CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
Comprehensive Pre-Exam Study Guide
Lectures 1–11: Greek Mythology, Theory & Interpretation
Page 1
,LECTURES 1–2: What Is Classical Mythology?
Key Topics and Themes
The course opens by defining its subject and framing the central paradox: a myth is a fictional
story that is true because it is meaningful. Myths are not factually accurate history, nor mere
entertainment; their truth is rooted in social function, existential meaning, and collective
significance rather than empirical verifiability.
Why study mythology? Myths serve cognitive and existential functions (making sense of life
and the cosmos), social functions (organising society, articulating norms, facilitating change),
identity formation through "Othering" (defining the self by contrast with an outsider), and cultural
legacy (Western art from the medieval period onward draws heavily on classical myths).
Key properties of myths: Myths are often internally inconsistent; there is no single standard
version; they are constantly in flux; they borrow from and blend with one another; our written
sources are late literary reworkings, not transcriptions of pure oral originals; and our evidence is
diverse (epic, lyric, tragedy, art, mythographic compilations).
Core Theories and Frameworks
1. Social Darwinism / Myth as Primitive Science
A 19th-century school that ranked cultures on a developmental scale and treated myths as pre-
scientific explanations of nature that survived as residual stories. Entangled with colonialism and
the pseudoscience of race. The lecture identifies three fatal flaws: the prehistory problem (we
have no direct evidence of prehistoric myths), the false opposition between mythic and scientific
thinking (ancient Babylon combined sophisticated astronomy with rich mythology), and
colonialist bias.
Edward B. Tylor Primitive Culture (1871). Religion and science pursue the same goal
(understanding the world) using different means. Myths characterise early
cultural stages.
Friedrich Max Müller Applied comparative linguistics to mythology. All Indo-European myths share
origins in primal myths about the sun and seasonal cycles.
Andrew Lang Myths are etiological — each is an attempt to answer a “why” or “how”
question about the world. Greek aitia = origin/reason.
2. Euhemerism
Named after the Greek writer Euhemeros, who proposed that gods were originally great kings or
heroes deified after death. More broadly, euhemerism is the strategy of “demythologising” —
searching for a rational historical or natural core beneath the supernatural narrative. Modern
popular culture perpetuates this through documentaries asking “what really happened.” The
lecture cautions that such approaches mistake the register of myth: they treat as a historical
claim what is actually a meaningful story.
3. Functionalism / Charter Myth Theory (Malinowski)
Page 2
, Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942), Myth in Primitive Society (1928). Myths are not primarily
explanations of nature — they are legitimating narratives ("charter myths") that justify existing
social arrangements by connecting present institutions to an authoritative past. Shifts analytical
attention from what myths say about nature to what myths do in society. A charter myth says:
“This is how things are, and here is the sacred story that explains why they must be this way.”
4. Myth and Ritual School
Robertson Smith and Frazer argued that myths are inseparable from religious ritual: the story
(myth) and the enactment (ritual) reinforce each other. Myths regulate human conduct in relation
to the divine.
5. Psychological Approaches
Freud: Myths encode repressed desires and anxieties, especially Oedipal conflicts. Jung:
Myths express universal archetypes from the “collective unconscious.” Campbell: All hero
myths follow a universal “monomyth” pattern reflecting psychological maturation. All three are
universalist.
6. Structuralism (Lévi-Strauss)
Myths impose order on chaos through binary oppositions (nature/culture, life/death,
raw/cooked). The deep structure — the logical relationships between elements — matters more
than surface narrative content. Also universalist.
7. Poststructuralism / Historical-Contextual
A reaction against universalism. Each myth must be understood within its specific historical,
cultural, and linguistic context. Meanings are multiple, contested, and historically situated.
Important Figures
Figure Role / Significance
Walter Burkert Greek Religion (1985). Defined myth as “a traditional tale with
secondary, partial reference to something of collective
importance.”
Homer Primary source: Iliad and Odyssey. Epic poetry transmitting
heroic myth.
Hesiod Theogony and Works and Days. Cosmogonic and etiological
myth.
Ovid Metamorphoses. The most influential single literary source for
classical myth in Western art.
Apollodorus Mythographic compiler; systematic catalogue of Greek
mythology.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides The three Attic tragedians; major mythological sources.
