Chapter 22
+853+. There are doubtless cases in which a hero or a G.o.d represents the sun or the moon, the correspondence between the adventures of the hero and the movements of the heavenly bodies being plain. The twelve labors of Heracles may represent the pa.s.sage of the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac; but if this be the case, it is certain that such construction was relatively late, and that the separate adventures must be referred to some more simple facts. If Heracles slays the Hydra, it is more natural to regard this as having represented originally some mundane phenomenon of nature or some simple conflict of the savage life.
The same thing is probably true of the adventures of the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh, who is sometimes considered to be the original of Heracles. Nothing is easier than to expound the story of Samson in the Old Testament as a series of solar and other phenomena,[1486] but the probability is that he embodies the vague recollections of early tribal adventures, and, notwithstanding his name (which means 'solar,' that is, devoted to the sun), there is no good ground for supposing that his history has been astronomically worked over. A similar remark applies to many discussions respecting various deities, Hindu (as Indra), Egyptian (as Osiris), Semitic (as Nergai, Marduk, Nabu), and Greek (as Apollo).
In all such cases it is necessary to inquire first whether the explanation of the myth may not be found naturally in some ordinary human experience or some very simple natural phenomenon, and a line of demarcation must be drawn between original forms of the myth and later learned constructions.
+854+. Another source of mythical narration is the history of vegetation, which at the present time has largely supplanted the solar theory. The amazing spectacle of the decay and revival of vegetation, naturally referred to superhuman power, and the importance of plants for human life, have led to the construction of stories (sometimes founded on ritual) in which the adventures of the spirit of vegetation are recounted. Obviously there is a sound basis for this view. The earth was necessarily regarded as the mother from whom came the corn and wine that supported human life. The study of the relatively modern European ceremonies[1487] has brought out the persistence of such an idea, and the similarity between the new ceremonies and the old may be said to have demonstrated the existence of an early cult of the divine Power controlling vegetation.
+855+. The Asian Magna Mater and the Greek Mother (Demeter) or Maiden (Kore, Persephone) are identical in function with the corn maiden of modern times, and the latter figure may be a degraded or socialized descendant of an early deity. When we add that ancient local deities all took account of the products of the soil, it will not seem improbable that a great ma.s.s of stories should have arisen describing the adventures of the Spirit of Vegetation.[1488] The descent of a hero or a G.o.d into Hades may be explained as the pa.s.sage of the sun from its summer warmth to its winter feebleness, or as the annual death and revival of vegetation. Which of these views shall be adopted will depend in any case on the particular coloring of the story, on the signification of the names involved, or on the ceremonies accompanying the wors.h.i.+p. It is not now possible to frame a theory that shall embrace all possible phenomena.
+856+. Certain great myths have in the course of time taken on elaborate literary form, and in this form show traces of advanced thought on some fundamental questions. Such myths occur among half-civilized peoples.
There is, for example, the great mythical cosmogony of the Maoris of New Zealand--a scheme seemingly so philosophic in form that it excites wonder as to how it could have arisen in such a place.[1489] The story of the adventures of Maui, a general Polynesian figure, const.i.tutes a Polynesian history of the rise of civilization. Among the North American Indians the mythological systems of the Algonkins, the p.a.w.nees, and other tribes, include the origin of all forms of natural objects and all inst.i.tutions of society. The histories of the Great Hare of the Lenape, the Thunder Bird of the West, and the various transformers or culture-heroes, are scarcely less elaborate than the New Zealand stories. The mythologies of the Finns also (given in the Kalevala) are noteworthy. Pa.s.sing to higher forms, it is sufficient to note the suggestive story of Balder among the Scandinavians, and, in the ancient world, the Egyptian Osiris myth, the Great Dragon myth of the Babylonian cosmogony, the various forms of the story of a primeval paradise, and the ceremonies and ideas that have arisen in connection with the death of a G.o.d.
+857+. The motif of the _antagonism between light and darkness_ appears to be attached to or involved in certain myths, especially the great cosmogonies and stories in which solar deities figure prominently. The original unformed ma.s.s of matter is often, perhaps generally, conceived of as being in darkness, and its transformation is attended with the appearance of light[1490]--light is an essential element in the conditions that make earthly human life possible; in contrast with the Upperworld the Underworld is dark. The diffusion of light is a main function of the sun, and the high G.o.ds dwell in continual brightness.[1491] Light is the symbol of right, security, and happiness.
