MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE
Prepared by: Prof. Victor Rey Fumar and Dr. Jennie V. Jocson
Competencies:
1. Gain insights into the beginnings of mythology as an attempt of ancient people to
explain nature and of natural phenomena.
2. Discover similarities (and contrasts) among the myths of the different countries and
draw implications thereafter.
3. Reflect on the values derived from mythology, a rich body of knowledge.
PARTI-CONTENT UPDATE
Definition of Terms
Myth: (1) a story (2) that is usually of unknown origin and (3) at least partially
traditional (4) that ostensibly relates historical events usually of such description as (5)
to serve to explain some particular event, institution, or natural phenomenon (Webster)
Myths are certain products of the imagination of a people which take the form of
stories. (H.J. Rose, A Handbook of Greek Mythology)
• A myth is a story about gods, other supernatural beings, or heroes of a long
past time. (M. Reinhold, Past and Present)
• A Myth is a cognitive structure analogous to language through which primitive
people organize their experiences. (.. Peradotto, Classical Mythology)
• Myth is the symbolic form which is 'jenerated, shaped, and transmitted by the
creative imagination of pre- and extra-logical people as they respond to and
encapsulate the wealth of experience. (R.J. Schork, "Classical Mythology," The
Classic Journal)
Fairy tale: a make-believe story about fairies, wizards, giants, or other characters who
possess magical or unusual powers
Folklore: traditions, customs, and stories of one culture or group of people
Legend: a story about the past that is considered to be true but is usually s
combination of both fact and fiction
Mythology: a group of myths from a single group or culture
Types of Myth
PURE MYTH OR TRUE MYTH OR MYTH PROPER
Myths of this kind tend to be examples of primitive science or religion. They explain
natural phenomena of the origin of things and they describe how individuals should
behave toward the gods.
SAGA OR LEGEND
Myths of this variety tend to be examples of primitive history; they contain a germ or
seed of historical fact and enlarge upon it with great flourish. A good example of a saga
or legend in the story of the war at Troy.
FOLK-TALE OR FAIRY-TALE
Myths of this species tend to be examples of primitive fiction. Tales of this sort are told
for pleasure and amusement. Frequently the stories contain supernatural characters
such as ghosts, elves, dwarfs, or demons, and they often include elements of magic,
e.g,. spells, potions, and objects.
Joseph Campbell
In 1949, Joseph Campbell published his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces which
discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies.
From then on, Campbell's theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of
modern writers and artists. The best know, according to Wikipedia, perhaps George
Lucas, who has acknowledged a debt to Campbell regarding the stories of Star Wars
films.
Campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world from
antiquity all share a fundamental structure which he called the monomyth
Joseph Campbell outlined the adventure of a hero thus,
1. Departure
a. The call to adventure
b. Refusal of the call
c. The crossing of the first threshold
d. The belly of the whale
2. Initiation
a. The road of trials
b. The meeting with the goddess.
c. Woman as the temptress
d. Atonements with the father
e. Apostheosis
f. The ultimate boon
3. Return
a. Refusal of the return
b. The magic flight
c. Rescue from without
d. The crossing of the return threshold
e. Master of the two worlds
f. Freedom to live
Not all myths contain all the stages; some, in fact, focus only one of the stages, wa,
while others have stages in different order. The classic examples cited by Campbell
include the stories of Osiris, Prometheus, the Buddha, Moses, Christ, and other
ancient myths from many cultures.
Later in his life Campbell acknowledged that all of great mythologies and mythic story-
telling of the world are from the male point of view. He said he had to go to fairy tales
to get women perspective. In The Odyssey, he pointed out the three journeys:
Telemachus going in quest of his father, Odysseus becoming reconciled and related to
the female principle in the sense of male-female relationship, and Penelope enduring
solitude and abiding in endless fidelity.
Sources of Mythology and Folklore
Aesop's Fables: a collection of fables under the name of Aesop over 2.000 years ago in
Greece. According to Herodotus, Aesop lived in the mid-sixth century and se and that
he was killed by the people of Delphi, perhaps for seditious of sacrilegious beliefs.
A Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights): a collection
stones and fables from Arabia, Egypt, India, and Persia that were compiled from oral
tales that had been passed down through these cultures for generations. Some of the
well-known characters include Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad the Sailor. Jinn are
common figures in these stories.
The Great Epics of the World: Myths and legends are usually sourced from the
existing epics of the different cultures of the world. The Iliad and The Odyssey of the
Greeks, The Aeneid of the Romans, The Mahabharata and Ramayana of India,
Beouwolf of England, The Song of Roland of France, El Cid of Spain, Sha Namah of
Persia, Gilgamesh of the Babylonians, etc.
