Atlas
Farnese Atlas, a 3rd century Roman copy of a Hellenistic work (Naples)
Abode	Western edge of Gaia (the Earth)
Parents	Iapetus and Asia
Children	Hesperides, Hyades, Hyas, Pleiades, Calypso, Dione and Maera location = mt.Tamalpais

In Greek mythology, Atlas (/ˈætləs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄτλας) was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Although associated with various places, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa (Modern-day Morocco and Algeria).^[1] Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia^[2] or Klyménē (Κλυμένη):^[3]

Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus.

—Hesiod, Theogony 507–11

In contexts where a Titan and a Titaness are assigned each of the seven planetary powers, Atlas is paired with Phoebe and governs the moon.^{[not in citation given][4]} He had three brothers: Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius.^[5]

Hyginus emphasises the primordial nature of Atlas by making him the son of Aether and Gaia.^[6]

The first part of the term "Atlantic Ocean" refers to "Sea of Atlas", the term "Atlantis" refers to "island of Atlas".

Etymology[link]

Sculpture of Atlas, Praza do Toural, Santiago de Compostela.

The etymology of the name Atlas is uncertain and still debated. Virgil took pleasure in translating etymologies of Greek names by combining them with adjectives that explained them: for Atlas his adjective is durus, "hard, enduring",^[7] which suggested to George Doig^[8] that Virgil was aware of the Greek τλήναι "to endure"; Doig offers the further possibility that Virgil was aware of Strabo's remark that the native North African name for this mountain was Douris. Since the Atlas mountains rise in the region inhabited by Berbers, it has been suggested that the name might be taken from one of the Berber languages, specifically adrar, Berber for "mountain".^[9]

Some modern linguists derive it and its Greek root from the Proto-Indo-European root *tel, 'to uphold, support'; others^{[citation needed]} suggest that it is a pre-Indo-European name. Others hold it is pre-Indo-European, or Pelasgian in origin, associated with the word "thalassa", meaning "sea".

Punishment[link]

Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. His brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by forming an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia (the Earth) and hold up Uranus (the Sky) on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. Thus, he was Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas," and became a doublet of Koios, the embodiment of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve.^[10]

A common interpretation today is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but Classical art shows Atlas holding the celestial spheres, not a globe; the solidity of the marble globe born by the renowned Farnese Atlas may have aided the conflation, reinforced in the 16th century by the developing usage of atlas to describe a corpus of terrestrial maps.

Greco-Buddhist (1-200 BC) Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda, Afghanistan.

Variations[link]

In a late story,^[11] a giant named Atlas tried to drive a wandering Perseus from the place where the Atlas mountains now stand. In Ovid's telling,^[12] Perseus revealed Medusa's head, turning Atlas to stone (those very mountains) when he tried to drive him away, as a prophecy said that a son of Zeus would steal the golden apples. As is not uncommon in myth, this account cannot be reconciled with the far more common stories of Atlas' dealings with Heracles, who was Perseus' great-grandson.

According to Plato, the first king of Atlantis was also named Atlas, but that Atlas was a son of Poseidon and the mortal woman Cleito.^[13] A euhemerist origin for Atlas was as a legendary Atlas, king of Mauretania, an expert astronomer. Some say he is even the god of astronomy.

Encounter with Heracles[link]

One of the Twelve Labors of the hero Heracles was to fetch some of the golden apples which grow in Hera's garden, tended by Atlas' daughters, the Hesperides, and guarded by the dragon Ladon. Heracles went to Atlas and offered to hold up the heavens while Atlas got the apples from his daughters.

Upon his return with the apples, however, Atlas attempted to trick Heracles into carrying the sky permanently by offering to deliver the apples himself, as anyone who purposely took the burden must carry it forever, or until someone else took it away. Heracles, suspecting Atlas did not intend to return, pretended to agree to Atlas' offer, asking only that Atlas take the sky again for a few minutes so Heracles could rearrange his cloak as padding on his shoulders. When Atlas set down the apples and took the heavens upon his shoulders again, Heracles took the apples and ran away.

In some versions,^[14] Heracles instead built the two great Pillars of Hercules to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas much as he liberated Prometheus.

Etruscan Aril[link]

The identifying name Aril is inscribed on two 5th-century Etruscan bronze items, a mirror from Vulci and a ring from an unknown site.^[15] Both objects depict the encounter with Atlas of Hercle, the Etruscan Heracles, identified by the inscription; they represent rare instances where a figure from Greek mythology is imported into Etruscan mythology, but the name is not. The Etruscan name aril is etymologically independent.