But it is doubtful whether the expression of the ant.i.thesis and conflict of light and darkness is the immediate object of the early portraitures of deities and the mythical narratives of creation and the future of the world. The Egyptian Ra has no conflict with darkness, and the struggle between Osiris (and Horus) and Set, while it may be and often is interpreted in this sense, is susceptible of other interpretations. The motif in the Babylonian cosmogony is the bringing of order out of disorder, in which work the creation of light is an incident. In ethically advanced religious systems, such as the Hindu and the Persian, the good Powers are connected with light and the wicked Powers with darkness, but a conflict between these adjuncts is not brought out clearly. No such conflict appears in Greek mythology. Where a supernatural being intervenes in defense of light (as when a G.o.d destroys a dragon-creature who attempts to swallow the sun), this is simply an explanation of a physical phenomenon, and not a conflict between light and darkness.
+858+. The theory, widely held, that a great body of early myths, including the conception of the characters and functions of many deities, represent the struggle between light and darkness, is, therefore, not sustained by the facts. Such a generalization is found in late philosophic systems, but it does not belong to early religious thought, which deals with concrete personal agents.[1492] A conflict between two G.o.ds is often to be explained as the rivalry of two districts or of two forms of culture. Attacks on luminous bodies, or defenses of them, are common as aetiological myths, and an antagonism between light and darkness then naturally appears, as is observed above, as an accessory or incident, but not as an immediate object of mythical portraiture. The closeness of the relation between the light-and-darkness theory and the solar theory of myths is obvious.
+859+. _Myth and legend._ In the course of the formulation of myths they have naturally become mingled with legend. As they narrate the achievements of the great supernatural figures of the past, these achievements have often become blended in the twilight of tradition with actual (though embellished) experiences of the clan or tribe and of the great men therewith connected.[1493] In such cases it is generally difficult to decide where legend ends and myth begins, and every story must be investigated separately, and its nature determined from what is known of the real history of the time and of the development of mythical ideas. Familiar examples of this combination of legend and myth appear in connection with the Homeric poems, certain Asian and Greek cults, and the early histories of Greece and Rome and Israel.[1494] The elucidation of such narratives must be left to the technical investigator in the various historical periods. In general, it may be said, there is enough historical material to enable us to trace the development of tribes and nations with a fair degree of certainty; and the caution already expressed against excessive mythological interpretation is especially in place in such researches.[1495]
The material published under the general t.i.tle of "folk-lore" consists of various elements--purely religious usages and ideas, mythical and legendary narratives, and fanciful stories. As the term, defined precisely, refers only to popular survivals from defunct religious systems, its material shows a constant process of modification from generation to generation by newer ideas. The mythical element, extricated from the general ma.s.s, must be treated in accordance with the general principles of the criticism of myths.[1496]
+860+. _Mythical biographies._ As G.o.ds and heroes are the actors in mythical constructions of society, the stories in such constructions generally a.s.sume the form of anecdotal biographies of these personages.
Such sketches gather fresh material from generation to generation, are gradually worked up into literary shape, and, being brought into connection with historical traditions, a.s.sume historical form, and are then sometimes accepted in their homes and elsewhere as historical.[1497] As they embody the ideas of the times in which they originate, they have, in so far, historical and psychological value.
Charm of style has given some of these stories literary value, and they have been accepted as part of the literary treasure of the world. They are sometimes combinations or fusions of myth and legend, and these two elements are not always easily distinguishable the one from the other.[1498]
+861+. In questions that touch the original nature of a G.o.d the possible difference between earlier and later conceptions of him must, of course, be borne in mind. When a deity has been definitely shaped and has become a patron of a community, he may be identified by the people, or particularly by poets and priests, with any object or idea that is of special interest to the community. The baals of the agricultural Canaanites presided over irrigation, but were not specifically underground G.o.ds;[1499] they were rather general divine patrons interested in all that interested the people. A solar deity, becoming the favorite G.o.d of an agricultural community, may be regarded as connected with vegetation; or a G.o.d of vegetation may be a.s.sociated, in astronomical circles, with the sun. A divine figure is often composite, the product of the coalescence of several orders of ideas. In general it may be said that the simplest and least socially refined function of a G.o.d is likely to indicate his original character. We must go behind the conceptions of cultivated times to the hints given in popular observances and poetry.
