FAH101H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Greek Mythology, Linguistic Universal, Xenophanes
Document Summary
Greek - to speak or tell, mytheistai . Myth in antiquity didn"t originally have the meaning of a false" story. 5th c emergence of historical literature, separating rational discourse from these myths, Mythos: may or may not be true. Criticism of myths existed in antiquity, early history of a community. based on critical examination of sources. 500bc, criticizing not myth itself but the anthropomorphism aspect (xenophanes) - that the gods resemble humans. Never really led to people negating myths altogether, weren"t really bothered by this. There was also criticism about the loose morality exempli ed by these gods. To help de ne myth you can compare it to other types of narrative - saga, legend, folktale etc. Democratic spirit re ected in the malleability of myths. Myth and religion didn"t stand in the way of individual freedoms (of freeborn males) Greek thoughts of afterlife and death was pretty pessimistic. Myth changes with the conditions in which it is told.
