The term mythology can refer to either the study of myths, or to a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, Many scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in somewhat different ways. In a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story.
The distinction between myth, legend, and folktale is meant simply as a useful tool for grouping traditional stories. In many cultures, it is hard to draw a sharp line between myths and legends. 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. Even myths and folktales are not completely distinct. A story may be considered true (and therefore a myth) in one society, but considered fictional (and therefore a folktale) in another society. 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.
Myth, legend, saga, fable, folktale, or marchens are only a few of the categories of traditional stories. Other categories include anecdotes and some kinds of jokes. Traditional stories, in turn, are only one category within folklore, which also includes items such as gestures, costumes, and music.
Mircea Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Interest in polytheistic mythology revived in the Renaissance, with early works on mythography appearing in the 16th century, such as the ''Theologia mythologica'' (1532).
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. 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."
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.
The anthropologist James Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals; which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law. 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".
Joseph Campbell believed that there were two different orders of mythology: that there are myths that, "are metaphorical of spiritual potentiality in the human being", and that there are myths, "that have to do with specific societies".
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.
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 had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth their various qualities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, wings. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there were none left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and to give them fire.
Prometheus loved man more than the Olympians, who had banished most of his family to Tartarus. So when Zeus decreed that man must present a portion of each animal they sacrificed to the gods Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He created two piles, one with the bones wrapped in juicy fat, the other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then bade Zeus to pick. Zeus picked the bones. Since he had given his word, Zeus had to accept that as his share for future sacrifices. In his anger over the trick, Zeus took fire away from man. However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had fire. He decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both man and Prometheus.
To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first women. A final gift was a jar which Pandora was forbidden to open. Thus, completed Zeus sent Pandora down to Epimetheus who was staying amongst the men.
Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts from Zeus but, Pandora's beauty was too great and he allowed her to stay. Eventually, Pandora's curiosity about the jar she was forbidden to open became too great. She opened the jar and out flew all manor of evils, sorrows, plagues, and misfortunes. However, the bottom of the jar held one good thing - hope.
Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked on sacrifices, stealing fire for man, and for refusing to tell Zeus which of Zeus's children would dethrone him. Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take him to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with unbreakable adamanite chains. Here he was tormented day and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus who the mother of the child that would dethrone him was. Or meet two conditions: First, that an immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus. Second, that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbounded him.
An Oracle of Gaea then prophesied that Metis' first child would be a girl, but her second child would be a boy that would overthrow Zeus as had happened to his father and grandfather. Zeus took this warning to heart. When he next saw Metis, he flattered her and put her at her ease. Then, with Metis off guard Zeus, suddenly opened his mouth and swallowed her. This was the end of Metis, but possibly the beginning of Zeus' wisdom.
After a time Zeus developed the mother of all headaches. He howled so loudly it could be heard throughout the earth. The other gods came to see what the problem was. Hermes realized what needed to be done and directed Hephaestus to take a wedge and split open Zeus's skull. Out of the skull sprang Athena, full grown and in a full set of armour. Due to her manner of birth, Athena has dominion over all things of the intellect.
Comparative mythology is the systematic comparison of myths from different cultures. It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to the myths of multiple cultures. However, modern-day scholars tend to be more suspicious of comparative approaches, avoiding overly general or universal statements about mythology. 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.
Category:Anthropology of religion Category:Cultural anthropology Category:Greek loanwords Category:Spirituality Category:Traditions
kbd:Мифологиэ af:Mitologie als:Mythologie ar:ميثولوجيا an:Mitolochía ast:Mitoloxía az:Mifologiya zh-min-nan:Sîn-oē be:Міфалогія be-x-old:Міталёгія bar:Mithologie bs:Mitologija br:Mitologiezh bg:Митология ca:Mitologia cv:Халаплăх cs:Mytologie co:Mitulugia cy:Mytholeg da:Mytologi de:Mythologie et:Mütoloogia el:Μυθολογία es:Mitología eo:Mitologio (mitaro) eu:Mitologia fa:اسطورهشناسی hif:Mythology fr:Mythologie fy:Mytology fur:Mitologjie ga:Miotaseolaíocht gv:Feayn-skeealleydaght gl:Mitoloxía ko:신화 hr:Mitologija io:Mitologio id:Mitologi ia:Mythologia ie:Mitologie os:Мифологи is:Goðafræði it:Mitologia he:מיתולוגיה jv:Mitologi kn:ಪುರಾಣ ka:მითოლოგია kk:Мифология ky:Мифология ku:Mîtolojî lad:Mitolojiya krc:Мифология la:Mythologia lv:Mitoloģija lb:Mythologie lt:Mitologija lij:Mitologia li:Mythologie hu:Mitológia mk:Митологија ml:പൗരാണികശാസ്ത്രം arz:ميثولوجيا mzn:Unə ms:Mitos mwl:Mitologie mdf:Айнематне (мифологиесь) nl:Mythologie ja:神話 nap:Mitologgia pih:Mitholijii no:Mytologi nn:Mytologi nrm:Mythologie nov:Mitologia oc:Mitologia pnb:مائتھالوجی nds:Mythologie pl:Mitologia pt:Mitologia kaa:Mifologiya ro:Mitologie rue:Міфолоґія ru:Мифология sah:Митология sa:मिथकशास्त्रं sco:Meethology stq:Mythologie sq:Mitologjia scn:Mituluggìa simple:Mythology sk:Mytológia (veda) sl:Mit ckb:ئوستوورەناسی sr:Митологија sh:Mitologija fi:Mytologia sv:Mytologi tl:Mitolohiya ta:தொன்மவியல் th:ปรัมปราวิทยา tg:Ривоятҳо tr:Mitoloji uk:Міфологія ur:علم الاساطیر za:Gojgaeqfangz vec:Mitołogìa vi:Thần thoại fiu-vro:Mütoloogia war:Mitolohiya yi:מיטאלאגיע zh-yue:神話 bat-smg:Mituoluogėjė zh:神话This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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