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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Mythology)
This article is about a folklore genre. For other uses, see Myth
(disambiguation).

Mythology

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Mythologies

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Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a
fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the
vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true.
Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion.[1]

Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are
closely linked to religion or spirituality.[2] Many societies group their myths,
legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual
accounts of their remote past.[2][3][4][5] In particular, creation myths take place
in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form.[2][6][7]
[8]
Origin myths explain how a society's customs, institutions,
and taboos were established and sanctified.[2][7] National myths are
narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is
a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of
rituals.

Etymology

Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' Song,

by Francesco Hayez, 1813–1815
The word "myth" comes from Ancient Greek μῦθος (mȳthos),[9] meaning
'speech, narrative, fiction, myth, plot'. In turn, Ancient
Greek μυθολογία (mythología, 'story', 'lore', 'legends', or 'the telling of
stories') combines the word mȳthos with the suffix -λογία (-logia, 'study') in
order to mean 'romance, fiction, story-
telling.'[10] Accordingly, Plato used mythología as a general term for 'fiction'
or 'story-telling' of any kind. In Anglicised form, this Greek word began to be
used in English (and was likewise adapted into other European languages)
in the early 19th century, in a much narrower sense, as a scholarly term for
"[a] traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people
or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving
supernatural beings or events."[11][12]
The Greek term mythología was then borrowed into Late Latin, occurring in
the title of Latin author Fulgentius' 5th-century Mythologiæ to denote what
is now referred to as classical mythology—i.e., Greco-
Roman etiological stories involving their gods.
Fulgentius' Mythologiæ explicitly treated its subject matter
as allegories requiring interpretation and not as true events.[13] The Latin
term was then adopted in Middle French as mythologie. Whether from
French or Latin usage, English adopted the word "mythology" in the 15th
century, initially meaning 'the exposition of a myth or myths', 'the
interpretation of fables', or 'a book of such expositions'. The word is first
attested in John Lydgate's Troy Book (c. 1425).[14][16][17]

From Lydgate until the 17th or 18th century, "mythology" meant

a moral, fable, allegory or a parable, or collection of traditional stories,[14]
[19]
understood to be false. It came eventually to be applied to similar bodies
of traditional stories among other polytheistic cultures around the world.
[14]
Thus "mythology" entered the English language before
"myth". Johnson's Dictionary, for example, has an entry for mythology, but
not for myth.[22] Indeed, the Greek loanword mythos[24] (pl. mythoi) and
Latinate mythus[26] (pl. mythi) both appeared in English before the first
example of "myth" in 1830.[29]

Protagonists and structure

The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such
as gods, demigods, and other supernatural figures.[30][3][31][32] Others include
humans, animals, or combinations in their classification of myth.[33] Stories
of everyday humans, although often of leaders of some type, are usually
contained in legends, as opposed to myths.[30][32] Myths are sometimes
distinguished from legends in that myths deal with gods, usually have no
historical basis, and are set in a world of the remote past, very different
from that of the present.[32][34]

Definitions
 Ballads of bravery (1877) part of Arthurian
mythology
See also: Religion and mythology
Myth
Definitions of "myth" vary to some extent among scholars, though
Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko offers a widely-cited definition:

Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world,
the creation, fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a
result of which the world, nature and culture were created together with all
parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses
and confirms society's religious values and norms, it provides a pattern of
behavior to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical
ends and establishes the sanctity of cult.[35]
Another definition of myth comes from myth criticism theorist and
professor José Manuel Losada. According to Cultural Myth Criticism, the
studies of myth must explain and understand "myth from inside", that is,
only "as a myth". Losada defines myth as "a functional, symbolic and
thematic narrative of one or several extraordinary events with a
transcendent, sacred and supernatural referent; that lacks, in principle,
historical testimony; and that refers to an individual or collective, but always
absolute, cosmogony or eschatology".[36][37] According to the hylistic myth
research by assyriologist Annette Zgoll and classic philologist Christian
Zgoll, "A myth can be defined as an Erzählstoff [narrative material] which is
polymorphic through its variants and – depending on the variant –
polystratic; an Erzählstoff in which transcending interpretations of what can
be experienced are combined into a hyleme sequence with an implicit claim
to relevance for the interpretation and mastering of the human condition."[38]

Scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in varied ways.[39][40][41] In a broad
sense, the word can refer to any traditional story,[42][43][44] popular
misconception or imaginary entity.[45]
Though myth and other folklore genres may overlap, myth is often thought
to differ from genres such as legend and folktale in that neither are
considered to be sacred narratives.[46][47] Some kinds of folktales, such
as fairy stories, are not considered true by anyone, and may be seen as
distinct from myths for this reason.[48][49][50] Main characters in myths are
usually gods, demigods or supernatural humans,[2][3][31] while legends
generally feature humans as their main characters.[2][51] Many exceptions
and combinations exist, as in the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid.[52][53] Moreover,
as stories spread between cultures or as faiths change, myths can come to
be considered folktales, their divine characters recast as either as humans
or demihumans such as giants, elves and faeries.[3][54][55] Conversely,
historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time.
For example, the Matter of Britain (the legendary history of Great Britain,
especially those focused on King Arthur and the knights of the Round
Table)[56] and the Matter of France, seem distantly to originate in historical
events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, and became mythologised
over the following centuries.

In colloquial use, "myth" can also be used of a collectively held belief that
has no basis in fact, or any false story.[11] This usage, which is
often pejorative,[57] arose from labelling the religious myths and beliefs of
other cultures as incorrect, but it has spread to cover non-religious beliefs
as well.[58]

As commonly used by folklorists and academics in other relevant fields,

such as anthropology, "myth" has no implication whether the narrative may
be understood as true or otherwise.[59] Among biblical scholars of both the
Old and New Testament, the word "myth" has a technical meaning, in that
it usually refers to "describe the actions of the other‐worldly in terms of this
world" such as the Creation and the Fall.[60]

Since "myth" is popularly used to describe stories that are not objectively
true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly controversial.
Many religious adherents believe that the narratives told in their respective
religious traditions are historical without question, and so object to their
identification as myths while labelling traditional narratives from other
religions as such. Hence, some scholars may label all religious narratives
as "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one
tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one
another.[61] Other scholars may abstain from using the term "myth"
altogether for purposes of avoiding placing pejorative overtones on sacred
narratives.[35]
Related terms
Mythology
"Mythology" redirects here. For the term used to describe the overarching
plot of a fictional work (often for television shows), see Mythology (fiction).
For other uses, see Mythology (disambiguation).

Opening lines of one of the Mabinogi myths from

the Red Book of Hergest (written pre-13c, incorporating pre-Roman myths
of Celtic gods):
Gereint vab Erbin. Arthur a deuodes dala llys yg Caerllion ar Wysc...
(Geraint the son of Erbin. Arthur was accustomed to hold his Court at
Caerlleon upon Usk...)
In present use, "mythology" usually refers to the collection of myths of a
group of people.[62] For example, Greek mythology, Roman
mythology, Celtic mythology and Hittite mythology all describe the body of
myths retold among those cultures.[63]

"Mythology" can also refer to the study of myths and mythologies.

Mythography
The compilation or description of myths is sometimes known as
"mythography", a term also used for a scholarly anthology of myths or of
the study of myths generally.[64]

Key mythographers in the Classical tradition include:[65]

 Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE), whose tellings of myths have been profoundly
influential;
 Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, a Latin writer of the late-5th to early-6th
centuries, whose Mythologies (Latin: Mitologiarum libri III) gathered and
gave moralistic interpretations of a wide range of myths;
 the anonymous medieval Vatican Mythographers, who
developed anthologies of Classical myths that remained influential to the
end of the Middle Ages; and
 Renaissance scholar Natalis Comes, whose ten-
book Mythologiae became a standard source for classical mythology in
later Renaissance Europe.
Other prominent mythographies include the thirteenth-century Prose
Edda attributed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson, which is the main
surviving survey of Norse Mythology from the Middle Ages.

Jeffrey G. Snodgrass (professor of anthropology at the Colorado State

University[66]) has termed India's Bhats as mythographers.[67]
Myth Criticism
Myth criticism is a system of anthropological interpretation of culture
created by French philosopher Gilbert Durand. Scholars have used myth
criticism to explain the mythical roots of contemporary fiction, which means
that modern myth criticism needs to be interdisciplinary.

Professor Losada offers his own methodologic, hermeneutic and

epistemological approach to myth. While assuming mythopoetical
perspectives, Losada's Cultural Myth Criticism takes a step further,
incorporating the study of the transcendent dimension (its function, its
disappearance) to evaluate the role of myth as a mirror of contemporary
culture.

