In ancient legends, people reflected their ideas about the world around them; they believed in the existence of Olympus, the heavenly and underground kingdoms. The mythology of Ancient Greece tells about the origin of gods and people most vividly. The Hellenes have preserved hundreds of legends about how cultural heroes were born and what they became famous for? and how their further fate unfolded.

What is mythology? The concept of gods and heroes

Translated from ancient Greek, the word “myth” means “narration.” This category may include tales about gods, exploits of heroes and natural phenomena. The myth was perceived as reality and passed on from generation to generation. It can be argued that it is one of the oldest forms of oral folk art.

The myth was the result of myth-making: all nature and the world consisted of intelligent beings forming a community. fetishized physical objects and forces, animated them. Supernatural powers were attributed to everything inexplicable that man encountered. The ancient Greek gods were anthropomorphic. They had human appearance and magical knowledge, could change their appearance and were immortal. Like people, the gods performed feats, suffered defeats and were dependent on seemingly less powerful creatures - the three goddesses of fate. The Moirai decided the fate of every heavenly and earthly inhabitant, so even Zeus did not dare to argue with them.

How is myth different from religion?

All ancient peoples, including the Greek and Roman, went through a stage from fetishism to idolatry. Initially, the objects of veneration could be objects made of wood and metal, which soon began to take on divine shapes, but the statues still remained bare stone without a soul or magical power.

Mythology and religion are similar concepts, and sometimes it is difficult to identify differences in them, since the second is an integral part of the first. In many national religions, the objects of worship are anthropomorphic beings endowed with supernatural power - these are the gods, the diversity of which can be traced in Roman and Greek cultures. The existence of any religion is unthinkable without mythology. Heroes fight, get married, give birth to offspring - all this happens with the participation of miraculous powers and magic. The moment a myth attempts to explain supernatural events, it begins to take on religious overtones.

Ancient mythology as an arsenal of the entire world culture

Friedrich Engels argued that without Greek and Roman influences there would be no modern Europe. The revival of the ancient Greek heritage began during the Renaissance, when writers, architects and artists again began to draw inspiration from the plots of Hellenic and Roman legends. Today, museums around the world display majestic statues of gods and other creatures, and paintings can tell the story of a specific moment in a significant event. The topic of “mythology” was also of interest to the writers of the “Golden Age”. They turned to antiquity only to express their thoughts; they did not use a brush with paint, but a word.

It is curious that the myths of the Greek and Roman peoples formed the basis of world culture even many centuries later. Modern man has a different point of view regarding the origin of the Universe, but does not stop turning to ancient ideas and enjoys studying the cultural heritage of bygone times. The myth was the first attempt to explain the universe, and over the centuries it acquired not a religious, but an aesthetic character. The strengths of the heroes depicted in the “Odyssey” and “Iliad” also attract today’s men, and girls try to be like Venus, Aphrodite, and Diana in character and beauty. Unfortunately, many do not attach importance to how firmly myth and mythology have entered the life of modern man. But they play a huge role in world culture.

Origin of the Earth

The ancient mythology of the Greeks and Romans amazes with its originality. Many people are still surprised how people could so skillfully imagine the creation of the world - or maybe it all really happened? In the beginning there was Chaos, from which Gaia, the earth, emerged. At the same time, Eros (love), Erebus (darkness) and Nyukta (night) occurred. Tartarus was born underground - a hellish place to which sinners were sent after death. From night and darkness came Ether (light) and Hemera (day). The earth gave birth to Uranus (sky), who took her as his wife and gave birth to six titans, who gave the world rivers, sea goddesses, the sun, the moon, and the wind. Now all the elements existed on the planet, and the inhabitants did not know misfortune until evil creatures appeared. The earth gave birth to three Cyclopes, whom jealous Uranus imprisoned in darkness, but the youngest, named Cronus, climbed out and took power from his father. The disobedient son could not remain unpunished, and mythology also tells about the further development of events. The goddesses and gods, whose names were Death, Discord, Deception, Destruction, Sleep and Vengeance, were born by Nyukta for the crime. This is how the ancient world appeared, according to the ideas of the ancient Greeks. The offspring of Chaos lived in the underworld and on land, and each had its own purpose.

Gods of Greek mythology

The ancient religion was significantly different from the current one, and if today representatives of the four main religious faiths believe that there is only one Creator, but several thousand years ago people had a different opinion. The Hellenes believed that the gods lived on the sacred Mount Olympus. Each had its own appearance and purpose. The mythology of Ancient Greece is represented by twelve main gods.

Roman gods

Greek mythology has always been considered exemplary. The Roman goddesses had their own original names and purposes, and that was where their story ended. The people did not invent new legends and took stories from the Greeks as a basis, since their art was more vibrant and colorful. Roman culture was less rich, so many aspects were borrowed from the Hellenic heritage.

The Romans had Jupiter as their supreme god and Juno as his wife. They had the same responsibilities as in Greek mythology. The ruler of the sea is Neptune, and the patroness of the hearth is Vesta. The god of the underworld was Pluto, and the main military leader was Mars. The Roman counterpart of Athena was Minerva, an excellent predictor was Phoebus, and his sister Diana was the mistress of the forest. Venus is the goddess of love, born from foam. Mercury patronized travelers and helped people in trade. The blacksmith Vulcan was the Roman equivalent of Hephaestus. Thus, although Roman mythology was reputed to be poorer, the number of gods was the same as that of the Greeks.

Sisyphean labor, panic fear and others

A person’s speech becomes colorful through the use of proverbs, phraseological units and ancient mythology is felt not only in high literary style, but also in everyday life.

When talking about backbreaking and useless work, a person often uses a phraseological unit without even delving into its etymology, while the phrase has ancient roots. For disobedience to the gods, the son of Aeolus and Enareta was severely punished. For thousands of years, Sisyphus is forced to roll a huge stone up a mountain, the height of which has no limit, but as soon as he lets go of the unfortunate man’s hands, the block crushes him.

Surely each of us has experienced it at least once in our lives, and we owe this expression to the god Pan with the bizarre appearance of a man with goat legs. With its sudden appearance, the creature struck fear into travelers, and its sinister laughter made the blood run cold. This is how the expression “panic fear” appeared, meaning fear of something inexplicable.

People who do not know what mythology is allow themselves to show off their intelligence by using interesting phraseological units in their speech. In his epic, Homer devoted several stanzas to describing the uncontrollable laughter of the gods. The great ones often allowed themselves to mock something stupid and absurd, while laughing at the top of their lungs. This is how the expression “Homeric laughter” was born.

Mythological plots in the literature of recent centuries

It is fair to say about the influence on Russian poetry. Alexander Pushkin often turned to the ancient Greek heritage, and in his novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” you can read many stanzas where the names of Zeus, Juvenal, Circe, Terpsichore, Flora and other deities appear. Sometimes you can find individual words or entire expressions written in ancient Greek. This technique is relevant even in modern times, and often journalists, politicians and other influential figures prefer to speak in aphorisms. C`est la vie sounds much more solemn than a simple “such is life”, and a letter ending with the phrase Vale et me ama acquires greater value and depth of thought. By the way, Pushkin’s hero of the novel himself preferred to end his message with this phrase in ancient Greek.

The Russian poet Osip Mandelstam knew perfectly well what mythology was, and his craving for antiquity began with his first collection, “Stone.” The poems feature prominent images of Erebus, Homer, Odysseus, and also the Golden Fleece. The poem Silentium!, which means “silence” in Latin, arouses the reader’s interest with its title alone. The heroine in the lyrical text is the goddess Aphrodite, whom Mandelstam calls on to remain sea foam.

