"All myths deal with the maturation of the individual, from dependency through adulthood, through maturity, and then to the exit; and then how to relate to his society and how to relate to this society to the world of nature and the cosmos." -Joseph Campbell

Definition of Mythology -a myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form. -a myth is a sacred story from the past. It may explain the origin of the universe and of life, or it may express its culture's moral values in human terms. Myths concern the powers who control the human world and the relationship between those powers and human beings. Although myths are religious in their origin and function, they may also be the earliest form of history, science, or philosophy..

Characteristics 1. The main characters in myths are usually gods or supernatural heroes. 2. Myths generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form. They explain how the world gained its current form and how customs, institutions, and taboos were established.

Origins of Myth 1. One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of real historical events. According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborated upon historical accounts until the figures in those accounts gained the status of gods. 2. Some theories propose that myths began as allegories. According to one theory, myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: for example, a poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken literally, and the sea was then thought of as a raging god 3.Some thinkers believe that myths resulted from the personification of inanimate objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshipped natural phenomena such as fire and air, gradually coming to describe them as gods. The ancients tended to view things as persons, not as mere objects;[ thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, thus giving rise to myths.4.According to the myth-ritual theory, the existence of myth is tied to ritual. In its most extreme form, this theory claims that myths arose to explain rituals. People begin performing rituals for some reason that is not related to myth; later, after they have forgotten the original reason for a ritual, they try to account for the ritual by inventing a myth and claiming that the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. Primitive man starts out with a belief in magical laws; later, when man begins to lose faith in magic, he invents myths about gods and claims that his formerly magical rituals are religious rituals intended to appease the gods.

Functions of Myth

1. One of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior.The figures described in myth are sacred and are therefore worthy role models for human beings.Thus, myths often function to uphold current social structures and institutions: they justify these customs by claiming that they were established by sacred beings.

2. Another function is to provide people with a religious experience. By retelling myths, human beings detach themselves from the present and return to the mythical age, thereby bringing themselves closer to the divine.In fact, in some cases, a society will reenact a myth in an attempt to reproduce the conditions of the mythical age: for example, it will reenact the healing performed by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present.(ritual)