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How does mythology affect us
Mythology of all cultures
Mythology and its affects on culture
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Mythology is the study and interpretation of myth and the body of myths of a particular culture. Myth is a complex cultural phenomenon that can be approached from a number of viewpoints. In general, myth is a narrative that describes and portrays in symbolic language the origin of the basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Mythic narrative relates, for example, how the world began, how humans and animals were created, and how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activities originated. Almost all cultures possess or at one time possessed and lived in terms of myths.
Myths differ from fairy tales in that they refer to a time that is different from ordinary. The time sequence of myth is extraordinary- an "other" time - the time before the conventional world came into being. Because myths refer to an extraordinary time and place and to gods and other supernatural beings and processes, they have usually been seen as aspects of religion. Because of the inclusive nature of myth, however, it can illustrate many aspects of individual and cultural life.
Meaning and interpretation From the beginnings of Western culture, myth has presented a problem of meaning and interpretation, and a history of controversy has gathered about both the value and the status of mythology.
Myth, History, and Reason In the Greek heritage of the West, myth or mythos has always been in tension with reason or logos, which signified the sensible and analytic mode of arriving at a true account of reality. The Greek philosophers Xenophanes, Plato, and Aristotle, for example, exalted reason and made sarcastic criticisms of myth as a proper way of knowing reality.
The distinctions between reason and myth and between myth and history, although essential, were never quite absolute. Aristotle concluded that in some of the early Greek creation myths, logos and mythos overlapped. Plato used myths as metaphors and also as literary devices in developing an argument.
Western Mythical Traditions The debate over whether myth, reason, or history best expresses the meaning of the reality of the gods, humans, and nature has continued in Western culture as a legacy from its earliest traditions. Among these traditions were the myths of the Greeks. Adopted and assimilated by the Romans, they furnished literary, philosophical, and artistic inspiration to such later periods as the Renaissance and the romantic era. The pagan tribes of Europe furnished another body of tradition.
Paul Tillich’s description of the original understanding of the word myth as an account of an interaction between the human and the divine are that myths are symbols of faith, which tell stories to portray situations of ultimate concern. Myths may be ‘broken’ or ‘unbroken.’ Unbroken myths are myths which are accepted as literal statements of reality. Broken myths are myths which are interpreted as myths, as symbolic statements of reality.
Myth… legend or fable? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a myth as, “A story that was told in an ancient culture to explain a practice, belief, or natural occurrence.” Children, often sit around, listening to their elders speak of myths. These myths have existed throughout American culture for many centuries and will continue for many centuries to come. These myths, legends, and fables provide the elders with enjoyment, as they observe the children, listening so intensely, believing every detail, amazed at the unimaginable adventures told in each story. Myths reflect experience but go beyond limitations. Indeed the children enjoy the excitement of the fantasy a myth creates. As we grow, we need to realize that these myths, tell an imaginary story and only contain a kernel of truth. Myths serve as a mental escape, stories with few actual facts embellished with many fantasy details. Although, used to entertain, these myths can hurt or even destroy the individuals that believe them.
The Puritans were a group of religious reformers who arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630s under the leadership of John Winthrop. The religious sect was known for its actions to purify the Church of England by reforming to the simpler forms of worship and Church organization described in the New Testament (Norton et al., 1986). Nathaniel Hawthorne was a writer during 19th century, but he had deep bonds with his Puritan ancestors of 16th century, so he wrote the novel highlighting their weaknesses, strengths and beliefs. The novel titled, “The Scarlet Letter” also gives the detaile...
Over the recent centuries, the definition of myth has decayed into a word synonymous with falsehoods and lies. This idea of myths being completely false and therefore useless is a fairly modern one. To combat the rise of empirical science in the 1900s, theologians brought the idea of wholly literal, fundamental religion into being to combat ideas that did not perfectly align with the tenants of the religion (May 24). This was the final death blow to the idea of the metaphysical myth that was already wounded from thousands of years of being denounced as pagan or barbaric. The rise of empirical science also lent to the decay of the meaning of myth. Science was able to explain the natural world far better than a myth ever could; however, it lacked the metaphysical aspect. Due to these rising ideologies, myths hav...
Taking a different approach to defining myth, Lowell Edmunds focusses on the practice and purpose of mythos and logos, synonymous terms used in antiquity that translate to story. He
Nathaniel Hawthorne is a well known 19th century author. One reason he is well known is his view towards Puritanism. Hawthorne would often criticize Puritanism in his short stories and novels. Two short stories that show Hawthorne’s view of Puritanism are “Young Goodman Brown” and “The ministers black veil”.
