Mythology

Introduction Since there is a considerable amount of ambiguity in the meaning and use of the term ‘myth’, it is desirable that something should be said about its use in this book. The usual distinction drawn between myth, legend, saga, folk story, and Marchen is based upon literary criteria; a further current usage distinguishes between myth and historical truth, with the implication that anything which is characterized as a myth is unworthy of belief. The criterion used in this study is neither literary, nor historical, but functional. The myth is a product of human imagination arising out ,of a definite situation and intended to do something. Hence the right question to ask about the myth is not, ‘Is it true?’ but ‘What is it intended to do?’ In studying the very varied mythological material yielded by the ancient Near East, and using the notion of ‘function’ as a criterion, it is possible to distinguish the following types of myth (Next Section). Types Of Myth The Ritual Myth It is a well-established fact that most of the texts from which our knowledge of the myths here described is taken have been found in temple archives. They imply the existence in the river- valleys of the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates of a highly developed urban civilization resting on an agricultural basis. These texts show that the dwellers in Egypt and Mesopotamia had created an elaborate pattern of activities, to which we give the name of ritual. These activities were carried on by large staffs of priests in the temples. They constituted a system of actions

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