+862+. _Interpretation of myths._ For savage and half-civilized communities, and for the ma.s.ses in civilized times, the stories of the achievements and adventures of G.o.ds, heroes, and ancestors, accepted as history, have been and are sources of enjoyment and of intellectual impulse. Narrated by fathers to their families, and recited or sung by professional orators and poets to groups and crowds throughout the land,[1500] they have been expanded and handed down from generation to generation, receiving from every generation the coloring of its experiences and ideas, and in the course of time have taken literary shape under the hands of men
+863+. _Ancient interpretations of myths._ When the progress of thought, especially in Greece, made it impossible to accept the current beliefs concerning G.o.ds and their doings, it was felt necessary to put some higher meaning into them--they were rationalized and spiritualized by a process of allegorization. This process seems to have begun in Greece as early as the sixth century B.C.[1502] It was the philosophers who undertook to reinterpret the Homeric mythical material, and the extent to which this procedure had been carried in the time of Plato is indicated by the fact that he ridicules these modes of dealing with the poet.[1503] But Homer maintained his place in literature, and the demand for a spiritualizing of his works increased rather than diminished. A science of allegory was created, Pergamus became one of its chief centers,[1504] and the Alexandrian Jew Philo applied the method to the interpretation of the Pentateuch. It was speedily adopted in the Christian world, and has there maintained itself, though in diminis.h.i.+ng extent, up to the present day.[1505] As a serious interpretation of ancient myths, outside of the Old Testament, it is no longer employed.
Myths are, indeed, important as reflecting early opinions, religious and other--good doctrinal matter may be extracted from them, but this must not be ascribed to the intention of their authors and reporters. In the Old Testament itself the Jewish editors have socialized the mythical material (weaving it into the history, as in Genesis), or have brought it under the work of the national deity.
+864+. _Recent interpretations._ In recently proposed interpretations we may note first certain attempts at a _unification_ of some body of myths or of all known mythical material. These attempts, almost without exception, take the sky and the heavenly bodies as their basis.
At the end of the eighteenth century, when the theory of human unity had taken hold of the French revolutionists, C. F. Dupuis[1506]
undertook to explain all the cults of the world as having come from the wors.h.i.+p of the universe--a conception broad enough to cover everything; but he practically reduces it to the wors.h.i.+p of the heavenly bodies, particularly the sun, and derives all myths from stellar objects. His work is ingenious, learned, and suggestive, but in his day the facts of ancient mythology were insufficiently known.
+865+. In the next century the study of Sanskrit and Old Persian widened the field of knowledge, the science of Indo-European grammar was created, and on this followed attempts at the construction of an Indo-European mythology. The first definitely formulated unification was the theory of F. Max Muller,[1507] which derived all Aryan (Indo-European) myths from phenomena of the sun and the dawn, largely, he held, through misunderstandings of the meaning of old descriptive terms (myths as a "disease of language"). It is conceivable that a word, originally used simply as descriptive of an actual fact, may have pa.s.sed into a proper name and become personalized and the center of adventures; but the character of early man's thought, as we now know it, makes it impossible to regard such a view as a probable explanation of the ma.s.s of mythological material. Muller's services to the science of the history of religions were great, but his theory of the origin of myths has now been generally abandoned.[1508]
+866+. The great discoveries of literary material made in Egypt and Babylonia since the middle of the nineteenth century have aroused special interest in the religions of these countries. Leaders.h.i.+p in ancient civilization is claimed by Egyptologists and a.s.syriologists, each party for its own land. It is, however, Babylonia that has given rise to the largest theories of the unity of myths--a fact due in part to its development of astronomy, in part, perhaps, to the resemblance between the Babylonian mythical material and that of the Old Testament.
