McHenry County College, Crystal
Lake, Illinois 60014
Instructional Plan Outline:
Introduction to Mythology
Definition: a subset of religion;
the collection of stories at the center of the religion.
Present in every culture, past or
present, in the world
Stories about things it believes
in
Contain a supernatural element
Attempts to explain a fact of some
kind
Almost always part of a broader religion:
the worship of some kind of spiritual power, involving ritual observances
and ceremonies
History:
First written myths
5000 years ago
Mesopotamia in Middle East
Writing used to record stocks and
transactions
500 years ago began to write down
stories about the gods and goddesses they believed in.
Appeal:
Good stories (narratives
Need to be good so people will listen
to them
Village or clan storytellers
learned the myth
entertained
educated
Professional storyteller
traveled round a wider community
old stories in exchange for food and
lodgings
Insight into people who develop the
belief system
How they live
Where they came fro
Clues to their social structure
How these people liv
Where they came from
Clues to their social structures
Source of information:
Written records
Clues about themselves
Clues about other people (with
biases)
Greeks and Romans: Celts were savages
Christian monks: Added Christian ideas
to Viking myths
Artifacts depicting gods and goddesses,
rituals
Paintings of vases, sculptures,
carvings
Function of myth
To explain natural phenomena
To control natural forces
To bind a clan, tribe or nation
together
To record historical events
Flood identified by archaeologists
as devastating Mesopotamia in around 4000 BC
Hebrew, Judeo-Christian, and Babylonian
flood myths are almost identical
To give a kind of verbal geography
lesson
Description of landmarks to look
for on a journey
Usually exaggerated for effect
To set examples for people’s behavior
Gods to emulate
Human heroes
Real historical characters or
made-up
May or may not be deified at the
end of the exploits
To justify a social structure
Mythological heaven reflects social
structure of culture
Or king may claim society must be
ordered this way to reflect gods’ order of things
To control people
Frighten people
Claim authority comes from god --
divine right of kings
Punishments in the afterlife
Growth and development of myths
Animism: everything has a spirit
or soul
Rarely find myths at this stage
Society moves quickly to next stage
Echoes of animistic beliefs in later
myths
Fetishism: object considered to
be inhabited by a spirit, not an aspect of the object, but a separate entity
that can leave the object if it wants or is permitted to
Generally of a size that it can be
carried, like a charm
Can be controlled and instructed
to bring good luck
Sometimes only the shaman, or medicine
man can control it
Slave, not master, of the tribe
May later become deified if it performs
well
Totemism: each family group or
clan adopts a particular fetish
Frequently clan claims some kind
of descent from this totem
No ethical of moral dimension to
the belief, no god to judge, punish or reward behavior
Polytheism: belief in more than
one god
May be promoted from fetishes
Gods may acquire families to reflect
culture
Different forms worshipped as different
personalities
Tribes and cities combine and their
gods merge to form a pantheon
Hierarchy of responsibilities:
basic to intellectual
Preserve some of earliest gods
and goddesses
May take on a moral or ethical dimension
Behavior toward each other , toward
the gods
Entirely good or evil gods emerge
Soul is judged after death, place
of punishment or reward
Deities anthropomorphism into human
form
Gods in our own image
Monotheism: belief in one god
Usually develops when one tribe conquers
other neighboring tribes
Top god emerge
Generally has the power to forgive
sins
Stringent moral codes
Why myths adapt
Passing of time
Place to place
Political changes
Change in understanding
Oral Vs written
Fetish
Success inspires awe
People cut deals with the spirit
Ritual payment for help (blood of
kill)
Sustenance to revive success
Worship, ritual, sacrifice = god
from fetish
How myths spread
Cross cultural swap
Conquered people left with hybrid
myths
Trade routes
Types of gods
Strong male gods
Herdsman fights for territory
Needs god to make it rain
Mother Earth goddesses
Farmer settled and isolated
Needs crops to be ‘born" every spring
from the earth