What are myths and why do we have them? A myth is some form of story based on tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning. Stories and the art storytelling are common among all cultures, and storytellers have catered for the need of a 'good story' since the beginning of civilization.
My question is now, why do we have myths? From my understanding, myths are traditionally used to explain universal beginnings, and often involve supernatural beings. For example, Hesiod’s Theogony explains the origins of the Gods, their genealogies and the events that led to the establishment of Zeus as their king[i]. So, mythology is etiological, myths are born with the sole purpose of explaining things.
The Greeks and Romans lived in high degrees of uncertainty and chose to believe that things beyond human control, for instance the unpredictability of weather, fertility or incomprehensible events such as meteorites, were due to the decisions and actions of divine powers[ii]. Anything abnormal was seen to indicate the intervention of a divinity and this supposed experience of intervention became encapsulated in myths. Thus a myth was born and a story was told.
These sort of stories were narrated to show people how to understand their world and a good story would provide excitement for those who heard it. The meanings of these stories, to the culture in which they came about, are a major reason why they have survived as long as they have done. This is sometimes for thousands of years.
The ancient literature we know about today is full of examples of unusual events being assumed to herald divine intervention. Ancient Greek mythology tells of a great battle between the Olympians and the Titans, essentially a battle between Zeus and his father Kronos to become ruler of all gods. Zeus rose up with the help of his siblings and defeated the Titans in an epic struggle, supposedly situated on a great battlefield on the island of Santorini. This battle would have occurred during the time of the great eruption, one of the ten largest eruptions in the history of the world. Almost 1.1 trillion cubic feet of ash was blown over land and sea reaching as far away as Alaska and a tidal wave, of almost 100 feet in height, exploded across the sea to Crete and destroyed the remainder of Minoan Settlements. Was this myth ancient man's attempt at understanding the horrendous force of nature that occurred on the island?
The status of myth is well revealed in Herodotos’ famous statement that it was primarily from Homer and Hesiod that we came to know about the gods [iii]. In Book one of Homer’s Iliad a plague strikes the Greek army outside Troy and Achilles’ response to this, was to consider how the god responsible might be appeased[iv].
Every part of life and many places within the ancient world were inhabited by the presence of the gods and myths helped to define the human condition in relation to that of the gods.
So if a myth is based on a tradition or legend, riddled with symbolic meaning, which explains to those who hear it the problems of the universe, then can something this complex really be true? Today we generally regard myths as something false, something our ancestors resorted to for understanding the world, passing time or a moral story told to naughty children. What we, as a modern society, don’t consider is that there are many types of truth. Some are objective, some subjective. Some logical, some intuitive. Some cultural, some universal. Some are based on evidence and others depend on faith.
Whilst there are some myths that are accounts of actual events, the settings may have been altered. These stories take on symbolic meanings, they may have been shifted in time, or changed place and sometimes even the names are varied.
The more critical thinkers of the ancient world, such as the philosopher Plato, recognized that myths contained a considerable element of fiction, as we know they do today. When it comes to myths, Plato presents an ambiguous point of view. He regards some truth to be found in myth, but not entirely: "we begin by telling children fables, and the fable is, taken as a whole, false, but there is truth in it also"[v]. He, like many modern thinkers, considers a myth to be a story that is based on a tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning. He clearly believes, as we do today, that the myth itself may be true or false, but the meaning is always true. What I mean to say is, there is usually some sort of moral lesson one can take away from a myth.
Ancient myths were told to help people understand their world, and it is amazing that today they still serve the same purpose; they are helping us to understand the ancient world. Creation myths, included in various parts of Hesiod and Homer’s works, allow modern scholars to delve as far back into literary history as we can possibly go. Ancient myths have brought the modern world a rich source of art and literature that can be applied across many aspects of life today. Mythology became a subject greatly depicted in the art world, particularly during the Italian Renaissance. Many artists such as Boticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo have contributed to the immense quantity of mythical paintings we have today. There is also a popular trend in modern movies to depict mythical stories such as the legend of Perseus in ‘The Clash of the Titans’.
Not all mythology, however, dates from the days of ancient cultures. People continue to create new myths and to rework existing ones all around the world today. Modern technologies such as publishing and the Internet allow legends, folktales, and myths to travel faster and reach more people than ever before.
Like all myths and legends, modern mythology comes from a sense of life's questions, pleasures, mysteries, and fears. Once again similar to traditional myths, modern legends suggest that good behavior will be rewarded and that evil behavior will be punished. Some modern legends reflect people's fears whilst others appeal to their desire to find meaningful patterns beneath the confusing chaos of everyday life.
One is drawn to the conclusion that a myth essentially 'conveys a truth' to those who tell it and hear it, rather than necessarily recording a true event. A myth is a truth that is fundamentally subjective, intuitive, cultural, and grounded in faith.
My question is now, why do we have myths? From my understanding, myths are traditionally used to explain universal beginnings, and often involve supernatural beings. For example, Hesiod’s Theogony explains the origins of the Gods, their genealogies and the events that led to the establishment of Zeus as their king[i]. So, mythology is etiological, myths are born with the sole purpose of explaining things.
