Jordan Londergan

ENG 1201

March 25, 2022

Sandra Riley

From Antiquity to Modernity: Mythology’s Role in Society

Stories have helped define the human relationship with nature and the world throughout all

stretches of history, whether it be on the coasts of the Nile or the modern metropolises of

a post-industrial world. These stories began as observations of a world often too complex

to fully comprehend, in a time before modern scientific scrutiny and gave way to equally

complex systems of belief, even religious dogma. Analysis of myths throughout history

and contemporary society creates an appreciation for what at first may seem to be mere

superstition. It also allows one to see how vulnerable myths are to corruption and being

used to inflict harm on others. To some, the assimilation or destruction of many cultures

has resulted in the perception that these views of the world are archaic, but mythology

still plays a significant role in society by serving as a reflection of social values.

Historical analysis of various cultures from the past, research into the effects of

mythology felt in more modern societies, and scholarly literature shows how specific

cultural traditions are rooted in folklore and cultural imagination that have developed

from the beliefs now called mythology.

Why are myths still important with the development of science and history? In Rebecca Evans’s

“The mythological perspective of modern media: Cross-cultural consciousness and

modern myths”, she expands the classical definition of mythology to include a wider
range of media. Evans also points out that mythology is foundational to media by

offering many of the literary tools still employed today, such as character archetypes,

themes, imagery, symbolism, and more. Evans astutely points out that mythology is

important because it codifies social boundaries and allows for disruptions. The inclusion

of Star Trek stands out because of its specific cultural legacy, being a show that was

leagues ahead of its peers at the time in terms of progressive themes and characters.

While dated and a bit problematic by today’s standards, the original Star Trek series was

counter-cultural in ways few shows were at the time. The influence from the western and

horror genres of the time was also incredibly influential, using sets and plot elements that

drew people into how Star Trek managed to play off and at times even subvert Cold War-

era anxieties such as representing America through Captain James T. Kirk, and by

extension Starfleet, and the Soviet Union through the Klingon Empire, and by

highlighting a diverse ensemble of characters capable of solving interpersonal problems

and living together in harmony. This was all typical for science-fiction in the mid-20th

century, such as shows like The Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits. Other media of the

time, such as horror comics went a different route by sensationalizing violence and often

shamelessly playing up a lot of the racist and sexist attitudes of white suburbia during this

time they captured many of the anxieties of white men in the face of budding civil rights

movements, and while deeply problematic, serve as both time capsules for the attitudes of

this time period, and as context for how deeply entrenched in white supremacist and

patriarchal attitudes America is.

Fig 1: Still from Star Trek: The Original Series, S1E26: Errand of Mercy, 1967

Exoticism and orientalism are two of the most persistent obstacles facing the study of mythology

and history. The tendency for outsiders to various cultures, typically European colonizers,

to appropriate them and distort them for profit or to justify problematic stereotypes has

plagued many people around the world. The term orientalism was coined by Edward Said

in 1978 to refer to the patronizing way the West depicts and refers to Middle Eastern,

Southeast Asian, and Northern African cultures in the service of Imperialist

machinations, essentializing them as backward and non-evolving, in contrast to

depictions of the west as paragons of progress, rife with supremacist themes (Said,

Orientalism, 1973). Said references depictions of snake charmers and fortune tellers to

hammer this point home. A broader form of this also falls into all the same colonial

trappings, being exoticism. Examples of this trend that have utterly distorted the general

perception of historical cultures are characterizations of Mesoamerican peoples, such as

the Maya and Aztec Empire, as ritual practitioners of human sacrifice, and the pop-

culture depiction of Vikings, a term which has supplanted the various Iron Age

Scandanavian cultures of the time, closely aligning with white supremacist attempts to

appropriate Norse mythology. One of the most high-profile examples of this in recent

memory comes from the way Vikings are depicted in Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s