The greatest influence on all of Hawthorne's literature is the cultural and religious impact of Puritanism, a religious movement with a long history. During the 16th century, the Anglican Church was formed separate from Catholicism. Many English citizens at the time felt that this was a significantly drastic change. However, the religion still behaved similarly to Catholicism, much to the chagrin of the English protestants. The Church "retained much of the liturgy and ritual of Roman Catholicism and seemed, to many dissenters, to be insufficiently reformed" ("Puritanism" par. 1). After the formation of the Church of England, those Protestants who did not convert were prosecuted by the rest of the public, and the government. One such group was the Puritans, an extremely Protestant group who emphasized strong and literal adherent to the bible and its teachings. Because of their obsession with exact adherence and interpretation, many were derogatorily referred t...
Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlett Letter is an American Classic and has proved to be a great contribution to American Literature. Hawthorne has allowed his readers insight into a Puritan past that held strict principles and unyielding consequences that he was all too familiar with and haunted by these horror stories of his heritage led by his own ancestors. In composing this tale Hawthorne presents a realistic image of the 16th Century and threads the importance of his knowledge of the Transcendentalist movement which brought focus to the nature of life and the right of individuals to pursue their natural desire a great contrast to the Puritanic existence he was so custom to. Although the author Nathaniel Hawthorne had doubts about the seriousness of his work, his novel The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, gained huge recognition and notoriety because of its insight into a changing American culture and the issues that would shift its' direction. Hawthorne was born in 1804 on July fourth in Salem Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s heritage went back six generations in Salem where he was raised and reared for manhood. His own ancestors had been there to judge in the Salem Witch Trial of the seventeenth century. This undoubtedly was one of the many things that shaped and influenced this American author’s style in this and many of his other works.
...th (Colacurcio 286, 312). Hawthorne emphasizes the reality of the Puritanism world and that even though all of these people were good
Myths and religious doctrine are generally recognized as two entirely different things. Myths are usually referred to as a fictitious story or a half-truth; often they are stories shared between groups of people that are part of a cultural society. Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, and purpose of the universe, and often containing an ethical code dictating appropriate human conduct. Although they differ in certain aspects, they still hold similarities. Comparable to parables within the Bible, myths have different versions which are both motivating, as well as entertaining. There are not only parallels to the idea of the stories but specific tales hold similar morals and equivalent characters.
The mythos used as a part of Socrates’ rhetoric in Apology and Meno to articulate the inarticulable was fundamentally different from that of the myth-makers, Hesiod and Homer, because it was used as a form of deception rather than as a basis for rational thought. Hesiod said that the origin of the world was “fundamentally unintelligible and inarticulable,” (Hyland, 38). He uses mythos, or myth, to define the origin of the world because he finds that there is no rational way to put it into words. When he does give the background of the divine in his Theogony, he gives a non-rational explanation of the events that may have occurred to create our world, and the world of the divine. If rationality is a materialistic explanation, myth is non-rational.
Essentially, there are three typical characteristics of mythology. Classic myths often include gods or supernatural heroes, are “closely linked to religion,” and “generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form” (“Mythology” Wikipedia). Furthermore, myths provide an explanation for the existence of life and how the world came to be.
The Pazzi chapel marked a momentous return to classical rudiments. It has a central dome "reminiscent of the lines of Rome's Pantheon" (Cunningham 274). It has an oculus just like the Pantheon. Furthermore, although smaller in scale, the dome of the chapel is also hemispherical in shape and austere in design. Likewise, the chapel's twelve-ribbed dome approached the floor below it in the same respect as the Pantheon; completed after Brunelleschi's death, the chapel dome caps a severe rectangular base in the same way the Pantheon dome covers an ascetic circle. (Tractenberg). The chapel's dome, however, is itself capped with a cylindrical cupola "with delicate lantern" added in 1462 (Italy Field Study). Although they differ in base, both domes were framed according to circles. The image above illustrates the resemblance between the Pantheon's and Pazzi chapel's dome. The image on the left is the architectural plan of the Pazzi Chapel. The one on the right is that of the Roman Pantheon. If one is to draw a near perfect circle that fills the interior of the dome, as...
Mythology is defined as a collection of interrelated stories of a given culture. Myths are intended to explain and describe the mysteries of nature and give understanding about the world that surrounds us. Each culture has their own mythology that reflects their values and beliefs. Myths were also generated to tell the story of the first people to inhabit the earth. The Egyptian mythology elevated these people to the level of Gods and Goddesses by giving them supernatural and special powers. These myths of creation were passed from one generation to the next, either orally or by hieroglyphs painted in sacred temples, pyramids, and sanctuaries.
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.