The word myth comes from the Greek mythos, which means story or story; It is a narrative that presents fantastic explanations of real events or phenomena of nature. He usually talks about gods, heroes and characters who do things that are impossible to do in reality. In other words, it is a type of primitive-popular literary creation that tries to explain through a pseudo-scientific and pseudo-religious way certain phenomena of nature through implausible narratives. Myths are legendary and symbolic stories that deal with the relationships between divinity and human beings, they reveal the meaning of the world and of life.
What is a myth
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This word can be defined as a traditional story in which the events and situations that happen to those who star in it are narrated, usually they are supernatural characters, such as Gods, monsters and demigods or fantastic heroes.
With the appearance of scientific philosophical explanations, these stories were no longer the only clarification that humans had to understand the world they inhabited and thanks to these sciences, people stopped believing in these fantasy stories.
Among some of the examples of myths are, that of the father of the gods, the god Zeus, or the stories of the creation of Adam and Eve and their life in paradise and the myths of the moon.
Many times these fables were part of the religion of a certain people. Almost all cultures possess or once possessed legendary tales and lived in connection with them. The study of these mythical stories and narratives is known as mythology.
At present, if the question arises: What are myths? It can be said that it is something that people do not believe, in the usual sense, that it has happened, nor is it thought that it will happen in the future. The meaning of this term is something that belongs to another world, to a distant and miraculous age, where reality had a radically different conformation.
One of the interpretations of this term considers it as a historical event that has indeed happened, and whose narration, with the passage of time, has been altering, becoming only a distant reflection of what really happened.
Due to their content, different types are distinguished: theogonic myths (they deal with the origin of the gods); cosmogonic (origin of the world); anthropogonic (origin of man); of paradise (relation of human life with supratemporal laws); soteriological (saving action of the divinity) and eschatological myths (dealing with the end of the world).
The concept of myth also refers to the very famous or exceptional person of his genre, turned into a model or prototype. For example: Meryl Streep is one of the myths of modern cinema.
Among the characteristics of a myth, the following can be noted:
- They refer to legendary characters.
- In them imaginative or fantastic events are related.
- The author is unknown.
- They enjoy a conventional and uncritical character.
The myths of Mexico, mostly come from the Aztec and Mayan cultures, recently there have been short myths about supernatural beings that lived in the interior of that country at the time of independence.
Types of myths
There are different types, among them are:
Fantasy myths
They are stories that reproduce through mental images, about things from the past, representing events that do not belong to reality.
Scientific myths
They are the stories related to science, it does not rule out existential myths, but tries to give them an explanation that can be verified. An example of this type of myth is when scientific discoveries are presented as a myth. Despite this, there are false stories since many ideas, stories and concepts are wrong and despite this they have passed from generation to generation. For example, Mount Everest is the highest in the world, false since Mauna Kea, a huge volcano located in Hawaii, measures 8,848 meters.
Religious myths
They are part of a culture in which they are regarded as true stories. Its function is to grant, through narration, beliefs to the community.
Historical myths
It is the way to show in an effective and concrete way the historical mission of a people and they are told from generation to generation. In history the fantastic facts have been more fascinating than the real ones, due to this, society has been in charge of convincing individuals of the veracity of these myths.
Theogonic myths
They narrate the origin of the Gods and their stories, they existed before human beings, but sometimes humans could also become Gods and be very similar to them, have the same problems and be as good or bad as humans. One of the most famous fables of this type is the myth of the birth of Athens, where it is said that she was born from a swelling in the head of Zeus, her father.
Cosmogonic myth
They try to tell how the world was created, there are a lot of stories on this subject and its protagonists are Gods and giants or that the world comes from an ocean. That God was in charge of shaping the world and creating man and other living beings. In this case, the most prominent legendary tale is that of the creation of the earth in seven days according to Christianity.
Anthropogonic myth
It tells about the appearance of man on earth, according to this myth, it can be for different causes and the Gods are in charge of teaching how to live on earth. Within this classification, the most important are those of philosophical themes that haunted human beings on earth since its creation.
Myth of paradise
It is an interpretation of what it means, the tree of Eden as good or evil, also paradise and the serpent. From the world's first civilization to the present, each civilization has exhibited its own Eden tradition. This type of fable is the one that best expresses the human condition of paradise and original sin.
Soteriological Myth
They express stories about the Christian religion, about the doctrine of salvation, focused on the work and person of Jesus Christ and how he makes spiritual salvation possible. In addition, the soteriological fables focus on three figures that are: Mithra, Buddha and Muhammad, these became as important as Christianity and most of the Mithraics came to bow to the Christian religion.
Eschatological myth
It tells about the end of the world, the end of life, they are generally linked to astrology and refer to catastrophes as the cause of the end of the world. These stories can be classified in two ways, a general eschatology that narrates the final destiny of the universe and humanity and a particular eschatology, which deals with the end of humanity after death.
Similarly, within this list you can also mention:
- Moral myths: These relate a mythical synopsis about all societies, their protagonists are beings in an eternal struggle over what is good or what is bad, as well as the fight between angels and demons. These types of stories are the most important, since their main objective is to show human beings what good and evil mean. It is important to note that this type of approach varies according to each culture.
- Foundational myths: They talk about how great cities originated according to the will of the Gods. An example of this is the myth about the birth of Rome. This one always focuses and highlights a hero, who is the savior of the region and all his strength and power is thanks to the Gods. In these fables Romulus and Remus are very famous heroes of the city of Rome.
Difference between myths and legends
The myth is a narrative located in space and real time and starring supernatural beings or divine entities, in other cases heroes who perform incredible feats and their image has not really existed. They generally try to explain theoretical concepts of the uncertain origin of life, love, the world and hatred.
The legend are stories in the form of a narrative that are transmitted from generation to generation, with supernatural and unreal elements that try to explain concrete historical facts.
The legend is based on real events in history, but they incorporate fantastic aspects that modify and give a different meaning to it. Its main function is to highlight the characteristics of people or real people and promote ideological or social values, regardless of the meaning they give to reality.
