Mythological Background in Literature Types of myths

Categorizing myths Myths were generally followed as religions in that the stories were accepted to be true. With the gift of hindsight we can study myths and generally separate them into 3 distinct categories.

Type of myth 1 - Etiological myths Etiological myths, or divine myths, focus on the gods themselves. The term ‘etiological’ is derived from the Greek word ‘aitia’ which means “cause.”

Type of myth 1 - Etiological myths Etiological myths describe phenomena that articulate natural phenomena (or the actions of divine forces). They generally depict creation, gods and a time before man.

Type of myth 1 - Etiological myths Gods often represented forces of nature or powerful emotions in etiological myths Can you think of any? -Aphrodite represented desire and sexual passion -Zeus represented the lightning

Type of myth 1 - Etiological myths Etiological myths were almost a form of primitive science. It is important to remember though that to the Ancient Greeks, they were very much real.

Type of myth 2- Heroic myths Heroic myths or ‘legends’ represent mythological memories of the human past. In these stories, the main characters are mortal and not divine. The main characters were often related to gods who regularly appeared in the stories.

Type of myth 2- Heroic myths They often represented an aristocratic or ‘hero’ class. Examples of heroic myths are Achilles, Jason and Theseus.

Type of myth 2- Heroic myths Heroic myths often contained elements of real history. Can you think of any? (e.g. a mythological account of the Trojan War).

Type of myth 3 - Traditional folk stories Folk stories are used to articulate human commonalities (e.g. Aesop’s fables). The tales contain easily recognizable motifs or items (often with magical powers). They often represent societal fears of rites of passage.