The founder of Russian symbolism, Valery Bryusov, admits that “Rome is closest to him,” which is why Roman mythology often appears in his poetic lines. In his works he recalls Agamemnon, Orpheus, Amphitryon, Orion, glorifies the beauty of Aphrodite and asks her to accept this verse; addresses the god of love Eros.

Gavrila Derzhavin openly adapted the ode of the Roman poet Horace “To Melpomene”. The main idea of ​​the poem “Monument” is the eternity of the poetic heritage and recognition of his creativity. Several decades later, Alexander Pushkin writes a work of the same name and mentions Rome in the epigraph. Exegi monumentum translated from Latin means “I have erected a monument to myself.” Thus, the theme of immortality is revealed in three great poets: Horace, Derzhavin and Pushkin. Geniuses prove that literature and mythology can coexist, and thanks to their union, magnificent works are born.

Painting and architecture based on mythological themes

The painting by Pyotr Sokolov “Daedalus Tying the Wings of Icarus” is considered the pinnacle of fine art, and therefore was often copied. The work was written in 1777 and today is exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist was struck by the legend of the great Athenian sculptor Daedalus, who, together with his son Icarus, was imprisoned in a high tower. The cunning man made wings from feathers and wax, and freedom seemed close... Icarus flew high towards the sun - the luminary scorched his aircraft, and the young man fell and crashed.

The Hermitage houses a unique panel that remained intact after a madman threw acid on it and stabbed it with a knife. We are talking about "Danae" - a painting by Rembrandt. A third of the canvas was damaged, and restoration took more than twelve years. From mythology you can learn that Danae was imprisoned in a tower by her own father, when he was predicted to die at the hands of Perseus, his daughter’s son.

Ancient mythology was also of interest to Russian sculptors, who chose metal as a material for their work. The bronze sculpture “Marsyas” by Theodosius Shchedrin introduces another hero of ancient myth. The forest satyr showed courage and decided to compete with Apollo in the art of music. The unfortunate flute player was tied to a tree for his insolence, where his skin was torn off.

It is decorated with the marble sculpture “Menelaus with the body of Patroclus”, created based on the plot of the “Iliad”. The original statue was carved two thousand years ago. Patroclus, who went into battle with Hector instead of Achilles, immediately dies, and Menelaus holds his lifeless body and ponders revenge. Ancient mythology is often of interest to sculptors, since the subject of inspiration is man. The creators did not hesitate to depict the curves of a beautiful body, which were not covered by clothes.

"Odyssey" and "Iliad" as the pinnacle of ancient mythology

Ancient Greek epic works are studied in schools and universities, and the characters depicted in them are still borrowed by writers to create stories and novels. Ancient mythology is represented by the epic poems "Odyssey" and "Iliad", the creator of which is considered to be Homer. He wrote his works in the 8th century BC, and only two centuries later they were written down by the Athenian tyrant Peisistratus, and until then they were transmitted by word of mouth by the Greeks. The dispute about authorship arose due to the fact that parts of the epic were written in different periods of time, and the fact that Homer’s name translated means “blind” was also alarming.

The Odyssey tells the story of the adventures of the king of Ithaca, who was held captive by the Nymph Calypso for ten years, after which he decided to return home. Difficulties await the hero: he finds himself on the island of Laestrygonian cannibals and Cyclopes, swims between and descends into the underworld, but soon returns to his beloved Penelope, who has been faithfully waiting for him all the years and rejecting all the suitors.

The Iliad is a heroic epic that tells the story of the Trojan War, which arose due to the theft of Princess Helen. Odysseus also takes part in the action, appearing before the readers in the image of a cunning and diplomatic ruler who skillfully masters the art of oratory. The main character of the epic is Achilles. The main battles are fought by Hector, who dies a terrible death in the end.

Mythology of other peoples

The Greco-Roman heritage is the richest and most colorful, therefore it occupies a leading position in the history of world culture. Ancient mythology also existed among other peoples, and many stories are intertwined with each other. All objects of worship of the ancient Slavs, who were pagans until 988, were destroyed by princes who wanted to leave Christianity as a single religion. It is known that they had wooden statues of Perun, Dazhdbog, Khors. Less significant deities were analogues of Greek nymphs and satyrs.

In Egypt, mythology still has a place of honor. The gods Amon, Anubis, Imhotep, Ra, Osiris and others are depicted on the walls of pyramids and in other ancient temples. Today in this country, the majority of people profess Islam and Christianity, but do not try to eradicate traces of the ancient religion and are sensitive to the cultural heritage.

Myth is the basis of religion, and the current religious beliefs of small or large nations have a connection with mythological subjects. Each Scandinavian country has its own rich culture, and so do Indians, Latin Americans, Japanese, Caucasians, Eskimos, and the French. This heritage is passed down from generation to generation, either orally or in writing.

Where do they study mythology?

Acquaintance with the cultural heritage of the people begins in the lower grades of school. In Russia, children are introduced to Russian folk tales - from "Kolobok" to "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf." A few years later, the teacher tells them the fairy tales of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, and after graduating from primary school, boys and girls learn for the first time about the existence of ancient states - Greece and Rome. Myths and legends are studied through literature and the visual arts. The children will learn about the creation of the world from the point of view of the ancient Greeks, get acquainted with the main deities and heroes. After studying the textbook “Mythology. Grade 6,” schoolchildren begin to understand and realize that many world religions are based on the legends of ancient peoples.

In high school classes, children make their first attempts to create sketches of ancient statues and study ancient subjects on the canvases of outstanding artists. In higher educational institutions, philology students study ancient literature and reread myths, realizing their role in the formation of world culture. They confidently define what mythology is and how it differs from religion. The main idea of ​​such disciplines is that the younger generation does not forget ancient traditions and has complete knowledge that could be used in life and their future profession.

