)

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture Rapture]], the idea that God will take all the believers into heaven prior [[note]] there are different schools of thought as to when God will rapture his believers, but the most prominent one, popularized by Literature/LeftBehind, is pre-tribulation [[/note]] to the events in Revelation (four horseman, seven seals, etc), stems from the early 19th century (to the 1833 translation of the Bible by John Nelson Darby to be exact). While books like Literature/LeftBehind make it seem like this is a widespread belief in Protestant circles, the fact is that almost every mainline protestant church (Episcopalian, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and most Reformed Christian churches do not subscribe to this belief, never mind the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches) reject this interpretation.

* While most people think of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible as long predating the New Testament, ''early'' estimates of its compilation into its recognizable final form are around 100 BCE. Some estimate that it wasn't finalised until ''after'' Jesus' death.
** That said, some of the individual books ''within'' the Old Testament date back as far as the 8th century B.C.
* Although the Golem has been an element of Jewish folklore for multiple centuries, one of the most famous elements of the story, that of the Golem rescuing Jews from a blood libel in 16th century Prague, was [[http://www.traditiononline.org/news/originals/Volume%2036/No.%201/The%20Adventure%20of%20the.pdf more or less created]] in a 1909 novel by a Rabbi Yudl Rosenberg. Rosenberg basically use a DirectLineToTheAuthor in which he claimed he was editing a much older work found in a (nonexistent) library and skillfully mixed in actual sources/traditions with elements of his own invention. While the novel is little known today, it was really influential and pretty much all subsequent tellings of the Golem legend contain facets original to Rosenberg.
** The Golem being NewerThanTheyThink ties into the same being true of Frankenstein (see above). There is a popular assertion that Shelley was influenced by the Golem story. However, while both do fit a theme of "alchemists creating an ArtificialHuman", the more direct/actual connection between the stories is that several [[Film/TheGolem films of the Golem story]] were made before Whale's Frankenstein movies and especially the last one, ''Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam'' (1920) was a direct stylistic influence.
*** Although Mary Shelley's novel ''Frankenstein'' (1818) was actually published nearly 20 years before the first known printed form of the legend of the Golem of Prague, golems in general had been used by writers of the day after Jacob Grimm drew attention to the myth. For instance, a female Golem (who also happens to be an artificial duplicate of the title character) appears in Achim von Arnim's 1812 novella ''Isabella von Ägypten'' (Isabella of Egypt).
** For that matter, in fantasy fiction, stone and metal golems show up frequently -- perhaps moreso than their clay counterparts. Though the idea of animated creatures made of stone or metal has been around as long as stone or metal, their being referred to as golems appears to have been a creation of, once again, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.

** In the ballads, Robin has no particular inclination to give to the poor. The closest he comes is to ''loan'' money to a ''knight'' who has fallen on hard times, and to ''refrain'' from robbing the poor. References to his generosity crop up only in the 17th century and aren't central for decades after that.
*** For that matter, none of the early tales include him simply "giving to the poor". This was an invention of very modern films, such as the second Errol Flynn version, and most especially the Disney version. Robin Hood of the old legends might have given some of the money he took from robber barons back to the people, but if he did it was because he saw it as their money in the first place. The original legends did have him robbing the nobility, mostly because they lived like kings off the backs of the peasantry, and supported a corrupt government, but he is never depicted as simply robbing from the rich to give to the poor.

* Modern depictions of Medusa or other gorgons usually show them as lamia-like beings, with a snake's tail instead of legs, as well as the traditional snakes for hair. The snake tail is not part of the original myth; it was added by the 1981 movie ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}''.
** Gorgons having snakes ''for'' hair is also a more recent innovation. Most Hellenistic images depict Medusa, et. al., with snakes ''in'' their hair, not replacing it.
** Medusa's story depicting her as a priestess of Athena who was seduced and/or raped by Poseidon and cursed by Athena for defiling her temple is old in an absolute sense -- but it only goes back to early Roman times, and has no presence in Greek legends or narratives. Early myths about the Gorgons depict them as always having been monsters and originating in as children of the primordial sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, and as such as being siblings of other monstrous being such as the Sirens and Ladon; they were also depicted with several monstrous features, such as wings and large tusks, that are usually absent today. Athena only entered their story by means of being one of four gods who gave aid to Perseus (alongside Zeus, Hermes and Hades); Poseidon doesn't feature at all. The most commonly-known version was penned by the Roman poet Ovid, hundreds of years after the oldest known myths concerning Medusa were penned; its negative depiction of the gods matches the tone of several of his other poems and is believed to reflect his stance against the recent establishment of monarchic imperial rule. However, in the Middle Ages, Greek texts and knowledge of Greek in general were largely lost while Latin writing remained well-documented, making the Roman version of the myth the more widely-known one.