The Panchatantra: a collection of fables which was used to educate Indian princes to
becoming wise kings. It is supposed that Aesop's Fables largely owed much from the
Panchatantra.
The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days. Hesiod is an early Greek poet
who probably flourished around 700 B.C. Much of Greek mythology came from his two
complete works.
THE GREAT THEMES OF MYTH
CREATION
Creation myths set the stage for more particular myths supporting social structures,
the relation of human beings to the natural world, and questions of life and death. A
creator deity brings into being the sun, moon, and stars, seas and mountains, and so
on, along with deities that personify them, then plant life, animals, and humans that
populate the world.
GODS AND GODDESSES
Universally, people believed in ideal beings leading them. Such deities possess human
characteristics: they have parents and offspring, and they belong to some social
grouping. An important role of mythology is to reinforce and justify relations of power
and leadership.
HEROIC FIGURES
Heroes and heroines are semi-divine beings: in many mythologies they have
superhuman powers through divine parentage; or they may have acquired divinity
through their deeds as men or women on earth, with the help of a deity, by use of
magic weapons, or acquisition of magic powers through ingenuity or trickery.
MONSTERS AND DEMONS
Monsters and demons are most familiar as the beings that a heroic figure confronts
eek and overcomes. They defy divine order both in their appearance-typically but not
invariably deformed or hideous-and in their actions, such as attacking or capturing a
human or divine victim.
ANIMALS
They are featured as wild creatures - predatory beasts or the elusive prey of hunters;
or as helpful beings tamed by humans, or as possessing powers. Deities may disguise
themselves as animals, or they may have heads or other features in token of the
characteristics they supported to have in common, or of a clan fetish.
THE UNDERWORLD
Inevitably associations with burial prompt tales of gloom and terror of the unknown
yet inevitable. A strong mythic duality: Earth swallows up the dead, but equally it
produces food plants and harbors mineral wealth.
JOURNEYS, QUESTS, AND TRIALS
Quests and journeys bring mythological figures into a number of situations where they
can prove their strength. In numerous myths loyalty to the dead initiates journeys to
the underworld to try to bring loved ones back to life.
THE AFTERLIFE
The afterlife, some form of existence after death, takes as many different forms in
mythologies as the culture from which they are drawn. Some speak of paradise where
the pains of life on earth are left behind. After death comes judgment, a rigorous trial
is conducted, and torture awaits those who fail the trial.
WORLDS DESTROYED
Creation may be seen in myth as chance event or something that occurred despite
opposing forces; likewise an end to the world in its present form may be inevitable or
threatened, whether by divine will, as a result of attack by forces of evil, or in
punishment for human misdeeds.
THE MYTHOLOGIES OF THE WORLD
Mesopotamian Mythology. The Assyro-Babylonian tradition had its core of mythology
of the Sumerians. The Gods included Annu (sky), Enlil (storm), Enki (water), Ea
(wisdom), Ishtar (fertility), Erishkigal (underworld).
Canaanite Mythology. Canaan is here used in its biblical sense: Syria, Phoenicia, and
Palestine. The divinities included El (the creator), Baal (heavy rains).
Egyptian Mythology. The dying and rising vegetation gods of both Mesopotamia and
Canaan have their counterpart in the Egyptian mythology. Osiris, Isis, Horus, and are
the deities.
Greek Mythology. The major deities were associated with aspects of nature such as
Zeus (sky and thunder) or Poseidon (sea), and with abstract qualities, such as Athena
(wisdom) or Apollo (arts, healing, prophecy).
Roman Mythology. It incorporated those of conquered peoples but was in many
respects an adaptation of the Greeks. Juno, originally an Etruscan deity of the moon,
protected the city of Rome. Quirinus, a Sabine war god, was assimilated to Romulus,
deified mythical founder of Rome.
Celtic Mythology. Celtic mythology is preserved in Wales and Ireland which the
Romans failed to subdue. The druids and bards preserved the tradition of the people
led by a warrior elite with spectacular achievements in terms of conquest and plunder
but without the organizational skills to consolidate an empire.
Norse Mythology. Norse or Germanic mythology also glorifies battle but against a
harsher natural background: life derives from ice and fire and is ultimately consumed
by them. The individual's self-sacrifice in the service of Odin (death and magic) who
brings the reward of unlimited food and drink –and more fighting – in Valhalla. Other
gods are Thor, Frigg, and Balder.
