NATURE OF MYTHOLOGY

I. MEANING OF THE WORD

    A. COMMON ENGLISH USAGE

        1. Pejorative meaning of the term.

            a. "It's just a myth."

        2. Religious fundamentalism.  Are the "myths" of the Bible "true."  Can we call these stories "myths"?

            a. Adam and Eve

            b. Noah and the Deluge

            c.  Tower of Babel

    B. MODERN ATTITUDES

        1. Science vs. myth

        2. Fact vs. myth

        3. Myth = false, silly, outdated, superstitious, not relevant

II. THE GREEK WORD: MYTHOS

    A. CAN THE WORD BE SAVED IN ITS ORIGINAL MEANING?

        1. Words have many meanings.

            a.  Semantic change: grass, gay, rap, bad, etc.

    B. MEANING OF THE GREEK WORD MYTHOS

        1. 'Story' or 'plot' (Aristotle's Poetics)

    C. ARE THE STORIES OF MYTHOLOGY SIGNIFICANT?

        1. Mythology involves a search for meaning.   Important theological and philosophical questions are addressed.

            a. Do gods exist; what is it to be human; where does the world come from; why does the earth produce crops; who is the hero; why do we love; is there life after death

III. FOCUS OF THIS COURSE

    A. CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

        1. Greeks and Romans

    B. NON-CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY (COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY)

        1. Mesopotamian (e.g., Gilgamesh and Enuma Elish)

        2. Bible

        3. Egypt

        4.  Germanic

IV. MYTH AND RELIGION

    A. THREE COMPONENTS OF RELIGION

        1. Myth: the story

        2. Dogma: the beliefs

        3. Cult: worship or liturgy

    B. EXAMPLES

        1. Judaism

        2. Christianity

        3. Islam

V. PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS

    A. WHAT IS TRUTH?

        1. Literary truth: cf. Shakespeare's Hamlet

           a.  Is fiction a lie?

        2. Scientific and mathematical truth: 2 + 2 = 4; atoms have protons and electrons, etc.

        3. Religious truth: does God exist?  Is there life after death?

    B. CONSISTENCY IN MYTHOLOGY?  NO!

        1. Mythology

            a. birth of Aphrodite: two different versions

            b. father of Eros/Cupid: Zeus, Ares, etc.

        2. There are also competing theories in modern science

            a. big bang: origin and death of the universe; subatomic particles and quarks; the theory superstrings; the age of the universe; pulsars and quasars; black holes

VI. MYTH AND LEGEND

    A. LEGEND (SAGA)

        1. Link with history: real people, places, events

        2. Poetic exaggeration: mythic elements added

        3.  Examples

            a. Trojan War

            b. The Bible: Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus

            c. El Cid in Spanish literature

            d. Roland in French literature: Did he fight the Arabs or the Basques?

    B. PURE MYTH

        1. Adam and Eve; Noah; Cain and Abel

            a. religious truth?

        2. Greek creation myths

VII. MYTH AND FOLKLORE

    A. POPULAR TALES: E.G. FOLKLORISTIC MOTIFS IN THE ODYSSEY

        1. The cannabalistic witch living in the forest: Circe

        2. Evil ogre: the Cyclops Polyphemus

        3. Beautification and uglification (?): the transformation of Odysseus when he meets with Nausicaa and with the suitors

        4. Nick of time: return to Penelope

        5. Right (weak) overcomes evil (strong): suitors

    B. PHAEDRA AND HIPPOLYTUS

        1. Joseph and Potiphar's wife (Egyptian story of Anubis and Bata)

    C. ANIMAL FABLES

        1. Aesop

            a. frogs and the log; lion, ass, dog, and the fox

        2. Walt Disney

            a. Mickey Mouse; Tom and Jerry

VIII. UNDERSTANDING MYTHOLOGY

    A. EUHEMERISM (RATIONALISM)

        1. Euhemerus of Messene (c. 300 B.C.)

            a. wrote a novel about travels in the Indian Ocean; found graves of Uranus, Zeus, Apollo, etc.; kings who underwent deification

            b.   demythologize i.e. remove all supernatural elements (Morford 5)

        2. Nineteen and twentieth century Biblical exegesis explains away miracles

        3. Malinowski and social explanations

            a.  lived among the Trobriand Islanders near New Guinea

            b.  myths explain customs, beliefs, and institutions

        4. Max Mueller and allegorical nature of myth

            a. myths are explanations of nature: night, day, winter, etc.

        5.  Etiological explanation

            a.  myths explain causes

    B. PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

        1. Freud: the unconscious, Oedipus and Electra complexes (Morford 6)

            a.  the importance of dreams

        2. Jung: collective unconscious, archetypes, persona, animus, anima, etc.

        3. Fromm, Rank, Reik, Slater, Bachofen, Campbell, etc.

    C. RITUAL

        1. Robert Graves (Morford 4)

    D. STRUCTURALISM

        1. Levi-Strauss: analysis:  break myth into its component parts, binary structure, opposites (raw/cooked, life/death, hunter/prey, nature/culture (Gilgamesh and Enkiku) (Morford, p. 9)

        2. Propp: 31 functions common to all myths (motifemes), e.g. the quest; heroic labors; mothers of heroes (Danae, Semele, Alcmene) (Morford 11)

        3. Burkert: cultural and historical dimensions (Morford 12)

            a.  a traditional tale

            b.  meaning within the tale itself

            c.  reference to things of importance to the society

    E. Feminism

IX. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE BRONZE AGE (3000-1100 BC)

    A. MINOAN CIVILIZATION

        1. Crete and Knossos

        2. Thera

    B. MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION

        1. Schliemann and archaeology

        2. Linear B, the writing system

        3. Homer and the Trojan War (more on this topic when we do chapter 17)

    C. THE END OF THE MYCENAEAN AGE

        1. The dark age of Greece