Creed: Valhalla, which shamelessly uses this aesthetic, complete with period inaccurate

architecture, dubious depictions of tattoos, clothing, and hairstyles, and adorning various

pagan cultures as bloodthirsty savages, simply because it is the mainstream portrayal of

them, uncritically and likely unknowingly advancing the way fascists attempt to establish

faux-historical continuity with the past. The fact that the game has grossed over $1 billion

in revenue means people will learn the wrong lessons from it. Myths are incredibly

powerful and can resonate with people on a deep emotional level, but when wielded

irresponsibly they can be incredibly harmful, and even irrevocably alter the general

understanding of history.
Fig 2: Official art from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids, 2021

Fig 3: A Druid from Ancient Britannia Illustrata, 1676

It is common to think of mythology as a part of ancient history. Historical analysis of cultures

such as those found in Ancient Greece, one most well-known and easily recognizable

historical civilizations, offers incredible insights into how their beliefs were

representative of various taboos and daily life. In such rigid hierarchical societies, it only

makes sense that the religious sentiments and social attitudes of the time would reflect

that. In the classical period of ancient Greece, society was patriarchal and constructed

around institutionalized misogyny. In fact, it was one of two main identifiers of

masculinity in the Greek world at the time, the other being homoeroticism, and the two

were deeply connected in Greek society. Both are heavily represented in the Greek

pantheon of deities, most notably in Zeus and Poseidon’s habitual infidelity and explicit

characterization as rapists in many of their myths. Sexuality was about power dynamics
in the ancient Greek world, with dominance associated with masculinity and

submissiveness associated with femininity. Another qualifier attached to this was that

sexual relationships between people of comparable social status were taboo, as supported

by evidence from Meredith Worthen’s “Sexual Deviance and Society: A Sociological

Examination” (2016, p. 160). This is represented in many myths, such as the marital

woes of Aphrodite and Hephaestus, to the cruel fates of many of Apollo’s lovers. Love

between adult men was simply a normal facet of everyday life and a component of

military life in many Greek poleis, such as Sparta and Thebes, as made evident by the

relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, and their significance in the proliferation of

hero cults that spread through the Hellenic world in the classical and Hellenistic periods,

as demonstrated by figures such as Alexander the Great, who styled himself and his

closest friend, Hephaestion in the same manner. Of course, this was not an egalitarian

society by any means, and this prototypical understanding of what is now understood as

queerness was not as accepted when it was between women. The lack of primary

documentation of adult love between women seems to support this, though about 600

lines of poetry from Sappho of Lesbos, a poet from Greece’s archaic age, describing her

attraction to other women have survived. Sappho’s writing is full of pleas to Aphrodite to

ease her heartache for other women. The only other supporting documentation of

normalized sexual relationships between women are records from Sparta about athletic

nudity for women and an off-hand line in Plato’s Symposium. Sexuality is one of the most

obvious ways in which mythology represents the various stigmas and taboos held in

society, but as humanity progresses, it is important to analyze the lingering effects of the

dark parts of history and how they influence widely held beliefs.
Fig 4: Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, identified by inscriptions on the upper part of the vase. Tondo of an Attic
red-figure kylix, 500 BCE.

Ancient Greece also serves as a prime example of the interconnected nature of mythology and

history. Unlike the attestations of pseudo-archaeologists, centered on fantastical claims

such as Atlantis being real or alien technology formed the basis of religious pantheons

and monument building, the actual relationship between myth and history deals more

with how historical events are prone to becoming legend the more removed people are

from them because of the passage of time. Few myths epitomize this dynamic like

Theseus and the Minotaur. The titular hero and future founder of Athen’s struggle against

his semi-bovine foe, Asterion, to free his people from Cretan bondage are one of the most

well-known myths of all time. What is less well known is how this myth developed from
a half a millennium-long game of cultural telephone after the Bronze Age Collapse, and

the disappearance of a written record in the Mediterranean basin outside of a select few

cultures like Egypt. To the Dorian-descended Greeks of the archaic and classical periods,

the Bronze Age was already ancient history, and the Aegean of this period was

dominated by the Mycenaeans, the heroic Achaeans Homer described in the Iliad, and the

