Everyman's Dictionary of Non-Classical Mythology [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThe study of myths invites several alternative methods of approach. Perhaps the easiest is to take every stoiy as falling into the category of children's tales or of incredible religious origins, vsrithout any endeavour to relate it to the general scheme of events. Another is to consider all myth as symbolical, in which case the identification of the symbols will vary from solar deities to aspects of good and evil according to the fashion of the period.The method adopted in this work has been to endeavour to relate these tales to the shadowy beginnings of history, in the hope that it will eventually be possible to fit them into the three-dimensional jig-saw puzzle formed by our cultural, historical, and religious background. It must frankly be admitted that progress is slow and that the desired aim will not be attained for several generations, but it is felt that the establishing of the principle and the small beginnings here shown are essential as a foundation.Myth may best be described as the gossamer cloak of folk memory overlaying the bare bones of pre-history. In attempting to understand it, consideration should be given to the possibility that primitive man in telling these stories was not guilty of deliberate misrepresentation but rather that owing to his inability to perceive the relationship between cause and effect, or to distinguish between fact and prejudice, we are presented in them with a series of glimpses of history as seen through the eyes of children.While the dating of myths is still extremely difficult, the following tentative sequence of mythical patterns may form a useful standard of reference.The oldest stories which have come to us appear to be the creation myths. This is not because primitive man could be expected to remember the actual creation, but because the majority of these stories refer to the emergence of humanity into a new life after some great catastrophe, an occurrence of such magnitude to the narrators that the mere fact of survival seemed like a rebirth. Their genuineness is shown by the fact that they date back to periods when philosophic or scientific doctrines as to the beginning of things had not yet been evolved. Those which are of later date frequently bear the imprint of the abstract religious philosophies of the Hellenistic schools of the Middle East and should be considered as theological conceptions rather than as true myths.ix