Showing posts with label monomyth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monomyth. Show all posts

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Comparative Mythology

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Various myths
Theology
See also
List of mythologies
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.[1] Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used the relationships between different myths to trace the development of religions and cultures, to propose common origins for myths from different cultures, and to support various psychological theories.

Contents

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[edit] Comparativists versus particularists

The anthropologist C. Scott Littleton defines comparative mythology as "the systematic comparison of myths and mythic themes drawn from a wide variety of cultures".[1] By comparing different cultures' mythologies, scholars try to identify underlying similarities and/or to reconstruct a "protomythology" from which those mythologies developed.[1] To an extent, all theories about mythology follow a comparative approach: as the scholar of religion Robert Segal notes, "by definition, all theorists [of myth] seek similarities among myths".[2] However, scholars of mythology can be roughly divided into particularists, who emphasize the differences between myths, and comparativists, who emphasize the similarities. Particularists tend to "maintain that the similarities deciphered by comparativists are vague and superficial".[3]
Comparative approaches to mythology held great popularity among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scholars. Many of these scholars believed that all myths showed signs of having evolved from a single myth or mythical theme.[4] For example, the nineteenth-century philologist Friedrich Max Müller led a school of thought which interpreted nearly all myths as poetic descriptions of the sun's behavior. According to this theory, these poetic descriptions had become distorted over time into seemingly diverse stories about gods and heroes.[4] However, modern-day scholars lean more toward particularism, feeling suspicious of broad statements about myths.[5] One exception to this trend is Joseph Campbell's theory of the "monomyth", which is discussed below.

[edit] Approaches to comparative mythology

Comparative mythologists come from various fields, including folklore, anthropology, history, linguistics, and religious studies, and they have used a variety of methods to compare myths. These are some important approaches to comparative mythology.

[edit] Linguistic

Some scholars look at the linguistic relationships between the myths of different cultures—for example, the similarities between the names of gods in different cultures. One particularly successful example of this approach is the study of Indo-European mythology. Scholars have found striking similarities between the mythological and religious terms used in different cultures of Europe and India. For example, the Greek sky-god Zeus Pater, the Roman sky-god Jupiter, and the Indian (Vedic) sky-god Dyauṣ Pitṛ have similar names.
This suggests that the Greeks, Romans, and Indians originated from a common ancestral culture, and that the names Zeus, Jupiter, and Dyaus evolved from an older name, *Dyēus ph2ter, which referred to the sky-god, or to get a perfect English cognate, a day-father, in a Proto-Indo-European religion.[6]
See also: Proto-Indo-European religion and Proto-Indo-Iranian religion

[edit] Structural

Some scholars look for underlying structures shared by different myths. The folklorist Vladimir Propp proposed that many Russian fairy tales have a common plot structure, in which certain events happen in a predictable order.[7] In contrast, the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss examined the structure of myths in terms of the abstract relationships between its elements, rather than their order in the plot. In particular, Lévi-Strauss believed that the elements of a myth could be organized into binary oppositions (raw vs. cooked, nature vs. culture, etc.). He thought that myth's purpose was to "mediate" these oppositions, thereby resolving basic tensions or contradictions found in human life or culture.[8]
See also: Lévi-Strauss#The structuralist approach to myth, Structural anthropology, and Vladimir Propp

[edit] Psychological

Some scholars propose that myths from different cultures reveal the same, or similar, psychological forces at work in those cultures. Some Freudian thinkers have identified stories similar to the Greek story of Oedipus in many different cultures. They argue that these stories reflect the different expressions of the Oedipus complex in those cultures.[9] Likewise, Jungians have identified images, themes, and patterns that appear in the myths of many different cultures. They believe that these similarities result from archetypes present in the unconscious levels of every person's mind.[10]
See also: Oedipus complex, Analytical psychology, and Jungian archetypes

[edit] Some mythological parallels

Comparative mythology has uncovered a number of parallels between the myths of different cultures, including some very widespread recurring themes and plot elements. Here are some examples.

[edit] Flood myth

Main article: Flood myth
Cultures around the world tell stories about a great flood.[11] In many cases, the flood leaves only one survivor or group of survivors. For example, both the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible tell of a global flood that wiped out humanity and of a man who saved the Earth's species by taking them aboard a boat.[12] Similar stories of a single flood survivor appear in Hindu mythology,[13] Aztec mythology,[14] in the Greek myth of Deucalion as well as in the Quran.

[edit] The creative sacrifice

Many cultures have stories about divine figures whose death creates an essential part of reality.[15][16] These myths seem especially common among cultures that grow crops, particularly tubers.[17] One such myth from New Guinea tells of a miraculously-conceived girl named Hainuwele, whose murdered corpse sprouts into the people's staple food crops.[18] The Chinese myth of Pangu,[19] the Vedic myth of Purusha,[20] and the Norse myth of Ymir all tell of a cosmic giant who is killed to create the world.[15] Similar is the Christian myth of Christ, whose death refashions the world.

