NAME : SILVI PRATIWI

NPM :19052022

SUMMARY

A myth is a classic or legendary story that usually focuses on a particular hero or event,
and explains mysteries of nature, existence, or the universe with no true basis in fact.
Myths exist in every culture; but the most well known in Western culture and literature
are part of Greek and Roman mythology. The characters in myths—usually gods,
goddesses, warriors, and heroes—are often responsible for the creation and
maintenance of elements of nature, as well as physical, emotional, and practical aspects
of human existence—for example Zeus; the god of the sky and the earth and father of
gods and men, and Aphrodite; the goddess of love and fertility. A culture’s collective
myths make up its mythology, a term that predates the word “myth” by centuries. The
term myth stems from the ancient Greek muthos, meaning a speech, account, rumor,
story, fable, etc. The terms myth and mythology as we understand them today arose in
the English language in the 18th century.

Example of Myth

Many stories include an element of a popular myth in a new way. Read the following
example:

The dog was strong and fearless, and you could tell by the way he sat that he was a
proud pooch. His bravery was famous amongst dogs and other creatures far and wide;
the stories of his deeds were known by young pups and old mutts alike. His owners had
named him Hercules, after the great hero of legend, and he had lived up to his
namesake.

This short passage employs the classic Herculean myth to the story of dog. The hero
Hercules was known for his superhuman strength and abilities as a warrior, but also for
his pride. Here, a dog named Hercules is described as having similar traits and abilities
as the Hercules of Greek myth.
 EXPLANATION

Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a

society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. The main characters in myths are
usually gods, demigods, or supernatural humans.[1][2][3] Stories of everyday human
beings, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends, as
opposed to myths.

Myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests or priestesses and are closely linked to
religion or spirituality.[1] Many societies group their myths, legends, and history
together, considering myths and legends to be true accounts of their remote past. [1][2][4][5]
In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not
achieved its later form.[1][6][7] Other myths explain how a society's customs, institutions,
and taboos were established and sanctified.[1][7] There is a complex relationship between
recital of myths and the enactment of rituals.

The term mythology may either refer to the study of myths in general, or a body of
myths regarding a particular subject.[8] The study of myth began in ancient history.
Rival classes of the Greek myths by Euhemerus, Plato, and Sallustius were developed
by the Neoplatonists and later revived by Renaissance mythographers. Today, the study
of myth continues in a wide variety of academic fields, including folklore studies,
philology, psychology, and anthropology.[9] Moreover, the academic comparisons of
bodies of myth are known as comparative mythology.

Since the term myth is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the
identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly political: many adherents of
religions view their religion's stories as true and therefore object to the stories being
characterised as myths. Nevertheless, scholars now routinely speak of Jewish
mythology, Christian mythology, Islamic mythology, Hindu mythology, and so forth.
Traditionally, Western scholarship, with its Judeo-Christian heritage, has viewed
narratives in the Abrahamic religions as being the province of theology rather than
mythology. Meanwhile, identifying religious stories of colonised cultures, such as
stories in Hinduism, as myths enabled Western scholars to imply that they were of
lower truth-value than the stories of Christianity. Labelling all religious narratives as
myths can be thought of as treating different traditions with parity.
Types of Myths

Myths are generally classified by cultural origin, and together those myths comprise a
culture’s mythology. The most important mythologies in western culture are those of
Rome and Greece, as mentioned above, which are generally collectively known as
Classical Mythology. It is believed that both were developed from the beliefs of popular
life at the time they were created.

The Greek Myths

The Greek myths are a collection of myths developed by the ancient Greeks. They were
developed long before the Roman, with evidence of their existence dating back as far as
2000BC. The myths concern topics such as the origins of human practices and rituals,
the laws of nature, gods and heroes, and so on. Many myths explain the origin of the
universe and the creation of man. The Greek myths also have a pantheon of gods and
goddesses who rule and order the universe, the most notable being the Olympians, the
gods and goddesses who reside under Zeus on Mount Olympus. The most widely used
elements of myth in fiction are from Greek mythology, particularly its gods and
goddesses.

The Roman Myths

The Roman myths are a collection of myths about the origins and development of
ancient Rome; of which the stories primarily pertain to order of Roman society, rather
than the order of the universe. It is believed the Romans thought of them as true
historical accounts, despite the fact that they included supernatural and mystical
elements. They are also religious in nature, and use divine law to explain issues of
politics and morality. Like the Greek myths, they have pantheon of gods and goddesses,
most of which are named from the stars and planets. However, the gods have a much
smaller role in Roman mythology and religion than in the Greek. Unlike the Greek
myths, the Roman myths do not have a creation story about the origin of the universe.

