A mythological place (also called "mythical place") is a place that a particular culture describes in their mythology and folklore as existent, that might have existed in earlier times but its actual location is now lost. Unlike fictional places, which are only used in fictional writings, mythological places are often considered un(re)discovered places in the real world. While they may appear in fictional stories, there is often some scientific, historical or archeological evidence, as well as myths and legends that indicate such places may have existed or are awaiting discovery, rediscovery or at least explanation about their location.
"Mythical" can also refer to a state of religious influence.
Some examples of mythological places are:
- Agartha - A legendary city that supposedly resides in the Earth's core.
- Annwn - The "afterworld" of Welsh mythology.
- Asgard - The high placed city of the gods, build by Odin, in Norse mythology. There the hall called Valhalla (see lower in this list) was part of it.
- Atlantis - The legendary (and almost archetypal) lost continent that was supposed to have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean; there are many differing opinions on what and where Atlantis was.
- Avalon - Legendary Island of Apples in the British Isles. It is believed by some to be the final resting place of King Arthur.
- Ayotha Amirtha Gangai - An instrumental river in Ayyavazhi mythology.
- Biarmaland - A mighty kingdom described in Norse sagas as lying to the north of Russia
- Camelot - Supposedly the city from which King Arthur reigned.
- City of the Caesars - A city between a mountain of gold and another of diamonds supposed to be situated in Patagonia.
- Cockaigne - In medieval mythology, it is a land of plenty where want does not exist.
- Garden of Eden - The original birthplace and home of humanity according to Abrahamic religions. The first humans were banished from it after disobeying God and it was destroyed in a Deluge.
- El Dorado - Rumored city of gold in South America.
- Hawaiki - The ancestral island of the Polynesians, particularly the Māori.
- Heaven - According to many religions, the place in which noble souls reside.
- Hell - According to many religions, the place in which evil souls reside.
- Kyöpelinvuori - (Finnish for ghosts' mountain), in Finnish mythology, is the place which dead women haunt.
- Lemuria - A supposed "lost land" that was found in either the Indian or Pacific Ocean.
- Lyonesse - A fingerlike spit of land that many believe once branched off the southwestern coast of Cornwall in England.
- Mag Mell or Tir na nÓg - The afterworld of Irish mythology; it is similar in many respects to the Norse Valhalla.
- Meropis - A gigantic island created purely as a parody of Plato's Atlantis.
- Mu - It is believed to be a sunken continent in the Pacific Ocean. It is often confused with Lemuria.
- Nibiru - A mythological planet described by the Babylonians.
- Phaeton - A hypothetical planet between Mars and Jupiter that was suggested by Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers. He supposed that the planet's destruction formed the Asteroid Belt. Some scientists refer to this proposed planet as Tiamat.
- Purgatory - According to many religions, it is the condition or process of purification in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven.
- Quivira and Cíbola - Two of the legendary Seven Cities of Gold supposed by Spanish conquistadors to have existed in the Americas.
- Kingdom of Saguenay - According to the French, supposedly an Algonquin Indian story of a kingdom of blonde men rich in gold and fur that existed in north Canada prior to the French colonization of the landmass.
- Kvenland - Land next to Sweden at the northern shores of Baltic sea, probably ancient Finland or some of its parts
- Shambhala - In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this kingdom is hidden somewhere in the Himalayas; Theosophists regard it as being on the etheric plane above the Gobi Desert and as being the home of the governing deity of our planet Sanat Kumara.
- Shangri-La - A peaceful, isolated land in the Himalayas suggested by British author James Hilton.
- Terra Australis Incognita - The great unknown southern land that cartographers believed occupied most of the southern hemisphere until Captain James Cook discovered and circumnavigated Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
- Thule - An island that was supposed to have existed somewhere in the belt of Scandinavia, northern Great Britain, Iceland, and Greenland.
- Thuvaraiyam Pathi - In Ayyavazhi mythology, it was a sunken island some 150 miles off the south coast of India.
- Valhalla - (from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the slain") is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin.
- Ys- A city located in Brittany, France that was supposedly built below sea level, protected by a dam, and eventually destroyed when the Devil released the water held back by the dam.
See also
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