1) What is a “myth”?

a. “ a traditional story, set in a remote and unspecified past, concerning

supernatural beings or humans who come into contact with the
supernatural, which may be retold in different ways but retains a constant
structure”
b. Distinguish from legend, fable, folktale
2) Why do people tell myths?
a. Euhemerism
b. Allegorical explanations
c. 19th century Comparative mythology
d. The Cambridge anthropologists
e. Psychoanalysis
i. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Karol Kerenyi
f. Structuralism
i. Claude Levi-Strauss
3) Do people really believe myths?
a. The Greek concept of aletheia = “not being unnoticed”
4) Who were the Greeks?
a. Minoan Culture
b. Mycenae and Mycenaean Civilization
c. Troy
d. The “Dark Ages”

Mythos – Greek word for story/plot (ex: fiction)

Features supernatural, may not be dominant element. Doesn’t always have to involve
“gods”. Does involve humans who have been influenced by divine/supernatural
ex: Oedipus. Divine element is the oracle
A myth does not exist in a single form. Ex: scripts
Books were not common in Greece. It was told or performed. Oral.
It is more a “general” story pattern. Multiple versions. What are the constant
points, the elements that are the same? Incidental/ changed
Can have folktale motifs

Legends are traditional stories about figures that have some historical reality
Ex: Loch ness monster, King Arthur, Cherry Tree (has some historical context,
historical figure)
Can be a boundary zone between myth and legend. Ex: Troy
Usually the figues are not historical
Fable - Story with a moral lesson Ex:

Folktale – Tales told by the folk/common people. Usually conveyed by priest or by

figures with some literary authority
Primarily for entertainment. Witches, trolls, ogres. Hero of folktale doesn’t exist
outside. Ex: Paul Buneon, Jack and the Beanstalk.
Usually in recent times, or identifiable past.

“Why do people tell myths”

Euhemerism – most heroes were originally historical kings, princes, great men with great
achievements. Sometimes men are elevated to status of a god

Allegorical exp –
allegory – name is used to stand for something else
Gods may be identified with a natural element. Cosmic/social force.
Ex: Ares – war (social), Aphrodite – love (social), Zeus – Sky, Hera – change
name to resemble air
interaction of these cosmic or social forces.

19th century
“European colonialism. Expansion of Britain and France”
They would collect these stories in the new worlds and compare to the Greek and Latin
myths and find many parallels. “Collecting stories from all over the world and comparing
them finding common threads and conditions”

Everything men finds awesome or mysterious can be explained by gods.

Myths about social structure rather than natural phenomenon.

Cambridge. Sir James Frazer.

Relationship between myth and ritual. Most myths were designed to explain
commonly practiced rituals or ceremonies whose original significance has been forgotten
over time. Priests needed to come up with a story to explain why to keep sacrificing.
When a boy or girl came of age.

Etiological – Giving a cause. Explaining a reason for something/origin

Develop rituals to regularize things such as coming of age, marriage, etc.

Ex: Weddings, graduation,

Myths give us exemplary stories of heroes/gods who go through these same transitions
successfully.
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Psychoanalysts compare myths to dreams.

“Oedipal anxiety”

Concerns of myths and dreams were seen as “sexual”. – Freud

Kerenyi – Archetypes – Hardwired structures in the human mind, seen commonly in all
cultures. Ex: Old men are wise. Young children are somehow closer to God. Follower of
Jung, applied his concepts to Greek myths.
Are the building blocks for myths. The “collective” unconscious.

Structuralism –
Finds meaning in myths that were not obvious on surface, similar to Psychoanalysis.
It doesn’t see basic structure of myth as psychological. It sees myths as responding to
social issues, explaining things such as kinship relations.
Explains social practices
Must view a myth within a bigger structure of myths, not in isolation but part of a system
Then look for similarities and differences

“Do people really believe the myths?”

Greek word for truth – aletheia “a” – negate, “lethe” root – to escape notice, forget,
river of forgetfulness

Dominant opposition, truth and obscurity, not truth and falsehood

New stories must be consistent to god’s character, and must please god, and would be
considered as truth

Greek History

Minoan society

Became more common to settle instead of being nomadic

Social status of women became higher because women and men could both cultivate the
land instead of men doing the hunting

Women would also participate in certain dangerous sports.

Minoan religion is very female oriented. Few male figurines

Minoan and Greek language were not very related. Greek is Indo-European
Sanskrit and Greek-Latin were very similar in grammatical structure and words
Must be from same area, Proto-Indo-European

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Mycenae

Troy was a very strategic point and could choke off trade route for grains

The Dorian migration, related to earlier Greek migrants

Much less cultivated
essentially destroyed every city in their path
Population becomes dispersed. Economy of Greece was crushed

Art becomes purely geometric after Dorian migration

Art essential regresses in style and sophistication
1100-800 bc (dark ages)
Period of earliest epic poetry. Homer and Hesiod

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Theogony – King is to speak judgment, given by the muses. King is divine

their eloquence and rhetorical skill

Theogony – “Theos” – god “gony” – birth

birth of the gods
Used to explain cosmogony – birth of the cosmos

Curetes – Shielded warriors banged spears to hide cries of baby Zeus

Syncretism – blending of two different religious traditions

Polytheistic religions have no need to deny other gods. Different version of the same god

Metis – “Cleverness of Cunning”