I.GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Chapter 1 WHAT IS MYTH?
Storytelling
The English word“myth”comes from the Greek μύθος meaning a story.Today we are so used to a world in which the printed or electronic word is easily available that it is easy to forget that in more ancient civilizations writing was a specialized skill,rather like that of a calligrapher today.In ancient civilizations information was transmitted far more by the spoken word than by the written word.The stories which make up Greek mythology would have first been passed orally from one generation to another.
Of course,we have no recordings of ancient peoples speaking aloud.But the spoken word was reinforced by visual images and there is plenty of evidence of ancient Greek art.The stories that make up the Greek myths are often first found in the painting on Greek vases.About 100,000 vases survive from ancient Greece.The images become far more sophisticated from the late 7th century B.C..The superman Herakles was a highly popular subject.
One Version or Many?
So myths were originally transmitted by oral or visual means.And of course there were lots of different people telling these stories.So the ways they told them soon began to vary.Quickly there began to be many versions of the same story.That is why there are many versions of the Greek myths.However,that is not something that should concern us.There is no need for us to try to establish a single authentic version.It is not the case that there is one correct version and all the others are wrong.[1]
We should next consider how anything that is transmitted orally is likely to be transformed as it passes from one storyteller to another.Most probably,the storyteller wishes to impress;at the very least he wants to hold the audience’s attention.So he develops and elaborates what he has to tell.He knows that people are fascinated by what is exceptional,by deeds which exceed what normal humans are capable of,by what can be called“epic”tales.So the stories become more and more fantastic.Many of them may have a basis in fact,but the facts have been elaborated and dramatized with the telling of them.
So it is not surprising that there are many inconsistencies in different versions of the Greek myths as we know them today.And it is not surprising that many of the myths are stories that enter the realm of fantasy to the point of absurdity.
Why Do People Tell Stories?
We need to ask ourselves：Why do people tell each other stories? We have already identified one simple reason：to impress and hold the attention of the listener.But there are other reasons too.One is the need to explain the world around us — how it all began;Man’s powerlessness in the face of Nature.Another is to explore the psychological strengths and weaknesses of human nature.This need to explain and make sense of the world and the human condition goes a long way to account not only for the Greek myths but also for the myths which every civilization and people develop.
For the Greeks were not unique.Other civilizations and religions have their“myths”too,even though they may not call them that.Many people are unwilling to call many of the stories in the Bible“myths.”But that is what they are.For example,the account of the fall of man at the start of the Bible is a myth.As we shall see later,it tells us something about the human condition,the fallible and fallen（but not evil）nature of man.And what it tells us is,arguably,eternally true.The story was expressed in a way we would probably not express it today,but the truth that lies behind it remains relevant.
Are Myths“True”or“False”?
One reason why some people are reluctant to call stories in the Bible“myths”is that the word“myth”has developed a meaning it never originally had.In everyday use today,it means something that is“not true,”not scientifically proven.So to say that something is a“myth”is to say that it should be rejected and disbelieved.Certainly the great majority of the Greek myths,like the myth of the Creation and the Fall in the Bible,if they are taken literally,contradict sense and science and cannot be true.However,there are different kinds of Truth.It is possible for a story which is not literally true to convey a psychological truth.This is the case with many of the Greek myths and with many of the stories in the Bible.There are many Chinese myths which have a value of this kind too.
Why Do Ancient Myths Survive in the Modern World?
We have already argued that myths changed because,before the written word was common,storytellers in the ancient world elaborated and developed them.We need also to notice that the changes did not stop with the arrival of the written word.A good story is referred to,repeated and used by generation after generation.The way it is used reflects the concerns and interests of each succeeding generation.So these changes tell us a great deal about the societies that made use of the myths.
Furthermore,until the mid-20th century a classical education in Greek and Latin was common in Western society,as was knowledge of the Bible.For this reason,writers,poets,painters,sculptors and musicians readily used ancient myths and the Bible as material to enrich their work,to make a point,to draw a parallel,to reinforce a perception about human psychology or simply to be elegant and show off.So ancient myths and biblical narratives have become deeply embedded in Western culture.Some ages have used them more extensively and more skillfully than others but right up to the present day they are essential to an understanding of western culture.
The Romans adopted and re-named the Greek gods,sometimes combining their cults with other eastern cults they encountered as their territories expanded.
Despite its rejection of polytheism,in the Middle Ages Christianity preserved many classical texts,and hence the myths in them.This was mainly because these texts provided material for language training,Latin being the language of the church.As a consequence the myths were preserved.
At the Renaissance,the rediscovery of ancient Greece and Rome led to a widespread revival of interest in Greek and Roman mythology,much of which was absorbed through the medium of the Roman poet Ovid.Botticelli,Titian,Rubens and many other artists portrayed not only Christian themes but also the pagan subjects of Greek mythology.As we shall see,the Greek gods have very human features and characteristics（unlike ancient Chinese gods）,so ancient Greek and Roman“humanism”was attractive at the Renaissance,which placed new stress on the realization of human potential.[2]
Shakespeare[3]and Milton[4]assumed that their readers would have a close knowledge of the Greek myths.The late 17th century French dramatist Racine re-worked many myths in his tragedies.[5]For the composer Handel in the 18th century they formed the subjects of some of his operas.[6]
In the early 19th century the romantics displayed a new enthusiasm for all things Greek.As we shall see later,the myth of Prometheus appealed particularly to revolutionaries looking for a model of heroic self-sacrifice and struggle against tyranny.And in the 20th century Freud used Greek myths,particularly the myth of Oedipus,as the basis of the new science of psychoanalysis.
To approach Western culture without some knowledge of Greek mythology would therefore be to seek to enter a building without having first secured the key to its front gate.
注释
[1]Indeed,so far as we know,the Greeks themselves did not worry about establishing a single authentic collection of all the myths.There is no surviving textbook of Greek myths in the ancient world until a book called the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus in the 2nd century A.D.（“pseudo”means“lying,false,pretending to be something that it is not.”The Library was attributed to Apollodorus of Athens,a Greek scholar born in 180 B.C..However,it cannot all have been written by him as it discusses events which occurred after he had died.Hence the author is generally referred to as“Pseudo-Apollodorus.”）
[2]This was in contrast to the medieval Christian emphasis on the sinfulness of mankind.Renaissance artists and writers looked back to ancient Greece and Rome for models of heroes who achieved the potential through their own efforts.
[3]Most notably in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,which is set in the court of Theseus of Athens.Shakespeare mentions Herakles a total of 48 times in 18 different plays.But most of Shakespeare’s knowledge of the Greek myths was accessed through Ovid rather than directly from Greek sources.
[4]For example,in the pastoral poem Lycidas（1637）.
[5]In La Thébaïde（1664）,which covers the story of the wars between the sons of Oedipus,and also the death of Antigone;Andromaque（1667）;Iphigénie（1674）,where Racine alters the ending from the one found in Euripides;and Phèdre（1677）.
[6]For example,Teseo（1713）;Acis and Galatea（1718）;Admeto（1727）,which is based on Euripides’s play Alcestis;Arianna in Creta（1734）;Oreste（1734）.