Children[link]

Sources describe Atlas as the father, by different goddesses, of numerous children, mostly daughters. Some of these are assigned conflicting or overlapping identities or parentage in different sources.

• By Hesperis:

• the Hesperides^[16]

• By Pleione (or Aethra^[17]):

• the Hyades^[18]
• a son, Hyas^[18]
• the Pleiades^[19]

• By one or more unspecified goddesses:

• Calypso^[20]
• Dione^[21]
• Maera^[22]

Cultural influence[link]

Atlas supports the terrestrial globe on a building in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia.

• Atlas' best-known cultural association is in cartography. The first publisher to associate the Titan Atlas with a group of maps was the print-seller Antonio Lafreri, on the engraved title-page he applied to his ad hoc assemblages of maps, Tavole Moderne Di Geografia De La Maggior Parte Del Mondo Di Diversi Autori (1572);^[23] however, he did not use the word "atlas" in the title of his work, an innovation of Gerardus Mercator, who dedicated his "atlas" specifically "to honour the Titan, Atlas, King of Mauretania, a learned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer"; he actually depicted the astronomer king.

• Atlas continues to be a commonly used icon in western culture, as a symbol of strength or stoic endurance. He is often shown kneeling on one knee while supporting an enormous round globe on his back and shoulders. The globe originally represented the celestial sphere of ancient astronomy, rather than the earth. The use of the term atlas as a name for collections of terrestrial maps and the modern understanding of the earth as a sphere have combined to inspire the many depictions of Atlas' burden as the earth.

• Atlas is seen on the cover of Van Halen's album "5150".

• Atlas was used as a symbol in Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged. Atlas is used as a metaphor for the people who produced the most in society, and therefore "hold up the world" in a metaphorical sense.

Heracles and Atlas, on a vase by the Athena Painter, c. 490-480 BC (National Archeological Museum, Athens).

• Atlas appears in the Hercules episode "Hercules and the Prince of Thrace" voiced by Thomas Lennon.

• In the book series Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Atlas was the general of the Titans army in their war with the Olympian gods. When the gods won the war Zeus sentenced Atlas to hold the weight of the sky on his shoulders to keep it from crashing with the earth. In the third book titled The Titan's Curse, he tricked Artemis into holding the sky for him while he became general again. However, Percy and Artemis's Hunters managed to get Atlas back under the sky where he was before.

• In the World's Strongest Man competitions, competitors have to lift huge spherical stone boulders, known as the Atlas Stones, onto pedestals.

• The first cervical vertebrae, one of only two specifically named vertebrae, takes its name from the eponymous Atlas, since it supports the head as Atlas supported the celestial globe.

• One of the seven detector experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN has been named the ATLAS experiment, in the rough tradition of particle physics to name experiments after Greek deities.

• In Kid Icarus: Uprising, there is a item called the "Atlas Foot", Pit (or Fighters and/or Dark Pit in multiplayer modes) can use which calls forth a giant foot (which isn't the actual foot of Atlas) to crush Pit's enemies (other players in multiplayer). Their is also a Club type weapon called the "Atlas Club" which resembles a giant fist. Both of these appear to be inspired or apparently based off Atlas himself.

See also[link]

• Atlas (architecture)
• Farnese Atlas

Notes[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Atlas (mythology) (category)

• Origin of the term "Atlas" as a name for a collection of maps
• Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, London: Penguin, 1955; Baltimore: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-001026-2
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Atlas"

A political and physical map of the world from 2006

An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a map of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets (and their satellites) in the Solar System. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic features and political boundaries, many atlases often feature geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics. They also have information about the map and places in it.

"Atlas" mythology[link]

The origin of the term atlas is a common source of misconception, perhaps because two different mythical figures named 'Atlas' are associated with map making.

• King Atlas, a mythical King of Mauretania, also known as Aparajit in Hinduism, was according to legend a wise philosopher, mathematician and astronomer who supposedly made the first celestial globe. It was this Atlas to whom Gerardus Mercator was referring when he first used the name "atlas",^[1][2] and he included a depiction of the King on the title-page.^[2]
• However, the more widely known Atlas is a figure from Greek mythology. He is the son of the Titan Iapetus and Clymene (or Asia), and brother of Prometheus. Atlas was punished by Zeus and made to bear the weight of the heavens (the idea of Atlas carrying the Earth is not correct according to the original myth) on his back. One of Heracles's labours was to collect the apples of the Hesperides, guarded by Ladon. Heracles went to Atlas and reasoned with him. Eventually, Atlas agreed to collect the apples, and Heracles was left to carry the weight. Atlas tried to leave Heracles there, but Heracles tricked him and Atlas was left to carry the heavens forever. In his epic Odyssey, Homer refers to this Atlas as "one who knows the depths of the whole sea, and keeps the tall pillars who hold heaven and earth asunder".