Mexican and South American Mythologies. The mythology of the warlike Aztecs in
Meso-America also justified bloodshed, though they adopted the practice of sacrifice
for which they are so vilified from the Toltecs, the first of many older civilizations that
they overcame. The empire-builders of South America, the Incas, like the Aztecs,
considered themselves the elect of the gods, their ruler offspring of the sun. The
heavens, with astronomical observations and calendrics, dominated mythology.
Persian Mythology. Initially, Persian mythology reflected a life of warriors and of
nomadic pastoralists beginning to turn to agriculture in fertile pockets amid harsh
deserts and mountains. It supported a cult held in the open air, sometimes of
mountaintops, with the deities personifying beneficent and destructive forces of nature.
Later developments stressed this duality of good and evil, light and dark in constant
battle.
Indian Mythology. The Vedic mythology of India, derived from the Aryans, also has
Indra, a warrior sky god, insuring fertilizing rain and dispatching earlier inhabitants of
the new homeland and demonizing them. Sacrifice and cult itself was deified
developing an endless conflict of gods and demons of Hinduism, together with cyclic
creation, maintenance of the balance of good and evil, and destruction to prepare the
way for new creation.
Chinese Mythology. Chinese mythology is rooted in its vast land, in veneration of its
emperors, whose good rule brought prosperity and was a mark of heavenly approval,
and in reverence for ancestors, the link between humans and gods. Three philosophies
shaped Chinese mythology: (1) Taoism taught that cosmic energy and a life in
mystically compounded of yin the negative, female principle) and yang (the
complementary positive, male principle); (2) Confucianism upheld the leadership of
emperor and aristocracy, with mythology showing the benefits of learning and
discipline; (3) Buddhism brought elements of Indian thought on reincarnation, the
conflict of good and evil, and judgment.
Japanese Mythology. Like in China, native mythology centered on land, and the
establishment of imperial dynasties was combined with Buddhist doctrine on death
and the afterlife, ultimately from India and related to Persian traditions, for example
Yama/Yima as first man and king/judge of the dead.
The Greek and Roman Gods
The Greek culture existed before the Roman culture. When the Romans decided to
develop a mythology, they adopted the gods of Greek mythology and changed their
names. Typically, these Roman versions of the gods are more disciplined and do not
take on the same colourful and complex personalities that many of the Greek gods
have.
Table of Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses
GREEK ROMAN TITLE
Aphrodite Venus Goddess of love and beauty
Apollo Apollo God of music, poetry, and the sun
Ares Mars God of war
Armetis Diana Goddess of the moon
Asclepius Aesculapius God of medicine
Athena Minerva Goddess of wisdom
Cronus Saturn God of the sky and agriculture
Demeter Ceres Goddess of fertility and crops
Dionysus Bacchus God of wine, ecstasy
Eros Cupid God of love
Gaea Terra Mother Earth
Hades Dis God of the underworld
Hephaestus Vulcan God of fire; craftsman for the gods
Hera Juno Queen of the gods; goddess of marriage
Hermes Mercury Messenger of the gods, travel
Persephone Proserpina Queen of the underworld
Poseidon Neptune God of the sea
Zeus Jupiter Ruler of the gods
Theories Related to the Study of Mythology
Ancient Theories
1. Rationalism
According to this theory, myths represent an early form of logical thinking: they
all, have a logical base. For example, the myth of Pegasus, the flying horse can
best be explained by imagining the reaction of the first Greek to see a horse.
Compared to other animals they know, the horse must have seemed to fly as it
gallops fast and leap over high obstacles.
2. Etymological Theory
This theory states that all myths derive from and can be traced back to certain
words in the language. Sources of most mythological characters have their
origins from the languages of the world. Hades, for example, originally meant
"unseen" but came eventually to be the name for the god of the dead.
3. Allegorical theory
In the allegorical explanation, all myths contain hidden meanings which the
narrative deliberately conceals or encodes. Example: story of King Midas and
his golden touch.
Allegorists offered this simple reason why stories were used in the first place
rather than a simple statement of the ideas they represented: they interested
people who might not listen to emotionless concepts but who could be attracted
by imaginative narratives.
4. Euhemerism
Euhemerus, a Greek who lived from 325-275 BC, maintained that all myths
arise from historical events which were merely exaggerated
Modern Theories
1. Naturalism
In this hypothesis, all myths are thought to arise from an attempt to explain
natural phenomena. People who believe in this theory narrow the source of
myths by tracing their origins from the worship of the sun or the moon.
2. Ritualism
According to this theory, all myths are invented to accompany and explain
religious ritual; they describe the significant events which have resulted in a
particular ceremony.