Mythology(Greek mythología, from mýthos - legend, tale and lógos - word, story, teaching) - a fantastic idea of ​​the world, characteristic of a person of a primitive communal system, usually transmitted in the form of oral narratives - myths, and the science that studies myths. To a person who lived in the conditions of a primitive communal system, based on the spontaneous collectivism of his closest relatives, only his communal-clan relations were understandable and closest. He transferred these relationships to everything around him. The earth, sky, flora and fauna were presented in the form of a universal tribal community, in which all objects were thought of not only as animate, and often even intelligent, but necessarily related beings. IN Mythologies these ideas received the form of generalizations. For example, a craft, taken as a whole, with all its characteristic features, in all its development and with all its historical destinies, was thought of as a kind of living and intelligent being that controlled all possible types and areas of craft. This is where the mythological images of gods-artisans, gods-farmers, gods-herders, gods-warriors, etc. arose: the Slavic Veles (Volos) or the Celtic Damona, which represented one or another generalization of cattle breeding, the Greek Athena Pallas or the Abkhazian Erysh ( goddesses of spinning and weaving), as well as gods of fertility, vegetation, guardian gods and patron demons among the Aztecs, New Zealand, Nigeria and many other peoples of the world. Generalizing concepts in Mythologies arose gradually. Original forms Mythologies were fetishism(when individual things were animated, or rather, the complete non-separation of a thing from the “idea” of the thing itself was thought of), totemism(fetishization of a given community or tribe, expressed in the image of one or another founder of this community or tribe). A higher stage of development Mythologies appeared animism, when a person began to separate the “idea” of a thing from the thing itself. In connection with the further growth of generalizing and abstracting thinking, a different level of mythological abstraction was created. She reached the idea of ​​a single “father of men and gods,” although at this stage the images of such mythological rulers contained a lot of remnants of fetishistic and animistic antiquity and were deprived of extreme absolutization. This is how the Olympic one appeared Zeus, overthrowing his predecessors into the underworld, and subjugating other gods as his children. Homer cites a number of ancient and pre-Olympic features of this Zeus, making his figure historically complex and diverse. These are the supreme deities, the creators of the world, who arose during the era of patriarchy in Polynesia, Tahiti, the Yakuts, and African tribes under different names, with different functions and with varying degrees of mythological abstraction. Development Mythologies went from chaotic, disharmonious to orderly, proportionate, harmonious, as can be seen when comparing mythological images of different historical periods. Mythological images of the era of matriarchy were characterized by clumsy and often even ugly forms and were very far from the later plastic harmony. Three-headed, four-headed and fifty-headed, hundred-armed, as well as all kinds of evil and vengeful monsters or half-monsters were found in the world Mythologies eras of matriarchy very often (for example, in Ancient Babylon - the bestial ruler of the world Tiamat, in Australia - a one-legged killer spirit, in Tahiti - the god Oro, demanding bloody sacrifices, in North America - 7 giant cannibal brothers, etc.). In the era of patriarchy, ideas arose and took shape about a heroic personality who defeats the forces of nature, which until then seemed invincible, consciously organizes social life, as well as the protection of a given community from the hostile forces of nature and neighboring tribes. For example, Babylonian Marduk kills the monstrous Tiamat, creating heaven and earth from her body. The famous epic about the hero arose in Babylon Gilgamesh. Iran, god Miter fights evil spirits and defeats a terrible bull. Egyptian god Ra fights with the underground serpent Apep. Ancient Greek Zeus defeats the titans, giants and Typhon; performs his 12 labors Hercules. The German Sigurd kills the dragon Fafnir, Ilya Muromets kills the Serpent Gorynych, etc. However, the myths that have come down to us are a complex complex of layers (rudiments) of different eras, for example the myth of the Cretan Minotaur. The bull head of the Minotaur indicates that the origin of this image dates back to the period of early matriarchy, when man did not yet distinguish himself from animals. The Minotaur is depicted with stars and bears the name Zvezdny - this is already a cosmic generalization. The Minotaur is killed by the hero Theseus - this part of the myth could only arise during the period of patriarchy. Mythological thinking very early came to various kinds of historical and cosmogonic generalizations. With the transition of people to a sedentary lifestyle, when they found themselves economically connected with a particular locality, their idea of ​​​​the unity of the tribe or clan intensified, the cult of ancestors and corresponding myths about ancestors (historical Mythologism). Was created Mythology about the changes of previous divine and demonic generations ( Mythology cosmogonic and theogonic). Attempts to understand the future, the afterlife, led to the emergence Mythologies eschatological. Being a worldview of a primitive communal system, every myth also contained a cognitive function, an attempt to understand complex issues: how man came into existence, the world, what is the secret of life and death, etc. In a primitive communal formation Mythology was a kind of naive faith, the only form of ideology. In early class society Mythology became an allegorical form of expression of various kinds of religious, socio-political, moral and philosophical ideas of this society, it was widely used in art and literature. According to the political views and style of a particular author, it received one or another design and use. For example, Aeschylus' Pallas Athena turned out to be the goddess of the rising democratic Athens, and the image of Prometheus was endowed by Aeschylus with advanced and even revolutionary ideas. In this sense Mythology never died, mythological images are still used by modern politicians, writers, philosophers and artists. Having been for thousands of years a form of awareness of nature and human existence, Mythology is considered by modern science as a chronicle of the eternal struggle between old and new, as a story about human life, its sufferings and joys. Scientific approach to study Mythologies arose during the Renaissance. However, until the 18th century. in Europe studied mainly ancient Mythology; acquaintance with history, culture and Mythology Egypt, the peoples of America, the East made it possible to move on to a comparative study Mythology different peoples. In the 18th century historical understanding Mythology given by the Italian philosopher G. Vico. In comparison with Vico's theory, the French Enlightenment with its rejection of the historical approach, which considered Mythology as a product of ignorance and deception, as superstition, it was a step back (B. Fontenelle, Voltaire, D. Diderot, C. Montesquieu, etc.). On the contrary, the English poet J. Macpherson, the German writer and philosopher I. G. Herder and others interpreted Mythology as an expression of popular wisdom. Romanticism increased interest in Mythologies. The collection and presentation of folk tales, legends, fairy tales and myths began, and the so-called mythological school, which interpreted myths as a source of national culture and attracted Mythology to explain the origin and meaning of folklore phenomena (its first representatives: German scientists C. Brentano, J. and W. Grimm, L. Arnim, etc.). Within the framework of the mythological school in the mid-19th century. a number of positivist mythological theories arose: solar-meteorological theory (German scientists A. Kuhn, Mythology Muller, Russians - F.I. Buslaev, L.F. Voevodsky, O.F. Miller, etc.), who interpreted myths as an allegory of certain astronomical and atmospheric phenomena; theory of "lower Mythologies"or "demonological" (German scientists W. Schwarz, W. Manhardt, etc.), which presented myths as a reflection of the most ordinary phenomena of life; animistic theory, whose supporters transferred ideas about the human soul to all of nature (English scientists E. Tylor, G. Spencer, E. Lang, German - L. Frobenius, Russian - W. Klinger, etc.). Gained wide popularity in the 19th century. historical and philological theory (German scientists G. Usener, U. Vilamowitz-Möllendorff and others, Russians - V. Vlastov, F. F. Zelinsky, E. G. Kagarov, S. A. Zhebelev, N. I. Novosadsky, I. I. Tolstoy and others), who used methods of literary and linguistic analysis in the study of myths. Modern bourgeois theories are based exclusively on logical and psychological data from the history of human consciousness, as a result of which Mythology is interpreted as a subtle and highly intellectual phenomenon, which it could not have been at the dawn of human history. These theories are, as a rule, abstract and ahistorical in nature. Among the psychological theories of the 20th century. The concept of the Austrian scientist S. Freud was very popular, which reduced all processes of social life and culture to the mental life of the individual, highlighting subconscious, mainly sexual needs, which are supposedly the only factor in all conscious human behavior. One of the greatest Freudians, the Swiss scientist C. Jung, saw in Mythologies an expression of the unconscious fantasy of the primitive human collective. In contrast to Freudianism, the “prelogical theory” (late 20-30s of the 20th century) of the French scientist L. Levy-Bruhl claims that primitive thought is supposedly based only on phenomenal memory and on associations by contiguity. The cultural-historical theory of myth formation is widespread (English scientists J. Fraser, G. R. Levy, B. K. Malinovsky, French scientists J. Dumézil, P. Centiv, American scientists R. Carpenter, etc.). This theory views every myth as a reflection of ritual and a reinterpretation of an ancient magical rite. The structural typology of myth (French scientist C. Levi-Strauss in the works of the 50s - early 70s of the 20th century) sees in Mythologies a field of unconscious logical operations designed to resolve the contradictions of human consciousness. Mythological theories of bourgeois science, using to explain Mythologies this or that ability or activity of an individual person (sexual, affective-volitional, mental, religious, scientific, etc.) provides an explanation for one aspect of myth-making. None of these concepts can explain the social essence Mythologies, for explanations should be sought not in the individual abilities of the human spirit, but in the social conditions that gave rise to the ideology of a particular society and, therefore, its integral part - Mythology. This materialistic concept underlies the works of Soviet scientists A. Zolotarev, A. F. Losev, S. A. Tokarev, Yu. P. Frantsev, B. I. Sharevskaya and others; cultural-historical interpretation Mythologies on a Marxist basis and the associated comparative historical analysis of the world epic is given by V. Ya. Propp, P. G. Bogatyrev, V. Zhirmunsky, V. I. Abaev, E. Meletinsky, I. N. Golenishchev-Kutuzov and others .