Cultural myth criticism

Cultural myth criticism, without abandoning the analysis of the symbolic,

invades all cultural manifestations and delves into the difficulties in
understanding myth today. This cultural myth criticism studies mythical
manifestations in fields as wide
as literature, film and television, theater, sculpture, painting, video
games, music, dancing, the Internet and other artistic fields.

Myth criticism, a discipline that studies myths (mythology contains them,

like a pantheon its statues), is by nature interdisciplinary: it combines the
contributions of literary theory, the history of literature, the fine arts and the
new ways of dissemination in the age of communication. Likewise, it
undertakes its object of study from its interrelation with other human and
social sciences, in particular sociology, anthropology and economics. The
need for an approach, for a methodology that allows us to understand the
complexity of the myth and its manifestations in contemporary times, is
justified.[68]
Mythos
"Mythos" redirects here. For other uses, see Mythos (disambiguation).
Further information: Fictional universe
Because "myth" is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, some scholars
have opted for "mythos" instead.[63] "Mythos" now more commonly refers to
its Aristotelian sense as a "plot point" or to a body of interconnected myths
or stories, especially those belonging to a particular religious or cultural
tradition.[12] It is sometimes used specifically for modern, fictional
mythologies, such as the world building of H. P. Lovecraft.
Mythopoeia
Main article: Mythopoeia
Mythopoeia (mytho- + -poeia, 'I make myth') was termed by J. R. R.
Tolkien, amongst others, to refer to the "conscious generation" of
mythology.[69][70] It was notoriously also suggested, separately, by Nazi
ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.

Interpretations
Comparative mythology
Main article: Comparative mythology
Comparative mythology is a systematic comparison of myths from different
cultures. It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to the
myths of multiple cultures. In some cases, comparative mythologists use
the similarities between separate mythologies to argue that those
mythologies have a common source. This source may inspire myths or
provide a common "protomythology" that diverged into the mythologies of
each culture.[71]
Functionalism
A number of commentators have argued that myths function to form and
shape society and social behaviour. Eliade argued that one of the foremost
functions of myth is to establish models for behavior[72][73] and that myths
may provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting myths,
members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present,
returning to the mythical age, thereby coming closer to the divine.[4][73][74]

Honko asserted that, in some cases, a society reenacts a myth in an

attempt to reproduce the conditions of the mythical age. For example, it
might reenact the healing performed by a god at the beginning of time in
order to heal someone in the present.[35] Similarly, Barthes argued that
modern culture explores religious experience. Since it is not the job of
science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt to
connect with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the
technological present.[75]

Pattanaik defines mythology as "the subjective truth of people

communicated through stories, symbols and rituals."[76] He says, "Facts are
everybody's truth. Fiction is nobody's truth. Myths are somebody's truth."[77]
Euhemerism
Main article: Euhemerism
See also: Herodotus
One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of historical events.[78]
[79]
According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborate upon historical
accounts until the figures in those accounts gain the status of gods.[78][79] For
example, the myth of the wind-god Aeolus may have evolved from a
historical account of a king who taught his people to use sails and interpret
the winds.[78] Herodotus (fifth-century BCE) and Prodicus made claims of
this kind.[79] This theory is named euhemerism after
mythologist Euhemerus (c. 320 BCE), who suggested that Greek gods
developed from legends about humans.[79][80]
Allegory
Some theories propose that myths began as allegories for natural
phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so
on.[79] According to another theory, myths began as allegories for
philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise
judgment, Aphrodite romantic desire, and so on.[79] Müller supported an
allegorical theory of myth. He believed myths began as allegorical
descriptions of nature and gradually came to be interpreted literally. For
example, a poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken
literally and the sea was then thought of as a raging god.[81]
Personification
See also: Mythopoeic thought
Some thinkers claimed that myths result from the personification of objects
and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshiped natural
phenomena, such as fire and air, gradually deifying them.[82] For example,
according to this theory, ancients tended to view things as gods, not as
mere objects.[83] Thus, they described natural events as acts of personal
gods, giving rise to myths.[84]
Ritualism
See also: Myth and ritual
According to the myth-ritual theory, myth is tied to ritual.[85] In its most
extreme form, this theory claims myths arose to explain rituals.[86] This claim
was first put forward by Smith,[87] who argued that people begin performing
rituals for reasons not related to myth. Forgetting the original reason for a
ritual, they account for it by inventing a myth and claiming the ritual
commemorates the events described in that myth.[88] James George Frazer
—author of The Golden Bough, a book on the comparative study of
mythology and religion—argued that humans started out with a belief in
magical rituals; later, they began to lose faith in magic and invented myths
about gods, reinterpreting their rituals as religious rituals intended to
appease the gods.[89]

