Classical Myths
I have learnt that since time immemorial scholars have attempted to explain what myths are. Scholars such as Bascom, for example drew close relationships between myths, folktales and legends because of their emotional and sacred nature. He defines myths as true occurrences that happened in the past. Other scholars such as William Goty described myths as pictorial puzzles that required human reasoning to detangle. He explains that myths are mainly metaphorical, symbolical and portray realistic happenings on very few occasions. Through Goty’s description, we get to learn that the resilience behind metaphors lay in the suspense it created in its audience.
Classical mythologies refer to the myths that originated from the classical period, that is from ancient Greece and Roman. To understand the anatomy of myths therefore, more light is shed into myths that were made before and after classical period and how they influenced the myths that we know of today.
In the pre-classical or archaic period, the Greeks lived in small communities instead of large political nations. They therefore made myths specific to their communities and according to their own understating of the gods and goddesses that lived in their communities. In the ancient times also, myths were created to explain the world and cosmic characteristics. They were therefore a form of science that explained universe and nature through the imageries and symbols. We get also get to learn of the homeric and epic hymns that explained the relationships between the gods and gave detailed explanation of the of their appearance and their traits.
In the classical period thereafter, there were a lot of skeptical views that aroused from the accuracy of these mythologies. There was therefore a lot of examination on how myths operated and their relevance in the current world, all of which laid foundations for the mythologies of today. As a result of the criticism based on facts, there was an exponential increase in creativeness and intellectual ability during this time. Disciplines such as mathematics, psychology, and philosophy then became prevalent. Prominent philosophers such as Pythagoras, Plato and Socrates explained that the purposes of myths was to persuade people to view the world as the authors of the myths did. They consequently made myths to teach the doctrines that they stipulated.
After the classical period was the Hellenistic period which became less interrogative and dissolved some of the Greek myths after the Roman Empire grew larger absorbing Greece and spreading Christian mythologies.
I have gotten to learn that myths are not exclusively redundant as I had thought them to be because they still align some of the values that we still stand for in the 21st century and are also an important component in the growth of science.