Minoans, a maritime empire centered around Knossos in Crete, lost to history until as

recently as 1900. The early historian Thucydides even cites Minoan culture as an

inspiration behind Athens’s own thalassocracy in the 5th Century BCE, complete with

trade, economic exploitation, colonization, and even state-sponsored piracy in History of

the Peloponnesian War. In around 1450 BCE the Minoan’s written language, Linear A,

disappears from the historical record alongside the destruction of their palaces only to

emerge as the Mycenean Linear B language, an early Greek language which was written

in the same script as Linear A but spoken in a different language on the island and

mainland a century later, after they invaded or deposed the Minoans and then abandoned

it, causing the Minoans to regress into local fishing communities and farms. Without

realizing it, the lasting effects of the fall of the bull worshipping Minoans to invading

mainland Greeks imprecisely embedded itself in their understanding of what to them was

ancient history. Minoan palaces were mind-bogglingly intricate and filled with puzzle-

like complexes which translated into stories about a labyrinth, and even the idea of

Athenian youth being sacrificed to the Minotaur are supported by archaeological

evidence of human sacrifice and cannibalism on the island of Kea, a former Minoan

colony within direct line of sight of Cape Sounion in Athens. In a cruel twist of irony, the
 fate of a civilization whose words no one can decipher, or even knew about until the 20th

century is contained within the subtext of a story few today believe is real.

Fig 5: Fresco found in Knossos palace, Crete, Greece, 1600 - 1450 BCE.

Rome much like Ancient Greece is regarded as one of the most important civilizations in human

history. One of the ideas integral to Roman hegemony in late antiquity was the idea of

Pax deorum, or Peace of the Gods. It was a core element of the Roman state religion,

which both outlined the tendency for Romans to import foreign deities into their

pantheon and merge them to avoid offending them and bringing their wrath down on the

Eternal City. When the Republic transitioned into Empire, and emperors became deified,

this created a proto-fascist elevation of the state above collective society and individual

alike. This was significant to both the development of Christain kingdoms and empires in

the Middle Ages and Early Modern period and more modern politics alike. The success

of Christendom in the medieval period was due in large part to their ability to steamroll

over their pagan contemporaries and incorporate their cultural traditions into occupied

territories if they formally converted. Both Halloween, which developed from the Gaelic
solstice celebration, Samhain, where Gaels held feasts to mark the beginning of winter

and renewed village laws, and Christmas, primarily stemming from the Roman holiday

Saturnalia, where social roles were inverted and slaves became masters during the

festival, and Yule, a Germanic holiday in honor of Jól (an alias used by Odin, Norse god

of wisdom, battle, and poetry) emerged from this strategy of aggressive syncretism.

Halloween is a holiday that still celebrates subverting cultural expectations using

costumes and supernatural imagery, while Christmas has been stripped of its similarly

radical significance as it became more Christianized and then commercialized. Jumping

forward in time to the 20th-century, Italian fascists attempted to establish continuity with

Rome, using Latin and specific imagery to do so (“Using language as a weapon: How

Mussolini used Latin to link fascism to the mighty Roman Empire”, 2019). To them, the

Roman Empire’s state-dominated organization of society was aspirational, and this set

precedence for successive attempts at fascist regimes and the right-wing populists of

today. Many nations created directly through colonialism also engage in this
 appropriation and distortion of history to achieve their own agendas.

Fig 6: Unknown author - Oscar Montelius, Om lifvet i Sverige under hednatidenm, 1905.

The Wild West is rarely thought of as a time steeped in mythology, partially because of how

relatively recent it was and partially because it is one of those time periods many people

feel they are familiar with. The reality is that historical knowledge of this time has been

subverted by settler colonialist narratives and being sanitized to such an extent that

people are ignorant as to why this period in American history is important. The Frontier

Myth, as it is often referred to, is the romanticized idea of the old west in the 19th century

as a sort of playground for American ideals, shaped in the wake of Manifest Destiny. In

Richard Slotkin’s Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American

Frontier, 1600-1860, he defines this myth as, “America as a wide-open land of unlimited

opportunity for the strong, ambitious, self-reliant individual to thrust his way to the top”

(1973, p. 5). This is made especially clear in the portrayal of the cowboy in the media.