* Mermaids and Mermen in old artwork often don't look much like the modern conception (and many avoided TheMermaidProblem). The woodcut that became the Starbucks logo, for example, shows a woman with two separate tails instead of legs. Paintings and novelties from the late 19th and early 20th centuries often show Mermaids who are fishy only below the knees.
* The current depiction of angels as winged, haloed humanoids didn't originate in the Bible. Classical biblical angels were more likely to terrify people, and some even looked the part -- there's a reason why they introduced themselves with "Fear not!". The earliest winged angel yet found was in a sarcophagus dated to the 4th century AD. Depictions of female angels ''as'' female didn't come around until the 19th century; before then, most angels were perceived as genderless, and were more likely to look male than female (and none had womanly breasts). That being said, the gender of angels was barely defined in the Bible. In some places that resulted in tons and tons of discussions that wound up nowhere, hence the reason why the Dutch term ''over het geslacht van engelen discussiëren'' ("discussing the gender of angels") means "having meaningless discussions".
* The first version of the legend of Popess Joan appears in the early 1200s: it does not name her, and claims that she reigned around 1100. The definitive version of the legend, naming her Joan and claiming a short reign in the 850s, was introduced half a century later.[[note]]And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how we know that it's all hogwash.[[/note]]
* The idea that houses built on [[IndianBurialGround Indian burial grounds]] will be haunted first appeared in the novel ''Literature/TheAmityvilleHorror'' (1977).
* Herne the Hunter was invented by Creator/{{Shakespeare}} and developed in the 19th century, despite his portrayal as a remnant of ancient Celtic mythology.
** Herne's name, which means "horn," comes from the horn that he blows, not any on his head. Arawn, who appears in the story of Pwyll in the Mabinogi, doesn't wear a deer-skull mask there, although he does appear at a deer hunt. The description of him as wearing a deer-skull mask is a modern one.
** This may be a conflation with "the Horned God" Cernunnos, a man with [[HornedHumanoid a deer's/ram's head or just animal horns,]] who ''does'' appear prominently in Celtic and British folklore.
* Likewise, Literature/JackTheGiantKiller, variously considered a companion of Brutus (founder of Britain) or King Arthur, was to all intents and purposes invented in the 18th century as a character to tie together several old giant myths.

* Baphomet is often referenced when talking about DemonLordsAndArchdevils among demons like Moloch, Beelzebub, or Baal, and it's easy to believe that he dates back to Biblical or at least medieval times. In fact, the first mention of Baphomet comes from the 14th century, and the entire thing grew out of a giant misunderstanding. During the Crusades, the Europeans mistakenly believed that Mohammed was a pagan deity worshiped by the Muslims. At the time, "Mohammed" was commonly anglicized as "Mahomet", which later got corrupted to "Baphomet". And the depiction of Baphomet as a man with the head of a goat originated in ''1854'', as part of a blatant hoax.
* While there are several three-faced or triune goddesses in more than one mythology, the idea that they'd split into aspects of [[TheHecateSisters Maiden, Mother and Crone]] is no older than the writings of 20th-century writer Robert Graves. (And he based his highly specific description of the image of the Maiden on the young writer Lucy Ridout, on whom he had a crush.)

* The idea of {{Satan}} being the [[TheAntiGod evil opposite]] of {{God}} did exist early on in some sects, but these groups were generally small and didn't have much influence. He was generally portrayed in that even though he ''represented'' opposition to God, he was far less powerful and any common man could outwit him with enough wisdom and faith. It didn't become truly mainstream until about the late 19th century, likely due to the rise of the scientific method often revealing that everything had a true opposite.

* While most modern versions of the story of King Midas and the golden touch usually include Midas turning his daughter (and sometimes other people) to gold, particularly animated versions, the daughter was invented by Creator/NathanielHawthorne in 1852. In the original myth, Midas does not touch any person.

