Modern Good Reads discussion

To me, myths were created to explain the unexplainable.

It's a very sunny day, then a raging thunderstorm hits. That's because Zeus was angry you didn't give the proper sacrifice.

Myths were also created to control the weak-minded. Give all of your gold and prized bulls in the name of Poseidon, to provide a calm sea for your journey across the waters.

Myths were made, just to make a dreary situation, palatable.

Agree or disagree...what are your thoughts?

Agree but with an explanation.
Myths were religion, pure and simple.

The role that Christianity and the rest of the major faiths have today was filled by myths.

Athanasios wrote: "Agree but with an explanation.
Myths were religion, pure and simple.

The role that Christianity and the rest of the major faiths have today was filled by myths."

Thank you! I totally agree.

A Myth, is a common belief never established as truth. Vampires are a Myth...no one ever has established their existence. Vlad the Impaler, the root od the Myth was brutal yes, but did he ever change into a bat...No. A Myth!

Erich wrote: "A Myth, is a common belief never established as truth. Vampires are a Myth...no one ever has established their existence. Vlad the Impaler, the root od the Myth was brutal yes, but did he ever chan..."

Good point, Erich!

I apologise for coming into the discussion a bit late.
I agree Myths help to put into context events that cannot be explained but also believe they were used as guidelines for human behaviour. After reading the myths of Herakles, Theseus, and Jason, people of the day would have a better understanding if you behave in a particular way then this is what happens and what you should do.

Luciana wrote: "I apologise for coming into the discussion a bit late.
I agree Myths help to put into context events that cannot be explained but also believe they were used as guidelines for human behaviour. Afte..."

It does say somewhere, '..better late than never!' If I look at all Mythology is seem to derive from hero worship! Hercules...Thor...Achilles...Hector...the whole Odyssey all are stories of brave men doing great things. The flipside of the coin are the evil parts, like where there is good there must be evil! Archangels against demons. Mythology is at all levels a religious concept, others are mere legends. We do have the tendency to confuse some of the figures! Jason would not be a Myth, just a legendary figure. Every nation or race has their own mythical gods or demi-gods. Even the Inuit of the north believe in Kiviuk, a spirit that guides them. Zeus, Hera, Odin, Thor, Loki and many others are strictly mythos of the heavens.

Erich wrote: "Luciana wrote: "I apologise for coming into the discussion a bit late.
I agree Myths help to put into context events that cannot be explained but also believe they were used as guidelines for human..."

You have a point there, many historical figures, who were actual 'real' people have been turned into these mythical heroes. Even their stories have been upgraded into these wonderful human beings. Who knows if the Greek gods came from the stories of people who lived a long time ago and simply turned into a religious icons.

Yes, you are right, it does bring the heroes of old into the iconic status of demi-gods. Achilles, Hector in the ancient times. Now maybe the middle ages have created new demi-gods... King Arthur and his Wizard Merlin... or in the Gothic tales Alaric King of the Visigoth now buries with his treasure in the river bed of Italy's Pusento. Or King Richard the 'Lionheart' in our hemisphere. Other worldly leaders will reach the same status in the eastern Hemisphere. Most were just strong and gifted men, through the ballads that were repeated for centuries their legend have reached od-like proportions. But it is not for us to doubt, it is for us to believe, to extoll their virtues in print and tale. Mythos of gods or legends of men, all are stories that have been told many times and will be told many more.

Erich wrote: "Yes, you are right, it does bring the heroes of old into the iconic status of demi-gods. Achilles, Hector in the ancient times. Now maybe the middle ages have created new demi-gods... King Arthur a..."

Absolutely! It will be interesting to see what is written of our leaders of the not-so-far past. They've alreadly regulated Lincoln as a Zombi Killer and Vampire Killer...what's next, Helen Keller was actually Sidhe?

I accept the basic definition of myths as "sacred stories." This notion is true of the hero tale and especially the spiritual hero. Fun stuff!

Beyond the great points already made, I really like Campbell's point that mythologies, no matter what culture they come from, take place in that culture's time before time existed.

It ought to be remembered that what we call myths today were to those who originally told them, and eventually wrote some of them down, simply stories. They still mean something to us today because they are close to the root of things, being about life and death, good and evil, light and darkness, the known and the unknown. It has always impressed me how the tale of Gilgamesh meant so much to the ancient Sumerians that they carved it onto stone tablets, to preserve it, and so that others might read and remember its words. Myths are tales that have survived because they truly mean something and are worth the telling.

I believe that every myth has a true origin. The stories are exaggerated now, yes but they all came to be somehow. Vampires are called blood drinkers, there were tribes in the old world that actually drank blood.

Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction by Helen Morales might interest some of you.

Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction by Helen Morales might interest some of you.

Bluebells wrote: "I believe that every myth has a true origin. The stories are exaggerated now, yes but they all came to be somehow. Vampires are called blood drinkers, there were tribes in the old world that actual..."

Even in the today world you have blood drinkers. In a club in New York, a vampire club some of the drink others blood ins small doses. In Africa I have seen war parties cut out the heart of an enemy and drink its blood, it all has some religious or mythical undertones.
Even the Native Population in the Arctic, the older Inuit or like they were called before, the Esquimeaux have their own mythology. Animal gods, Like Kiviuk, stories how the fish in the sea were created, the gods of wind and Ice asf. To take it all in will take a century, we still be going back to the stone age and the cavemen.

The Meriam-Webster dictionary defines Myth as follows: 1. Legendary narrative that presents part of the beliefs of a people or explains a practice or natural phenonenon. 2. An imaginary or unverifiable person or thing

Many of the previous posts support this definition in different words and/or examples. Particularly astute, are the observations that, in modern times, myths have not disappeared; but, for the most part, merely been usurped by religions.

Like the myths of yesterday, each of today's five formally recognized religions, including each of the approximately 750 different Christian denominations and sects, claims to be the one and only source of a divinely revealed truth - the direct result of man's impatience and arrogance that leads him to immediately provide and/or blindly accept an often fabricated explanation for that which cannot yet be explained.

Myths, religions, it's all the same. Myths are simply religions, or beliefs that have fallen out of favor.

And yes, because the stories are strong, and the message powerful, we hold on to them. Some of us build on them.

Yelle wrote: "To me, myths were created to explain the unexplainable.

It's a very sunny day, then a raging thunderstorm hits. That's because Zeus was angry you didn't give the proper sacrifice.

Myths were also..."

Agreed in large part. I would definitely argue that mythology is a body of explanations that a culture comes up with to explain how the world came to be and the forces that govern it. However, this does not make it the same as religion. Myths are inextricably bound up with the religion of the day, but they often have deeper roots than a faith and endure far longer.

Judea-Christian and Classical mythology, for example, have established mythological themes that continue to play a role in our culture. The Greek gods are no longer worshiped, but the notions of fate, pandora's box, and self-fulfilling prophecies are still with us and remain poignant. As are the notions that the gods are inherently flawed because they were created in man's own likeness, not the other way around.

The same is true of Judea-Christian themes like the Chosen People, the concept of a Covenant, The Fall, and death and resurrection. We may no longer believe the Earth is at the center of the universe or that it is only 6000 years old (well, most of us at any rate!) but these myths continue to have power over our hearts and minds.

someone may have mentioned this but Joseph Campbell thats the standard