http://bse.sci-lib.com/article077053.html

Mythology as the world of prototypes and the matter of spirituality But for the creators of mythology, it was not just reliable or true. They could not even question the truth. For primitive man, mythology was an objective reality. The same as for us, for example, the knowledge that there are 365 or 366 days in a year. It doesn’t even occur to us to question whether this is actually so. Such knowledge seems to us like properties of the things themselves, almost natural phenomena. This is also because we do not know the author. But myths are precisely anonymous works. For primitive man, they were therefore not works at all. They acted as his consciousness, his mental state, which for him was also the state of the surrounding world. Finally, it was a mass, collective state, which people experienced not individually, but together. Loners could be destroyers of mythological consciousness; they could be, say, those artists who secluded themselves in order to escape from the power of collective consciousness and depict in some secret place their own, and not the generally accepted, vision of the world, their own consciousness. It was not the world outside man, but the world in the perception of the species that became the beginning of human knowledge. Mythology is the world of prototypes that were the property of the family and passed on from generation to generation. We can say about an image that it is a copy of something that is outside consciousness. We cannot say the same about the prototype. The prototype is the image of consciousness itself. We can get rid of any image, forget it. And you cannot get rid of the prototype, although you may not know about it, not experience its influence. The prototype is the “eye” of consciousness. We see with the eye, but we do not see the eye itself. It’s the same with the prototype: with its help we realize or think, but to think about the prototype itself is as difficult as seeing with the eye. Except with the help of a mirror. In the mirror we will only see ourselves. Our own species is one of the prototypes. Mythological thinking is collective, tribal thinking. It enshrines the original, tribal relations of people to each other, when each of them did not think of himself outside the clan, he himself was a generic being rather than an individual. On the other hand, the genus was conceived not as a multitude of people, but as a large individual being. Mythology became the initial form of human thinking, the source of subsequent, more developed forms of thinking: religious, artistic, philosophical, scientific. All of them consist of the “building blocks” of mythological thinking. Hegel called myths the pedagogy of the human race. Myths or fairy tales educate each of us in childhood, they serve as a source of inspiration for artists and scientists, and even the most rational theories contain elements of mythological thinking. Myths are a kind of matter of spiritual culture. Modeling function of myth It would be wrong to identify mythology with something like the elementary school of human education, with the preparatory class of science. Mythology is not naive answers to the supposedly naive questions of primitive man that he posed to himself or to nature. People sought and found answers other than myths. He found them in practical activities. Otherwise, we repeat again, he simply would not have survived. Primitive man understood nature no worse than we understand it today. Mythology played the role of the ideology of primitive society, that very “social glue”. Ideological consciousness is a consciousness when ideas or fantasies become reality for a person. Guided by some ideas or principles, a person can act contrary to circumstances that he considers less real or significant than the creations of his own consciousness. We already know about the determining role of images. An image determines a person’s behavior the more, the less he is aware of it as an image or a copy of something. Then the image becomes reality, the original, and the copy is the person’s behavior, his life. Mythology played the role of original samples, or models, according to which human behavior, consciousness and life were built. Mythological images served as ideas about qualities or actions that cannot be imagined in any other form. Try to imagine the need to fulfill your duty. And if you know the myths about Hercules or Ilya Muromets, if you understand them and believe them, then you already have a ready-made idea of ​​duty as the highest valor of a man. Try to imagine the retribution that awaits anyone who commits a crime against public order. You can imagine retribution in the form of a prison or scaffold. Although all these are particularities, and the criminal always hopes to avoid them. But there is an image of Nemesis - the goddess of retribution, from whom it is impossible to hide, since she is in the mind of the criminal himself. Nemesis and the idea of ​​retribution will be alive as long as the criminal is alive. The gods of mythology are the personification of ideas. It seems that ideas cannot be seen, because they are a product of consciousness itself. But if ideas become images, then they can already be seen. Researchers in the field of mythology also identify the following functions of myth: - axiological(myth is a means of self-praise and inspiration); - teleological(myth defines the purpose and meaning of history and human existence); - praxeological, implemented on three levels: prognostic, magical and creative-transformative (here they often recall N.A. Berdyaev’s idea that history is a “created myth”); - communicative(myth is the connecting link of eras and generations); - educational and explanatory; - compensatory(realization and satisfaction of needs that are realistically, as a rule, impracticable). Comparative mythology Interest in mythology intensifies in modern times in connection with the discovery of America. In the 18th century French missionary J.F. Lafitau became one of the first researchers of the life of North American Indians. This made it possible to compare the myths of peoples living in different parts of the world. The content of myths was no longer perceived as something random. Increasingly, attention was drawn to the similarity of myths and the natural nature of their emergence in antiquity. The Italian philosopher G. Vico deeply studied mythology. In accordance with his concept of history, which we have already discussed, he viewed myths as “divine poetry” and compared it with a child’s state of mind. His philosophy of myth contained the beginnings of almost all subsequent directions in the study of mythology. Allegorical and symbolic interpretations of myths The first attempts to rationally interpret myths were associated with understanding them as allegories. Myths were seen as allegories, teachings, similes, and allusions. With this attitude towards them, the richness of the content of myths seems truly inexhaustible. A striking example of this approach was the attitude towards myths of the founder of the methodology of experimental knowledge, F. Bacon. In his treatise “On the Wisdom of the Ancients,” he outlined many ancient myths and his own understanding of the wisdom hidden in them. He wrote that it seems to him “like poorly pressed grapes, from which, although something is squeezed out, the best part remains and is not used.” I.G. interpreted the myths in a similar way. Herder. His views laid the foundation for the understanding of myths already characteristic of romanticism. The pinnacle of the romantic concept of myths was the teaching of F.V. Schelling. In 1966, his book “Philosophy of Art” was published, in one of the chapters of which (“Construction of the Matter of Art”) Schelling sets out his understanding of mythology. It is one of the most significant contributions to the development of mythology in general. Schelling divided various methods of representation into three types: schematic (the general denotes the particular), allegorical (the particular denotes the general) and symbolic (the unity of the general and the particular). He understood mythology precisely symbolically, i.e. not allegorically, not historically and psychologically, when they try to find personification and animation in myths. For Schelling, if myth means anything, then it is precisely what it is about, in other words, the meaning of myth coincides with being. All events of myths are not likened to something; their truth cannot be established by comparing myths with some supposedly real events. Mythological tales, Schelling believed, should be considered only in themselves, not denoting something, but existing independently. What they are talking about undoubtedly once existed; this makes mythology universal and endless, qualitatively original and symbolic. Mythology, according to Schelling, is the consciousness of the real. But from such an understanding it follows that myth-making cannot only be a phenomenon of the past. Schelling was convinced that a creative individual creates his own mythology from any material he pleases. In the future, he believed, there would be a synthesis of science and mythology, which would be created by the era as a whole. Myth and archetype Schelling viewed mythology as a construction or a union of actually contemplated ideas that served as the primary matter for art. He noted the rational nature of ancient art and poetry. In modern times, science acts as such a construct, and art and everyday consciousness as extra-scientific forms of spirituality become irrational. Here the myth continues to play its defining role as an archetype or prototype. According to the concept of K. Jung, archetypes organize people's perceptions and ideas about the outside world. What is commonly called knowledge may in fact be imagination, the origins of which must be sought in archetypes and in their uncontrolled influence on consciousness. Levi-Strauss's structuralist theory of myth Jung viewed the entire history of culture as a transformation of myths, raising them to ever higher levels. Thus, it was recognized that mythological thinking has properties that bring it closer to scientific thinking: generalization, analysis, classification. K. Lévi-Strauss believed that the essence of myth lies not in the style or manner of presentation, but in the story that is told. Myth is associated with past events that form a permanent structure, simultaneous for the past, present and future. Lévi-Strauss likened myth to a crystal “in the world of physical matter,” figuratively expressing the idea of ​​the world as a concentration of the properties of culture and the world. Myth contains everything that has been developed and expanded in the history of culture. This understanding of the role of myth gave Lévi-Strauss the basis to consider the logic of mythological thinking no less demanding than the logic of scientific thinking. A stone ax, he believed, was made no worse than an ax made of Iron, it was just that iron was better than stone. Semiotics and general theory of myth In Russian science, the general cultural meaning of myths has been studied for a long time. Semiotic linguists turned to them when developing problems of semantics. In the works of Vyach. Sun. Ivanova, V.N. Toporov presents the experience of reconstructing ancient Balto-Slavic and Indo-European myths as sign systems. In this case, the methods of modern semiotics are used. Similar methods are used in the works of E.M. Meletinsky.