[edit] The dying god

Main article: Life-death-rebirth deity
Many myths feature a god who dies and often returns to life.[21] Such myths are particularly common in Near Eastern mythologies.[22] The anthropologist Sir James Frazer compared these "dying god" myths in his multi-volume work The Golden Bough. The Egyptian god Osiris and the Mesopotamian god Tammuz are examples of the "dying god", while the Greek myths of Adonis (though a mortal) has often been compared to Osiris and the myth of Dionysos also features death and rebirth.[23] Some scholars have noted similarities between polytheistic stories of "dying gods" and the Christian story of Jesus of Nazareth.[24] Awareness of these similarities goes back to the early Christian era, when the church father Justin Martyr discussed them.[25]
See also: Descent to the underworld and Jesus Christ and comparative mythology

[edit] The structure of hero stories

A number of scholars have suggested that hero stories from various cultures have the same underlying structure. Otto Rank, who began his career as a follower of Sigmund Freud, argued that the stories of heroes' births have a common Oedipal structure.[26] Other scholars, including Lord Raglan and, more recently, Joseph Campbell, have also suggested that hero stories share a common structure.[27] Some comparative mythologists look for similarities only among hero stories within a specific geographical or ethnic range. For example, the Austrian scholar Johann Georg van Hahn tried to identify a common structure underlying "Aryan" hero stories.[28] Others, such as Campbell, propose theories about hero stories in general. According to Campbell's "monomyth" theory, hero stories from around the world share a common plot structure.[29] Because of its extremely comparative nature, the monomyth theory is currently out of favor with the mainstream study of mythology.[5]
See also: Monomyth and Hero

[edit] Axis mundi

Main article: Axis mundi
Many mythologies mention a place that sits at the center of the world and acts as a point of contact between different levels of the universe.[30] This "axis mundi" is often marked by a sacred tree or other mythical object. For example, many myths describe a great tree or pillar joining heaven, earth, and the underworld.[31] Vedic India, ancient China, and the ancient Germans all had myths featuring a "Cosmic Tree" whose branches reach heaven and whose roots reach hell.[32]
See also: Yggdrasil, Omphalos, and Mount Meru

[edit] Titanomachy

Many cultures have a creation myth in which a group of younger, more civilized gods conquer and/or struggle against a group of older gods who represent the forces of chaos. In the Greek myth of the Titanomachy, the Olympian gods defeat the Titans, an older and more primitive divine race, and establish cosmic order.[33][34] In Hindu mythology, the devas (gods) battle the asuras (demons).[34] And the Celtic gods of life and light struggle against the Fomorians, ancient gods of death and darkness.[34]
This myth of the gods conquering demons - and order conquering chaos - is especially common in Indo-European mythologies. Some scholars suggest that the myth reflects the ancient Indo-Europeans' conquest of native peoples during their expansion over Europe and India.[35][36]
However, non-Indo-European cultures also have such myths. For example, many Near Eastern mythologies include a "combat myth" in which a good god battles an evil or chaotic demon.[37] An example is the Babylonian Enuma Elish.[38]
See also: Titanomachy, Theomachy, and Theogony

[edit] The deus otiosus

Many cultures believe in a celestial Supreme Being who has cut off contact with humanity. Historian Mircea Eliade calls this Supreme Being a deus otiosus (an "idle god"),[39] although this term is also used more broadly, to refer to any god who doesn't interact regularly with humans. In many myths, the Supreme Being withdraws into the heavens after the creation of the world.[40] Baluba mythology features such a story, in which the supreme God withdraws from the earth, leaving man to search for him.[41] Similarly, the mythology of the Hereros tells of a Sky God who has abandoned mankind to lesser divinities.[42] In the mythologies of highly complex cultures, the Supreme Being tends to disappear completely, replaced by a strongly polytheistic belief system.[43]
See also: deus otiosus and Sky Father

[edit] Founding myths

Main article: Founding myth
Many cultures have myths describing the origin of their customs, rituals, and identity. In fact, ancient and traditional societies have often justified their customs by claiming that their gods or mythical heroes established those customs.[44][45] For example, according to the myths of the Australian Karadjeri, the mythical Bagadjimbiri brothers established all of the Karadjeri's customs, including the position in which they stand while urinating.[46]
See also: National myth

[edit] See also

[edit] Fields of study

Portal iconMythology portal

[edit] Common

Specific comparisons are reviewed in Comparative religion.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Littleton, p. 32
  2. ^ Segal, "The Romantic Appeal of Joseph Campbell"
  3. ^ Segal, Theorizing About Myth, p. 148
  4. ^ a b Leonard
  5. ^ a b Northup, p. 8
  6. ^ Watkins 47–48
  7. ^ Propp, passim
  8. ^ Lévi-Strauss, p. 224
  9. ^ Johnson and Price-Williams, passim
  10. ^ Graves, p. 251
  11. ^ Segal, untitled, p. 88
  12. ^ Woolley, p. 52
  13. ^ Dimmitt and van Buitenen, pp. 71–74
  14. ^ Urton, p. 36
  15. ^ a b Eliade, Cosmos and History, p. 20
  16. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp. 99–100
  17. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 100
  18. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp. 104–5
  19. ^ Railsback, passim
  20. ^ Rig Veda 10:90
  21. ^ Frankfort, passim; Tortchinov, passim
  22. ^ Campbell, The Masks of God, p. 44
  23. ^ Frankfort, p. 141
  24. ^ Robertson, passim
  25. ^ Justin Martyr: "Having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the Christ was to come [...] [the demons] put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things which were said by the poets."
  26. ^ Taylor, p. 117
  27. ^ Taylor, p. 118–19
  28. ^ Segal, Hero Myths, p. 12
  29. ^ Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, passim
  30. ^ Eliade, Images and Symbols, p. 40
  31. ^ Eliade, Shamanism, p. 259–260
  32. ^ Eliade, Images and Symbols, p. 44
  33. ^ Hesiod, especially pp. 64–87
  34. ^ a b c Squire, p. 47
  35. ^ Campbell, The Masks of God, pp. 21–22
  36. ^ Squire, pp. 69–70
  37. ^ McGinn, p. 23
  38. ^ McGinn, pp. 23–24
  39. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 93
  40. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 93–98
  41. ^ Leslau, passim
  42. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 94
  43. ^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, p. 138
  44. ^ Eliade, Cosmos and History, pp. 21–34
  45. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp. 6–8
  46. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 8

