CLASSIC 45B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Natural Disaster, Collective Unconscious, Helladic Period
Document Summary
Involves a story that is told and heard by people,product of storyteller by tradition from person to person. Myth cognates with the word mythos in ancient greek. Terms like saga or legend have a more specific relationship to history and the making of history(as in family legend, local legend). Origins of greek mythology in oral tradition. The oldest surviving myths as they appear in the narrative of homer. Influence by other traditions of the east( egypt, mesopotamia) and hesiod, epics in a crystallized form that spring from a rich oral tradition. The problem of study of ancient ritual with mythological narratives. Euhemerus thought that some gods were eternal and imperishable but others were initially kinds who were deified. The use of myth to understand modernity. From astrophysics to archaeology and art history, politics to sociology. Second generation myths as the collective unconscious" (jung) Literature the most important source of myth. Doesn"t coincide with a particular text or literary genre.