Typology of Myths
Type Definition
Page 3
Comprehensive Pre-Exam Study Guide
Lectures 1–11: Greek Mythology, Theory & Interpretation
Page 1
,LECTURES 1–2: What Is Classical Mythology?
Key Topics and Themes
The course opens by defining its subject and framing the central paradox: a myth is a fictional
story that is true because it is meaningful. Myths are not factually accurate history, nor mere
entertainment; their truth is rooted in social function, existential meaning, and collective
significance rather than empirical verifiability.
Why study mythology? Myths serve cognitive and existential functions (making sense of life
and the cosmos), social functions (organising society, articulating norms, facilitating change),
identity formation through "Othering" (defining the self by contrast with an outsider), and cultural
legacy (Western art from the medieval period onward draws heavily on classical myths).
Key properties of myths: Myths are often internally inconsistent; there is no single standard
version; they are constantly in flux; they borrow from and blend with one another; our written
sources are late literary reworkings, not transcriptions of pure oral originals; and our evidence is
diverse (epic, lyric, tragedy, art, mythographic compilations).
Core Theories and Frameworks
1. Social Darwinism / Myth as Primitive Science
A 19th-century school that ranked cultures on a developmental scale and treated myths as pre-
scientific explanations of nature that survived as residual stories. Entangled with colonialism and
the pseudoscience of race. The lecture identifies three fatal flaws: the prehistory problem (we
have no direct evidence of prehistoric myths), the false opposition between mythic and scientific
thinking (ancient Babylon combined sophisticated astronomy with rich mythology), and
colonialist bias.
Edward B. Tylor Primitive Culture (1871). Religion and science pursue the same goal
(understanding the world) using different means. Myths characterise early
cultural stages.
Friedrich Max Müller Applied comparative linguistics to mythology. All Indo-European myths share
origins in primal myths about the sun and seasonal cycles.
Andrew Lang Myths are etiological — each is an attempt to answer a “why” or “how”
question about the world. Greek aitia = origin/reason.
2. Euhemerism
Named after the Greek writer Euhemeros, who proposed that gods were originally great kings or
heroes deified after death. More broadly, euhemerism is the strategy of “demythologising” —
searching for a rational historical or natural core beneath the supernatural narrative. Modern
popular culture perpetuates this through documentaries asking “what really happened.” The
lecture cautions that such approaches mistake the register of myth: they treat as a historical
claim what is actually a meaningful story.
3. Functionalism / Charter Myth Theory (Malinowski)
Page 2
, Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942), Myth in Primitive Society (1928). Myths are not primarily
explanations of nature — they are legitimating narratives ("charter myths") that justify existing
social arrangements by connecting present institutions to an authoritative past. Shifts analytical
attention from what myths say about nature to what myths do in society. A charter myth says:
“This is how things are, and here is the sacred story that explains why they must be this way.”
4. Myth and Ritual School
Robertson Smith and Frazer argued that myths are inseparable from religious ritual: the story
(myth) and the enactment (ritual) reinforce each other. Myths regulate human conduct in relation
to the divine.
5. Psychological Approaches
Freud: Myths encode repressed desires and anxieties, especially Oedipal conflicts. Jung:
Myths express universal archetypes from the “collective unconscious.” Campbell: All hero
myths follow a universal “monomyth” pattern reflecting psychological maturation. All three are
universalist.
6. Structuralism (Lévi-Strauss)
Myths impose order on chaos through binary oppositions (nature/culture, life/death,
raw/cooked). The deep structure — the logical relationships between elements — matters more
than surface narrative content. Also universalist.
7. Poststructuralism / Historical-Contextual
A reaction against universalism. Each myth must be understood within its specific historical,
cultural, and linguistic context. Meanings are multiple, contested, and historically situated.
Important Figures
Figure Role / Significance
Walter Burkert Greek Religion (1985). Defined myth as “a traditional tale with
secondary, partial reference to something of collective
importance.”
Homer Primary source: Iliad and Odyssey. Epic poetry transmitting
heroic myth.
Hesiod Theogony and Works and Days. Cosmogonic and etiological
myth.
Ovid Metamorphoses. The most influential single literary source for
classical myth in Western art.
Apollodorus Mythographic compiler; systematic catalogue of Greek
mythology.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides The three Attic tragedians; major mythological sources.
Typology of Myths
Type Definition
Page 3