[edit] Sources

  • Campbell, Joseph
  • Dimmitt, Cornelia, and J. van Buitenen, eds. and trans. Classical Hindu Mythology. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978.
  • Eliade, Mircea
    • Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. NY: Harper & Row, 1959.
    • Images and Symbols. Trans. Philip Mairet. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
    • Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard Trask. NY: Harper & Row, 1963.
    • Myths, Dreams and Mysteries. Trans. Philip Mairet. NY: Harper & Row, 1967.
    • Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2004.
  • Frankfort, Henri. "The Dying God". Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 21.3-4(1958): 141-51.
  • Graves, Robert. "Jungian Mythology". The Hudson Review 5.2(1952): 245-57.
  • Hesiod. Works and Days and Theogony. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1993.
  • Johnson, Allen, and Douglass Price-Williams. Oedipus Ubiquitous: The Family Complex in World Literature. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.
  • Justin Martyr. The First Apology. Trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith. Church Fathers. New Advent. 23 June 2008 newadvent.org
  • Leonard, Scott. "The History of Mythology: Part I". Youngstown State University. 22 June 2008 as.ysu.edu
  • Leslau, Charlotte and Wolf Leslau. "The Creation of the World A Myth of Uganda". Copyediting-L. 2008. Indiana University. 21 June 2008 copyediting-1.info
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Structural Anthropology. Trans. Claire Jacobson. New York: Basic Books, 1963.
  • Littleton, C. The New Comparative Mythology: An Anthropological Assessment of the Theories of Georges Dumezil. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
  • McGinn, Bernard. Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.
  • Northup, Lesley. "Myth-Placed Priorities: Religion and the Study of Myth". Religious Studies Review 32.1(2006): 5-10.
  • Propp, Vladimir. The Morphology of the Folktale.Trans. Laurence Scott. Texas: University of Texas Press, 1968.
  • Railsback, Bruce. "Pan Gu and Nü Wa". Creation Stories from around the World. July 2000. University of Georgia. 21 June 2008 gly.uga.edu
  • Robertson, John. Pagan Christs. London: Watts & Co., 1911.
  • Segal, Robert A.
    • Hero Myths: A Reader. Blackwell Publishing, 2000.
    • Theorizing About Myth. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.
    • "The Romantic Appeal of Joseph Campbell". Religion Online. 22 June 2008 religion-online.org
    • Untitled book review. History of Religions 32.1(1992): 88-90.
  • Taylor, Archer. "The Biographical Pattern in Traditional Narrative". Journal of the Folklore Institute 1.1-2(1964): 114-29.
  • Tortchinov, Evgueni. "Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries of the 'Suffering Gods': A Transpersonalistic Interpretation". The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 17.2(1998): 149-59.
  • Urton, Gary. Inca Myths: The Legendary Past. Texas: University of Texas Press, 1999.
  • Watkins, Calvert. "Indo-European and Indo-Europeans". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th ed. 2000. Bartleby.com. 21 June 2008 bartleby.com
  • Woolley, Leonard. "The Flood". The South African Archaeological Bulletin 8.30(1953): 52-54.

[edit] Selected bibliography

  • Arvidsson, Stefan, Aryan Idols. Indo-European Mythology as Science and Ideology. 2006. University of Chicago Press.
  • Clifton, Dan Salahuddin, The Myth Of The Western Magical Tradition. 1998. C&GCHE
  • Dickson, K. "Bibliography-in-Progress of Texts on Myths & Comparative Mythology". 11/12/09. Purdue University. 17 December 2009 web.ics.purdue.edu
  • Doniger, Wendy, The Implied Spider: Politics and Theology in Myth. 1998. New York: Columbia University Press [An introduction to comparative mythology]
  • Doniger, Wendy, Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India (Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion, 1996-1997: School of Oriental and African Studies University of London). 1999. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  • Dumezil, Georges The Destiny of the Warrior. 1983. Berkeley: University of California Press
  • Dumezil, Georges, The Plight of a Sorcerer. 1986. Berkeley: University of California Press
  • Dumezil, Georges, Mitra-Varuna: An Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty. 1988. New York:Zone Books
  • Friedrich, Paul, The Meaning of Aphrodite. 1978. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  • Friedrich, Paul, Proto-Indo-European Trees: The Arboreal System of a Prehistoric People. 1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  • Jamison, Stephanie, The Ravenous Hyenas and the Wounded Sun: Myth and Ritual in Ancient India . 1991. Ithaca: Cornell University Press
  • Jamison, Stephanie, Sacrificed Wife / Sacrificer's Wife: Women, Ritual and Hospitality in Ancient India. 1996. New York: Oxford University Press
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude Myth and Meaning. 1995. New York: Schocken Books
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude, The Raw and the Cooked (Mythologiques Volume One). 1990. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude, From Honey to Ashes (Mythologiques Volume Two). 1973. New York: Harper and Row
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude, The Origin of Table-Manners (Mythologiques Volume Three). 1978. New York: Harper and Row
  • Lévi-Strauss, Claude The Naked Man (Mythologiques Volume Four). 1990. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  • Lincoln, Bruce Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship. 1999. University of Chicago Press.
  • Patton, Laurie; Doniger, Wendy (eds.), Myth and Method (Studies in Religion and Culture). 1996. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia
  • Puhvel, Jaan, Comparative Mythology. 1987. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
  • White, David Gordon, Doniger, Wendy, Myths of the Dog-Man. 1991. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  • Wise, R. Todd, A Neocomparative Examination of the Orpheus Myth As Found in the Native American and European Traditions, 1998. UMI.
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Mythology.

