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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== New Latin, from Greek, defilement, from ''miainein'' to pollute *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:De_parapluies.jpg|right|frame]]
==Origin==
New Latin, from [[Greek]], defilement, from ''miainein'' to [[pollute]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_century 1665]
==Definitions==
*1: a vaporous exhalation formerly believed to cause [[disease]]; also : a heavy vaporous [[emanation]] or atmosphere <a ''miasma'' of tobacco smoke>
2: an [[influence]] or [[atmosphere]] that tends to deplete or [[corrupt]] <freed from the miasma of [[poverty]] — Sir Arthur Bryant>; also : an atmosphere that [[obscures]] : [[fog]]
==Description==
In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology Greek mythology], a '''miasma''' is "a [[contagious]] [[power]] ... that has an independent life of its own. Until [[purged]] by the [[sacrificial]] [[death]] of the wrongdoer, [[society]] would be chronically infected by [[catastrophe]]."
An example is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atreus Atreus] who invited his brother [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyestes Thyestes] to a delicious stew containing the [[bodies]] of his own sons. A ''miasma'' contaminated the entire [[family]] of Atreus, where one violent [[crime]] led to another, providing fodder for many of the Greek heroic tales. However, attempts to cleanse a [[city]] or a society from ''miasma'' may have the opposite effect, that of reinforcing the miasma.
[[Category: Mythology]]
==Origin==
New Latin, from [[Greek]], defilement, from ''miainein'' to [[pollute]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_century 1665]
==Definitions==
*1: a vaporous exhalation formerly believed to cause [[disease]]; also : a heavy vaporous [[emanation]] or atmosphere <a ''miasma'' of tobacco smoke>
2: an [[influence]] or [[atmosphere]] that tends to deplete or [[corrupt]] <freed from the miasma of [[poverty]] — Sir Arthur Bryant>; also : an atmosphere that [[obscures]] : [[fog]]
==Description==
In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology Greek mythology], a '''miasma''' is "a [[contagious]] [[power]] ... that has an independent life of its own. Until [[purged]] by the [[sacrificial]] [[death]] of the wrongdoer, [[society]] would be chronically infected by [[catastrophe]]."
An example is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atreus Atreus] who invited his brother [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyestes Thyestes] to a delicious stew containing the [[bodies]] of his own sons. A ''miasma'' contaminated the entire [[family]] of Atreus, where one violent [[crime]] led to another, providing fodder for many of the Greek heroic tales. However, attempts to cleanse a [[city]] or a society from ''miasma'' may have the opposite effect, that of reinforcing the miasma.
[[Category: Mythology]]