Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [6]
These may seem like amusing legends of “primitive” people. A god who goes to the heavens because smoke gets in his eyes and another god who is peeved at being cut up for the day’s soup. But consider these mythical stories: A god who is so angry when a woman eats a piece of fruit that he makes childbirth eternally painful for all women. In his anger, this ancient Hebrew god—who also liked to walk around the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening—gradually removes himself, like Wulbari and We, from his creation. Or a god whose body and blood are consumed each week at a ritual of sacrifice called the Eucharist.
In other words, what we call one person’s “myth” is often another person’s religion. One of this book’s essential goals is to explore that transformation of myth into religion. And how that transformation has changed history.
Many books about myths approach the subject from one of two perspectives: geographically—that is, simply grouping myths together by a region or particular civilization; or thematically—the broad range of typical myths, such as Creation stories or other explanatory myths. Creation myths set out to explain the origin of the world, the birth of gods and goddesses, and eventually the creation of human beings. Explanatory, or causal, myths try to give a mythic reason for natural events, such as the Norse belief that Thor made thunder and lightning by throwing his hammer.
Don’t Know Much About Mythology takes a slightly different tack. It sets out to examine all the fascinating myths created by these ancient cultures and relate them to their histories and achievements. Besides Creation and explanatory myths, another fundamental type of myth is the “foundation” story, which explains the beginnings of a society—often with the distinct sense of superiority that direct descent from the gods clearly implies. For instance, it is impossible to understand Egyptian history and culture without understanding Egyptian mythology. For the Egyptians, their elaborate system of myths and beliefs was life itself—it was the critical underpinning of this amazing empire that lasted three thousand years.
Part of that mix of myth and history is the way in which myths became the means to rule and domination. Once local rulers understood that connecting themselves to the gods would cement their hold over people, myth was elevated to an institution that could prove more powerful than an army. Most of the great ancient civilizations—whether in Egypt, China, or Mesoamerica—were theocracies, in which there was no difference between religion and state. With connections to the gods and usually the cooperation of a potent priesthood, divinely anointed rulers held the power of life and death over their subjects. Even in societies that did not produce a godly king and a central government tied to the beliefs, the most respected and feared person in the society was the shaman, sometimes known as the “witch doctor”—a man whose deep connection to the gods enabled him to heal or kill. In his groundbreaking book Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond singled out the power of belief as one of the key means for the wealthy and powerful—what he calls the “kleptocracy”—to maintain their hold over the poor and powerless.
The history of myth, in other words, goes hand in hand with the history of civilization. Stop and think about “ancient civilization.” What does it mean? The wheel. Zero. Writing. Bronze. Glass. Fireworks. Paper. Noodles. Indoor plumbing. Beer. These are only a few of the pleasant and delightful creations devised by the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Greece, India, Rome, Africa, Central America, and Japan. They also gave us astronomy, democracy, the calendar, God, philosophy, and a whole set of complex ideas that have driven students crazy for centuries. The scientific discoveries,