Research Paper Example: What Is A Myth?

A myth can be classified as something that helps explain the origin of a place, an animal, or a person. Some theories that give an idea of this come from the works of Walter Burkert and Vladimir Propp. Another theory is the etiological theory which a lot of academics’ support. I am one of those people who supports the etiological theory. This theory helps explain how things like humans, peacocks, spiders, and more came into existence. 

The first theory on mythology is Walter Burkert’s. Burkert argues that the basic components of myths form from the influence of your culture. You have Roman views on gods and Greek views on gods which connect to the cultures based on what the gods do. You have gods like Poseidon and Neptune which do the same thing between the two cultures. Both gods oversee water doing things like protecting the waters, bringing rain to help crops grow, and providing water to drink. Greeks adapted the gods into their culture because, once they did, things got better; like crops starting to grow. Since life was improving for the Greeks, once they accepted gods, the Romans adopted some of those ideas. Then you have Athena and Minerva who are both goddesses of war however their other responsibilities are different. In Greek culture Athena is the goddess of wisdom, art of war, and women’s art. Minerva is the goddess of war, arts, and health. In the Greek culture Athena is the favorite child of Zeus and is allowed to use his lightning bolts and aegis. Minerva on the other hand was born from Tinia an Etruscan sky god not from Jupiter. Meaning Minerva doesn’t get to use the lightning bolts and aegis. Also, in between the two cultures, Minerva isn’t as important in Roman culture as Athena is in Greek culture. While Burkert’s theory is based on the influence from your culture; Propp’s theory is based on the idea all myths follow the same format underneath the story. 

Vladimir Propp follows the theory that beneath the surface of the story the sequence of events is all the same and the types of characters are always the same. It doesn’t matter if all the events are there, but they’ll always occur in the same order. You’ll always have the hero leaving home first, then the villain tricks the hero somewhere during the 7th event, then the hero is given a difficult task to fulfill is always around the 25th event and the last or the 31st event is always the happy event, like a wedding or a celebration. If you look at the stories of Perseus and Heracles, they both follow a very similar structures in their myths. They both were going to killed by someone close to them/related to them. Heracles was going to be killed by Hera who sent 2 serpents after him and Perseus was locked in a chest with his mother and sent into the sea. Perseus and Heracles both end up doing this they regret causing them to have to go on journeys to get what they want. Perseus promised King Polydectes he could bring him Medusa’s head as a gift so, Polydectes said do it. Then Hera drove Heracles mad causing him to kill his wife and 3 children causing him to have to preform 12 labors. Heracles would get the reward of immortality and Perseus the reward of being right. In the end Heracles got to be immortal and Perseus picked up a wife Andromeda. So, from these two stories you can look at the similarities that happen in them and they happen in the same order. Now Propp’s theory is all the myths follow the same structure and have the same types of characters; while etiological explains how things come on to this plant. 

Etiological is the theory that myths tell the origin of people, places, and animals. It helps bring closer to how things turned up on our planet or how they were created. One example of an etiological story would be the story about the first spider. Arachne challenged Athena to a spinning contest. Arachne was told that she was the best even better than Athena. Athena accepts the challenge. In Athena’s tapestry it praises the Gods and shows how great of people they are. In Arachne’s it shows the Gods in shameful love affairs (aka Zeus). Both the competitors did so well it was hard to decide a winner. Athena didn’t like this ruling and destroyed Arachne’s tapestry; Arachne was so upset by this she killed herself. Out of sadness Athena turns Arachne into the first spider so she can spin forever. 

Another myth that helps follow along in the idea of etiological is the story of coral reefs and snakes in Ethiopia. After Perseus killed Medusa’s, he was going over Ethiopia and Medusa’s head was dripping blood on the island. As the blood hit the land it would turn into poisonous snakes that infested the land. While the blood was dripping over the land it was getting all over Perseus, so he stopped to wash his hands in water. As the blood was washing off in the water the blood turned into coral reefs. So that is how poisonous snakes got to Ethiopia and how coral reefs came to about. 

One more myth you could look at is how the peacock came to be. Zeus was cheating on Hera with Io. So, before Hera could “figure it out” Zeus turned Io into a heifer. Hera knowing what was going on asked for the heifer as a gift; Zeus gave it to her trying to prove to her he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Hera locked up Io and had Argos the hundred-eyed watchman guard her. Well since Argos always had an eye open Zeus couldn’t save Io. So, he sent Hermes to do it; Hermes found he could put all hundred eyes to sleep with tales. Once every eye was closed Hermes cut Argos’s head off. Hera came out and found him dead, so she turned him into a peacock with a hundred eyes. That way they were always watching and guarding and wouldn’t sleep leaving him defenseless. 

A final myth that helps follow the theory of etiology is the myth of the repopulation of the earth after the great flood. After Neptune turned all the waters loose on the people for being bad there were two people who survived. Deucalion son of Prometheus and Pyrrha daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. They prayed to Themis for guidance who told them they had to desecrate the mother’s bones. Pyrrha didn’t want to, but Deucalion the Earth is the mother of all. So, they started throwing stones behind them; every stone thrown by Deucalion turns into a man and every stone thrown by Pyrrha turns into a woman. Therefore, creating people again on the earth and they’re called people because they’re made from pebbles.  

Out of Walter Burkert’s, Vladimir Propp’s and etiological the one with the most stores and support is etiological. There is myth upon myths that give background on how animals, people, and places show up on the Earth. There aren’t many myths that follow the structure of Propp’s theory. Not all myths come from culture some come from history so that doesn’t follow Walter Burkert’s theory. I support the etiological theory because it has a ton of support behind it and you keep looking and digging in myths the more support you find. I think it makes the most sense to explain a myth. In my eyes a myth is the etiological theory of how things like people, animals, and places come into existence.