CLASSIC 30 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Middle Ages
Document Summary
No single theory of myth can cover all kinds of myths. Seems to be true but is false. Is a living tradition: conforms to the time period making it an applied narrative. Myth provides us with absolutes, giving comforting perceptions of the world. Is the highest reality in a sense seen as untruth/fiction is a misleading definition. George washington cutting down the cherry tree at young age: fatheri cannot tell a liei did cut it with my hatchet . Probably not true that washington cut down tree. Myth is a mirror to the real world. Myths have a logic that is internally consistent grounded into reality. We expect an idea of the fantastic in myths. True myth / myth proper : stories about the gods, religion, supernatural, and humankind"s. Most greek and roman stories reflect this universal preoccupation with creation, the relation with them nature of god and humankind, the afterlife, and other spiritual concerns.
