Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [12]
Even if myths only started out as a way to pass the time on long nights sitting around the campfire, they clearly became far more than elaborate entertainment. The people who formed the first civilizations developed myths. Over time, as their villages became cities and cities became states, the myths grew into complex, interconnected tales that formed the basis of intricate belief systems. These stories of gods and ancestors became one of the central organizing principles in these cultures, and they dictated religious rituals, the social order and customs, everyday behavior, and even the organization of entire civilizations.
It is the essential sacred, spiritual—or religious—significance in myths that fundamentally separates them from other types of very old stories, such as legends and folktales. While the mythologies of many cultures grew to include related legends and folktales, myths were usually considered sacred and absolutely true—a notion that is completely at odds with the modern concept of myth as fallacy.
Of course, the ancient myths usually were about gods or other divine beings who possessed supernatural powers. That simply makes it all the more interesting to see that many of the gods, goddesses, and heroes of myth exhibited very recognizable human characteristics in spite of these powers. The gods of every civilization seemed to be wholly subject to the same sorts of whims and emotions—love and jealousy, anger and envy—experienced by the people who worshipped them. Zeus, the greatest of the Greek gods, had what in modern terms is called “a zipper problem.” He couldn’t avoid temptation in any form—goddess, mortal, or even young boy. His divine wife, Hera, was most irritated by his behavior but put up with it, a model of sort of the long-suffering, wronged but devoted wife.
Myths are also filled with sibling rivalries, one of the most basic of human emotions. In ancient Egypt, Seth kills his brother Osiris out of envy, jealousy, and a desire for power. Then Osiris’ son Horus continues the fight against his uncle Seth—a cosmic family feud that was the rivalry around which their national religion was focused. Other mythologies feature “trickster” tales filled with stories of unscrupulous characters, like the Native American Coyote finding endless ways to deflower maidens. The vanity of three goddesses of Mount Olympus, each wanting to be called the most beautiful, is the force that powers the chain of events which leads to the affair between Paris, the prince of Troy, and the beautiful mortal Helen—the daughter of Leda, seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan. Those events bring the Greeks and Trojans to ten years of the Trojan War.
All of which leads to another question still—one that people have been asking for thousands of years:
Are the gods created in man’s image or is it the other way around?
MYTHIC VOICES
In my opinion mortals have created their gods with the dress and voice and appearance of mortals. If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands, or were able to draw with their feet and produce the works which men do, horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make the gods’ bodies the same shape as their own. The Ethiopians say that their gods have snub noses and black skins, while the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair.
—XENOPHANES (c. 570–475 BCE)
Myths, legends, fables, folktales: What are the differences?
A famous old ad campaign for luxurious fur coats illustrated with photographs of usually over-the-hill celebrities used to ask the question, “What Becomes a Legend Most?” What do the so-called legends of Hollywood have to do with stories of ancient gods and heroes? Not much.
Although the words “myth” and “legend” are often used interchangeably, there are some notable distinctions.