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Contents

[hide]
For other uses, see Myth (disambiguation), Mythology (disambiguation), and Mythos (disambiguation).
The term "mythology" can refer either to the study of myths (e.g., comparative mythology), or to a body or collection of myths (a mythos, e.g., Inca mythology).[1] In folkloristics, a myth is a sacred narrative usually explaining how the world or humankind came to be in its present form,[2] although, in a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story.[3] Bruce Lincoln defines myth as "ideology in narrative form".[4] Myths typically involve supernatural characters and are endorsed by rulers or priests. They may arise as overelaborated accounts of historical events, as allegory for or personification of natural phenomena, or as an explanation of ritual. They are transmitted to convey religious or idealized experience, to establish behavioral models, and to teach.
Early rival classifications of Greek mythos by Euhemerus, Plato's Phaedrus, and Sallustius were developed by the neoplatonists and revived by Renaissance mythographers as in the Theologia mythologica (1532). Nineteenth-century comparative mythology reinterpreted myth as evolution toward science (E. B. Tylor), "disease of language" (Max Müller), or misinterpretation of magical ritual (James Frazer). Later interpretations rejected opposition between myth and science, such as Jungian archetypes, Joseph Campbell's "metaphor of spiritual potentiality", or Lévi-Strauss's fixed mental architecture. Tension between Campbell's comparative search for monomyth or Ur-myth and anthropological mythologists' skepticism of universal origin has marked the 20th century. Further, modern mythopoeia such as fantasy novels, manga, and urban legend, with many competing artificial mythoi acknowledged as fiction, supports the idea of myth as ongoing social practice.

Nature of myths

Theology
See also
List of mythologies

Typical characteristics

The main characters in myths are usually gods, supernatural heroes and humans.[5][6][7] As sacred stories, myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and closely linked to religion or spirituality.[5] In the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the remote past.[5][6][8][9] In fact, many societies have two categories of traditional narrative, "true stories" or myths, and "false stories" or fables.[10] Creation myths generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form,[5] and explain how the world gained its current form[2][11] and how customs, institutions and taboos were established.[5][11]

Terminology

See also: Legend and Folktale
The term "mythology" can refer either to the study of myths or to a body or collection of myths.[12] For example, landscape mythology is the study of landscape features in terms of totemistic mythology, whereas Hittite mythology is the body of myths of the Hittites. In folkloristics, a "myth" is a sacred narrative usually explaining how the world or humankind came to be in its present form,[2] "a story that serves to define the fundamental worldview of a culture by explaining aspects of the natural world and delineating the psychological and social practices and ideals of a society".[13] Many scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in somewhat different ways;[14][15][16] in a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story[17] or, in casual use, a popular misconception or imaginary entity.[18] Because the folkloristic meaning of "myth" is often confused with this more pejorative usage, the original unambiguous term "mythos" may be a better word to distinguish the positive definition from the negative.[13]
Closely related to myth are legend and folktale. Myths, legends, and folktales are different types of traditional story.[19] Unlike mythos, folktales can be set in any time and any place, and they are not considered true or sacred by the societies that tell them.[5] Like mythos, legends are stories that are traditionally considered true, but are set in a more recent time, when the world was much as it is today.[5] Legends generally feature humans as their main characters, whereas myths generally focus on superhuman characters.[5]
The distinction between myth, legend, and folktale is meant simply as a useful tool for grouping traditional stories.[20] In many cultures, it is hard to draw a sharp line between myths and legends.[21] Instead of dividing their traditional stories into myths, legends, and folktales, some cultures divide them into two categories, one that roughly corresponds to folktales, and one that combines myths and legends.[22] Even myths and folktales are not completely distinct. A story may be considered true (and therefore a mythos) in one society, but considered fictional (and therefore a folktale) in another society.[23][24] In fact, when a myth loses its status as part of a religious system, it often takes on traits more typical of folktales, with its formerly divine characters reinterpreted as human heroes, giants, or fairies.[6]
Myth, legend, and folktale are only a few of the categories of traditional stories. Other categories include anecdotes and some kinds of jokes.[20] Traditional stories, in turn, are only one category within folklore, which also includes items such as gestures, costumes, and music.[24]

Origins of myth

Euhemerism

Main article: Euhemerus
See also: Herodotus
One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of real historical events.[25][26] According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborated upon historical accounts until the figures in those accounts gained the status of gods.[25][26] For example, one might argue that the myth of the wind-god Aeolus evolved from a historical account of a king who taught his people to use sails and interpret the winds.[25] Herodotus (5th century BC) and Prodicus made claims of this kind.[26] This theory is named "euhemerism" after the mythologist Euhemerus (c.320 BC), who suggested that the Greek gods developed from legends about human beings.[26][27]

