"myths" are stories that symbolize the origins of a population, their world, natural phenomena, and culture. mythology is the study of myths or could be a collection of myths belonging to a specific religion or cultural tradition. these stories normally take place in the distant past and include goddesses, gods, and other mythological or legendary creatures. these beings are usually the main character of the story. in ancient ireland , the filídh, which is a special group of poets, had the job of learning and preserving myths . these myths included the stories of some irish gods or god-like beings who settled in ireland in the time before christ. for example, these included: the cessair, the partholónians, and the nemedians. these are myths about certain groups of irish people, that were all collected and placed into one book called the book of invasions. it is not uncommon for a collection of myths to be published in a book. a major branch of classical mythology is greek mythology. this is a group of myths told by ancient greeks. some famous examples of greek myths include homer’s epic poems of the iliad and the odyssey.