Dupuis[1509] had observed that the ancient Chaldeans taught that the heavenly bodies controlled mundane destinies, and, according to Diodorus, that the planets were the interpreters of the will of the G.o.ds. This is substantially the point of view of E. Stucken,[1510] who, in common with Dupuis (though, apparently, independently), holds to the unity of ancient religions and the astral origin of all myths. From Babylonia, he thinks, myths pa.s.sed to all parts of the world, Egypt, Asia, Europe, Polynesia, and America--in such migrations, however, it was the motif that pa.s.sed; the personages might vary in different lands.[1511] Finally he traces all sagas of all peoples to the creation myth.[1512] This supreme unification is reached by arguments so far-fetched as to deprive them of force.
Stucken's position was adopted and elaborated by H. Winckler, who was followed by A. Jeremias and some others.[1513] Winckler attempts to show that a single religion existed in the ancient Oriental world (with a single system of myths), and that this was dominated by the conception that there was a correspondence between the heavenly world and the lower world in such wise that all earthly affairs were indicated by the movements of the heavenly bodies, whence arose the whole religious system of Western Asia and Greece.
+867+. What is true in this theory (to which the name of "Panbabylonianism" has been given) is that Semitic mythology is a unit, with Babylonia as its birthplace, and that certain elements are common to the Egyptian, Semitic, Greek, and other mythological systems. The substantial ident.i.ty of Babylonian, Aramean (Syrian), and Canaanite myths is generally acknowledged:[1514] the Old Testament dragon-myth (which occurs also in the New Testament Apocalypse) is found in full shape only in Babylonian material;[1515] the Syrian Adonis myth is at bottom the Babylonian story of Tammuz and Ishtar. The probability is that all early Semitic schemes of creation and prehistoric life are essentially one. Further, such conceptions as the origin of the world from an unshaped ma.s.s of matter and the origin of man from the earth are widely distributed over the earth.
+868+. Babylonia, then, is the chief mythopoeic center for the Semitic region, but we are not warranted in extending its influence as myth-maker beyond this region. The myths of the Indo-European peoples have in general the stamp of independent creation. Loans there may be (as, for example, in the myths connected with Aphrodite and Heracles, and perhaps others), but these do not affect the character of the whole.
The relation between the Semitic and the Egyptian mythologies is still under discussion.
+869+. The astral element of the theory, based on arbitrary parallelisms carried out without regard to historical conditions, is an unauthorized extension of the generally accepted fact that certain myths are astral.
Winckler's a.s.sumption of an astral "system" that obtained throughout the Western world is supported only by unproved a.s.sertions of the sort just referred to.
+870+. Jensen's contention that all myths come from the Babylonian Gilgamesh story[1516] exhibits the same general method as the theories of Stucken and Winckler (giving a.s.sertion in place of proof), differing from them only in the material of comparisons.
+871+. The fundamental vice of these theories (apart from the arbitrary character of the a.s.sertions made by their authors) is the failure to take into account the historical development of mythical conceptions, their beginnings in the rudest periods of human thought, and their gradual elaboration and distinct formulation in the great communities, in which process, along with the varieties of local conditions, certain fundamental resemblances remain throughout.[1517]
+872+. Besides these more prominent or more definitely formulated theories there has been in some quarters a disposition to insist too strongly on lines of mythical development connected with the plant world, particularly with the death and revival of vegetation. All that we know of the history of mythical material among existing savages and in the earliest forms of belief of civilized nations forbids the limitation of the origin of myths to any one department of nature or to any one part of the world. Myths, like G.o.ds, may be composite: of this nature, probably, are some cosmogonic histories,[1518] and the stories of Gilgamesh, Heracles, Perseus, and many others. The lines of origin mentioned above have, naturally, in some cases, coalesced, and their combination into single coherent narratives has been spread over long periods of time. For this reason there is always need of detailed investigations of particular myths as a preparation for a general history of mythology.[1519]
+873+. _Modern critical methods in the interpretation of myths._ The treatment of myths has followed the general course of the development of thought in the world. In the old national religions they were incorporated in the substance of the religious beliefs. The reformers of thought either ignored them (so, for example, Confucius and Buddha), or denounced their absurdities (so Plato and others), or allegorized or rationalized them (so many Greek philosophers); the early Christian writers treated Old Testament myths as history, and ridiculed the myths of Greece and Rome. During the long period when the European peoples were a.s.similating the ideas of Christianity the study of myths remained in abeyance. After the cla.s.sical revival there was a return to the allegorizing method, the fondness for which has not yet completely died out.[1520]
+874+. The extension of knowledge in the eighteenth century gave an impetus to the study of religion, the results of which for mythological investigation appear in the works of Dupuis and others.[1521] These authors were necessarily ignorant of many important facts, but they have the merit of having collected much material, which they treated as something that had to be explained in accordance with the laws of human thought.