http://www.countries.ru/library/mif/mifol.htm

Myths of the peoples of the world

Buddhist mythology

Vedic mythology

West Semitic mythology

• Vedic mythology

  Germanic-Scandinavian mythology

  Scythian-Sarmatian mythology

Lamaist mythology

Manchu mythology

Ossetian mythology

Polynesian mythology

Thai mythology

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%84%D1%8B_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0 %BE%D0%B2_%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B0

Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology- the polytheistic mythology of the Celts, the people who inhabited the British Isles in ancient times, as well as part of continental Europe, the current territory of France.

The Celts lived according to the laws of tribal society. Their culture was very rich in legends and traditions, which were passed down from mouth to mouth for centuries and, as a rule, were preserved in several versions, as, indeed, the Celtic names and titles themselves. Archaeological excavations carried out recently have helped to expand knowledge about the way of life and traditions of the people. Just like most ancient peoples, the Celts believed in an afterlife, and during burial they left many household items with the deceased: plates, dishes, tools, weapons, jewelry, even carts and carts with horses.

Central to mythology was the belief in the transmigration of souls, which reduced the fear of death and supported courage and selflessness during wars.

In the most difficult life situations, such as war, illness or other dangers, human sacrifices were also made.

Celtic mythology has had a huge influence on English literature.

Celtic deities Esus (Eze) and Tarvos Trigaranus- A bull with three cranes, depicted on the so-called “Monument of the Parisian Boatmen” (1st century AD). The motif of the three sacred cranes and the bull is also found in Irish mythology.

Among written sources, an important role is played by the message of Julius Caesar ( "Notes on the Gallic War", VI.16-18), giving a relatively complete list of ancient Celtic gods according to their functions. However, he does not call them Gaulish names, but completely identifies them with representatives of the Roman pantheon. “Of the gods they worship Mercury most. He has the greatest number of images, the Gauls consider him the inventor of all arts and the guide of all roads and paths, and believe that he has the greatest power in regard to the acquisition of wealth and trade. After him (they venerate) Apollo, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva. Regarding these deities, the Gauls have almost the same ideas as other peoples: Apollo drives away diseases, Minerva teaches the basics of art and craftsmanship, Jupiter rules the heavens, Mars is in charge of military affairs.”

Here Caesar mentions "Dispater", from whom, according to the Druids, the Gauls descended. This classification must be taken seriously, remembering that Celtic and Italo-Greek mythologies are deeply related. After the conquest of Gaul and its Romanization, the process of merging both pantheons unfolded, and it was of a meaningful nature. The Gauls chose Roman names for their gods based on iconography and function (just as centuries later pagans throughout Europe identified mythological figures with Christian saints). To Caesar's credit, he was able to identify from a variety of Celtic images almost all the main mythological types, which, under the Roman names he designated, were later revered by the Gallo-Romans. Of course, he missed something. In addition, direct identification dilutes the interesting features of Celtic mythology.

So, speaking about ancient Celtic (Gallic and, to a lesser extent, British) deities, the following names are usually given: Taranis, Cernunnos, Esus, Teutates, Lug, Belenus, Ogmios, Brigantia.

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0 %BC%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%8F

Totemism, primitive mythology and primitive religion

There is no doubt that almost all, if not all, peoples of primitive society had a mythology. Most scientists believe that myths are manifestations of religion, or at least closely related to it. But again, there is not a word about them in these articles.

The answer is simple. Contrary to popular belief, totemism in its original form was not a religion. Myths also initially arose without any connection with religion; they were not religious. Before us is a completely independent line of evolution of one of the spheres of the spiritual life of people of primitive (and then later) society, which only later intersected with the line of development of religious ideas and seriously affected it.

Totemism in its original form was a deep, unquestionable belief in the complete identity of the members of a particular human collective (initially an ancestral community, later a clan) with individuals of one specific species of animals (bears, wolves, deer, etc.). This type of animal, and thereby each animal of a given species, was the totem of a given group of people, and thereby of any of its members. In its essence, totemism was nothing more than an awareness of the real unity of the human collective, the fundamental commonality of all its members and at the same time their equally fundamental difference from the members of all other human collectives existing on earth. If all the forms of religion discussed in the above-mentioned articles, excluding polytheism, were a reflection of the dominance over people of the blind necessity of nature, then totemism was a reflection of the dominance of the forces of social development over man, a reflection not of natural, but of social existence. And this is a reflection, just like reflection in magic, omenalism, etc. domination of objective natural forces over people was not adequate, but illusory, fantastic. Therefore, totemism, like magic, omenalism, fetishism, etc., was a faith. All this gave reason to interpret totemism as a form of religion. However, one cannot agree with this understanding of totemism.

Mythology (from the Greek mythos - legend, legend and logos - word, story) - ideas about the world and man contained in stories about the deeds of fantastic creatures - myths. Mythology arose in a primitive (tribal) society (see Primitive society), where the main social ties were those of blood kinship. Therefore, they were transferred to the entire world around man, primarily to animals, which, as was believed in myths, had common ancestors with one or another human race. In the science of myths, these first ancestors are usually called totems (totemism is the belief in the kinship of a person and a certain animal). In the most archaic myths (among the Australians, African Bushmen hunters, who until recently lived in Stone Age conditions), the ancestor totems most often have the appearance of an animal, but are capable of thinking and acting like people. They lived in the distant era of first creation, when the world was created; Some Australian tribes call this era “the time of dreams.” The activities of the first ancestors were considered a model for people: in myths they travel along the same roads, stop near the same sources and thickets as groups of primitive hunters. During their wanderings, the first ancestors hunted, made fire, created bodies of water, heavenly bodies, and even people themselves. Thus, in the Australian myth of the Aranda tribe, the first ancestors discover accreted lumps resembling the outlines of people at the bottom of a dry sea; By breaking the lumps with a stone knife, they create people and divide them into clan groups. Ancestors were considered the creators of tools, marriage norms, customs, rituals and other cultural phenomena, which is why they are also called cultural heroes. Large mythological cycles developed about the activities of such heroes, such as, for example, the myths about the creator of the world among the Bushmen, the grasshopper-mantis Tsagna, or the myths about the Raven among the peoples of Chukotka, Kamchatka, etc.

The first people could also be cultural heroes in primitive myths, for example, the ancestor mother Kunapipi among the Australians; Most often, the cultural heroes turned out to be twin brothers. According to the Soviet ethnographer A.M. Zolotarev, the so-called twin myths, common among many peoples of the world, are associated with the practice of dividing ancient tribes into two halves (phratries - “brotherhoods”), between whose members marriages took place. The twin heroes, the founders of the phratry, create the whole world, but their creations are opposite in their meaning for people. Thus, in the myths of the Melanesians (primitive farmers and hunters on the islands of Melanesia) about the brothers To Kabinana and To Korvuvu, the first creates everything useful for people - fertile land, good housing, edible fish, while the second - rocky soil, tools unsuitable for work , predatory fish, etc. d.