Academic discipline history

Historically, important approaches to the study of mythology have included
those of Vico, Schelling, Schiller, Jung, Freud, Lévy-Bruhl, Lévi-
Strauss, Frye, the Soviet school, and the Myth and Ritual School.[90]
Ancient Greece
 Myths and legends of Babylonia and Assyria (1916)

Edith Hamilton's Mythology has been a major

channel for English speakers to learn classical Greek and Roman
mythology
The critical interpretation of myth began with the Presocratics.
[91]
Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He
interpreted myths as accounts of actual historical events, though distorted
over many retellings.

Sallustius divided myths into five categories:[92]

 theological;
 physical (or concerning natural law);
 animistic (or concerning soul);
 material; and
 mixed, which concerns myths that show the interaction between two or
more of the previous categories and are particularly used in initiations.
Plato condemned poetic myth when discussing education in the Republic.
His critique was primarily on the grounds that the uneducated might take
the stories of gods and heroes literally. Nevertheless, he constantly
referred to myths throughout his writings. As Platonism developed in the
phases commonly called Middle Platonism and neoplatonism, writers such
as Plutarch, Porphyry, Proclus, Olympiodorus, and Damascius wrote
explicitly about the symbolic interpretation of traditional and Orphic myths.[93]

Mythological themes were consciously employed in literature, beginning

with Homer. The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological
background without itself becoming part of a body of myths (Cupid and
Psyche). Medieval romance in particular plays with this process of turning
myth into literature. Euhemerism, as stated earlier, refers to the
rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological
qualities into pragmatic contexts. An example of this would be following a
cultural or religious paradigm shift (notably the re-interpretation
of pagan mythology following Christianization).
European Renaissance

This panel by Bartolomeo di

Giovanni relates the second half of the Metamorphoses. In the upper left,
Jupiter emerges from clouds to order Mercury to rescue Io.[94][95]
Interest in polytheistic mythology revived during the Renaissance, with
early works of mythography appearing in the sixteenth century, among
them the Theologia Mythologica (1532).
19th century
 Väinämöinen, the wise demigod and one of the
significant characters of Finnish mythological 19th-century epic poetry, The
Kalevala (Väinämöinen's Play, Robert Wilhelm Ekman, 1866)
The first modern, Western scholarly theories of myth appeared during the
second half of the 19th century[91]—at the same time as "myth" was adopted
as a scholarly term in European languages.[11][12] They were driven partly by
a new interest in Europe's ancient past and vernacular culture, associated
with Romantic Nationalism and epitomised by the research of Jacob
Grimm (1785–1863). This movement drew European scholars' attention not
only to Classical myths, but also material now associated with Norse
mythology, Finnish mythology, and so forth. Western theories were also
partly driven by Europeans' efforts to comprehend and control the cultures,
stories and religions they were encountering through colonialism. These
encounters included both extremely old texts such as
the Sanskrit Rigveda and the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, and current oral
narratives such as mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the
Americas or stories told in traditional African religions.[96]

The intellectual context for nineteenth-century scholars was profoundly

shaped by emerging ideas about evolution. These ideas included the
recognition that many Eurasian languages—and therefore, conceivably,
stories—were all descended from a lost common ancestor (the Indo-
European language) which could rationally be reconstructed through the
comparison of its descendant languages. They also included the idea
that cultures might evolve in ways comparable to species.[96] In general,
19th-century theories framed myth as a failed or obsolete mode of thought,
often by interpreting myth as the primitive counterpart of modern science
within a unilineal framework that imagined that human cultures are
travelling, at different speeds, along a linear path of cultural development.[97]
Nature
One of the dominant mythological theories of the latter 19th century
was nature mythology, the foremost exponents of which included Max
Müller and Edward Burnett Tylor. This theory posited that "primitive man"
was primarily concerned with the natural world. It tended to interpret myths
that seemed distasteful to European Victorians—such as tales about sex,
incest, or cannibalism—as metaphors for natural phenomena like
agricultural fertility.[98] Unable to conceive impersonal natural laws, early
humans tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to
inanimate objects, thus giving rise to animism.

