What is a Greek Myth?

different things to the Greeks at different stages o f their h i s t o r y .

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3. Myths and Other Traditional Tales

W h e n we take the t r i a d p o e t - m y t h o s - a u d i e n c e

as o u r point o f

d e p a r t u r e , it becomes easier to see the difference between Greek

m y t h a n d other genres o f p o p u l a r tales, such as the fairy-tale or the
legend. Fairy-tales are told p r i m a r i l y i n private a n d i n prose; they
are

situated,

f u r t h e r m o r e , outside

a specific t i m e and

place.

Whereas Greek m y t h always details the place a n d o r i g i n o f its

heroes, fairy-tales content themselves w i t h stating that 'once u p o n
a t i m e ' a k i n g was r u l i n g we never hear i n w h i c h c o u n t r y or i n
w h i c h age. A n i n d i v i d u a l fairy-tale therefore exists i n isolation,
w h i l e a Greek m y t h evokes further m y t h s i n w h i c h the same
n a m e d heroes are i n v o l v e d ; it is almost true that every Greek m y t h
is u l t i m a t e l y connected i n a chain o f association w i t h every other
G r e e k m y t h . M o r e o v e r , fairy-tales are told not to order or explain
the w o r l d , but to entertain their audience, a l t h o u g h moralistic
overtones were often i n t r o d u c e d .
T h e English w o r d ' l e g e n d ' comprises two genres o f tales that in
G e r m a n are distinguished as Legende a n d Sage. T h e Legende is
p r i m a r i l y a hagiographical legend, a story i n prose about a holy
person whose life is held u p to the c o m m u n i t y w i t h the exhortation:

'go a n d do l i k e w i s e ' . These stories,

t h e n , clearly were

invented or told by the c h u r c h to influence the lives o f the faithful.

As such, they are restricted i n scope a n d also are typical products
of a m o r e l i t e r a r y age ' l e g e n d ' comes from the L a t i n legenda, or
' t h i n g s to be r e a d ' .
T h e Sage is a legend that explains b u i l d i n g s or stresses the
boundaries between m a n a n d animals (cf. B u x t o n , this v o l u m e ,
C h . 4); it accounts for e x t r a o r d i n a r y events a n d catastrophes; and
it describes a w o r l d peopled by spirits a n d demons. F o r those who
believed these legends, Sagen w i l l have functioned very m u c h like
mythoi i n archaic Greece. A n d just as mythoi helped to bolster the
identity o f the Greeks u n d e r the R o m a n E m p i r e , Sagen acquired a
political significance i n the later nineteenth c e n t u r y when they
were collected by G e r m a n bourgeoisie i n search o f a c o m m o n
past.

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O n the other h a n d , a l t h o u g h these legends c l a i m to be t r u e ,

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