Myths about the creation of the world - cosmogonic myths (from kosmos - world, Universe and gone - birth) exist among all peoples; they reflect the emergence of religious dualism, the struggle between good and evil, God and the devil. However, for primitive myths, the ethical (moral) meaning was secondary: their content was reduced mainly to the opposition of useful and harmful phenomena for humans, such as life and death, light and darkness, house and forest (a wild, undeveloped place). Only with the emergence of civilization, initially in ancient Iranian dualistic mythology, the actions of the two creators of the world began to be guided by good intentions and bad intent: the evil spirit Angro Mainyu (Ahriman) deliberately spoiled all the good undertakings of the god Ahuramazda (Ormuzd), bringing illness and death into the world. His accomplices are demons (devas), embodying lies (Druj) and robbery (Aishma, the biblical Asmodeus).

Already at the early stage of civilization - with the emergence of agriculture and ideas about the fertile power of the earth - cosmogonic myths about the marriage of Earth and Sky, which gave birth to all living things, spread. Two distant peoples, the ancient Greeks and the Polynesians of Oceania, had similar myths about the time when mother earth (Greek Gaia and Polynesian Papa) rested in the embrace of father sky (Greek Uranus and Polynesian Rangi). To free up space for living beings - the first generation of gods, it was necessary to separate the ancestors: the Greek god Kronos performs this act with the help of a sickle, the Polynesian Tane, the god of the forest, tears the Sky from the Earth with the tops of the trees under his control.

A huge tree or mountain connecting Earth and Heaven was represented in myths as the axis of the universe. In Scandinavian mythology, the world tree - the Yggdrasil ash tree - descended with its roots into the underworld, and at its top reached the heavenly home of the aesir gods - Asgard. The world of people - Midgard (literally: the middle fenced space, estate) was surrounded by an outer space - Utgard (literally: the space outside the fence), where giants and monsters lived. The Earth was washed by the World Ocean, at the bottom of which - around the Earth - a giant snake was curled up in a ring.

Monsters and demons that inhabited the mythological space of areas of the world not developed by man constantly threatened the universe. The forces of chaos (primordial emptiness, abyss, darkness) opposed the forces of space, man and his gods. It was not for nothing that the Egyptian sun god Ra fought the underground serpent Apep every night: a new sunrise meant the victory of the cosmos over chaos. The Babylonian god Marduk created the world from the dismembered body of the monster - the ancestor of all living things, Tiamat, after defeating her in a duel.

The myths of agricultural civilizations are characterized by images of dying and resurrecting gods of nature, embodying fertility. The Egyptian myth about Osiris, who fell at the hands of his brother, the desert demon Seth, and was brought back to life by his wife, the goddess of love and fertility Isis, resembles primitive myths about brothers - cultural heroes, but is already associated with cosmic (calendar) cycles of the annual revival of nature during the floods of the Nile. At the same time, the deities no longer merge entirely with the images of animals or natural phenomena, like the totemic ancestors, but dominate the elements and become the patrons of animals. Thus, the Greek goddess-hunter Diana is considered the patroness of animals; The thunder gods - the Greek Zeus, the Indian Indra, the Scandinavian Thor - do not embody thunder and lightning, but produce them with their wonderful weapons, forged for them by divine blacksmiths. Human handicraft activity is reflected in widespread myths about the creation of man from clay (in the Bible - “from the dust of the earth”). Such myths could have developed with the advent of pottery. The Egyptian god Khnum was believed to have sculpted the first man on a potter's wheel.

The role of man in the universal confrontation between the forces of chaos and space was reduced in primitive and ancient mythology and religion mainly to the performance of rituals, making sacrifices and other actions designed to support the powers of the gods and protect people from demons. One of the main rituals, especially in the Ancient East, was the New Year's holiday, when cosmogonic myths were performed; he was thus equated with a new creation of the world. The ritual recreated the era of first creation. At the same time, in mythology the difference was realized between the ideal mythological era of creation and the present time, which is always worse than the first example. A myth was created about the “golden age”, a time of universal equality and abundance, the kingdom of Kronos in Greek, Osiris and Isis in Egyptian mythologies. The most vivid contrast between the “golden age” and the contemporary myth-makers of the era of decline is described by the Greek poet Hesiod (7th century BC) in the poem “Works and Days.” The “golden age” of universal harmony is followed by the “silver age”, when people do not serve the gods so zealously, then the “copper age” - the time of wars, then the “heroic age”, when the best men died in the battles of Thebes and Troy, and finally the “iron age”. ", when life is spent in hard work and strife between relatives. Ultimately, the misfortunes of the “Iron Age” are associated with the decline of clan norms, as, for example, in Scandinavian mythology “the age of swords and axes”, when brother stands against brother - the time of the approaching end of the world. The end of the world - “the fate of the gods” - will happen, according to the prediction of the mythical prophetess, when the monsters of chaos and death itself (Scandinavian Hel) enter into battle with the aesir gods, and the whole world perishes in a cosmic fire. However, this prophecy refers to a future time - this is how ideas about the future are formed in mythology.

Scandinavian myths, which developed during the era of the collapse of the primitive system and the emergence of the first states, whose rulers rejected ancient mythology and turned to Christianity, reflect the death of the traditional norms of tribal society. Similar myths about the end of the world among the Iranians developed in the context of an emerging civilization and have a different perspective: the gods will defeat the demons in the last battle, and the sacred fire will not destroy, but will cleanse the whole world. Unlike the widespread myths about the flood or about cosmic cycles (ancient Indian yugas), where life resumes in its previous form, in Iranian mythology, especially in the prophecies of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), only the righteous who followed good thoughts, words and deeds will enter the future life Ahura Mazda. These ideas influenced the doctrine of the Last Judgment in biblical mythology, awaiting the Savior - the Messiah - who would judge the righteous and sinners and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

Almost no information has been preserved about ancient Russian (East Slavic) mythology. After the baptism of Rus' (see Kievan Rus), pagan idols and temples were destroyed, the authorities persecuted the Magi, pagan priests - the guardians of ancient myths. Only in the Tale of Bygone Years are references to the pagan customs of Rus' and its gods preserved. After the campaign against Constantinople in 907, Oleg concluded an agreement with the defeated Greeks and sealed it with an oath: his men swore by weapons and “Perun, their god, and Volos, the cattle god.” Perun is the thunder god (in the Belarusian language the word “Perun” means “thunder”), his name is related to the names of thunderers in other Indo-European myths (Lithuanian Perkunas, Hittite Pirv, etc.). The Thunderer, who pursues evil spirits with thunder and lightning, was considered the patron saint of warriors; it was not for nothing that Oleg’s fighting squad swore by him. The oath to the cattle god Volos (or Veles) is also not accidental: cattle in many Indo-European traditions are the embodiment of wealth in general, and Oleg returned to Kyiv after the campaign with rich gifts.

In 980, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich established the “Kiev pantheon”: “he placed idols on the hill... Perun of wood, and his head was silver, and his mustache was gold, and Khors, Dazhbog and Stribog, and Simargl, and Mokosh.” They were worshiped as gods, writes the Christian chronicler, and they desecrated the earth with sacrifices. Perun was the head of the pantheon. One can only guess about the functions of other gods based primarily on their names. Mokosh, judging by the name (connected with the word “wet”), is the goddess of moisture and fertility. Dazhbog is called the god of the Sun in one of the later Russian chronicles (his other name, mentioned there, is Svarog): he is the “giving god,” the giver of good. Stribog can also be associated with the spread of good (in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” the winds are called “Stribog’s grandchildren”): the Slavic word “god”, borrowed from the Iranian language, means “wealth, good, share”. Two more characters included in the Kiev pantheon - Khora and Simargl - are also considered Iranian borrowings. Khore, like Dazhbog, was a solar deity; Simargl is compared to the mythical bird Senmurv. Veles was not included in the pantheon, perhaps because he was more popular among the Slovenes of Novgorod, in the Russian North. Soon Vladimir was forced to turn again to the “choice of faith”: a pantheon made up of different gods, not united by a single cult and mythology, could not be an object of veneration throughout Rus'. Vladimir chose Christianity, the idols were overthrown, the pagan gods were declared demons, and only in secret the stubborn pagans made more sacrifices to the fire of “Svarozhich”, worshiped Rod and women in labor who determined fate, believed in numerous brownies, water spirits, goblins and other spirits.