+875+. The turning-point in the development of mythological science was the rise of the modern critical study of history, begun by Voltaire and Gibbon and carried on by Niebuhr and others. A vigorous group of writers arose in Germany. Creuzer,[1522] indeed, holding that the myths of the ancients must embody their best thought, and falling back on symbolism, cannot be said to have advanced his subject except by his collection of materials; there is some basis for his position if the ancient myths are taken in the sense given them by the later poets and philosophers, but the supposition of a primary symbolism in myths is set aside by an examination of the ideas of undeveloped races. Creuzer's theory was effectively combated by Voss.[1523] Other writers of the time adopted exacter methods of inquiry,[1524] and K. O. Muller,[1525] particularly, laid the foundation for a scientific treatment of myths by distinguis.h.i.+ng between their real and their ideal elements, between the actual phenomenon and the imaginative (the true mythical) explanation of it.
+876+. The next generation witnessed two retrograde movements in the interpretation of myths. F. Max Muller, dazzled by the wealth of Sanskrit mythological material, revived the solar theory, with a peculiar appendage;[1526] the defects of his theory must not blind us to the great service he performed in arousing interest in the comparative study of myths and leading the way to a formulation of the conception of the general history of religion. On another side the vast acc.u.mulation of the religious ideas and usages of lower tribes led Herbert Spencer to his euhemeristic view.[1527] Neither of these theories has seriously affected the growth of the science of mythology.
+877+. A saner direction was given to investigation by the great biological and sociological studies made in the second half of the nineteenth century.[1528] E. B. Tylor definitely stated the view that the origin of myths is to be found in all the ideas of early man. By a very large collection of facts[1529] he showed that the same representations that are familiar in Egyptian, Semitic, Hindu, Greek, Roman, and other ancient myths occur also in the systems of half-civilized and savage communities; and he pointed out how such representations had their basis in the simple ideas of undeveloped men and how their survival is to be traced through all periods of history.
This fruitful view has been ill.u.s.trated and developed by later writers,[1530] and much light has been thrown on the genesis and growth of myths by studies of existing popular customs in civilized communities.[1531]
+878+. Interest in the subject has now become general, and collections of material are being made all over the world.[1532] At the same time it is recognized that every local ma.s.s of myths must be studied first by itself and then in connection with all other known material, and that great caution must be exercised in dealing with questions of origin, transmission, and survival. Archaeological and geographical discoveries have widened the known area of human life on earth; it is seen that the history of man's development is more complicated than was formerly supposed.
+879+. We are still without a general survey of myths arranged in some orderly fas.h.i.+on.[1533] The material for such a collection is scattered through a great number of publications, in which the mythical stories are not always treated critically. The most useful principle of tabulation, perhaps, would be an arrangement according to motifs, under which geographical or ethnological and geographical relations might be noted. At the present time it would be possible only to make a beginning in such a work, since the obtainable material is not all recorded, and the complicated character of many myths makes an arrangement by place and motif difficult. Still, even an incomplete digest would be of service to students of mythology and would pave the way for a more comprehensive work. The importance of the study of mythology for the general history of religions is becoming more and more manifest. This study, in its full form, includes, of course, psychological investigation as well as collections of statistics; but the psychology finds its material in the facts--we must first know what men believe, and then explain why they believe.
+880+. It must, however, be added that myths have influenced mainly the dogmas and ceremonies of religion--their part in more intimate or spiritual wors.h.i.+p, the converse of the wors.h.i.+per with the deity, has been comparatively slight. Religious ceremonies are ordinary social customs and forms transferred to dealings with supernatural Powers.