According to Tylor, human thought evolved through stages, starting with

mythological ideas and gradually progressing to scientific ideas.[99] Müller
also saw myth as originating from language, even calling myth a "disease
of language". He speculated that myths arose due to the lack of abstract
nouns and neuter gender in ancient languages. Anthropomorphic figures of
speech, necessary in such languages, were eventually taken literally,
leading to the idea that natural phenomena were in actuality conscious or
divine.[81] Not all scholars, not even all 19th-century scholars, accepted this
view. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality is a condition
of the human mind and not a stage in its historical development."[100] Recent
scholarship, noting the fundamental lack of evidence for "nature mythology"
interpretations among people who actually circulated myths, has likewise
abandoned the key ideas of "nature mythology".[101][98]
Ritual
Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals, which were
themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law. This idea was central
to the "myth and ritual" school of thought.[102] According to Frazer, humans
begin with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When they
realize applications of these laws do not work, they give up their belief in
natural law in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature, thus
giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile, humans continue practicing
formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as
reenactments of mythical events. Finally, humans come to realize nature
follows natural laws, and they discover their true nature through science.
Here again, science makes myth obsolete as humans progress "from
magic through religion to science."[89] Segal asserted that by pitting mythical
thought against modern scientific thought, such theories imply modern
humans must abandon myth.[103]
20th century

Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau. In the mythos

of Hesiodus and possibly Aeschylus (the Greek trilogy Prometheus
Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros), Prometheus is
bound and tortured for giving fire to humanity.
The earlier 20th century saw major work
developing psychoanalytical approaches to interpreting myth, led
by Sigmund Freud, who, drawing inspiration from Classical myth, began
developing the concept of the Oedipus complex in his 1899 The
Interpretation of Dreams. Jung likewise tried to understand the psychology
behind world myths. Jung asserted that all humans share certain innate
unconscious psychological forces, which he called archetypes. He believed
similarities between the myths of different cultures reveals the existence of
these universal archetypes.[104]

The mid-20th century saw the influential development of a structuralist

theory of mythology, led by Lévi-Strauss. Strauss argued that myths reflect
patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental
structures, specifically pairs of opposites (good/evil,
compassionate/callous), rather than unconscious feelings or urges.
[105]
Meanwhile, Bronislaw Malinowski developed analyses of myths focusing
on their social functions in the real world. He is associated with the idea
that myths such as origin stories might provide a "mythic charter"—a
legitimisation—for cultural norms and social institutions.[106] Thus, following
the Structuralist Era (c. 1960s–1980s), the
predominant anthropological and sociological approaches to myth
increasingly treated myth as a form of narrative that can be studied,
interpreted, and analyzed like ideology, history, and culture. In other words,
myth is a form of understanding and telling stories that are connected to
power, political structures, and political and economic interests.[citation needed]

These approaches contrast with approaches, such as those of Joseph

Campbell and Eliade, which hold that myth has some type of essential
connection to ultimate sacred meanings that transcend cultural specifics. In
particular, myth was studied in relation to history from diverse social
sciences. Most of these studies share the assumption that history and myth
are not distinct in the sense that history is factual, real, accurate, and truth,
while myth is the opposite.[citation needed]

In the 1950s, Barthes published a series of essays examining modern

myths and the process of their creation in his book Mythologies, which
stood as an early work in the emerging post-structuralist approach to
mythology, which recognised myths' existence in the modern world and
in popular culture.[75]

The 20th century saw rapid secularization in Western culture. This made
Western scholars more willing to analyse narratives in the Abrahamic
religions as myths; theologians such as Rudolf Bultmann argued that a
modern Christianity needed to demythologize;[107] and other religious
scholars embraced the idea that the mythical status
of Abrahamic narratives was a legitimate feature of their importance.
[103]
This, in his appendix to Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, and in The Myth
of the Eternal Return, Eliade attributed modern humans' anxieties to their
rejection of myths and the sense of the sacred.[citation needed]

The Christian theologian Conrad Hyers wrote:[108]

