CLAS 203 : Lecture Notes - Cumulative MT#1.docx

• School: McGill University
• Department: Classics
• Course: CLAS 203
• Professor: Margaret Palczynski

Document Summary

There is no easy way to package myth into a simple definition. There are times where a story you recognize as a myth, but it does not fit into the definition of a myth. The word myth comes from the greek word mythos , which means utterance , something that is said like a story of some kind, but not a written story but rather a spoken story. Myth is not limited to the greeks; it is a universal phenomenon among human beings, and of every culture. Myths are as old as language itself, and before spoken language, myths could be portrayed in stone tablets, artworks, etc. Earliest written myth was the epic of gilgamesh which appeared around 7th century b. c. 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.