Mythology

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Mythology is a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular sacred, religious or cultural tradition of a group of people. Myths are a collection of storiestold to explain nature, history, and customs^[1]–or the study of such myths.^[2]

As a collection of such stories, mythology is a vital feature of every culture. Various origins for myths have been proposed, ranging from personification of nature,personification of natural phenomena to truthful or hyperbolic accounts of historical events, to explanations of existing ritual. Although the term is complicated by its implicit condescension, mythologizing is not just an ancient or primitive practice, as shown by contemporary mythopoeia such as urban legends and the expansivefictional mythoi created by fantasy novels and comics. A culture's collective mythology helps convey belonging, shared and religious experience, behavioural models, and moral and practical lessons.

The study of myth dates back to antiquity. Rival classifications of the Greek myths by Euhemerus, Plato's Phaedrus, and Sallustius were developed by theNeoplatonists and revived by Renaissance mythographers. Nineteenth-century comparative mythology reinterpreted myth as a primitive and failed counterpart ofscience (E. B. Tylor), a "disease of language" (Max Müller), or a misinterpretation of magical ritual (James Frazer).

Some recent approaches have rejected a conflict between the value of myth and rational thought, often viewing myths, rather than being merely inaccurate historical accounts, as expressions for understanding general psychological, cultural or societal truths.

1Etymology
2Terminology
3Origins
- 3.1Euhemerism
- 3.2Allegory
- 3.3Personification
- 3.4Myth-ritual theory
4Functions of myth
5Study of mythology
- 5.1Pre-modern theories
- 5.219th-century theories
- 5.320th-century theories
- 5.4Comparative mythology
6Modern mythology
7See also
8Notes
9Journals about mythology
10Books
11Further reading
12External links

Etymology[edit source | edit]

The English term mythology predates the word myth by centuries.^[5] It appeared in the 15th century,^[7] borrowed from Middle French mythologie. The word mythology, "exposition of myths", comes from Middle French mythologie, from Late Latin mythologia, from Greek μυθολογία mythologia "legendary lore, a telling of mythic legends; a legend, story, tale," from μῦθος mythos "myth" and -λογία -logia "study."^[8][9] Both terms translated the subject of Fulgentius's 5th-century Mythologiæ, which was concerned with the explication of Greek and Roman stories about their gods. Although the African author Fulgentius's conflation with the contemporary African saint Fulgentius is now questioned,^[10] the Mythologiæ explicitly treated its subject matter as allegories requiring interpretation and not as true events.^[11] (The wordmythología [μυθολογία] appears in Plato but was a general term for "fiction" or "story-telling" of any kind,^[9] combining mỹthos [μῦθος, "narrative, fiction"] and -logía [-λογία, "discourse, able to speak about"].^[12]) From Lydgate until the 17th or 18th century, "mythology" was similarly used to mean a moral, a fable, an allegory, or aparable.^[9] From its earliest use in reference to a collection of traditional stories or beliefs,^[14] it has implied the falsehood of the stories being described; remaining associated with sacred tales of the Greeks and Romans, though, it came to be applied by analogy with similar bodies of traditional stories among other polytheisticcultures around the world.^[9] The Greek loanword mythos^[16] (pl. mythoi) and Latinate mythus^[18] (pl. mythi) both appeared in English before the first attestation of mythin 1830.^[21]

Mythology
Arabian Armenian Celtic Christian Chinese Egyptian Greek Hindu Islamic Japanese Jewish Korean Maya Mesopotamian Norse Persian Roman Romanian Slavic Turkic
See also
Religion and mythology Comparative religion Symbolism Theology
List of mythologies
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Terminology[edit source | edit]

Origins[edit source | edit]

Euhemerism[edit source | edit]

Main article: Euhemerism

Allegory[edit source | edit]

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.^[46] According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite represents desire, etc.^[46] The 19th century Sanskritist Max Müller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed 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.^[48]

Personification[edit source | edit]

Myth-ritual theory[edit source | edit]

Functions of myth[edit source | edit]

Mircea Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior^[57][58] 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.^[38][58][59]

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.^[60] 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.^[61]

Joseph Campbell writes: "In the long view of the history of mankind, four essential functions of mythology can be discerned. The first and most distinctive – vitalizing all – is that of eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being." ^[62] "The second function of mythology is to render a cosmology, an image of the universe that will support and be supported by this sense of awe before the mystery of the presence and the presence of a mystery." ^[63] "A third function of mythology is to support the current social order, to integrate the individual organically with his group;"^[64] "The fourth function of mythology is to initiate the individual into the order of realities of his own psyche, guiding him toward his own spiritual enrichment and realization."^[65]

In a later work Campbell explains the relationship of myth to civilization:

The rise and fall of civilisations in the long, broad course of history can be seen largely to be a function of the integrity and cogency of their supporting canons of myth; for not authority but aspiration is the motivator, builder, and transformer of civilisation. A mythological canon is an organisation of symbols, ineffable in import, by which the energies of aspiration are evoked and gathered toward a focus.^[66]

And yet the history of civilisation is not one of harmony.

