# Mythology: Is there a term for this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929 "2006-08-16T11:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/41 "2006-10-03T12:41:52Z")
Seriously, bringing demons into the discussion can only confuse things. Everyone knows that demons are interdimensional travelers, not gods or godlings despite what they may tell you. And most of them are just faking it, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/42 "2006-10-03T14:06:59Z")
Trying to use ordinary genetics to describe divine makeup is pretty pointless, I suspect. To quote Charles G. Finney’s Doctor Lao: “…An unbiological order, I call it, because it obeys none of the natural laws of heredity and environmental change, pays no attention to the survival of the fittest, positively sneers at any attempt on the part of man ro work out a rational life cycle, is possibly immortal, unquestionably immoral, evidences anabolism but not katabolism, …Mysticism explains them where science does not.” Also, keep in mind that Gilgamesh was , according top his preserved _Epic_, 2/3 god and 1/3 man. Explain _that_ with your fancy, mortal-based genetics! ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/43 "2006-10-03T16:18:08Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Trying to use ordinary genetics to describe divine makeup is pretty pointless, I suspect. [/QUOTE] Actually, the methods are the same. Remember that Zeus came down to Danae in a shower of gold, after which she gave birth to Perseus. So just like Mendel, the gods experimented with genetics using a pee. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/44 "2006-10-03T16:26:33Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] In Judeo-Christian Mythology there is a whole race of titans/demigods, who are called [the Nephilim](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim). [/QUOTE] [Rufus, the 13th Apostle]God doesn’t appreciate it when you use the phrase, “Christian Mythology.”[/R] ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/45 "2006-10-03T18:24:07Z")
Latin _colocynthis_ is a loanword from Greek κολοκυνθις meaning ‘A tendril-bearing Old World vine (_Citrullus colocynthis_) bearing yellowish, green-mottled fruits the size of small lemons.’ They look like round gourds. The plant name is derived from Greek κολοκυνθη ‘round gourd’. Pumpkins grow on tendril-bearing vines too, so the translator used a sort of loose analogy with _Cucurbita pepo_. But the colocynth (it’s in the English dictionary, I looked it up for you) has a very bitter taste–in Arabic it’s proverbial for bitterness–and medicinally it was used as a powerful laxative. So the satirist used it to imply more unpleasantness than we would find in pumpkins, which after all make yummy pie. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/46 "2006-10-03T19:45:03Z")
That’s very interesting, Johanna. So…Zeus had sex…with a pumpkin? Is what you’re telling us? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929/47 "2006-10-03T20:19:30Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s very interesting, Johanna. So…Zeus had sex…with a pumpkin? Is what you’re telling us? **Johanna** ’s referring back to my post #5. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Zeus had sex with a pumpkin. He had sex in all kinds of ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythology-is-there-a-term-for-this/368929.md?page=2)