Being a cowboy historically was a profession filled by freed African slaves with little

wealth and Mexican ranch hands that has become a character archetype defined by

rugged, conventionally attractive white men characterized as anti-heroes. Other

professions in the 19th-century western frontier, such as prostitutes, ranchers, miners, and

even criminals have similarly been distorted, first by dime novels and pulp fiction, and

later by Hollywood, creating two entirely separate ‘Wests’. Slotkin’s other two novels,

Fatal Environment, and Gunfighter Nation explore how capitalist exploitation of the land

and the development of a cultural ideology in the 20th-century attached to the West,

respectively, were key in crafting the Frontier myth. He also provides the strongest

definition possible when understanding what a myth is, stating, “a set of narratives that

acquire through specifiable historical action a significant ideological charge”

(Regeneration through Violence, 1973, p. 15).

Fig 7: Buffalo Bill's Special Service; or, The Death Dance of the Apaches, 1906.

In the thoroughly Christianized west, “pagan” is viewed as a dirty word. It implies savagery,

barbarism, sexual promiscuity, ritualistic behavior, uncivilized behavior, and the “other.”

At least, that’s how people are conditioned to view it. Paganism is viewed as antiquated

considering the spread of Christianity and the subsequent scientific revolution. This view,

however, is reductive and ethnocentric. Modern paganism is a diverse umbrella of

various religions that rely on pre-Christian and pre-Colonial, historical, and

ethnographical literature as the basis of their worldviews. This is as literal as the question

of mythology’s reflective nature can get. Michael Strmiska, a religious studies scholar

describes these movements by stating, "Modern Pagans are reviving, reconstructing, and
reimagining religious traditions of the past that were suppressed for a very long time,

even to the point of being almost totally obliterated... Thus, with only a few possible

exceptions, today's Pagans cannot claim to be continuing religious traditions handed

down in an unbroken line from ancient times to the present. They are modern people with

a great reverence for the spirituality of the past, making a new religion – a modern

Paganism – from the remnants of the past, which they interpret, adapt, and modify

according to modern ways of thinking." (Strmiska, Michael “Modern Paganism in World

Cultures”, 2005). The 60’s and 70’s saw the birth of the modern Celtic and Germanic

paganism, with connections to environmental activism and counter-cultural movements,

as well as Wicca, which was directly influenced by third-wave feminism, and these have

been the primary ways modern paganism manifested itself in places like the United States

and the United Kingdom. These religions tend to be more politically left leaning, while

European counterparts especially tend to lean right, involving nationalistic, even

explicitly supremacist sentiments. LGTB paganism is one especially significant aspect of

the modern pagan movement, as many queer folks are marginalized within societies

organized around Abrahamic values. As stated, many pagan communities are more

accepting to them, though conflicts do arise, and certain critiques of specific modern

pagan groups for gender essentialism and racial superiority have been levied, but it is

important to remember that modern paganism is not a monolith, and what two people

believe even within the same specific pagan religion may differ drastically. Modern

pagan groups tend to be from European countries or settler colonialist nations, as the

movement exists in direct response to the assimilation and destruction of their ideological

predecessors by Christians typically, though modern pagans are marginalized within

 Islamic countries, and are excluded from religious laws or marry people who follow

Abrahamic religions. In the US, pagans tend to be private with their beliefs, especially in

conservative-dominated regions like the Bible Belt, where it is not unheard of for them to

be ostracized and discriminated against, such as being fired from teaching positions or

being equated with Satanism. Most European pagan religions belong to the Indo-

European family of languages and mythology, and as such share strong relationship with

Hinduism, and as a result many modern pagans draw inspiration from it and have even

established mutual support groups. The growing popularity of modern paganism in

relationship to the way myths continue to shape society and themselves be shaped by it

cannot be understated.

Fig 8: Solar, Pagan handfasting ceremony at Avebury, 2005.