[M]yth today has come to have negative connotations which are the
complete opposite of its meaning in a religious context... In a religious
context, myths are storied vehicles of supreme truth, the most basic and
important truths of all. By them, people regulate and interpret their lives and
find worth and purpose in their existence. Myths put one in touch with
sacred realities, the fundamental sources of being, power, and truth. They
are seen not only as being the opposite of error but also as being clearly
distinguishable from stories told for entertainment and from the workaday,
domestic, practical language of a people. They provide answers to the
mysteries of being and becoming, mysteries which, as mysteries, are
hidden, yet mysteries which are revealed through story and ritual. Myths
deal not only with truth but with ultimate truth.
21st century
Both in 19th-century research, which tended to see existing records of
stories and folklore as imperfect fragments of partially lost myths, and in
20th-century structuralist work, which sought to identify underlying patterns
and structures in often diverse versions of a given myth, there had been a
tendency to synthesise sources to attempt to reconstruct what scholars
supposed to be more perfect or underlying forms of myths. From the late
20th century, researchers influenced by postmodernism tended instead to
argue that each account of a given myth has its own cultural significance
and meaning, and argued that rather than representing degradation from a
once more perfect form, myths are inherently plastic and variable.[109] There
is, consequently, no such thing as the 'original version' or 'original form' of a
myth. One prominent example of this movement was A. K. Ramanujan's
essay "Three Hundred Ramayanas".[110][111]

Correspondingly, scholars challenged the precedence that had once been

given to texts as a medium for mythology, arguing that other media, such
as the visual arts or even landscape and place-naming, could be as or
more important.[112] Myths are not texts, but narrative
materials (Erzählstoffe) that can be adapted in various media (such as
epics, hymns, handbooks, movies, dances, etc.).[113] In contrast to other
academic approaches, which primarily focus on the (social) function of
myths, hylistic myth research aims to understand myths and their nature
out of themselves. As part of the Göttingen myth research, Annette and
Christian Zgoll developed the method of hylistics (narrative material
research) to extract mythical materials from their media and make possible
a transmedial comparison.[114] The content of the medium is broken down
into the smallest possible plot components (hylemes), which are listed in
standardized form (so-called hyleme analysis).[115][116] Inconsistencies in
content can indicate stratification, i.e. the overlapping of several materials,
narrative variants and edition layers within the same medial concretion.[117]
To a certain extent, this can also be used to reconstruct earlier and
alternative variants of the same material that were in competition and/or
were combined with each other.[118] The juxtaposition of hyleme sequences
enables the systematic comparison of different variants of the same
material or several different materials that are related or structurally similar
to each other.[119] In his overall presentation of the hundred-year history of
myth research, the classical philologist and myth researcher Udo Reinhardt
mentions Christian Zgoll's basic work Tractatus mythologicus as "the latest
handbook on myth theory" with "outstanding significance" for modern myth
research.[120]

Modernity

1929 Belgian banknote,

depicting Ceres, Neptune and caduceus
Scholars in the field of cultural studies research how myth has worked itself
into modern discourses. Mythological discourse can reach greater
audiences than ever before via digital media. Various mythic elements
appear in popular culture, as well as television, cinema and video games.
[121]

Although myth was traditionally transmitted through the oral tradition on a

small scale, the film industry has enabled filmmakers to transmit myths to
large audiences via film.[122] In Jungian psychology, myths are the
expression of a culture or society's goals, fears, ambitions and dreams.[123]

The basis of modern visual storytelling is rooted in the mythological

tradition. Many contemporary films rely on ancient myths to construct
narratives. The Walt Disney Company is well-known among cultural study
scholars for "reinventing" traditional childhood myths.[124] While few films are
as obvious as Disney fairy tales, the plots of many films are based on the
rough structure of myths. Mythological archetypes, such as the cautionary
tale regarding the abuse of technology, battles between gods and creation
stories, are often the subject of major film productions. These films are
often created under the guise of cyberpunk action
films, fantasy, dramas and apocalyptic tales.[125]

21st-century films such as Clash of the

Titans, Immortals and Thor continue the trend of using traditional
mythology to frame modern plots. Authors use mythology as a basis for
their books, such as Rick Riordan, whose Percy Jackson and the
Olympians series is situated in a modern-day world where the Greek
deities are manifest.[126]

Scholars, particularly those within the field of fan studies, and fans of
popular culture have also noted a connection between fan fiction and myth.
[127]
Ika Willis identified three models of this: fan fiction as a reclaiming of
popular stories from corporations, myth as a means of critiquing or
dismantling hegemonic power, and myth as "a commons of story and a
universal story world".[127] Willis supports the third model, a universal story
world, and argues that fanfiction can be seen as mythic due to its
hyperseriality—a term invented by Sarah Iles Johnston to describe a
hyperconnected universe in which characters and stories are interwoven. In
an interview for the New York Times, Henry Jenkins stated that fanfiction 'is
a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where
contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the
folk.'[128]

See also