Myth - this is what? Origin and examples of ancient and modern myths

Myth - a tradition that periodically appeared in the pre-written society. They tell of the life of the ancestors, the heroic deeds, the deeds of the gods and spirits. The very concept of myth has Greek roots and comes from the word "mytos", which means "legend".

The first mention of myths

The totality of myths in ritual rituals acquired a verbal form, speaking, one of the specific ways to systematize information about the surrounding reality. On the other hand, the narrative about the nature of the origin of the universe and man in it fulfilled a number of important functions: religious, ideological, philosophical, historical, scientific.

The peculiarities of myths include an arbitrary approach to the compilation of plots, the personification of natural phenomena, zoomorphism.

The appearance of ideas about supersensible principles occurs at the time of the appearance of the first graves. Thanks to ancient burials, many elementary forms of fine art have been found.

History of the origin of myths

In the Upper Paleolithic there is a stable formation of the syncretic complex: myth - image - ritual. The preservation of this structure throughout the history of mankind speaks of its universality. In it, for many centuries, both the rational principle and the irrational cultural core are reflected.

Paleolithic images and were myths, and their creation - rituals. "Known" and "signifier" in the myths of primitive people existed in absolute unity.

The concept of myth

In many sciences there are various interpretations of the concept of "myth". The meaning of the word is formulated from different positions, which causes a number of vague and contradictory definitions. Among them are interpretations that are given in encyclopaedic dictionaries, which call fantastic myths of folk origin.

Also there are deployed modernized versions that say that the myth is a syncretic understanding of the surrounding world, expressed by sensually concrete personifications and animated beings that are identified with reality. Philosophical views on the interpretation of this concept are based on the understanding of myth as a figurative scheme of the world, which explains and prescribes a specific algorithm of actions.

What does the word myth mean? This question can be answered by synthesizing the meaning-forming components from different approaches. This is how you can formulate a complete and accurate definition of this concept: myths are texts and images that show a syncretic reflection of the surrounding reality in different ages of human development. And each culture has its own identity, which emphasizes the numerous aspects of the development of a particular society.

Typology of Myths

The school curriculum includes myths that can easily be called antique, biblical or other ancient tales. They narrate about the events connected with the creation of the world, the performance of ancient deeds (mostly Greek and Roman gods and heroes).

Researchers of historical mythology note that in a great number of works of different nationalities many of the main themes and motifs are repeated. That is, the origin of myths does not in all determine their content. For example, one of the most ancient and primitive are the legends about animals. The earliest of them only naively describe the signs of fauna. And in ancient Australian myths, for example, the theory of the origin of animals from humans is widespread. But other peoples of the world, albeit not so clearly, spread in their tales the mythological notion that man was once an animal. Examples of myths of this kind: ancient Greek legends about the girl-nymph Daphne, about hyacinth, narcissus and others.

The origin of the heavenly bodies was also often sanctified in myths. In the so-called solar, lunar and astral tales, the Sun, Moon and stars were often portrayed by people who once lived on Earth and for various reasons subsequently ascended to heaven. Such a myth is an alternative invented by the people for the formation of the universe. Another common story is the description of the process of creating the Sun by some supernatural being. In this case, the heavenly body was not spiritualized.

The central place in the totality of the myths of many countries was occupied by works describing the creation of the world and the universe, as well as man. Otherwise, they are called cosmogonic and anthropogonic, respectively. The culturally backward peoples did not talk much on these topics. In particular, Australians only casually mentioned that before the surface of the Earth looked different, but questions about the appearance of it have never been raised.

Polynesians, North American Indians, peoples of the Ancient East and the Mediterranean considered cosmogonic processes from two points of view. One of them was based on the idea of creating the world (creation), the other on the idea of its development (evolutionary). According to the creation theory, the world was created by the creator, god, sorcerer or other supernatural being. In myths built on evolutionary theory, the world is systematically evolving from some primitive being. It can be chaos, darkness, darkness, etc.

In cosmogonic myths , plot lines about the process of origin of gods and people are often intertwined. The most common view of this issue was the wonderful birth of a man. After several centuries in myths, the first mentions of fate, the afterlife appeared.

How myths are formed

With the help of its speech structures, the myth demonstrates something unknown, new and in the course of the development of the plot shows how this new appeared. It can be the actions of the hero, the deeds of the ancestor or God. There are also a series of myths when something new is introduced in one of the works, and then the story develops on the basis of the accomplished events, which are only mentioned in the following legends. That is, they are accepted a priori as a given.

Examples of modern myths

The modern myths that emerged in Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, basically had the same focus. The central figure has always been some relict creature.

And this is not an accident, the first bricks in the foundation of such myths were laid by science fiction writers. Perhaps, one of the most striking works were the creations of Arthur Conan Doyle (The Lost World) and Obrucheva (Plutonia). And let the story lines are completely different, but both fantastic works are written in one style and they are based on the same idea.

Far from civilization, in the lost corner of the Earth there is a place where, by chance, all the surrounding reality reminds the distant past of the Earth. This is the climate, and the animal and plant world. It is this assumption that formed the basis of a series of myths about plants and animals preserved in the primeval world since ancient times. A vivid example of such myths is the legend of a monster named Nessie, who lives in the Scottish lake of Loch Ness.

There are also many mythological stories about sea creatures (monsters), seen by sailors, travelers and fishermen.

Modern myths and science

The essence of this problem is that it is difficult to talk about myth as a scientific fact. With certainty it can be stated that it is a component of mythology. At the same time, it refers to the secondary level of consciousness, which covers ideologically, culturally and scientifically revised information. In this context, the myth is an artificially created human legend, based on assumptions and legends, gradually changing under the influence of ideological and scientific factors.

Two Directions of the Development of Mythology

The emergence of myths is associated with the emergence, formation and development of some people. This is how people form their individual history of origin. Later in the myth-creation there are works intended for the masses (which are created by the elite), and legends created by the people themselves. Thus, we can talk about two areas of development of mythology: closed and open.