What’s your favorite Myth?

When I typically think about myths, I think about Gods, hero’s, and other beings in primordial, ancient, or even an alternate worlds altogether. Usually, these myths seem to underline some type of popular conception of a particular societies view of the world as well as the values that society embraces. But what I find interesting is that myths in particular have an ontological quality to them. In other words, they establish the origins of the norms, rituals, and codes a society lives by and attempt to explain them to in the best and possibly the most plausible way possible. Think about "the founding fathers" in American revolutionary lore. Same thing.

But myths just aren’t myths in themselves. Myths take on a wide degree of forms. I personally believe that ontological aspects of a myth (finding the primacy of a given trait in society like in the epic of Gilgamesh) are very prevalent. But myths work in other ways as well, like forming the foundations of social myths (like the roles of a “good” woman or a “dishonorable man like in the story of Cranae of Athens), exemplifying the dichotomy of good and evil in the form of warriors and villains (like Odysseus and the suitors), and even go so far as explain the ultimate destiny of the world (like the Norse conception of Ragnarok).

But anyway… what’s your favorite myth? (preferably an old and established myth).

Mine is the story of Romulus and Remus, the supposed founders of Rome. In a nutshell, the King of Alba Longa (Tarchetius) observed the blessing of Vulcan in the fire of his hearth. The apparition of Vulcan was (excuse the naughty bits) a spectral phallus which Vulcan promised would give Tarchetius’ daughters' sons abilities which would rival Mars himself. The daughter wouldn’t have any of that though and ordered her servant to go in her place and thus were conceived the twins Romulus and Remus. Terchetius grew fearful of the potential these two twins had and ordered that they be killed. However, the consequence of killing the twins himself and angering the Gods was too much, and he instead put the twins in a small basket and sent them down the Tiber river. On the banks of the Tiber, the she-wolf (see pic below) found the twins and nursed them under the tree of Ruminalis. Faustulus and Acca Laurentia later found the twins suckling from the she-wolf (which is also the icon of Rome we know today [Bernini version with the twins, orginal sans the twins]) and raised them. The highpoint in the twin’s pre-Rome career comes when the twins fight and kill Amulius (the usurper of Numitor) and gain the favor and status necessary to establish Rome. But this is not the best part of the myth of Romulus and Remus.

Romulus began to build the walls of Rome. After weeks of work, Romulus had constructed a very rough but sturdy wall (which was even in the myth just a few feet high). Remus, amused at Romulus’ pitiful attempt to build a wall, jumped over the small few-foot high wall. Bad idea. Romulus killed Remus and said in so many words “...and this is what happens to anyone who violates the integrity of Rome!” That to me is an awesome myth. It has the content, the historical context, and a very interesting message to convey to those who hear it.

The myth goes on. Romulus “acquires” the Sabine women, and later becomes the God Quirinus. However, another account states that senators who were unhappy with the high demands of Romulus killed him and pretended to say he had ascended to Elysium during an eclipse. But that in itself says something, which is that the present would indeed inform the past... well... the mythological past. Imperial influence on one hand (precedence for the divine Augustus) and Republican sentiment on the other (Brutus…who incidentally is given the credit for the founding of a republican rome) both inform the conception of Rome's conception and the principles that became a part of the city itself.

But the neat thing is that the myth is told in a variety of ways. Romulus and Remus could also have been born by Rhea Silvia and Mars. Also, when the twins fight, they could have actually fought each other in a matched brawl rather than a hasty draw of the sword over a vertical wall leap. So basically, there are multiple version to the same story. But throughout the myth you can see the connection to history here, like the friction between the Latins and the Etruscans, etc. If you think about it, the way Romulus killed Remus shows that maybe there was some internal split between the two co-rulers which ended up in defeat of Remus (and possibly his faction). It makes sense… the Latins were a fractured group of clans to begin with, so maybe it was a pre-Rome civil war. Real events shape myths as well as the intangible virtues the myths want to impart to the listeners.

http://i30.tinypic.com/akhu.jpg

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"With prudence the philosopher approves or blames. If errors triumph, he departs and waits"- Pythagoras (F.13 GVP 174)

mine is pandora-would have been my name on the forum if i wanted to hide out...i see my avatar as being pandora...

but when i read about it in wikipedia, it sucks.

here's my version from memory (with embellishments):
pandora was a mortal favored by the gods. she had a heart of gold and innocence of a child. she was playing one day when she heard voices coming from inside a beautiful carved and gilded box-she opened it to see who or what was inside, and was thrown back forcefully by a swarm of bee-like flying insects making horrible noises who gathered into a huge black cloud and and flew out the window, scattering in all directions and multip-lying over the earth.

pandora got up and slammed the box shut, wondering what had she done and would the gods be displeased. she sat there wringing her hands and mentally agonizing over the fate of the world as well as herself. what had she unleashed? then she heard a soft little voice coming from inside the box crying 'let me out, let me out!'. she thought could it be a trick? how much more trouble did she want to risk? but the voice sounded so sincere, and pandora was filled with compassion that overpowered her reason; she could have waited and asked the gods what to do, but she followed her heart and opened the box. out came a beautiful tiny little creature, a sort of nymph with golden wings. she said 'thank you' to pandora and flew away.

the gods found pandora sitting with the empty box and knew what had happened. she started crying and saying she was sorry, but they told her not to blame herself. the bees were a lot of misery for mankind-illness, cruelty, hardships of all kinds, that they would have to battle all their lives for as long as the last man was left. but the last little creature was Hope who made it possible for them to bear...

the idea is i guess that without misery man wouldnt be able to transcend his limits....anyway, i like that story.

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"The idea is to die young as late as possible."....Ashley Montagu

There are so many to chose from, I guess mine would be King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Merlin and Avalon and Guinnevere, the whole story. I also like the celtic story of the fairy folk coming out of the hills on All Hollows Eve and the story of the Firbolg. I like alot of mythology.

I'm like all the stories about the knights templar, they contain everything I'm intrested in, christianity, Jesus, brave knights, the holy grail and unsolved mysteries. I think that most of what's said about the knights templars are just myths. But I like that they were real, but still have a connection to the fairytales, King Arthur and so on. I also like King Arthur stories, and myths from the ancient greeks and the myths from scandinavia about Tor, Oden and those guys.

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Life is like a gnome on LSD, short and weird.

Yes I like Norse mythology too, I like them all. I find the myth of the Minotaur fascinating.

The book of Job - for the sheer hilarity really.

After years of piety he is hit by disaster. Unlike most innocent victims he is allowed to converse with God about the seeming injustice of it all only to hear the answer of "you wouldn't understand".

Many theologians have wrestled with the same questions at book length only to end up with the same answer.

love the Mahabharata, and Hindu mythology in general

what's not to understand?

piety is nothing when everything is going good. the true test of anything in a person is how he fares when the bad times come, isnt it?

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"The idea is to die young as late as possible."....Ashley Montagu

Well, the book is really a comic meditation on why bad things happen to good people in a universe putatively designed by a benevolent omnipotence.

Q: Why do bad things happen to good people in a universe putatively designed by a benevolent omnipotence?

A: Moves in mysterious ways. Can you draw Leviathan with a hook? No? Well stop asking awkward questions of God then!

I don't think it provides a good example of behaviour in the face of adversity - unless taking to your bed and complaining is helpful.

You took me back to a castle overlooking the sea in Corfu,a nights templars castle it was a magic place.