Allegory

Some theories propose that myths began as allegories. According to one theory, myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so on.[26] According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite represents desire, etc.[26] The 19th century Sanskritist Max Müller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed that myths began as allegorical descriptions of nature, but gradually came to be interpreted literally: for example, a poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken literally, and the sea was then thought of as a raging god.[28]

Personification

See also: Mythopoeic thought
Some thinkers believe that myths resulted from the personification of inanimate objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshipped natural phenomena such as fire and air, gradually coming to describe them as gods.[29] For example, according to the theory of mythopoeic thought, the ancients tended to view things as persons, not as mere objects;[30] thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, thus giving rise to myths.[31]

Myth-ritual theory

See also: Myth and ritual
According to the myth-ritual theory, the existence of myth is tied to ritual.[32] In its most extreme form, this theory claims that myths arose to explain rituals.[33] This claim was first put forward by the biblical scholar William Robertson Smith.[34] According to Smith, people begin performing rituals for some reason that is not related to myth; later, after they have forgotten the original reason for a ritual, they try to account for the ritual by inventing a myth and claiming that the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth.[35] The anthropologist James Frazer had a similar theory. Frazer believed that primitive man starts out with a belief in magical laws; later, when man begins to lose faith in magic, he invents myths about gods and claims that his formerly magical rituals are religious rituals intended to appease the gods.[36]

Functions of myth

Mircea Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior[37][38] and that myths may also provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present and return to the mythical age, thereby bringing themselves closer to the divine.[8][38][39]
Lauri Honko asserts that, in some cases, a society will reenact a myth in an attempt to reproduce the conditions of the mythical age. For example, it will reenact the healing performed by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present.[40] Similarly, Roland Barthes argues that modern culture explores religious experience. Because it is not the job of science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt to connect with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the technological present.[41]
Joseph Campbell defined myths as having four basic functions: the Mystical Function—experiencing the awe of the universe; the Cosmological Function—explaining the shape of the universe; the Sociological Function—supporting and validating a certain social order; and the Pedagogical Function—how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances.[42]

Study of mythology

See also: Comparative mythology
Historically, the important approaches to the study of mythology have been those of Vico, Schelling, Schiller, Jung, Freud, Lévy-Bruhl, Lévi-Strauss, Frye, the Soviet school, and the Myth and Ritual School.[43]

Pre-modern theories

The critical interpretation of myth goes back as far as the Presocratics.[44] Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual historical events, distorted over many retellings. This view of myths and their origin is criticised by Plato in the Phaedrus (229d), in which Socrates says that this approach is the province of one who is "vehemently curious and laborious, and not entirely happy . . ." The Platonists generally had a more profound and comprehensive view of the subject. Sallustius,[45] for example, divides myths into five categories – theological, physical (or concerning natural laws), animastic (or concerning soul), material and mixed. This last being those myths which show the interaction between two or more of the previous categories and which, he says, are particularly used in initiations.
Although Plato famously condemned poetic myth when discussing the education of the young in the Republic, primarily on the grounds that there was a danger that the young and uneducated might take the stories of Gods and heroes literally, nevertheless he constantly refers to myths of all kinds throughout his writings. As Platonism developed in the phases commonly called 'middle Platonism' and neoplatonism, such writers as Plutarch, Porphyry, Proclus, Olympiodorus and Damascius wrote explicitly about the symbolic interpretation of traditional and Orphic myths.[46] Interest in polytheistic mythology revived in the Renaissance, with early works on mythography appearing in the 16th century, such as the Theologia mythologica (1532).

19th-century theories

The first scholarly theories of myth appeared during the second half of the 19th century.[44] In general, these 19th-century theories framed myth as a failed or obsolete mode of thought, often by interpreting myth as the primitive counterpart of modern science.[47]
For example, E. B. Tylor interpreted myth as an attempt at a literal explanation for natural phenomena: unable to conceive of impersonal natural laws, early man tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to inanimate objects, giving rise to animism.[48] According to Tylor, human thought evolves through various stages, starting with mythological ideas and gradually progressing to scientific ideas. Not all scholars — not even all 19th century scholars — have agreed with this view. For example, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development."[49]
Max Müller called myth a "disease of language". He speculated that myths arose due to the lack of abstract nouns and neuter gender in ancient languages: anthropomorphic figures of speech, necessary in such languages, were eventually taken literally, leading to the idea that natural phenomena were conscious beings, gods.[50]
The anthropologist James Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals; which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law.[51] According to Frazer, man begins with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When he realizes that his applications of these laws don't work, he gives up his belief in natural law, in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature — thus giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile, man continues practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as reenactments of mythical events. Finally, Frazer contends, man realizes that nature does follow natural laws, but now he discovers their true nature through science. Here, again, science makes myth obsolete: as Frazer puts it, man progresses "from magic through religion to science".[36]
Robert Segal asserts that by pitting mythical thought against modern scientific thought, such theories implied that modern man must abandon myth.[52]

20th-century theories

Many 20th-century theories of myth rejected the 19th-century theories' opposition of myth and science. In general, "twentieth-century theories have tended to see myth as almost anything but an outdated counterpart to science […] Consequently, moderns are not obliged to abandon myth for science."[52]
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1873–1961) tried to understand the psychology behind world myths. Jung asserted that all humans share certain innate unconscious psychological forces, which he called archetypes. Jung believed that the similarities between the myths from different cultures reveals the existence of these universal archetypes.[53]
Joseph Campbell believed that there were two different orders of mythology: myths that "are metaphorical of spiritual potentiality in the human being," and myths "that have to do with specific societies".[54]
Claude Lévi-Strauss believed that myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures — specifically, pairs of opposites (i.e. good/evil, compassionate/callous) — than as unconscious feelings or urges.[55]
In his appendix to Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, and in The Myth of the Eternal Return, Mircea Eliade attributed modern man’s anxieties to his rejection of myths and the sense of the sacred.
In the 1950s, Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book Mythologies.

Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau. In the Prometheus mythos of Hesiodus and possibly Aeschylus (the Greek trilogy Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros), Prometheus is bound and tortured for giving fire to humanity at its creation.

Examples of myths

  • The earth-maker myth (Native American mythos, California): In the darkness of the vast waters of Outer Ocean, Earth-Maker was afloat in his canoe; Earth-Maker took clay to form the First People and created the seas with his tears.[56]
  • Obàtálá (Yoruba mythos): Obàtálá, created by the supreme entity Olódùmarè, was given ownership of every being's head (the seat of the soul), created the land by causing a rooster to kick and scatter the earth, and founded the first Yoruba city, Ife; he is also called the King of White Cloth, Orisha-Nla, or Olufon.[57]
  • The Primary Chronicle (Slavic mythos, 12th century): Perun (the creator of lightning and thunder) and Veles oversee the 10th-century peace treaties between the Eastern Slavs and the Byzantine emperors; Vladimir I of Kiev later introduces a pantheon of Perun, Hors, Dažbog, Stribog, Simargl, and Mokosh. (Due to lack of firsthand sources, reconstruction of pre-Christian Slavic mythos is based on this and similar late works.)[58]

Comparative mythology

Main article: Comparative mythology
Comparative mythology is the systematic comparison of myths from different cultures.[59] It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to the myths of multiple cultures.[59] In some cases, comparative mythologists use the similarities between different mythologies to argue that those mythologies have a common source. This common source may be a common source of inspiration (e.g. a certain natural phenomenon that inspired similar myths in different cultures) or a common "protomythology" that diverged into the various mythologies we see today.[59]
Nineteenth-century interpretations of myth were often highly comparative, seeking a common origin for all myths.[60] However, modern-day scholars tend to be more suspicious of comparative approaches, avoiding overly general or universal statements about mythology.[61] One exception to this modern trend is Joseph Campbell's book The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), which claims that all hero myths follow the same underlying pattern. This theory of a "monomyth" is out of favor with the mainstream study of mythology.[61]

Modern mythology


1929 Belgian banknote, depicting Ceres, Neptune and caduceus.
In modern society, myth is often regarded as historical or obsolete. Many scholars in the field of cultural studies are now beginning to research the idea that myth has worked itself into modern discourses. Modern formats of communication allow for wide spread communication across the globe, thus enabling mythological discourse and exchange among greater audiences than ever before. Various elements of myth can now be found in television, cinema and video games.
Although myth was traditionally transmitted through the oral tradition on a small scale, the technology of the film industry has enabled filmmakers to transmit myths to large audiences via film dissemination (Singer, “Mythmaking: Philosophy in Film”, 3-6). In the psychology of Carl Jung, myths are the expression of a culture or society’s goals, fears, ambitions and dreams (Indick, “Classical Heroes in Modern Movies: Mythological Patterns of the Superhero", 93-95). Film is ultimately an expression of the society in which it was credited, and reflects the norms and ideals of the time and location in which it is created. In this sense, film is simply the evolution of myth. The technological aspect of film changes the way the myth is distributed, but the core idea of the myth is the same.
The basis of modern storytelling in both cinema and television lies deeply rooted in the mythological tradition. Many contemporary and technologically advanced movies often rely on ancient myths to construct narratives. The Disney Corporation is notorious among cultural study scholars for “reinventing” traditional childhood myths (Koven, “Folklore Studies and Popular Film and Television: A Necessary Critical Survey”, 176-195). While many films are not as obvious as Disney fairy tales in respect to the employment of myth, the plots of many films are largely based on the rough structure of the myth. Mythological archetypes such as the cautionary tale regarding the abuse of technology, battles between gods, and creation stories are often the subject of major film productions. These films are often created under the guise of cyberpunk action movies, fantasy dramas, and apocalyptic tales. Although the range of narratives, as well as the medium in which it is being told is constantly increasing, it is clear that myth continues to be a pervasive and essential component of the collective imagination (Cormer, "Narrative." Critical Ideas in Television Studies, 47-59.)
Recent films such as Clash of the Titans, Immortals or Thor continue the trend of mining traditional mythology in order to directly create a plot for modern consumption. Although these are generally considered inaccurate to the original mythologies on which they are based, it can be argued that as film itself has become a way transmitting myths, these films are no more inaccurate than the variants told by storytellers of the oral tradition. In fact, it is argued that these new contributions to traditional myths add value and meaning to the stories for new generations (Matira, "Children's Oral Literature and Modern Mass Media", 55-57).
With the invention of modern myths such as urban legends, the mythological traditional will carry on to the increasing variety of mediums available to the consumer in the 21st century and beyond. The crucial idea is that myth is not simply a collection of stories permanently fixed to a particular time and place in history, but an ongoing social practice within every society.

