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Understanding Myths 3.1

Page Tags: Myth, God, Gods, Life, Mythical, Myths, People, Primitive, Ritual, Thought

In the development of human culture, we cannot fix a point where myth ends or religion begins. In the whole course of history, religion remains indissolubly connected and penetrated by mythical elements.
E Cassirer

Common Themes in Greek Myths

Abstract

Myths are connected with religion because they were how the earliest human beings thought, with dreams and reality intertwined and explanations picked from anywhere that seemed suitable at the time, with no particular attempt to find something better. Religion was the magical way these people tried to control their world, and ritual was their method, a type of sympathetic magic. Myths offered pseudo scientific explanations of natural phenomena—fertility, life and death, the creation of the world, its polarities, its social and technical functions. The activities of gods helped humans, but also hit them with evil and disease, and their anger caused floods, famines and wars. Myths were used to explain the rituals, and rituals enacted mythical explanations. The pre-logical way of thinking of mythopoetic thought became associated with religion. Though people began to think logically, they remained associated, and still are.

Common Themes in Greek Myths

Greek myths are not at all original. They have been extensively rewritten, and it can be seen continuing in the works of the great Greek dramatists. These myths have been modelled much more as entertainment or as explanations of human psychology than the originals. Literary editors and authors like Æschylus campletely change the purpose of a myth, and the same has already happened in Homer and Hesiod, although the originals are still intact enough to be seen still. The same is true of the Jewish scriptures which have used a variety of ancient mythical sources, as well as historical archives and king lists, drawing on Sumerian models, but have deliberately recast the material according to a new quite conscious plan—that of the Deuteronomist—and this overlays the mythological groundwork. G S Kirk has catalogued the themes—in a list reminiscent of G Polti’s 36 plots—that arise in Greek myth as:

Tricks, riddles, ingenious solutions to dilemmas used by gods and heroes for all purposes:
- to disguise or unmask
- to catch a thief or adulterer
- to win a contest
- to delay pursuit, etc
Transformations
- of men and women into birds, trees, animals, snakes, stars
- of deities into humans, temporarily
- of women to evade amorous attention
- of Zeus to further it
- of waterdeities into all shapes
Accidental killing of a relative, lover or friend, often followed by flight to avoid vengeance or obtain purification
- of Laius by Oedipus
- of Actaeon by his dogs
- of Cyzicus by the Argonauts
- of Electron by Amphitryon
- of Hyacinthus by Apollo
- of Procris by Cephalus
- of Catreus by Althaemenes
- cf Megara by Heracles
- cf Dryas by Lycurgus
- cf Aigeus by Theseus, etc
Giants, monsters, snakes
- as opponents of gods
- as guardians of treasure
- as ravagers to be destroyed by a hero
- occasionally friendly, eg Hundred-handed giants, some Cyclopes, some Centaurs
- sometimes of mixed animal and human shape, eg Sphinx, Minotaur, Centaurs, Satyrs
Attempts to get rid of a rival by setting impossible and dangerous tasks
Fulfilling a task or quest, sometimes with help of a god or girl
- killing a monster
- gaining an inaccessible object
- freeing, sometimes marrying, a princess)
Contests
- for a bride
- for kingship
- for honour
Punishment for impiety of various graphic kinds
- for attempting a goddess
- for boasting that one surpasses a deity
- special kinds of death for opposing Dionysus
Displacement of parents or elders
- actual or feared displacement
- often in accordance with an oracle
Killing, or attempting to kill, one’s own child often in accordance with an oracle or prophecy
- by exposure
- to avoid displacement, cf 9
- by accident
- to appease a deity
Revenge by killing or seducing a man’s wife or murdering his children
Sons avenge mother or protect her against an oppressor
Disputes within the family
- sons fight each other
- children oppressed by stepmother
Deceitful wife, vainly in love with young man, accuses him of rape
Deceitful daughter, in love with father’s enemy, betrays father, is punished for it
Incestuous relationships
Founding a city
- in accordance with an oracle
- by following a certain animal
- by other tokens, etc
Special weapons needed to overthrow a particular enemy, cure a wound, etc
Prophets and seers
- understand language of animals
- propound riddles
- cure childlessness
- reveal way out of an impasse
Mortal lovers of goddesses and mistresses of gods
Perils of immortality as a gift to men, danger of infinite old age if youth is not specified
External soul or life-token, the life of a hero depends on a hair, a firebrand, etc.)
Unusual births
- from the head or thigh of Zeus
- from mother at point of death
- by castrating father, etc
Enclosure or imprisonment in a chest, jar, or tomb