What is Mythology?
(Lecture 2 Slides)
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mythos: word, speech, story (origin of the word myth)
proper definition of a myth: a traditional tale with secondary, partial reference to something of
collective importance - it is something significant to a culture (hence they keep passing it on)
tradition: from Latin tradicio which means to hand something over
essence of myth:
traditional
resonant/useful:
a lot of practical things learned from myths
Alexander the Great drew inspiration from the Iliad since he saw himself as the descendant of
Achilles
flexible and adaptable:
culture changes and so for these tales to resonate, they need to be modified to speak to
contemporary people
Homer said that Oedipus retained his kingship after killing his father and marrying his mother
Sophocles said that Oedipus went into exile after his deed
example: Spiderman (original: bit by radioactive spider (people were concerned of
radioactivity/nuclear power), recent: bit by genetically modified spider) embodies hope and fears
of society
myth or truth:
Xenophanes:
very skeptical and didnt like how original myths portrayed the gods, thought that people were
just projecting themselves in the image of the gods
thought to be the first monotheist
500 BC
Plato:
300 BC
wanted to clean up the myths - thought they didnt show behaviour that should be emulated
Aristotle:
student of Plato
says mythology is better than history since mythology has a broader perspective
classification of myths:
myth proper: aka divine myth
stories about the gods
those that focus on gods rather than heroes
deals with gods and humanitys relationship with the gods
functions:
like science, to explain the natural world and society practices (eg. Athena and Poseidon)
eg: origin of gods theogony is a poem by Hesiod
religion was enormously important to the ancients
saga/legend:
stories about heroes -- always about someone MORTAL(never die)
functions:
like history, to explain the past
to inspire noble behaviour
eg. Iliad
folktales:
simpler kind of story, doesnt really classified as a myth
usually about the powerless who gets some magical help
content: recurring patterns (like the poor persons quest)
interpretation of the myth:
big question in the ancient world: should we reject the myths or should we allegorize them?
ancient interpretation:
physical allegory:
Theagenes of Rhegium
if we allegorize myths, they actually present some truth
historical allegory:
Euhemerus:
300 BC
rationalization of myth
made a myth to tell the stories of the myth
says Uranus, Cronos, and Zeus were only great kings whose stories got exaggerated
moral allegory:
Daphne: allegory of virtue of chastity (Apollo was insulting Cupid, Cupid shot golden arrow(love)
to heart of apollo and lead arrow to nymph of Daphne, Daphne was chased by Apollo, asked her
father, Peneus, river god, to help her, she got transformed into a tree)
Judgement of Paris: do you pick lust, wisdom, or power? (Zeus threw party for celebrating the
marriage of Peleus, king of aegina, and Thetis, all god and goddess were invited except for Eris,
goddess of discord(disagreement), Eris was angry, Eris just sneaked into the party with golden
apple which inscribed with the word Kallisti meaning for the prettiest one, Eris threw the
apple in the middle of wedding, Only three left for the fight to have the apple: Hera, wife of Zeus,
Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, they asked Zeus to
decide who is the fairest, zeus did not decide, but let Paris to decide, Three goddess bribed
Paris. Hera offered wealth and rulling of world, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and
Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman, this woman was Helen of Sparta, wife of the greek
king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodites offer receiving Helen and hatred from Hera.
Retrieving Helen from Paris in Troy is Trojan War)
medieval interpretation
enlightenment:
rationalistic denigration of myth
romantic reaction
modern interpretation
psychological
Freud: mostly interested in peoples dreams dreams were surfacing peoples
repressed desires, fears, and aspirations
noticed that dreams and myths are similar
most famous for Oedipus Complex
stories describing heroes slaying dragons and saving a maiden is similar to the Oedipus
Complex (dragon = father, maiden = mothers, etc.)
Jung: student of Freud, interpreted myths similar to Freud but he looked at not how much myths
function in one individual psyche but how they function across cultures and societies
collective unconscious
talked about archetypes: archetypal figures and narrative patterns in myths not only
of one particular culture but in many cultures (ex. archetype: clever trickster, in
Greek: Odysseus, and there are clever tricksters in other societies myths as well)
these archetypes must be important to the human psyche
rites of passages: being born, completing a quest, marriage, death, etc.
a lot of people liked Jungs interpretation of the myths more since his are more applicable than
Freuds
Joseph Campbell: classicist (classical mythology), parallels of Greek myths with myths in other
cultures, comparative mythology
anthropological:
ritual (J. G. Frazer): all myth is simply religious ritual put in narrative form
myths are just narrative embodiments of rituals rituals are fundamental and so in
order to elaborate on these rituals, Greeks and other cultures made up stories in the
form of myths
Etiology explanation of origin of things
social charter (B. Malinowski): linked myths with social customs and beliefs as a whole (broader
perspective than J. G. Frazer)
example: Athena vs Poseidon, how Athena became the main god of Athens (Athena is goddess
of war and Poseidon is god of sea. They wanted the city, but only one god can own a city. Zeus
decided that they should have a competition. They were to give present to the city. They went to
Acropolis, the highest place for defence purpose, to give their give to the city. Poseidon stuck
the cliff with his trident and waterfall flowed down the hill created a river. The poseidons sea
was salty and was useless to people. Athena gave the city olive tree and planted in the ground.
People just though it was just another tree but Athena told them it can be used for food and
shelter. People liked the athenas present chose Athena for the protectress of the city, so the city
was named Athens)
structural:
general: not the form of individual myths but the structures that recur (recur means occur again)
C. Levi-Strauss:
structure of society is very closely related to the structure of the human mind, and the human
mind is often binary (opposites: hunted vs hunter, life vs death, raw vs cooked, etc.)
structures of these myths mediate between these opposites and brings these opposites together
in a satisfying way
V. Propp:
earlier than Strauss
analyzed Russian folktales and noticed very common themes/structures in stories and myths
and standardized them as The Quest
W. Burkert:
developed the most sophisticated interpretation of myths
said that there are repeated patterns, but they changed as society changes
emphasized the flexibility of the myths with the changing of societies
feminist:
revolutionized how myths have been looked at
myths were written in a strongly patriarchal society, and so feminists have looked at them and
reinterpreted them from a female perspective (or criticized them from a feminist perspective)
partriarchy(male hold primary power)