Dogmas are quasi-philosophical expressions of conceptions concerning the nature of these Powers and their relations with men, and sometimes contain mythical material which is then introduced into wors.h.i.+p; if, for example, a man is divinized and wors.h.i.+p is paid him, the tone of the wors.h.i.+p is affected by the divine character thus ascribed to him. But in general, as men, in wors.h.i.+p proper, approach a deity to get some advantage from him, the appeal is to him directly without regard to ceremonies or minute dogmas. Savages, though in theory they may make a G.o.d to be an animal or a plant, come to him devoutly as a superior being who can grant their requests. In higher religions the deity addressed is for the moment an omnipotent friend standing apart from the stories told of him. Rival sects lose sight of their differences in the presence of needs that drive them to G.o.d for help. Prayer is a religious unifier--communion with the Deity is an individual experience in which all men stand on common ground, where ritual and dogmatic accessories tend to fade or to disappear.
+881+. Long after myths in their original forms have ceased to be believed they persist in the form of "fairy tales," which retain something of the old supernatural framework, but sink into mere stories for amus.e.m.e.nt.[1534]
But fairy tales are not the only form in which ancient myths persist.
Myths have played their prominent part in the history of religion for the reason that they embody the conception of the tangible supernatural in a vivid and dramatic way. To this personalization and socialization of the supernatural men have continued to cling up to the present time; the ma.s.s of men demand not only the presence of the supernatural as protection and guidance, but also the realization of it in objective form. This objectiveness was useful and necessary in early times, and the demand for it remains in periods of advanced civilization. In the reigning religions of the world at the present day myths continue to hold their place and to exercise their influence,[1535] the more that in the course of time they become fused with the constantly advancing ethical and spiritual thought of the communities in which they exist.
The tendency appears to be to minimize, under the influence of general enlightenment, the crude supernatural parts of such combinations, to exalt the moral and spiritual, and to allegorize or rationalize the rest. But along with such process of rationalization the mythical form is maintained and continues to be a powerful element in the general structure of religious opinion and life.
CHAPTER VIII
MAGIC AND DIVINATION
+882+. The regulation of relations with the superhuman world has been attempted by means of friendly social intercourse with supernatural Powers, and by studying their methods of procedure with a view to applying these methods and thereby gaining beneficial results. Friendly social intercourse is practical religion in the higher sense of that term. The application and use of superhuman procedures takes two lines of action: the powers of superhuman agents may be appropriated and used independently of them, or the object may be simply to discover their will in order to be guided by it. The first of these lines is magic, the second is divination. While the two have in common the frank and independent employment of the supernatural for the bettering of human life, their conceptions and modes of procedure differ in certain respects, and they may be considered separately.
MAGIC[1536]
+883+. The perils and problems of savage life, more acute in certain directions than those that confront the civilized man, demand constant vigilance, careful investigation, and prompt action. So far as familiar and tangible enemies (beasts and men) are concerned, common sense has devised methods of defense, and ordinary prudence has suggested means of providing against excessive heat or cold and of procuring food. But there are dangers and ills that in the savage view cannot be referred to such sources, but must be held to be caused by intangible, invisible forces in the world, against which it is man's business to guard himself. He must learn what they are and how to thwart or use them as circ.u.mstances may require. They could be studied only in their deeds, and this study involves man in the investigation of the law of cause and effect. The only visible bond between phenomena is that of sequence, and on sequence the savage bases his science of causes--that which precedes is cause, that which follows is effect. The agencies he recognizes are spirits, G.o.ds, the force resident in things (mana), and human beings who are able to use this force.
+884+. But belief in such agencies would be useless to man unless he also believed that he could somehow determine their actions, and belief in the possibility of determining these appears to have come to him through his theory of natural law. The reasoning of savages on this point has not been recorded by them, but the character of their known procedures leads us to suppose that they have a sense of a law governing the actions of superhuman Powers. Being conscious that they themselves are governed by law, they may naturally in imagination transfer this order of things to the whole invisible world; spirits, G.o.ds, and the mana-power, it is a.s.sumed, work on lines similar to those followed by man, only with superhuman breadth and force. The task before the originators of society was to discover these modes of procedure in order to act in accordance with them. The discovery was made gradually by observation, and there grew up thus in process of time a science of supernatural procedure which is the basis of the practice of magic.
This science does not necessarily regard the superhuman power as purposely antagonistic to man. Rather its native att.i.tude appears to have been conceived of as one of indifference (as nature is now regarded as careless of man); it was and is thought of as a force to be guarded against and utilized by available means, which, of course, were and are such as are proper to an undeveloped stage of social growth.