This book contains stunning images for use as a graphic resource, or inspiration. All the illustrations are stored in high-resolution format on the enclosed free CD-ROM and are ready to use for professional quality printed media and web page design. The pictures can also be used to produce postcards, or to decorate your letters, flyers, etc. They can be imported directly from the CD into most design, image- manipulation, illustration, word-processing and e-mail programs; no installation is required. For most applications, single images can be used free of charge. Please consult the introduction to this book, or visit our website for conditions. Human culture is unthinkable without myth: myths are deeply rooted in the brain’s power to structure the world by devising stories and representing them in images. Each culture has its own mythological answers to the questions ‘How did the world come into being?’ and ‘How do the customs and rituals of my people relate to that world and to the divine forces driving it?’ Each culture translates these answers into its own distinctive imagery. The Picture Atlas of World Mythology is an extensive survey of depictions of the gods and their vicissitudes of the various pantheons, of religious symbols, images and objects taken from cultures from all over the world.