The Greeks and Romans lived in high degrees of uncertainty and chose to believe that things beyond human control, for instance the unpredictability of weather, fertility or incomprehensible events such as meteorites, were due to the decisions and actions of divine powers[ii]. Anything abnormal was seen to indicate the intervention of a divinity and this supposed experience of intervention became encapsulated in myths. Thus a myth was born and a story was told.
These sort of stories were narrated to show people how to understand their world and a good story would provide excitement for those who heard it. The meanings of these stories, to the culture in which they came about, are a major reason why they have survived as long as they have done. This is sometimes for thousands of years.
The ancient literature we know about today is full of examples of unusual events being assumed to herald divine intervention. Ancient Greek mythology tells of a great battle between the Olympians and the Titans, essentially a battle between Zeus and his father Kronos to become ruler of all gods. Zeus rose up with the help of his siblings and defeated the Titans in an epic struggle, supposedly situated on a great battlefield on the island of Santorini. This battle would have occurred during the time of the great eruption, one of the ten largest eruptions in the history of the world. Almost 1.1 trillion cubic feet of ash was blown over land and sea reaching as far away as Alaska and a tidal wave, of almost 100 feet in height, exploded across the sea to Crete and destroyed the remainder of Minoan Settlements. Was this myth ancient man's attempt at understanding the horrendous force of nature that occurred on the island?
The status of myth is well revealed in Herodotos’ famous statement that it was primarily from Homer and Hesiod that we came to know about the gods [iii]. In Book one of Homer’s Iliad a plague strikes the Greek army outside Troy and Achilles’ response to this, was to consider how the god responsible might be appeased[iv].
Every part of life and many places within the ancient world were inhabited by the presence of the gods and myths helped to define the human condition in relation to that of the gods.
So if a myth is based on a tradition or legend, riddled with symbolic meaning, which explains to those who hear it the problems of the universe, then can something this complex really be true? Today we generally regard myths as something false, something our ancestors resorted to for understanding the world, passing time or a moral story told to naughty children. What we, as a modern society, don’t consider is that there are many types of truth. Some are objective, some subjective. Some logical, some intuitive. Some cultural, some universal. Some are based on evidence and others depend on faith.
Whilst there are some myths that are accounts of actual events, the settings may have been altered. These stories take on symbolic meanings, they may have been shifted in time, or changed place and sometimes even the names are varied.
The more critical thinkers of the ancient world, such as the philosopher Plato, recognized that myths contained a considerable element of fiction, as we know they do today. When it comes to myths, Plato presents an ambiguous point of view. He regards some truth to be found in myth, but not entirely: "we begin by telling children fables, and the fable is, taken as a whole, false, but there is truth in it also"[v]. He, like many modern thinkers, considers a myth to be a story that is based on a tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning. He clearly believes, as we do today, that the myth itself may be true or false, but the meaning is always true. What I mean to say is, there is usually some sort of moral lesson one can take away from a myth.
Ancient myths were told to help people understand their world, and it is amazing that today they still serve the same purpose; they are helping us to understand the ancient world. Creation myths, included in various parts of Hesiod and Homer’s works, allow modern scholars to delve as far back into literary history as we can possibly go. Ancient myths have brought the modern world a rich source of art and literature that can be applied across many aspects of life today. Mythology became a subject greatly depicted in the art world, particularly during the Italian Renaissance. Many artists such as Boticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo have contributed to the immense quantity of mythical paintings we have today. There is also a popular trend in modern movies to depict mythical stories such as the legend of Perseus in ‘The Clash of the Titans’.
Not all mythology, however, dates from the days of ancient cultures. People continue to create new myths and to rework existing ones all around the world today. Modern technologies such as publishing and the Internet allow legends, folktales, and myths to travel faster and reach more people than ever before.
Like all myths and legends, modern mythology comes from a sense of life's questions, pleasures, mysteries, and fears. Once again similar to traditional myths, modern legends suggest that good behavior will be rewarded and that evil behavior will be punished. Some modern legends reflect people's fears whilst others appeal to their desire to find meaningful patterns beneath the confusing chaos of everyday life.
One is drawn to the conclusion that a myth essentially 'conveys a truth' to those who tell it and hear it, rather than necessarily recording a true event. A myth is a truth that is fundamentally subjective, intuitive, cultural, and grounded in faith.
[ii] Osborne, R. (2008), ‘Gods and Festivals’, in ‘The World of Athens, An Introduction to classical Athenian Culture’, New York: Cambridge Unversity Press, Pp. 86-87.
[iii] Herodotos, Translation by R. Waterfield, (2008), ‘Histories’, New York: Oxford Unversity Press.
[iv] Homer, Translated by E. V. Rieu, Updated by P. Jones (2003), ‘Book 1: Plague and Wrath’ in ‘The Iliad’, United Kingdom: Penguin Classics, Pp. 3-20.
[v] Stenudd, S. ‘Plato on Truth’, Internet WWW page at URL: http://www.stenudd.com/myth/greek/plato.html (Acccessed 12.10.10)
