Demythologizing Myth
What are we to do about those pesky Greek myths? The violence, the immorality...why exactly are we studying these stories again?
The "why" is simple enough: the myths, Greek, Roman, and Norse, form the foundation of so much later literature, art, and music, that to neglect them is to risk ignorance of some of the greatest cultural artifacts of the West. Besides, read in their proper context, the myths are fascinating in their own right, even when - perhaps particularly when - they bring us up against a very foreign worldview.
It's the "how" that poses the greater difficulty. The Greek myth curriculum I recommend treats the myths straighforwardly, familiarizing students with the content of the most important Greek stories. But even if students know that the myths are "good for them," that they will open doors to later literature, they may still wonder why we need to read stories that are, admittedly, gruesome at times. And when faced with child-devouring fathers and nightmarish monsters, parents may wonder what happened to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, those ideals that classical education upholds.
I'd like to offer some background on the myths that may help parents teach them more effectively - and, in the process, correct some common misunderstandings about the role of myth in ancient cultures.
First, there are some common themes in European mythologies from India all the way to Ireland - a sky god identified as "father"; a war between two families of gods, a battle with a snake or sea serpent, etc. These reach down to a common substratum of Indo-European culture. What's important for kids to know is that the Greeks (for example) did not invent their myths out of whole cloth. They inherited much from their cultural ancestors and then modified the myths to fit their current environment. Students who study Greek, Roman, and Norse myths, as I suggest, will begin to recognize these themes.
Second, the purpose of most myths is to explain some facet of human life, the environment, or tradition. They attempt to answer the perennial questions: Why is there suffering? Where does the rain come from? What are my obligations to my family, my neighbors, my tribe? The actions of the gods, which can seem so gratuitous to us, must be seen in that context.
Third, language matters. Unless you understand Greek, some of the resonances in myth may be lost. The name Kronos, for example, sounds very much like the Greek word for time, Chronos. In the story of Kronos swallowing his children, it is Time that, figuratively, swallows all things. That's also why Saturn, Kronos's Roman counterpart, is usually portrayed as an old man, "Father Time." The war between the Titans and the Olympians is a battle between the brute forces of Earth (the Titans are the earth mother Gaia's children) and the forces of civilization. Many of the more horrifying monsters are personifications of destructive natural or social forces. Becoming aware of these details can help children put the violent or grotesque aspects of the myths into context.
Fourth, it is not safe to assume that the myths were understood by all the ancients in the same way. Plato would have banned the poets from his ideal city (described in the Republic) because he felt they told unworthy tales about the gods. Most educated people did not take the myths literally; they understood them as metaphors or as "true falsehoods" - stories that, while not factual, nevertheless conveyed some truth about life. Undoubtedly there were many people who viewed them very simply and superstitiously, but the authors you'll find on Great Books lists most assuredly did not.
Fifth, the relationship between myth and actual Greek religious practice is not always clear. Some myths exist solely to explain some obscure religious tradition, the actual origins of which were long forgotten. (Plutarch has a whole book dedicated to investigating these historical oddities.) For this reason, it is well worth reading a simple book on Greek religious practices alongside the myths. No, their practices weren't always palatable to modern sensibilities, but neither were those practices appreciably different from those of other ancient cultures, including the Hebrews.
Finally, it's important for students to understand that the ancient view of the gods was very different from the Judeo-Christian understanding of God. The gods of mythology were not "holy" in the sense of "all good" - they were simply another class of beings with different rules. Aristotle says point-blank, "No one loves Zeus." The goal of religious practice was not to become like the gods but to take one's proper, subordinate place in a relationship of mutual exchange or reciprocal favor. Humans provided offerings; for their part, the gods were expected to provide fair weather, abundant crops, success in war, safe childbirth, and all the other good things of life. We should not make the mistake of assuming that the behavior of the gods in the myths was set up as a model of acceptable behavior for the ancients themselves. "Quod licet Jovi non licet bovi": What is permissible for Jove isn't permissible for cattle. There are some myths that specifically portray moral behavior for humans, such as the story of Baucis and Philemon, which praises hospitality, or the story of Arachne, which shows the dangers of pride. But for the most part, the myths explain reality in figurative language. They are not meant to be morality plays.
By placing the myths in their historical and cultural context, we can begin to understand the role they played for the ancients. And we can perhaps see that the images the ancients used have great potential to speak across the ages - potential that has been realized in some of the West's greatest works of art. I am not suggesting that we try to instill ancient social codes in our children through the study of myth or that we must tacitly approve of all we read to be "classically correct." What we can do is invite our children to step outside of their chronological comfort zone to see how another highly civilized people thought about the world and the human condition. It's a step we parent-teachers should also take now and again. Our homeschools will be the better for it.
Drew Campbell is the author ofThe Latin-Centered Curriculum. He has a keen interest in cross-cultural myth studies.