CLAS 203 Midterm: CLAS 203 Midterm 1 Review Notes
Document Summary
Clas203 lecture 1 & 2 notes: there is no easy way to package myth into a simple definition. While some like hercules are well known, others like the many titans or giants are not always known individually. Therefore, it is hard to define myth itself: myth is a traditional story with collective importance. traditional from latin: trado which means to hand over" by mouth generation after generation. Place: real, surreal, past real: transmission: spoken, anonymous. Teller: no claim of responsibility for content: there are various ways of classifying myth, by principal character (central character of story) Divine myth: focus on supernatural beings (gods, goddesses, Immortal: personifications of natural forces (sky, sea, earth, abstractions (love; eros, superior to humans in power, control forces of nature, supernatural characteristics: size, power, appearance, events in unreal time and place. Recorded by members of the culture for goals other than that of study/preservation of myth.