See also

General
Portal iconMythology portal
Mythological archetypes
Myth and religion
Lists

Notes

  1. ^ Kirk, p. 8; "myth", Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ a b c Dundes, Introduction, p. 1
  3. ^ Kirk, "Defining", p. 57; Kirk, Myth, p. 74; Simpson, p. 3
  4. ^ Lincoln, Bruce (2006). "An Early Moment in the Discourse of "Terrorism": Reflections on a Tale from Marco Polo". Comparative Studies in Society and History 48 (2): 242-259. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3879351. "More precisely, mythic discourse deals in master categories that have multiple referents: levels of the cosmos, terrestrial geographies, plant and animal species, logical categories, and the like. Their plots serve to organize the relations among these categories and to justify a hierarchy among them, establishing the rightness (or at least the necessity) of a world in which heaven is above earth, the lion the king of beasts, the cooked more pleasing than the raw."
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bascom, p. 9
  6. ^ a b c "myths", A Dictionary of English Folklore
  7. ^ O'Flaherty, p.78: "I think it can be well argued as a matter of principle that, just as 'biography is about chaps', so mythology is about gods."
  8. ^ a b Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, p. 23
  9. ^ Pettazzoni, p. 102
  10. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 10-11; Pettazzoni, p. 99-101
  11. ^ a b Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 6
  12. ^ Kirk, p. 8; "myth", Encyclopædia Britannica
  13. ^ a b Grassie, William (March 1998). "Science as Epic? Can the modern evolutionary cosmology be a mythic story for our time?". Science & Spirit 9 (1). "The word 'myth' is popularly understood to mean idle fancy, fiction, or falsehood; but there is another meaning of the word in academic discourse .... Using the original Greek term mythos is perhaps a better way to distinguish this more positive and all-encompassing definition of the word."
  14. ^ Dundes, "Madness", p. 147
  15. ^ Doty, p. 11-12
  16. ^ Segal, p. 5
  17. ^ Kirk, "Defining", p. 57; Kirk, Myth, p. 74; Simpson, p. 3
  18. ^ "myth". Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.). Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1993. p. 770.
  19. ^ Bascom, p. 7
  20. ^ a b Bascom, p. 10
  21. ^ Kirk, Myth, p. 22, 32; Kirk, "Defining", p. 55
  22. ^ Bascom, p. 17
  23. ^ Bascom, p. 13
  24. ^ a b Doty, p. 114
  25. ^ a b c Bulfinch, p. 194
  26. ^ a b c d e f Honko, p. 45
  27. ^ "Euhemerism", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
  28. ^ Segal, p. 20
  29. ^ Bulfinch, p. 195
  30. ^ Frankfort, p. 4
  31. ^ Frankfort, p. 15
  32. ^ Segal, p. 61
  33. ^ Graf, p. 40
  34. ^ Meletinsky pp.19-20
  35. ^ Segal, p. 63
  36. ^ a b Frazer, p. 711
  37. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 8
  38. ^ a b Honko, p. 51
  39. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 19
  40. ^ Honko, p. 49
  41. ^ Roland Barthes, Mythologies
  42. ^ Campbell, p. 22-23
  43. ^ Guy Lanoue, Foreword to Meletinsky, p.viii
  44. ^ a b Segal, p. 1
  45. ^ On the Gods and the World, ch. 5, See Collected Writings on the Gods and the World, The Prometheus Trust, Frome, 1995
  46. ^ Perhaps the most extended passage of philosophic interpretation of myth is to be found in the fifth and sixth essays of Proclus’ Commentary on the Republic (to be found in The Works of Plato I, trans. Thomas Taylor, The Prometheus Trust, Frome, 1996); Porphyry’s analysis of the Homeric Cave of the Nymphs is another important work in this area (Select Works of Porphyry, Thomas Taylor The Prometheus Trust, Frome, 1994). See the external links below for a full English translation.
  47. ^ Segal, pp. 3-4
  48. ^ Segal, p. 4
  49. ^ Mâche (1992). Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion. pp. 8.
  50. ^ Segal, p.20
  51. ^ Segal, p.67-68
  52. ^ a b Segal, p. 3
  53. ^ Boeree
  54. ^ Campbell, p. 22
  55. ^ Segal, p. 113
  56. ^ Kroeber, Theodora; Heizer, Robert F. (1968). "Story of Creation". Almost Ancestors: The First Californians (hardback ed.). New York City: Sierra Club/Ballantine Books. p. 62.
  57. ^ Courlander, Harold. Tales of Yoruba Gods and Heroes.
  58. ^ Chadwick, Nora Kershaw (1946). The Beginnings of Russian History: An Enquiry into Sources. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-404-14651-1.
  59. ^ a b c Littleton, p. 32
  60. ^ Leonard
  61. ^ a b Northup, p. 8