In the so-called world religions - Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, which spread among many peoples of the world during the era of the collapse of ancient civilizations, traditional mythological stories recede into the background compared to the problems of morality (good and evil) and saving the soul from the hardships of earthly existence and the torment of the afterlife. retribution.

Already in ancient times, with the advent of scientific knowledge, including philosophy and history, mythological subjects became the subject of literature (see Antiquity). At the same time, in historical accounts, elements of cosmogonic myths could precede history itself, and ancient cultural heroes and even gods sometimes turned into the founders of real cities, states, and royal dynasties. Thus, the brothers Romulus and Remus, fed, according to legend, by a wolf totem, were considered the founders of Rome, and the supreme gods of the Scandinavian pantheon Odin, Thor, Freyr laid the foundation for the ruling Yngling dynasty in Sweden (according to the medieval historical work “The Earthly Circle”).

With the spread of world religions, especially Christianity and Islam, the main source for searching for the historical roots of peoples who joined civilization became the Bible and the Old Testament. The book of Genesis talks about the origin of all nations from the three sons of Noah, the righteous man who survived the global flood in the ark. The descendants of his sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth - populated the earth: from Shem came the Semites - Jews, ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia and Syria, etc.; Ham was considered the ancestor of the African peoples (Khamats), Japheth - of the Indo-European peoples (Japhetids). This mythological classification survived into the Middle Ages and modern times: the Russian chronicler Nestor in the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” placed the new state of Rus' in the Japheth part, next to the ancient countries and peoples, and linguists until recently used ancient names to designate large families of peoples - the Semitic , Hamitic and Japhetic.

According to further biblical tradition, from the forefather Abraham - a descendant of Shem - came the Jews, whose ancestors were Isaac and Jacob, and the Arabs, whose ancestor was Ishmael, the son of Abraham from the Egyptian Hagar; in the Koran and the subsequent Muslim tradition, Ismail is the main son of Ibrahim (Abraham), guardian of the Muslim shrine of the Kaaba (the main center of Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca). In the Old Testament and later Christian traditions, Arabs, and often all followers of Islam, are called Ishmaelites and Hagarites.

Another popular myth about three brothers who divided the world is the Iranian myth of Traetaon and his three sons. The ancient myth about the dragon slayer Traetaon was reworked by the great Persian poet Ferdowsi (c. 940-1020) in the poem “Shahnameh” (“Book of Kings”): Traetaon-Feridun appears there as an ancient king, his opponent (dragon) Zahhak - as a tyrant, unjustly seized power. The sons of Feridun - the winner of Zahhak - receive the whole world: Salm rules Rum (Byzantium, the Roman Empire) and Western countries, Tur-Chin (Chinese Turkestan), Eraj - Iran and Arabia. Feuds between brothers lead to the eternal struggle between the nomadic Turanians (Turkic peoples) and sedentary Iranians (leading, according to the ancient Iranian tradition, a righteous lifestyle) Iranians.

Based on the model of the Old Testament and Iranian mytho-epic traditions, numerous book legends were created about three brothers - the ancestors of different nations. This is the legend about Czech, Lech and Rus - the ancestors of the Czechs, Poles and Russians in the Polish medieval chronicle. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" there is a parallel to the Old Testament legend - the legend about the ancestors of the glades Kiy, Shchek and Horeb (Horeb is the name of the mountain in the Old Testament, where the prophet Moses saw the "burning bush"), the founders of Kyiv, and the legend about the calling of the Varangians - brother-princes Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. After the death of the Russian prince Yaroslav the Wise (1054), real power in Rus' belonged to the three Yaroslavich brothers, and the chronicler taught them to follow the biblical example and not start strife - “not to cross the limit of brothers.”

The real rulers of real and medieval states either directly identified themselves with mythological characters - deities, like the pharaoh in Egypt, who was considered the son of the sun god Ra, or raised their family to deities, like the Japanese emperors, who were considered the descendants of the solar goddess Amaterasu.

The image of Alexander the Great has undergone the greatest mythologization in various traditions: already in the ancient “Roman of Alexander” by Pseudo-Callisthenes, he appears as the son of an Egyptian priest who appeared to the queen mother in the image of the god Amon. As a result of the combination of ancient and biblical traditions, Alexander - the conqueror of the world - was portrayed as the conqueror of the Old Testament mythical peoples of Gog and Magog: he locks them behind an iron gate (wall), but they must break out of captivity before the end of the world. In the Iranian tradition, Alexander - Iskander - the last ruler of the righteous Iranian Keyanid dynasty; in the Koran he is Dhu-l-Qarnayn, literally “Two-horned”, an image that goes back to the idea of ​​Alexander as the incarnation of Amun (the symbol of this god was a ram).

Representatives of the Roman patrician family of the Julians, to which Julius Caesar and Augustus belonged, considered themselves descendants of Aeneas, the Trojan hero, son of the goddess of love Aphrodite (Venus). These mythological genealogies served as a model for the legendary genealogies of medieval sovereigns, including Russian grand dukes. In the Old Russian “Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” (15th century), the family of Moscow princes through Rurik and his legendary ancestor Prus, allegedly planted by his relative Augustus to rule the Prussian land, is traced back to Augustus himself.

Mythology, the plots of which formed ideas about the past and future, about the place of man in the universe, was the predecessor of history as a science.

The mythological encyclopedia of our Planet Gods Bay project is dedicated to the mythologies of the main cultures of the peoples of the East, as well as ancient, Celtic, Scandinavian and Slavic mythology, whose traditions form the basis of ideas and concepts that are the foundation of the worldview of modern man.

Ancient legends contain all the key aspects of existence: great love and jealousy; conflict between old and new generations; the courage and cruelty of men, especially on the battlefield; the pranks of rogues who love to disrupt the measured boredom of life; the severity of the illness or injury; the mystery of death, the afterlife, including rebirth and transmigration of souls, as well as life after death; the effects of witchcraft on the mind and body; wanderlust or deadly fights with monsters; the bitterness of betrayal; suddenness of misfortune, luck and everything connected with fate; relations between earthly and heavenly, between people and gods; myths about the global flood; hypotheses of the creation of the world and the origin of society; and lastly, perhaps the most important - the desire to comprehend the essence of the universe.

Attempts to understand the complexity of the world are evidenced by the myths of the ancient peoples who once lived in Mesopotamia, the center of civilization, as well as in Palestine, Ancient Iran, Egypt, India, China and Japan. Natural disasters constantly threatened the population of these countries with death, so their myths depict life as a continuous struggle of man against the forces of chaos and his victory. For example, the Akkadian Tiamat, a monstrous embodiment of the primeval ocean, dies in a fierce battle with the god Marduk.