The word myth comes from Ancient Greek μῦθος (mȳthos),[43] meaning 'speech,
narrative, fiction, myth, plot'. In Anglicised form, this Greek word began to be used in
English (and was likewise adapted into other European languages) in the early 19th
century, in a much narrower sense, as a scholarly term for "[a] traditional story,
especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social
phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events."[29][40]

In turn, Ancient Greek μυθολογία (mythología, 'story,' 'lore,' 'legends,' or 'the telling of
stories') combines the word mȳthos with the suffix -λογία (-logia, 'study') in order to
mean 'romance, fiction, story-telling.'[44] Accordingly, Plato used mythología as a
general term for 'fiction' or 'story-telling' of any kind.

The Greek term mythología was then borrowed into Late Latin, occurring in the title of
Latin author Fulgentius' 5th-century Mythologiæ to denote what we now call classical
mythology—i.e., Greco-Roman etiological stories involving their gods. Fulgentius'
Mythologiæ explicitly treated its subject matter as allegories requiring interpretation
and not as true events.[45]

The Latin term was then adopted in Middle French as mythologie. Whether from
French or Latin usage, English adopted the word mythology in the 15th century, initially
meaning 'the exposition of a myth or myths,' 'the interpretation of fables,' or 'a book of
such expositions'. The word is first attested in John Lydgate's Troy Book (c. 1425).[46][48]
[49]

From Lydgate until the 17th or 18th century, mythology was used to mean a moral,
fable, allegory or a parable, or collection of traditional stories,[46][51] understood to be
false. It came eventually to be applied to similar bodies of traditional stories among
other polytheistic cultures around the world.[46]

Thus the word mythology entered the English language before the word myth. Johnson's
Dictionary, for example, has an entry for mythology, but not for myth.[54] Indeed, the
Greek loanword mythos[56] (pl. mythoi) and Latinate mythus[58] (pl. mythi) both appeared
in English before the first example of myth in 1830.[61]
Meanings in Ancient Greece

The term μῦθος (mȳthos) appears in the works of Homer and other poets of Homer's
era, in which the term had several meanings: 'conversation,' 'narrative,' 'speech,' 'story,'
'tale,' and 'word.'[62]

Similar to the related term λόγος (logos), mythos expresses whatever can be delivered
in the form of words. These can be contrasted with Greek ἔργον (ergon, 'action,' 'deed,'
or 'work').[62] However, the term mythos lacks an explicit distinction between true or
false narratives.[62]

In the context of Ancient Greek theatre, mythos referred to the myth, narrative, plot, and
the story of a play.[63] According to David Wiles, the Greek term mythos in this era
covered an entire spectrum of different meanings, from undeniable falsehoods to stories
with religious and symbolic significance.[63]

According to philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE), the spirit of a theatrical play was
its mythos.[63] The term mythos was also used for the source material of Greek tragedy.
The tragedians of the era could draw inspiration from Greek mythology, a body of
"traditional storylines" which concerned gods and heroes.[63] David Wiles observes that
modern conceptions about Greek tragedy can be misleading. It is commonly thought
that the ancient audience members were already familiar with the mythos behind a play,
and could predict the outcome of the play. However, the Greek dramatists were not
expected to faithfully reproduce traditional myths when adapting them for the stage.
They were instead recreating the myths and producing new versions. [63] Storytellers like
Euripides (c. 480–406 BCE) relied on suspense to excite their audiences. In one of his
works, Merope attempts to kill her son's murderer with an axe, unaware that the man in
question is actually her son. According to an ancient description of audience reactions
to this work, the audience members were genuinely unsure of whether she would
commit filicide or she will be stopped in time. They rose to their feet in terror and
caused an uproar.[63]

David Wiles points that the traditional mythos of Ancient Greece, was primarily a part
of its oral tradition. The Greeks of this era were a literate culture but produced no
sacred texts. There were no definitive or authoritative versions of myths recorded in
texts and preserved forever in an unchanging form. [64] Instead multiple variants of
myths were in circulation. These variants were adapted into songs, dances, poetry, and
visual art. Performers of myths could freely reshape their source material for a new
work, adapting it to the needs of a new audience or in response to a new situation.[64]

