Prohibitions and penalties in the Anatolian legends

The common feature of narration based types is being human-centered. The humanity establishes an order to itself in the world, and uses the prohibition to maintain this order. The prohibitions, which are sacred prohibitions, are transferred through narration types since the mythical period till the present time in order to maintain the order that is created by humanity in the world. The aim of the myths is ensuring the continuation of the harmony of the cosmos, which is same for the other narration types. In this regard, the function of taboos is very significant. The value of prohibitions can be understood better if they get subjected to an examination in vertical and horizontal extents. The life of humanity starts with an incident in the world, in which Adam and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit and dismissed from heaven. The ban creates the causation bond of the life. When the taboos are investigated in a vertical extent, they extend up to the tragedy of Adam and Eva, myths and archetypes. In the horizontal extent; the nature, living creatures and natural treatment centers are seen to be protected with the help of the prohibitions. Since the opposing values are punished in violation of the prohibitions, it can be suggested that the ideal values are protected in case of a conflict between the ideal and opposing values in the myths. In the first part of our study, the definition of the myths, its relationship with other types and information related to the studies carried out on the myths were given. In the second part, the concept of prohibition (taboo) was discussed. The taboos were classified and information was given about the primordial ties of taboos. Sample scripts were given from the myths of Ardahan, Erzurum, Mardin Yozgat, Diyarbakır, İzmir, Şanlıurfa, Manisa, Aydın, Ankara and Giresun in the third part of our study named Prohibitions in the Anatolian Myths. The scripts given in the taboos were subjected to vertical and horizontal extent examinations. The historical deepness of the prohibitions was investigated in the vertical extent, while an apparent investigation was carried out in the horizontal extent. In the final part of our study, the situation resulting from a violation of a prohibition was discussed in terms of the chaos-cosmos conflict along with the ontological and archetypal analysis. Keywords: Anatolia, myths, taboos, punishment