There are two pathologies. One is interpreting myth as pseudo-science, as though it had to do with directing nature instead of putting you in accord with nature, and the other is the political interpretation of myths to the advantage of one group within a society, or one society within a group of nations.^[67]

Campbell gives his answer to the question: what is the function of myth today? in episode 2 of Bill Moyers's The Power of Myth series.

Study of mythology[edit source | edit]

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.^[68]

Pre-modern theories[edit source | edit]

The critical interpretation of myth goes back as far as the Presocratics.^[69] Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual historical events, distorted over many retellings. Sallustius,^[70] 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.

To ones who are even trying to change content of the myth according to probability would be found criticism in Plato Phaedrus (229d), in which Socrates says that it is the province of one who is "vehemently curious and laborious, and not entirely happy . . .".

Although Plato famously condemned poetic myth when discussing the education of the young in the Republic, primarily on the grounds there was a danger 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.^[71] Interest in polytheistic mythology revived in the Renaissance, with early works on mythography appearing in the 16th century, such as the Theologia mythologica (1532). Myths are not the same as fables, legends, folktales, fairy tales, anecdotes, or fiction, but the concepts may overlap. Notably, during the nineteenth century period of Romanticism, folktales and fairy tales were perceived as eroded fragments of earlier mythology (famously by the Brothers Grimm and Elias Lönnrot). Mythological themes are also very often consciously employed in literature, beginning with Homer. The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological background without itself being part of a body of myths (Cupid and Psyche). The medieval romance in particular plays with this process of turning myth into literature. Euhemerism refers to the process of rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities into pragmatic contexts, for example following a cultural or religious paradigm shift (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following Christianization).

Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time, for example the Matter of Britain referring to the legendary history of Great Britain, especially those focused on King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and the Matter of France, based on historical events of the fifth and eighth centuries, respectively, were first made into epic poetry and became partly mythological over the following centuries. "Conscious generation" of mythology has been termed mythopoeia by J. R. R. Tolkien[16], and was notoriously also suggested, very separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.

19th-century theories[edit source | edit]

The first scholarly theories of myth appeared during the second half of the 19th century.^[69] 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.^[72]

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 humans tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to inanimate objects, giving rise to animism.^[73] 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 "the primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development."^[74]

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.^[75]

The anthropologist James Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals, which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law.^[76] According to Frazer, humans begin with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When they realize their applications of these laws don't work, they give up their belief in natural law, in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature thus giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile, humans continue practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as reenactments of mythical events. Finally humans realize nature does follow natural laws, but now they discover their true nature through science. Here again science makes myth obsolete as humans progress "from magic through religion to science".^[56]

Robert Segal asserts that by pitting mythical thought against modern scientific thought, such theories implied modern humans must abandon myth.^[77]

20th-century theories[edit source | edit]

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

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."^[77]

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. He believed the similarities between the myths from different cultures reveal the existence of these universal archetypes.^[78]

Joseph Campbell believed 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".^[79] His major work is The Masks of God I-IV. In the first volume, Primitive Mythology, he outlines clearly his intention:

In his fourth volume Campbell coins the phrase, creative mythology, which he explains as:

Claude Lévi-Strauss believed myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures, specifically, pairs of opposites (good/evil, compassionate/callous), than as unconscious feelings or urges.^[82]

In his appendix to Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, and in The Myth of the Eternal Return, Mircea Eliade attributed modern humans’ anxieties to their rejection of myths and the sense of the sacred.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1950s, Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book Mythologies.^{[citation needed]}

Following the structuralist era (roughly 1960s to 1980s), the predominant anthropological and sociological approaches to myth treat myth increasingly as a form of narrative that could be studied, interpreted and analyzed like ideology, history and culture. In other words, myth is a form of understanding and telling stories that is connected to power, political structures, and political and economic interests. These approaches are very much in opposition and contrast to approaches such as that of Campbell and Eliade that hold that myth has some type of essential connection to ultimate sacred meanings that transcend cultural specifics. In particular, there is a long-standing exploration of myth in relation to history from diverse social sciences. Most of these studies share the assumption that there is no necessary difference between history and myth in the sense that history is factual, real, accurate and truth while myth is the opposite. Myth, like ideology, is a word used to disparage the histories (or ways of understanding) of other sociopolitical groups.^{[citation needed]}

Comparative mythology[edit source | edit]

Main article: Comparative mythology

Comparative mythology is the systematic comparison of myths from different cultures.^[83] It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to the myths of multiple cultures.^[83] 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.^[83]

Nineteenth-century interpretations of myth were often highly comparative, seeking a common origin for all myths.^[84] However, modern-day scholars tend to be more suspicious of comparative approaches, avoiding overly general or universal statements about mythology.^[85] One exception to this modern trend is Joseph Campbell's book The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), which claims all hero myths follow the same underlying pattern. This theory of a "monomyth" is out of favor with the mainstream study of mythology.^[85]

Modern mythology[edit source | edit]

1929 Belgian banknote, depictingCeres, 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 widespread 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 well-known 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 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.

With the invention of modern myths such as urban legends, the mythological traditional will carry on to the increasing variety of mediums available 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. Many authors use mythology nowadays as a basis for their books, such as Rick Riordan, whose Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is situated in a modern-day world where the Greek deities are manifest; likewise his Kane Chronicles with the Egyptian pantheon.

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