References

  • Armstrong, Karen. "A Short History of Myth". Knopf Canada, 2006.
  • Bascom, William. "The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives". 'Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 5-29.
  • Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology. Whitefish: Kessinger, 2004.
  • Campbell, Joeseph. "The Power of Myth". New York: Doubleday, 1988.
  • Doty, William. Myth: A Handbook. Westport: Greenwood, 2004.
  • Dundes, Alan. "Binary Opposition in Myth: The Propp/Levi-Strauss Debate in Retrospect". Western Folklore 56 (Winter, 1997): 39-50.
  • Dundes, Alan. Introduction. Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 1-3.
  • Dunes, Alan. "Madness in Method Plus a Plea for Projective Inversion in Myth". Myth and Method. Ed. Laurie Patton and Wendy Doniger. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1996.
  • Eliade, Mircea. Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
  • Eliade, Mircea. Myths, Dreams and Mysteries. Trans. Philip Mairet. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
  • "Euhemerism". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Ed. John Bowker. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. UC - Berkeley Library. 20 March 2009 .
  • Fabiani, Paolo "The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche". F.U.P. (Florence UP), English edition 2009. PDF
  • Frankfort, Henri, et al. The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East. Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1977.
  • Frazer, James. The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan, 1922.
  • Graf, Fritz. Greek Mythology. Trans. Thomas Marier. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
  • Honko, Lauri. "The Problem of Defining Myth". Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 41-52.
  • Kirk, G.S. Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures. Berkeley: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
  • Kirk, G.S. "On Defining Myths". Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 53-61.
  • Leonard, Scott. "The History of Mythology: Part I". Scott A. Leonard's Home Page. August 2007.Youngstown State University, 17 November 2009
  • Littleton, Covington. The New Comparative Mythology: An Anthropological Assessment of the Theories of Georges Dumezil. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
  • Meletinsky, Elea. The Poetics of Myth. Trans. Guy Lanoue and Alexandre Sadetsky. New York: Routledge, 2000.
  • "myth." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 21 March 2009
  • "myths". A Dictionary of English Folklore. Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. UC - Berkeley Library. 20 March 2009 Oxfordreference.com
  • Northup, Lesley. "Myth-Placed Priorities: Religion and the Study of Myth". Religious Studies Review 32.1(2006): 5-10.
  • O'Flaherty, Wendy. Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook. London: Penguin, 1975.
  • Pettazzoni, Raffaele. "The Truth of Myth". Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth. Ed. Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 98-109.
  • Segal, Robert. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
  • Simpson, Michael. Introduction. Apollodorus. Gods and Heroes of the Greeks. Trans. Michael Simpson. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1976. 1-9.
  • Singer, Irving. "Introduction: Philosophical Dimensions of Myth and Cinema." Cinematic Mythmaking: Philosophy in Film. Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States: MIT Press Books, 2008. 3-6. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.
  • Indick, William. "Classical Heroes in Modern Movies: Mythological Patterns of the Superhero." Journal of Media Psychology 9.3 (2004): 93-95. York University Libraries. Web.
  • Koven, Mikel J. "Folklore Studies and Popular Film and Television: a Necessary Critical Survey." Journal of American Folklore 116.460 (2003): 176-195. Print.
  • Olson, Eric L. "Great Expectations: the Role of Myth in 1980s Films with Child Heroes." Virginia Polytechnic Scholarly Library. Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, 3 May 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05172011-113805/unrestricted/OLSON_EL_T_2011.pdf>.
  • Matira, Lopamundra. "Children's Oral Literature and Modern Mass Media." Indian Folklore Research Journal 5.8 (2008): 55-57. Print.
  • Cormer, John. "Narrative." Critical Ideas in Television Studies. New York, United States: Charendon Press, 2007. 47-59. Print.

Further reading

  • Stefan Arvidsson, Aryan Idols. Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science, University of Chicago Press, 2006. ISBN 0-226-02860-7
  • Roland Barthes, Mythologies (1957)
  • Kees W. Bolle, The Freedom of Man in Myth. Vanderbilt University Press, 1968.
  • Richard Buxton. The Complete World of Greek Mythology. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
  • E. Csapo, Theories of Mythology (2005)
  • Edith Hamilton, Mythology (1998)
  • Graves, Robert. "Introduction." New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames. London: Hamlyn, 1968. v-viii.
  • Joseph Campbell
  • Mircea Eliade
    • Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. Princeton University Press, 1954.
    • The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Trans. Willard R. Trask. NY: Harper & Row, 1961.
  • Louis Herbert Gray [ed.], The Mythology of All Races, in 12 vols., 1916.
  • Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
    • Mental Functions in Primitive Societies (1910)
    • Primitive Mentality (1922)
    • The Soul of the Primitive (1928)
    • The Supernatural and the Nature of the Primitive Mind (1931)
    • Primitive Mythology (1935)
    • The Mystic Experience and Primitive Symbolism (1938)
  • Charles H. Long, Alpha: The Myths of Creation. George Braziller, 1963.
  • O'Flaherty, Wendy. Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook. London: Penguin, 1975.
  • Barry B. Powell, Classical Myth, 5th edition, Prentice-Hall.
  • Santillana and Von Dechend (1969, 1992 re-issue). Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth, Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-87923-215-3.
  • Isabelle Loring Wallace and Jennie Hirsh, Contemorary Art and Classical Myth. Farnham: Ashgate (2011), ISBN 978-0-7546-6974-6
  • Walker, Steven F. and Segal, Robert A., Jung and the Jungians on Myth: An Introduction, Theorists of Myth, Routledge (1996), ISBN 978-0-8153-2259-7.
  • Vanda Zajko and Miriam Leonard, Lauphing with Medusa. Oxford: Oxford `University Press (2006), ISBN 978-0-19-923794-4.
  • Zong, In-Sob. Folk Tales from Korea. 3rd ed. Elizabeth: Hollym, 1989.

External links

Look up myth or mythology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiversity has learning materials about School:Comparative Mythology
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mythology
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