* The idea of manticores having bat-like wings is an invention of twentieth-century fantasy literature. If one were to open up a medieval bestiary or read a Classical account, they would find no mention of any form of wings or flight capabilities.
* While the Literature/BookOfRevelation does name the rider of the pale horse as Death, it does not actually state the identities of the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The now-common interpretation that they represent Pestilence, Famine, and War was popularized by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's 1916 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse_(novel) novel]], and its 1921 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse_(film) film adaptation]]. The notion that the rider of the white horse may be Pestilence is particularly recent, first known to be attested a mere decade before Ibáñez's book.
* Popular culture frequently depicts the {{wendigo}} as having a deer's head -- a trait never recorded in any Native American stories of the monster, but rather an invention of Creator/AlgernonBlackwood's novella ''The Wendigo''. Some believe Blackwood based this deer-headed version of the Wendigo on a completely different creature from Inuit mythology called the Ijiraq.
* In certain fandoms, it's been claimed that the name "Ichaival" refers to a bow Odin wielded in Myth/NorseMythology, some adding to the rumor by claiming it could fire a hundred arrows at once. As far as anyone can tell, though, Odin never wielded any such bow, and there are no myths suggesting he ever used a bow, period. This one seems to originate from, of all places, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', where it's the sacred weapon of the bloodline of Ullr. It seems to be a mish-mash translation of Ýdalir, or "yew-dale" (イチイ = ichii/yew, バル = bal/val, possible shortening of the word "valley"), the dwelling of the god Ullr (who does have some association with archery). It seems to have ended up on a Wikipedia page at some point by mistake, then been added to other lists that didn't bother to check the sources. Considering that the name isn't even a little Norse-sounding, it's a miracle it lasted that long before being deleted. The weapon itself would later be officially localized as "Yewfelle" in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''.
* The vanishing Scottish village of Brigadoon is not an old local legend, but was entirely created for the 1947 American play ''Theatre/{{Brigadoon}}''.
* A lot of people think that the "Druidic Tree Calendar" also known as the "Celtic Zodiac" is an ancient Celtic astrologicial system akin to the WesternZodiac or the EasternZodiac. In reality is the creation of Robert Graves for his book ''The White Goddess'' in 1948.
* The idea that ghosts are intangible and can't touch anything and only been silent witness of things around them may have some precedents in literature but at least for PopCulture comes from movies like ''Film/Ghost1990'' and ''Film/GhostDad'' in the 1990s. In traditional folklore ghosts can touch whatever they want, in fact that why they are scary, because they can actually kill you. This was also common in many previous horror movies and, of course, is what we see in such films as ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' and ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'', however is nowadays so ingrained in popular conception that has to some degree turn into the de-fault version of ghosts in most media.
* The Barcelos rooster, often held to be a folk legend and national symbol of Portugal, was only created in the 1930s by António Ferro, UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar's propaganda man, who also created Lisbon's Popular Marches.
* Belief in [[OurGiantsAreBigger giants]] seems ridiculously Medieval and backwards from our modern eyes, but even the most reputable sources reported Patagonia (i.e., the southernmost region of South America) to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia#Patagonian_giants:_early_European_perceptions populated by giants]] until the late 18th century. Bones of mammoths and mastodons (and even whales) were often assumed to belong to ancient giants (or dragons), a belief that held for about as long.
* The character of Literature/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer was actually created in 1939 as a holiday marketing gimmick for Montgomery Ward department stores. The song itself was written in 1949.
** And the other eight are traced straight to ''A Visit From St. Nicholas'' (also known as ''Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas'').
* The notion that [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Achilles]] was invulnerable except for his heel seems to have arisen long after the composition of ''Literature/TheIliad'', where he doesn't appear to be less vulnerable than anyone else: Nothing suggests that his heel is a weak point, he doesn't fight until his lost helmet and breastplate are replaced, he gets wounded on the arm, etc. The oldest surviving work that talks about his AchillesHeel--though perhaps based on older ones--dates to the 1st century AD, maybe eight centuries after Homer is thought to have lived.
* The concept of [[LeyLine ley lines]]--a global network of magical thoroughfares that connect major civilizations and distribute magic, especially where they intersect--is often found in works otherwise rooted in genuinely ancient, or at least medieval, mysticism, making it easy to mistake for a very old idea. It was introduced in a book called ''The Old Straight Track'' in 1925 by an amateur archaeologist, Alfred Watkins, as a completely mundane, non-magical theory about ancient roads connecting major sites in straight lines.[[note]] The problem with Watkins' theory was that if you have enough points and enough roads (and Britain has a great density of both) then of course you will find alignments and roads that ''appear'' to connect sites in straight lines, but that doesn't mean they were deliberate. Many of his examples were criticised even at the time of publication since they blatantly came from different eras and relied on the road-builders aligning with sites that didn't even exist yet.[[/note]] It wasn't until the late 1960s and early 70s that the concept was seized upon by the fringe mystics and weirdos of the "Earth Mysteries" movement and became a sort of magical National Grid. "Mystic" ley lines are actually younger than most albums by Music/TheBeatles. And the theory originally applied only to Britain, too - putting the Great Pyramid on a ley line didn't take off till the mid-1970s.

