Mythology And Legends

In Turkish Culture
Turkish History And Culture
Mythology And Legends In Turkish
Culture
• What Is The Mythology?
• Turkish Mythological Characters
• Turkish Legends
 • Mythology is all the stories told by a nation in ancient
times to explain how nature, the universe and itself
were created.

What Is The • The main reason why mythology emerged is that

human beings are curious and want to find the answers
Mythology? to the questions they are curious about. Therefore,
there are mythological stories in almost every culture in
the world.

• Greek mythology is the most popular mythology

because it was written down very early. Other
mythologies were forgotten or lost over time because
they were only told..
Turkish Mythological Characters
Kayra Han/Kara Han

• He is the greatest of the gods in the sky.

• He is the father of all gods and determines the fate of
the universe.
• After creating the earth, he plants a tree with 9
branches there. He wants 9 different people to emerge
from here and 9 different nations to be formed.
• He puts his son Ülgen at the head of these nations.
Ülgen
• Ülgen lives on the golden mountain on the 16th
floor of the sky.
• Ülgen controls the planets, makes it rain, and sends
lightning.
• Ülgen teaches people how to light fire. He created
three fish to carry the world.
Ak Ana
• When nothing had been created
yet and there was only endless
water, she emerged from the
water and inspired Ülgen to
create.

• Her body is made of light. She

started life by giving souls to all
living things.
Erlik
• Erlik gives people pain and
death. He is the leader of evil
spirits.

• Erlik lives underground in a black

palace.
Mergen

• The all-knowing, wise god

Mergen lives on the seventh
floor of the sky.

• he can defeat all evil. Because he

knows everything, he knows well
what to do.
Kızagan

• Kızagan is Ülgen's son. He lives on the

ninth floor of the sky.

• He is a very powerful god of war. He

helps commanders manage the army in
wars.
Umay Ana
• She is a goddess who protects children and baby
animals.

• She has white hair and white clothes, she looks like
human.
Al Karısı
• She is an ugly and very powerful evil
goddess.

• Women who have just given birth are

her targets.

• She wants to harm these women or

their children
Turkish Legends

• Legends are stories about

supernatural events that
happened to people in history,
believed to be real by the tellers
and listeners.

• The most important Turkish

legends are «Ferhat ile Şirin»,
«Leyla ile Mecnun»
Ferhat ile Şirin

• Ferhat is a brave young man who works as a

miniaturist and is in love with Şirin. He
decorates the palaces, and it is said that the
beautiful decorations he makes are an
expression of his feelings for Şirin.

• However, Şirin is the king's daughter. And the

king does not want to give his daughter to
Ferhat. That's why he asks hard things from
Ferhat.

• One day, the king says to Ferhat, «If you bring

water to this city, I will give Şirin to you.»
However, the closest water to the city is 15 km
away and behind a mountain.
• Because Ferhat loves Şirin very much, he tries to
reach water by drilling through the mountains.

• When the King sees that Ferhat has almost

succeeded in this task, he sends a message to
Ferhat and tells him that Şirin is dead.

• Ferhat receives this news just as he reaches the

water. Ferhat kills himself by saying "I don't need
to live in a world where Şirin doesn't exist."
• When Şirin hears that Ferhat
killed himself, she runs to the
mountain. When she sees
Ferhat's body, she kills
himself too.

• Water has come to the city,

but both lovers are no longer
in that city...