In works of art, this Atlas is represented as carrying the heavens or the Celestial Sphere, on his shoulders. The earliest such depiction is the Farnese Atlas, now housed at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli in Naples, Italy. This figure is frequently found on the cover or title-pages of atlases. This is particularly true of atlases published by Dutch publishers during the second half of the seventeenth century. The image became associated with Dutch merchants, and a statue of this figure adorns the front of the World Trade Center in Amsterdam.

The first publisher to associate the Titan Atlas with a group of maps was Lafreri, on the title-page to "Tavole Moderne Di Geografia De La Maggior Parte Del Mondo Di Diversi Autori ...". However, he did not use the word "atlas" in the title of his work.

Modern atlas[link]

With the coming of the global market, publishers in different countries can reprint maps from plates made elsewhere. This means that the place names on the maps often use the designations or abbreviations of the language of the country in which the feature is located, to serve the widest market. For example, islands near Russia have the abbreviation "O." for "ostrov", not "I." for "island". This practice differs from what is standard for any given language, and it reaches its extremity concerning transliterations from other languages. Particularly, German mapmakers use the transliterations from Cyrillic developed by the Czechs which are hardly used in English-speaking countries.

Selected general atlases[link]

Some cartographically or commercially important atlases include the following:

17th century and earlier

• Atlas Novus (Blaeu, Netherlands, 1635–1658)
• Atlas Maior (Blaeu, Netherlands, 1662–1667)
• Cartes générales de toutes les parties du monde (France, 1658–1676)
• Dell'Arcano del Mare (England/Italy, 1645–1661)
• Piri Reis map (Ottoman Empire, 1570–1612)
• Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Ortelius, Netherlands, 1570–1612)
• Klencke Atlas (1660; world's largest book)
• The Brittania (John Ogilby, 1670–1676)

18th century

• Atlas Nouveau (Amsterdam, 1742)
• Britannia Depicta (London, 1720)
• Cary's New and Correct English Atlas (London, 1787)

19th century

• Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas (Germany, 1881–1939; in the UK as Times Atlas of the World, 1895)
• Rand McNally Atlas (United States, 1881–present)
• Stielers Handatlas (Germany, 1817–1944)

20th century

• Atlante Internazionale del Touring Club Italiano (Italy, 1927–1978)
• Atlas Mira (Russia, 1937–present)
• Gran Atlas Aguilar (Spain, 1969/1970)
• The Historical Atlas of China (China)
• National Geographic Atlas of the World (United States, 1963–present)
• Pergamon World Atlas (1962/1968)
• Times Atlas of the World (United Kingdom, 1895–present)

21st century

• North American Environmental Atlas

See also[link]

Atlas portal

• Atlas of Our Changing Environment
• Bird atlas
• Cartography
• Cartopedia
• European Atlas of the Seas
• Fictitious entry
• Geography
• Google Maps
• Manifold
• NASA World Wind
• Star atlas
• TerraServer-USA
• Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Atlas

Sources

• On the origin of the term "Atlas"

Online atlases

• World Atlas
• ÖROK-Atlas Online: Atlas on spatial development in Austria
• Geography Network
• MapChart EarthAtlas, free online atlas with interactive maps about topics like demography, economy, health and environment.
• National Geographic MapMachine

History of atlases

• Atlases, at the US Library of Congress site - a discussion of many significant atlases, with some illustrations. Part of Geography and Maps, an Illustrated Guide.

Historical atlases online

• Centennia Historical Atlas required reading at the US Naval Academy for over a decade.
• Historical map web sites list, Perry-Castañeda Library, University of Texas
• Ryhiner Collection Composite atlas with maps, plans and views from the 16th-18th centuries, covering the globe, with about 16,000 images in total.

Other links

• Google Earth: a visual 3D interactive atlas.
• NASA's World Wind software.
• Wikimapia a wikiproject designed to describe the entire world.