Children in Ancient Greece were familiar with traditional myths from an early age.
According to the philosopher Plato (c. 428–347 BCE), mothers and nursemaids narrated
myths and stories to the children in their charge: David Wiles describes them as a
repository of mythological lore.[64]

Bruce Lincoln has called attention to the apparent meaning of the terms mythos and
logos in the works of Hesiod. In Theogony, Hesiod attributes to the Muses the ability to
both proclaim truths and narrate plausible falsehoods (i.e., falsehoods which seem like
real things).[65] The verb used for narrating the falsehoods in the text is legein, which is
etymologically associated with logos. There are two variants in the manuscript tradition
for the verb used to proclaim truths. One variant uses gerusasthai, the other
mythesasthai. The latter is a form of the verb mytheomai ('to speak,' 'to tell'), which is
etymologically associated with mythos.[65] In the Works and Days, Hesiod describes his
dispute with his brother Perses. He also announces to his readers his intention to tell
true things to his brother. The verb he uses for telling the truth is mythesaimen, another
form of mytheomai.[65]

Lincoln draws the conclusion that Hesiod associated the "speech of mythos" (as Lincoln
calls it) with telling the truth. While he associated the "speech of logos" with telling
lies, and hiding one's true thoughts (dissimulation). [65] This conclusion is strengthened
by the use of the plural term logoi (the plural form of logos) elsewhere in Hesiod's
works. Three times the term is associated with the term seductive and three times with
the term falsehoods.[65] In his genealogy of the gods, Hesiod lists logoi among the
children of Eris, the goddess personifying strife. Eris' children are ominous figures,
which personify various physical and verbal forms of conflict.[65]
Comparative mythology
Main article: Comparative mythology

Comparative mythology is a systematic comparison of myths from different cultures. It

seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to the myths of multiple cultures.
In some cases, comparative mythologists use the similarities between separate
mythologies to argue that those mythologies have a common source. This source may
inspire myths or provide a common "protomythology" that diverged into the
mythologies of each culture.[66]

Functionalism

A number of commentators have argued that myths function to form and shape society
and social behaviour. Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to
establish models for behavior[67][68] and that myths may provide a religious experience.
By telling or reenacting myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from
the present, returning to the mythical age, thereby coming closer to the divine.[4][68][69]

Honko asserted that, in some cases, a society reenacts a myth in an attempt to reproduce
the conditions of the mythical age. For example, it might reenact the healing performed
by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present. [11] Similarly,
Barthes argued that modern culture explores religious experience. Since it is not the job
of science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt to connect
with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the technological present. [70]

Pattanaik defines mythology as "the subjective truth of people communicated through

stories, symbols and rituals."[71] He says, "Facts are everybody's truth. Fiction is
nobody's truth. Myths are somebody's truth."[72]

Euhemerism

One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of historical events. [73][74] According
to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborate upon historical accounts until the figures
in those accounts gain the status of gods. [73][74] For example, the myth of the wind-god
Aeolus may have evolved from a historical account of a king who taught his people to
use sails and interpret the winds.[73] Herodotus (fifth-century BCE) and Prodicus made
claims of this kind.[74] This theory is named euhemerism after mythologist Euhemerus
(c. 320 BCE), who suggested that Greek gods developed from legends about human
beings.[74][75]

Allegory

Some theories propose that myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo
represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so on.[74] According to another
theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena
represents wise judgment, Aphrodite desire, and so on.[74] Müller supported an
allegorical theory of myth. He believed myths began as allegorical descriptions of
nature and gradually came to be interpreted literally. For example, a poetic description
of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken literally and the sea was then thought of as a
raging god.[76]

Personification

Some thinkers claimed that myths result from the personification of objects and forces.
According to these thinkers, the ancients worshiped natural phenomena, such as fire
and air, gradually deifying them.[77] For example, according to this theory, ancients
tended to view things as gods, not as mere objects. [78] Thus, they described natural
events as acts of personal gods, giving rise to myths.[79]

Myth-ritual theory

According to the myth-ritual theory, myth is tied to ritual. [80] In its most extreme form,
this theory claims myths arose to explain rituals. [81] This claim was first put forward by
Smith,[82] who argued that people begin performing rituals for reasons not related to
myth. Forgetting the original reason for a ritual, they account for it by inventing a myth
and claiming the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. [83] Frazer
argued that humans started out with a belief in magical rituals; later, they began to lose
faith in magic and invented myths about gods, reinterpreting their rituals as religious
rituals intended to appease the gods.