These eternal questions are interpreted differently in Greece, Ireland or Scandinavia, although European gods and goddesses, as well as heroes and mortals, face the same cardinal problems of life, death and fate. For example, the Athenian hero Theseus successfully dealt with the monstrous Minotaur, but abandoned his assistant, Princess Ariadne. Overcome with the joy of victory, he forgot to change the black sail to a white one. The result of carelessness was the suicide of Theseus's father, who threw himself from the wall of the Athenian Acropolis. In Ireland, Cuchulainn's inability to stop for a moment and think led to the fact that he killed Conlaich, his own son from the Amazon Aife, with his own hand.

One of the many mysteries of Celtic mythology is the “appearance” of King Arthur, his sudden invasion of the course of mythological history. The legends and stories about Arthur and his knights (Lancelot, Percival, Owain, Bors, Galahad, Gawain and others) undoubtedly have a genuine historical flavor, but they also have an equally undeniably mythical character.

Unlike the Greeks and Celts, the peoples of Northern Europe did not create vibrant heroic traditions. Their great hero was Thor, an honest and warlike crusher of enemy skulls, owner of the wonderful Mjolnir, a hammer that always returned to its owner. At the same time, the Viking sea robbers also liked Odin, the god of battles and the inspirer of the formidable berserkers. For them, stern warriors not afraid of death, the supreme god promised a truly heavenly life in Valhalla, his heavenly palace, where the Einherjar fought during the day and feasted at night in the company of beautiful Valkyries.

Myths weave complex patterns of circumstances beyond the control of mortals or gods. So fate and destiny in European mythology are almost impossible to change. For example, Odin cannot do anything about the inevitability of the death of the gods on the day of Ragnarok; The Celtic sun god Lugh cannot save his son Cuchulainn from death. Even Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks, is obliged only to monitor the course of events.

A different, interesting view of the world in its own way is reflected in the mythology of the pagan Slavs, who did not separate themselves from their environment and naively humanized all of nature. True, Christianization interrupted this promising tradition, and information about the pantheon of their highest gods is very scarce. However, it is known that the Slavic gods lived in the heavens; spirits of nature lived next to people: in the house, in the field, in forests and rivers. These are brownies, field creatures, goblins, water creatures, mermaids, and the spirits of their ancestors were held in special esteem by the Slavs; During a peculiar ceremony, the first spoon and the first cup were presented to them.

Time passes, but myths, the primary layer of the cultural life of mankind, continue to attract attention, since in these tales as ancient as the world one can still discern the deep essence of existence.

Myth (ancient Greek m?ipt) in literature is a legend that conveys people’s ideas about the world, man’s place in it, the origin of all things, about gods and heroes.

In simpler terms: the word “myth” is Greek and literally means legend, legend. Usually this refers to tales about gods, spirits, heroes deified or related to gods by their origin, about ancestors who acted at the beginning of time and participated directly or indirectly in the creation of the world itself, its elements, both natural and cultural.

Myth according to A.F. Losev: Myth is for mythological consciousness the highest in its concreteness, the most intense and the most intense reality. This is an absolutely necessary category of thought and life. Myth is a logical, that is, first of all, dialectical, necessary category of consciousness and being in general. Myth is not an ideal concept, and also not an idea or a concept. This is life itself. Thus, myth, according to Losev, is a special form of expression of consciousness and feelings of ancient man. On the other hand, a myth, like a cell, contains the sprouts of forms acquired in the future. In any myth, one can identify a semantic (notional) core, which will subsequently be in demand. (Alexey Fedorovich Losev - Russian philosopher and philologist, professor, Doctor of Philology, prominent figure in Soviet culture, secret monk of the Russian Orthodox Church.)

Myth according to F.Kh. Cassidy: “myth is a sensual image and representation, a unique worldview, and not a worldview,” consciousness not subject to reason, or rather even pre-rational consciousness. Dreams, waves of fantasy - that’s what myth is. (Feochary Kharlampievich Cassidy - specialist in ancient philosophy. Doctor of Philosophy, corresponding member of the Athens Academy of Sciences, honorary academician of the Academy of Humanitarian Studies).

Mythology (Greek mhiplpgYab from m?ipt - legend, legend and lgpt - word, story, teaching) - can mean both ancient folklore and folk tales (myths, epics, fairy tales, etc.), and the study of this material in within scientific disciplines, such as comparative mythology. Mythology is a collection of similar tales about gods and heroes and, at the same time, a system of fantastic ideas about the world. The science of myths is also called mythology. Myth-making is considered as the most important phenomenon in the cultural history of mankind. In primitive society, mythology represented the main way of understanding the world, and myth expressed the worldview and worldview of the era of its creation.

Mythological ideas existed at certain stages of development among almost all peoples of the world. This is confirmed both by the study of history and modern primitive peoples, each of which has one or another type of mythology.

If Europeans before the Age of Discovery were familiar only with ancient myths, then they gradually learned about the presence of mythology among the inhabitants of Africa, America, Oceania, and Australia. The Bible contains echoes of Western Semitic mythology. Before the adoption of Islam, the Arabs had their own mythology.

Thus, mythology is inherent in the nature of human consciousness. The time of origin of mythological images cannot be determined; their formation is inextricably linked with the origin of language and consciousness.

The main task of myth is to set patterns, models for every important action performed by a person; myth serves to ritualize everyday life, enabling a person to find meaning in life.

Cosmogonic and anthropogonic myths.

Cosmogonic myths - myths about creation, myths about the origin of the cosmos from chaos, the main initial plot of most mythologies. They begin with a description of chaos (emptiness), lack of order in the universe, and the interaction of the primordial elements. Serve to explain the origin of the world and life on Earth.

A separate type of anthropogonic myths are totemic myths, which tell about the origin of people, most often a specific tribe, from one or another animal. In some peoples' totemic myths, the ancestors of people may be birds. Among the peoples of Africa, myths are common about people who emerged from a rock, earth, hole, termite mound, split tree or reed.

Eschatological and calendar myths.

Eschatological myths are myths about the end of the world; they exist along with cosmogonic myths and are associated with the confrontation between the forces of chaos and space. One type of such myths are myths about the supposed end of the world in the future, another type are myths that similar events have already happened in the past, and between the mythical world and the modern one there are periods of catastrophes. In various myths, the cause of the destruction of the world can be a global flood, a global fire, the destruction of previous generations, the death of the gods, and other subjects.

Calendar myths are a mythologization of the change of time cycles - day and night, winter and summer, up to cosmic cycles. They are associated with astronomical observations, astrology, New Year celebrations, harvest festivals and other calendar events.

Heroic myths.

Heroic myths are myths about heroes, who can be either the children of gods from a mortal woman, as in Ancient Greek mythology, or simply legendary figures of the epic. A typical plot of a heroic myth is the hero’s extraordinary childhood (some special abilities, orphanhood, special fate), often exile, performing feats, defeating monsters, saving a beautiful girl, returning and getting married.

Many heroic myths tell in an allegorical form about the formation of personality and the acquisition of status in society, thereby performing an instructive function.

A special category of heroes are cultural heroes. These are mythical heroes who made a serious civilizational contribution to the culture of the people. Often a cultural hero is a demiurge, participating in creation along with the gods, or is the first legislator, obtains or invents various cultural objects for people (fire, cultivated plants, tools), teaches them hunting techniques, crafts, arts, introduces social organization, marriage rules, magical regulations, rituals and holidays.

Myths about animals.

Animals are not only heroes of cosmogonic myths; images of animals are often used to describe cosmography. Myths about animals also occupy a place of honor among astral myths. There are beautiful legends associated with the constellation Canis, Leo, Swan, Eagle, Scorpio, and Pisces. The Chinese zodiac is also associated with animal myths.

There are also legends about the origin of the zodiac itself. Animals also acted as the founders of a new cultural and social tradition (organization of society, teaching crafts, etc.).

Cult myths.

Cult myths are the conventional name of myths that provide an explanation (motivation) for a rite (ritual) or other cult action.