Although the two often overlap, religion and mythology are different. Religion is generally the belief structure of how people worship, while mythology is the collection of stories behind the belief structure.

"Myth" (muthos) refers, in classical Greek, to a "story" or "tale." By the time of high Classical Greek, the term had already begun to denote "false tale" or "imaginative explanation." Mythology was used to indicate those stories offered to explain natural phenomena (e.g. the sunrise due to a celestial charioteer or the river flood due to the rebirth of a local god), as opposed to "religion," which is the structure of veneration and belief in the essential causes of life and cosmic rule. Mythologies can surround religions, and religions can produce mythologies.

Both religion and mythology generally deal with man's attempt to explain the universe and natural phenomena, often ascribing agency to one or more deities or other supernatural forces. In common usage mythology is often used to refer to religions considered archaic. One man's religion is another man's mythology.

See also

• Religion
• Mythology
• Ritual, cult
• Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.