C

ompared with the vast land areas

of the continents of Africa and

Asia, Europe is relatively small;

nevertheless, it does have a long

cultural history. Part of the legacy

of this heritage is a body of myth that contains

many thousands of diferent legends, split into

a number of very distinct traditions across the

continent. These range from the stories told by

the Slavs of Eastern Europe to the myths related

by the Norsemen of Western Europe, and from

the complex pantheon of ancient Greece and

Rome to the chivalric stories of the Middle

Ages. Most of these traditions have become

well known all around the world because of

Europe’s long history of written culture.

But the myths and legends of Europe, like

those of all other parts of the world, originated

long before the invention of the written word.

Some evidence of these

prehistoric traditions

survives, but it is

often minimal. The Romans, for example, wrote

about some of the gods and goddesses of the

pre-literate Celts whose territories they overran,

but their descriptions of Celtic deities and

religious practices are patchy. Even when put

together with the archaeological evidence of

inscriptions, statues, altars, jewellery, and other

paraphernalia, they form only a partial picture.

Other aspects of European mythology have

come down to us through popular stories from

oral traditions – stories that were not recorded

by writers and folklorists until much later, some

not until the 19th century. Many of the gods

and stories from Central and Eastern Europe

have survived in this way, and have been given

new life when they have inspired writers,

painters, and composers to re-imagine them in

new works. Stories from Russian mythology, for

example, have given rise to paintings by such

well-known illustrators and stage designers as

Ivan Bilibin, and music by famous composers

such as Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

EUROPE

14