Comic books have established themselves as the most popular mythology of the modern age,

especially with the mainstream success of adaptations in film and television. For an

industry that began with schlocky horror novels, comics have both reinforced and

subverted cultural norms throughout the 20th and 21st-centuries. Frank Miller has earned

a bit of reputation both within and outside the industry as someone who unapologetically

uses militant right-wing imagery. This is most represented in his graphic novel, 300,

historically inspired by the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE. Beyond the basic

historical inaccuracies, it is rife with homophobia and grossly stereotypes the

Achaemenid Persians as sexual deviants and oppressive. The Battle of Thermopylae

already has an extensive history of being used by right-wing groups in the past, but this

comic and its eventual film adaptation were instrumental in spreading the ideology of

neo-Nazi organizations such as Golden Dawn in Greece, which often leverages this

historical event as a justification for anti-immigration legislation and militant racism

(Benton & Peterka-Benton, “The Battle of Thermopylae and the Iconography of Hate”,

2016). Some comics are capable of challenging and dispelling these ideas though, such as

Marvel Comics’ Secret Empire (2017), written by Nick Spencer. The comic was

published during the dramatic spike in Right-Wing Populist politicians being elected to

positions of power not just in the United States, but around the world. The entire premise

is about how these elements of society, represented through the story as Hydra,

appropriate symbols of hope or spiritually significant imagery, such as Captain America.

There is even an allusion to the way white supremacists distort things like Norse

mythology, such as when a brainwashed Steve Rogers must cheat to lift Thor’s hammer,
 Mjolnir, to project strength to keep people in line. The comic is incredibly insightful as to

how attachment to symbols and figures can be used against people.

Fig 9: Nick Spencer, Secret Empire (2017) #10, 2017

Myths have stood the test of time as one of humanity’s defining innovations. From antiquity to

the modern age, mythology has been pivotal in the development of social institutions,

such as institutionalized sexism that still permeates society today, or even entire political

ideologies. Even the very devices used in the construction of basic storytelling are

legacies of this, down to character archetypes or themes. They are incredibly potent

storytelling devices that communicate social values but are as vulnerable to corruption as

they are powerful. The appropriation and subversion of myths to suit various agendas will

always necessitate vigilance, such as the way settler colonialism has been used to

whitewash the past or how fascists have weaponized Old Norse myths. Myths in the ages
 of print media, television, and eventually the Internet continue to impact how people see

the world, either affirming or countering widely held beliefs depending on the agenda.

Science-fiction and horror filled this role nicely and led to mainstream success in the 21st-

century, allowing a greater audience to engage with these modern mythical figures, such

as superheroes. The way humans observe the world around them, interpret it and

construct meaning out of it is how myths find their continued relevance well into the

modern age. What humanity values can be found in the way they tell each other stories at

any point in history.

WORKS CITED

Benton, Bond, and Daniela Peterka-Benton. “The Battle of Thermopylae and the Iconography of

Hate.” THE FLETCHER FORUM OF WORLD AFFAIRS, THE FLETCHER FORUM

OF WORLD AFFAIRS, 14 Sept. 2016,

http://www.fletcherforum.org/home/2016/9/6/the-battle-of-thermopylae-and-the-

iconography-of-hate.

Evans, Rebecca. “The Mythological Perspective of Modern Media: Cross-Cultural

Consciousness and Modern Myths.” Https://Commons.lib.jmu.edu/Cgi/Viewcontent.cgi?

Article=1543&Context=honors201019, 2018,

https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1543&context=honors201019.

Said, Edward Wadie. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1973.

Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier,

1600-1860, Middletown, Conn, 1973, p. 5.

Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier,

1600-1860, Middletown, Conn, 1973, p. 15.

Strmiska, Michael. “Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives.” Google

Books, ABC-CLIO,

https://books.google.com/books/about/Modern_Paganism_in_World_Cultures.html?

id=qx7Tvd99xVAC.

“Using Language as a Weapon: How Mussolini Used Latin to Link Fascism to the Mighty

Roman Empire.” Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, 2019,

https://www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/english/research/news-and-events/news/2019/using-

language-as-a-weapon-how-mussolini-used-lati.html.

Worthen, Meredith. “Sexual Deviance and Society: A Sociological Examination.” Google

Books, Google, 2016, https://books.google.com/books?

id=TMtTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA160#v=onepage&q&f=false.