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] 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[link]

Typical characteristics[link]

The main characters in myths are usually gods, supernatural heroes and humans.^[4][5][6] As sacred stories, myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and closely linked to religion or spirituality.^[4] In the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the remote past.^[4][5][7][8] In fact, many societies have two categories of traditional narrative, "true stories" or myths, and "false stories" or fables.^[9] Creation myths generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form,^[4] and explain how the world gained its current form^[2][10] and how customs, institutions and taboos were established.^[4][10]

Terminology[link]

The term "mythology" can refer either to the study of myths or to a body or collection of myths.^[11] 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".^[12] Many scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in somewhat different ways;^[13][14][15] in a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story^[16] or, in casual use, a popular misconception or imaginary entity.^[17] 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.^[12]

Closely related to myth are legend and folktale. Myths, legends, and folktales are different types of traditional story.^[18] 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.^[4] 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.^[4] Legends generally feature humans as their main characters, whereas myths generally focus on superhuman characters.^[4]

The distinction between myth, legend, and folktale is meant simply as a useful tool for grouping traditional stories.^[19] In many cultures, it is hard to draw a sharp line between myths and legends.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22][23] 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.^[5]

Myth, legend, and folktale are only a few of the categories of traditional stories. Other categories include anecdotes and some kinds of jokes.^[19] Traditional stories, in turn, are only one category within folklore, which also includes items such as gestures, costumes, and music.^[23]

Origins of myth[link]

Euhemerism[link]

One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of real historical events.^[24][25] According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborated upon historical accounts until the figures in those accounts gained the status of gods.^[24][25] 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.^[24] Herodotus (5th century BC) and Prodicus made claims of this kind.^[25] This theory is named "euhemerism" after the mythologist Euhemerus (c.320 BC), who suggested that the Greek gods developed from legends about human beings.^[25][26]

Allegory[link]

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.^[25] According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite represents desire, etc.^[25] 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.^[27]

Personification[link]

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.^[28] For example, according to the theory of mythopoeic thought, the ancients tended to view things as persons, not as mere objects;^[29] thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, thus giving rise to myths.^[30]

Myth-ritual theory[link]

According to the myth-ritual theory, the existence of myth is tied to ritual.^[31] In its most extreme form, this theory claims that myths arose to explain rituals.^[32] This claim was first put forward by the biblical scholar William Robertson Smith.^[33] 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.^[34] 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.^[35]

Functions of myth[link]

Mircea Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior^[36][37] 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.^[7][37][38]

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.^[39] 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.^[40]

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.^[41]

Study of mythology[link]

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.^[42]

Pre-modern theories[link]

The critical interpretation of myth goes back as far as the Presocratics.^[43] 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,^[44] 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.^[45]

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[link]

The first scholarly theories of myth appeared during the second half of the 19th century.^[43] 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.^[46]

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.^[47] 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."^[48]

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.^[49]

The anthropologist James Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals; which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law.^[50] 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".^[35]

Robert Segal asserts that by pitting mythical thought against modern scientific thought, such theories implied that modern man must abandon myth.^[51]

20th-century theories[link]

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."^[51]

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.^[52]

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".^[53]

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.^[54]

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[link]

• 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.^[55]
• 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.^[56]
• 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.)^[57]

Comparative mythology[link]

Comparative mythology is the systematic comparison of myths from different cultures.^[58] It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to the myths of multiple cultures.^[58] 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.^[58]

Nineteenth-century interpretations of myth were often highly comparative, seeking a common origin for all myths.^[59] However, modern-day scholars tend to be more suspicious of comparative approaches, avoiding overly general or universal statements about mythology.^[60] 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.^[60]

Modern mythology[link]

1929 Belgian banknote, depicting Ceres, Neptune and caduceus.

In modern society, myth is often regarded as historical or obsolete. Many scholars in the 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 plot 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 and Immortals 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[link]

General

• Archetypal literary criticism
• Artificial mythology
• Creation myth
• Deluge myth
• Fairy
• Fable
• Geomythology
• Legendary creature
• LGBT themes in mythology
• Mytheme
• Mythical place
• Mythography

Mythology portal

• National myth
• Origin of death myth‎

Mythological archetypes

Myth and religion

Lists

Notes[link]

References[link]

• 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[link]

• 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
  • The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press, 1949.
  • Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension: Select Essays 1944-1968 New World Library, 3rd ed. (2002), ISBN 978-1-57731-210-9.
  • The Power of Myth. Doubleday, 1988, ISBN 0-385-24773-7.
  • Thou Art That (book). New World Library, 2001, ISBN 1-57731-202-3
• 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[link]

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

• The New Student's Reference Work/Mythology, ed. Beach (1914), at wikisource.
• Leonard, Scott. "The History of Mythology: Part I". Youngstown State University.
• Greek mythology
• Sacred texts

• Myths and Myth-Makers Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by comparative mythology by John Fiske.
• Porphyry on the Homer's Cave of the Nymphs, tr. Thomas Taylor
• M.A./Ph.D. Mythological Studies degree
• Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)
• LIMC-France (LIMC) : database (Ancient objects linked with mythology)