Homer’s epic stories—the Iliad and
Odyssey—and Hesiod’s Theogony
comprised the first and most
authoritative attempts to weave
the disparate Greek myths into
one narrative thread.
In ancient Rome, the local
myths of Italic peoples, such as the
Latins and the Etruscans, blended
with the Greek myths that had
gone before them. The poet Virgil
composed a foundation myth for
Rome, the Aeneid, consciously
modeled on the epics of Homer,
while Ovid retold many Greek
myths in his narrative poem
Metamorphoses, and recorded the
myths of a number of purely Roman
deities in his poem on the religious
year, Fasti. The Romans enriched
the mix by adding deities from
Phrygia (such as the Great Mother
Cybele), Egypt (the goddess Isis),
and Syria (Elagabal, or Sol Invictus,
briefly the chief god of Rome).Preserving myths
The line between literature, myth,
and folktale is blurry; many myths
have been preserved as literary
works. The popular tales of King
Arthur are rooted in Celtic myth,
while the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, the great works of
Hindu mythology, are celebrated
masterpieces of epic poetry.In preliterate societies, myths were
recited and passed along orally.
The written recording of a myth
depended on luck, which probably
led to the disappearance of a great
many mythologies. Even in literate
societies, such as the Viking-Age
Norse, some myths survived
through only a single source. Had
the manuscripts of the mythological
poems known as the Edda—and of
Snorri Sturluson’s later Prose
Edda—been destroyed, we would
know as little about Norse
mythology as we do about the
myths of the ancient Britons.Living religions
Many tribal peoples—including the
Dogon of Mali, the Baiga of central
India, the Tikopia of the Solomon
Islands, and the Ifugaos of the
Philippines—still live in a world
suffused by what outsiders might
call myths. Oral tradition in these
societies is remarkably enduring:
as proven by the abundant myths
or Dreamings of the Aboriginal
Australians, the myths of the
déma (creation spirits) among the
Marind-Anim people of New
Guinea, or the eloquent Chantways
of the Navajo in North America.
Many myths from these peoples,
however, have not reached the
outside world because they aresecret, or they have not been
collected or translated, or they have
been lost as exposure to outsiders
has attacked and destroyed
indigenous cultures.
Mythology is the territory of
poetic imagination, and the stories
individual cultures tell are a
profound expression of the creative
impulse. Yet myths are more than
simply stories; they are the stories
cultures tell themselves about the
great mysteries that perplex and
intrigue us all: questions of birth
and death and everything in
between. Even now, myths remain
the bearers of tradition and the
spiritual and moral guide of peoples
all across the globe. ■INTRODUCTION 13
Myth ... takes all the things
you know and restores to them
the rich significance hidden
by the veil of familiarity.
C. S. Lewis
Writer, scholar, and author of
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