[[folder:Other mythology]]
* Bahamut wasn't a dragon in the original mythology. It wasn't even anything ''close'' -- although exactly what it was varies according to the source you check,[[note]]some stated that it was a fish, others a serpent. A lesser-known creature associated with Bahamut is a ox called Kujata, which some scholars postulated to be a corruption of "Leviathan". Since Bahamut is obviously derived from "Behemoth", those scholars theorized that there might be a mix-up between the two creatures' names in Arabian storytelling, since the Bible contains the opposite descriptions, i.e. Behemoth is an ox while Leviathan is a serpent.[[/note]] none of them are anything similar to "dragon." Unlike Tiamat, above, the blame for this one can be laid solely at the feet of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' -- they just took a name they thought sounded cool and attached it to their dragon god.
** In 4E, it is written, "of course, in these more enlightened times, we know Bahamut is not really a dragon," and that 'Platinum Dragon' is merely an honorific title. They don't say what Bahamut, in fact, ''is.''
* {{Shinigami}} are not part of classic Japanese mythology. They date to only the mid-19th century via European images of the GrimReaper and translations from Creator/TheBrothersGrimm, especially the tale ''[[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm044.html Godfather Death.]]'' With how extreme the variation is between different fictional shinigami, with the only similarity at all between any of them being the whole "death" thing, it's pretty obvious that there isn't any mythology behind them.
** The term "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(personification)#Western_Europe Grim Reaper]]" itself was only coined in 1847 for the book ''The Circle of Human Life''.

* If most people were asked to describe a genie, they'd describe an immortal being that lived in a lamp or bottle and granted three wishes. You'd be hard-pressed to find a genie fitting this description in ''Literature/TheArabianNights''. While some were trapped in ''jars,'' most were free to do as they wished. Aladdin's lamp only ''summoned'' the genie -- it didn't actually contain it. The number of wishes was arbitrary; the ThreeWishes rule was invented for the film ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940''. Although they were long-lived, genies weren't immortal, nor impervious to injury, and could be killed by rather mundane methods. (Not that killing one would be ''easy,'' but a blow that would be fatal to a human would also likely be fatal to a genie.)
** Interestingly, two of the most famous "Arabian Nights stories"--the stories of Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves--aren't actually in the Arabian Nights. However, contrary to what some might say, they aren't European forgeries--they are instead other Arab folktales which weren't included in the collection. The confusion comes from the fact that once the Arabian Nights hit Europe, they were an instant hit. However, there were many versions running around, meaning that anyone could pass off any collection of "Oriental" tales as the real deal and not get caught. So Europeans started going to the Middle East--Syria, for the most part--collecting stories from old village storytellers. These storytellers were more than happy to oblige, as the Europeans were offering money for a good story.
*** It's very difficult to say what is actually in Arabian Nights. The very structure of the books allows one to easily add or remove stories, and some experts count half a dozen major layers of different periods.

* Tiamat wasn't a dragon in the original Babylonian mythology; while she apparently did give ''birth'' to dragons and sea serpents (among other creatures), her description in a surviving version of the Babylonian creation myth is rather vague (it states that Tiamat represents "the salty water"), and many alleged depictions of her are under contention. This also manages to simultaneously be OlderThanTheyThink, as most people who realize this blame it on ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', when it's a misconception with much older roots, and crops up in sources that are very obviously not influenced by the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' version.
** References to Tiamat being a dragon that predate ''Dungeons & Dragons'' can be found in ''Myths of Babylonia and Assyria'' (1915), ''Evolution of the Dragon'' (1919), and ''Records of the Past, 2nd series'' (1888). Note that these are all non-fiction books.
* When talking about Egyptian Myths, citing Anubis as the god of the dead would likely be a FandomEnragingMisconception with a reminder that ''Osiris'' had always had the job. Sorry, but that's not the case; Anubis ''was'' the god of death before Osiris, only being replaced in the fifth dynasty after the latter god's cult grew enough to overthrow the former's place (though myths surrounding the takeover have Anubis step aside "out of respect" for Osiris, so there wasn't as much bad blood). Furthermore, another jackal-headed god by the name of Khenti-Amentiu was discovered to be even ''older'' than either god. Guess who Egyptologists consider Khenti having the strongest connection to? Osiris isn't the "top dog" that everyone thinks he is.
[[/folder]]