Myth is a tradition that periodically appeared in preliterate society. They tell about the life of the ancestors, the exploits of heroes, the deeds of 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 set of myths in ritual rituals acquired a verbal form, acting as one of the specific ways to systematize information about the surrounding reality. On the other hand, the narratives about the nature of the origin of the Universe and man in it performed a number of important functions: religious, ideological, philosophical, historical, scientific.
The peculiarities of myths include an arbitrary approach to plotting, personification of natural phenomena, zoomorphism.
The emergence of ideas about supersensible principles falls on the time of the appearance of the first burials. Thanks to ancient burials, many elementary forms of fine art have been found.
The story of the origin of myths
In the Upper Paleolithic, a stable formation of the syncretic complex takes place: myth - image - ritual. The preservation of this structure throughout the history of mankind indicates its universality. For many centuries, it reflects both the rational beginning and the irrational cultural core.
Paleolithic images were myths, and their creation - rituals. The “signified” and “signifying” in the myths of primitive people existed in absolute unity.
Concept of myth
Many sciences have various interpretations of the concept of "myth." The meaning of the word is formulated from different positions, which determines the presence of many vague and contradictory definitions. Among them are interpretations that are given in encyclopedic dictionaries, calling myths fantastic stories of folk origin.
There are also detailed modernized versions, stating that myth is a syncretic understanding of the world, expressed by sensually-specific personifications and animated creatures 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, explaining and prescribing a specific algorithm of action.
What does the word myth mean? This question can be answered by synthesizing semantic components from various approaches. This is how one can formulate a complete and accurate definition of this concept: texts and images that demonstrate a syncretic reflection of the surrounding reality in different epochs of human development are considered myths. Moreover, each culture has a peculiarity that emphasizes the many 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 tell of events related to the creation of the world, the commission of ancient deeds (mainly Greek and Roman gods and heroes).
Researchers of historical mythology note that in a great many works of different nationalities, many of the main themes and motifs are repeated. That is, the origin of myths does not determine their content in everything. For example, one of the most ancient and primitive is the tales of animals. The earliest of them only naively describe the characteristics of representatives of the fauna. And in ancient Australian myths, for example, the theory of the origin of animals from humans is widespread. But other nations of the world, albeit not so explicitly, spread in their tales the mythological idea that man was once an animal. Examples of myths of this kind: ancient Greek legends about the nymph girl Daphne, about hyacinth, about the daffodil 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 subsequently ascended to heaven for various reasons. Such a myth is an alternative to the formation of the Universe invented by the people. Another common plot is a 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 aggregate 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. Culturally backward peoples spoke little on these topics. In particular, the Australians only casually mentioned that the surface of the Earth used to look different, but questions about its appearance have never been raised.
The Polynesians, the North American Indians, the 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 creation theory, the world was created by a creator, god, sorcerer or other supernatural creature. 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 , storylines about the process of the origin of gods and people are often intertwined. The most common view on this issue was the miraculous birth of man. After several centuries, the first mention of fate, the afterlife, appeared in myths.
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 one appeared. This may be the actions of a hero, the deeds of an ancestor or god. There are also a series of myths when something new is introduced in one of the works, and then the plot develops on the basis of accomplished events, which are only mentioned in the following legends. That is, they are accepted a priori as a given.
Examples of modern myths
Modern myths that appeared in Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, basically had the same focus. The central figure has always been some kind of relic creature.
And this is not an accident, the first bricks in the foundation of such myths were laid down by science fiction writers. Probably, the creations of Arthur Conan Doyle (The Lost World) and Obruchev (Plutonium) became one of the most striking works. And though the storylines are completely different, but both fantastic works are written in the same style and they are based on the same idea.
Far from civilization, in a lost corner of the Earth, there is a place where, by chance, all surrounding reality resembles the distant past of the Earth. This climate, and animal and plant life. It is this assumption that formed the basis of a series of myths about plants and animals that have been preserved in the pristine world since ancient times. A striking example of such myths is the legend of a monster named Nessie, who lives in the Scottish lake Loch Ness.
There are also many mythological tales of sea creatures (monsters), which were seen by sailors, travelers and fishermen.
Modern myths and science
The essence of this problem is that it is difficult to broadcast about myth as a scientific fact. It is safe to say that it is a component of mythology. Moreover, it refers to the secondary level of consciousness, which embraces ideologically, culturally and scientifically processed information. In this context, a myth is a legend artificially created by a person, based on assumptions and legends, gradually changing under the influence of ideological and scientific factors.
Two directions in the development of mythology
The appearance of myths is associated with the emergence, formation and development of a nation. This is how people form their individual history of origin. Later, in myth-making, works appear 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 mythology: closed and open.