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Myths . Stories From the Beginning of Time. What is a myth ?. An ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, and heroes. It explains the view of a group of people. Which cultures have myths? . Every culture has its own mythology
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Myths Stories From the Beginning of Time
What is a myth? • An ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, and heroes. • It explains the view of a group of people
Which cultures have myths? • Every culture has its own mythology • Universal symbols and themes appear in different cultures’ myths • Greek, Roman, Native American, Celtic, South American, African, and Norse mythology are examples of myths from different cultures
What are some characteristics of myths? • Contain heroes and heroines • Supernatural elements • Gods and goddesses • Explains a natural phenomenon • Told orally (spoken)
Why did ancient people tell myths? • To help explain the unexplainable • To explain natural phenomenon • To tell about their heroes • To explain human nature • To teach morals and values
Why do we still study mythology? • To learn about ancient cultures • As inspiration for the arts • To teach values and morals • For entertainment
The Stone and the Banana: An Indonesian Myth Thus, the natives of Poso, a district of Central Celebes, say that the Creator, who lived in it, used to let down his gifts to men at the end of a rope.
One day he thus lowered a stone; but our first father and mother would have none of it and they called out to their Maker, “What have we to do with this stone? Give us something else.”
The Creator complied and hauled away at the rope; the stone mounted up and up until it vanished from sight. Presently the rope was seen coming down from heaven again, and this time there was a banana at the end of it instead of a stone.
Our first parents ran at the banana and took it. Then there came a voice from heaven saying: “Because ye have chosen the banana, your life shall be like its life. When the banana-tree has offspring, the parent stem dies; so shall ye die and your children shall step into your place.”
“Had ye chosen the stone, your life would have been like the life of the stone, changeless and immortal.”
The man and his wife mourned over their fatal choice, but it was too late; that is how through the eating of a banana, death came into the world. “Death Agony” Edvard Munch
What characteristics of myth did you notice from this story? • What phenomenon was the story explaining? • What supernatural elements were present? • What can you tell about the Indonesian culture based on this myth?
The word mythology is Greek in origin (etymology) • ΜΥΘΟΣ (muthos) = story • ΛΟΓΟΣ (logos) = speech or argument
Greek and Roman Mythology is often called “Classical Mythology”
Gods and Goddesses in Classical Mythology Roman Area of Power • Jupiter King of the gods; the sky • Apollo The sun; music • Pluto King of the underworld • Neptune Ruler of the seas • Juno Wife of Zeus; marriage • Minerva Wisdom • Ceres Agriculture; earth • Proserpine Goddess of the underworld; Demeter’s daughter Greek • Zeus • Apollo • Hades • Poseidon • Hera • Athena • Demeter • Persephone
Creatures in Classical Mythology • Centaur • Medusa • Pegasus • Nymph • Sphinx
Norse Mythology • Norse mythology is the body of mythology of the North Germanic people stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia and into the Scandinavian folklore of the modern period.
Norse Mythology • The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition.
Norse Mythology • Norse mythology not only has it’s gods, goddesses, and immortals but also a myriad of other characters and creatures that populate the stories including giants, dwarfs, monsters, magical animals and objects.
Gods and Goddesses in Norse Mythology God/Goddess Area of Power • Odin King of the Norse Gods, God • of poetry, battle and • death • Hel King of the underworld; – ruler • of Helheim • Aegir Ruler of the seas • Frigga Wife of Odin; marriage • Vor Wisdom • Fjorgyn/Earth Agriculture; earth • Thor God of Sky, thunder • Heimdall Watchman of the Norse gods
Norse Mythology • Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with various other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes and/or family members of the gods. • Units of time and elements of the cosmology are personified as deities or beings.
“English” Myths • English folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in England over a number of centuries. • Some stories can be traced back to their roots, while the origin of others is uncertain or disputed. • England abounds with folklore, in all forms, from such obvious manifestations as the traditional Robin Hood tales to the Brythonic-inspired Arthurian legend.
“English” Myths • King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. • Most of the stories we know are written by French authors after the Norman invasion.
“English” Myths • NO COHERRENT “STORY” • Brownie - In folklore, a brownie is a type of hob, similar to a hobgoblin. Brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. • Dragons - Giant winged reptiles that breathe fire or poison. • Redcap - a groups of trolls, gobins, and even ugly elves with a red caps. • Will-o'-the-wisp - A folk explanation of strange lights seen around marshes and bogs. • Wyvern – Smaller relatives of dragons with two legs rather than four.
“English” Myths • NO COHERRENT “STORY” • Brownie - In folklore, a brownie is a type of hob, similar to a hobgoblin. Brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. • Dragons - Giant winged reptiles that breathe fire or poison. • Redcap - a groups of trolls, gobins, and even ugly elves with a red caps. • Will-o'-the-wisp - A folk explanation of strange lights seen around marshes and bogs. • Wyvern – Smaller relatives of dragons with two legs rather than four.
The Hobbit as Myth • Tolkien, knowing that English mythology had soaked into the earth without trace after the Norman conquest, sought to make one from scratch. • He would dignify his ancestors with as proud a mythology as the Greeks had in Homer and Hesiod.
The Hobbit as Myth • The Hobbit is joky, domestic and aimed at children. • Tolkien happily illustrated it himself, unlike his more serious work, and the mysterious runes on the dustjacket are simply a transliteration of the English: “The Hobbit or There and Back Again, being the record of a year’s journey made by Bilbo Baggins…”
The Hobbit as Myth • Some people think the book is hard to read because they think it’s a fantasy of the dungeons and dragons genre. • Tolkien’s aim was immeasurably higher – to provide England with the mythology it had lost.
The Hobbit as Myth • Tolkien’s starting point was the same as that of the Grimm brothers, whose work is in vogue once more: language. • The Hobbit falls in the genre called Märchen, house-tales, or, in the misleading English translation, fairy tales. • But it began with a word, Hobbit, for which Tolkien had to find an origin.
The Hobbit as Myth • For him, origins of words went to the mythic roots of the people who used them, even when those people were imaginary. • Tolkien etymologized the name hobbit as the regular Modern English outcome of a hypothetical Old English *hol-bytla "hole builder".
The Hobbit as Myth • Smaug is the dragon, guarding a hoard of treasure, whose defeat is the quest of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, and his 13 dwarf companions. • His name is the past tense of an Old Norse word smjúga meaning “to creep through an opening”. • NOT ‘SMOG’! • Gollum’s real name had been Smeagol (a word that might have existed in Old English), meaning “apt to creep into a hole”.
The Hobbit as Myth • NERD!
The Hobbit as Myth • As you read The Hobbit, think about the world you are walking in.
