Myths are stories that narrate in an imaginative and symbolic manner the total and basic structures upon which a culture rests. Given this emphasis on what is fundamental to cultural meaning and value, the myth may appear to be fantastic and bizarre, because the mythic story cannot be explained in the terms of the ordinary conventions of the culture. In fact, the ordinary conventions of the culture are understood as having their origins in the myth. The term mythology may describe a certain body of myths, for example, Greek, African, or Scandinavian, or it may refer to the study of myths. The study of myths may take several forms. Some studies aim at a careful understanding of the beings, personages, and actions in a particular cycle of myths. Others seek to understand the reason or necessity for these kinds of stories and their importance in the life of any culture. Studies of this kind might seek to locate in the origin of these stories expressions of the human psychic structure or consider them as a collective societal response to the mystery of life. Myths often merge into legends, sagas, and tales. Although no absolute differentiation can be made, some lines of distinction can usefully be drawn. Mircea \TEliade\t has emphasized the temporal qualities of myth, holding that mythic time is qualitatively different and discontinuous from ordinary, existential time. The latter is related to mythic time only as an imitation of it. The time of the fairy tale, "once upon a time," creates an ambiguity on the temporal level. It seeks to create a temporal mode in which the events of the story may have plausibility in an ordinary sense and to inject dimensions of the bizarre, symbolic, and fantastic. The fairy tale states that "it could have been this way" or that "it may have happened that . . ." In no case, however, does the fairy tale set up a radical discontinuity between the ordinary time of the listener or reader and the events of the story, as happens in the telling and dramatization of the myth. Fairy tales do not intend to portray and express models that should be imitated. Sagas and legends are traditional stories that, although containing fictional and imaginative elements, have a historical basis and represent in the popular memory a real happening that was extraordinary enough to be remembered and embellished. Here again the temporal mode of the events and actors is continuous with conventional and ordinary time. Legends and sagas, however, lie in a mediate position between myths and historical narratives. Georges Dumezil speaks in Destiny of the Warrior of myth as a "certain class of legend," and Michael Grant writes in Roman Myths that some types of myths--for example, those of Rome and of the Nupe of Nigeria--are historicizing myths that tend to give to history the values and prestige of the myth. In processes of this kind, which occur in many societies, history becomes mythicized and myth becomes historicized. Legends and sagas are narrative genres giving expression to these tendencies. Until the 18th century the term myth was used to refer primarily to myths from the ancient Greeks and Romans, that is, to the ancient pagan myths of the Western world. Since that time the term has been used to classify narratives of this kind from almost every geographical area of the world. This article will, however, be limited in its treatment to the mythologies of the ancient Near East and India, Greek and Roman myths, and pre-Christian myths of pagan Western Europe. (See also \Tprimitive religion\t.) THE STUDY OF MYTH A precise discipline devoted to the collection and interpretation of myths does not appear in the Western world until the period of the Enlightenment in the later part of the 18th century. Interest in and interpretations of myths have a much longer history in the Western world, however. The ancient and classical Greeks had a great deal to say descriptively and critically about myths. \TThales of Miletus\t (fl. 6th century BC) is usually acclaimed as the first of the ancient Greeks to express a critical stance toward the Greek myths. By stating that the world is formed of one substance (water), he attacked by implication all of the more specific modes of order described in myth and the explanations given in myth for the nature of things. \TPlato\t made use of myth and mythical modes as heuristic and pedagogical aids to the deeper truths of philosophy, and \TAristotle\t leveled a more devastating attack on myths as fanciful stories that do not give the truth about human life and the world. The Greek critique of myth was thus launched for the sake of a rational understanding and control of the world. In the 4th century BC the Greek mythographer Euhemerus developed the theory that the gods were originally kings and heroes who were worshipped for their deeds. With the advent of Christianity, which set forth the distinctive nature of the historical revelation of God in his son, Jesus Christ, the gods of antiquity were either interpreted euhemeristically or held to be inferior demons. Christian writers later adopted allegorical interpretations of myths as moral or exemplary stories, and this approach persisted through the Renaissance. The systematic study of myth, which began during the Enlightenment period in the Western world, inherited these two presuppositions, and many studies responded to the rational and historical critiques of myths either in extended affirmation or in counterargument against them. These studies ranged far and wide. One group considered myth as an expression of the childhood experiences of the human race. The theories of \TVoltaire\t and Charles de Brosses (1709-77) are two examples of this notion. Although differences of emphasis occur in their theories, both worked under the assumption that human history is essentially progressive, and thus the earlier stages were innocent and crude, forming the basis for newer and more sophisticated stages of human progress. Thinkers as diverse as Giam Battista \TVico\t and Robert Lowth (1710-88) also admitted the basic premise of myth as the expression of the earliest stage. For Vico and Lowth, however, the earliest stage was exemplary, and future stages of human societies represent the working out of the complexity and richness of the earliest and most creative stage of a culture. For them the myth represents all the subsequent meanings and relationships through which the history of a particular society is expressed and experienced. This notion of Vico and Lowth is based on their analysis of myth as poetic and oracular, embodying new and decisive depths of profundity. The relationship of the mythic as both original and poetic was taken up by another school of interpreters, who saw the myth as not only the original and preferred expression of the novelty of culture but equally as the beginning of that linguistic form which is now known as poetry. The Romantic movement (see \Tromanticism\t, literature) expressed this point of view in various ways, influencing not only mythological studies but equally the more general interpretations of the ancient Western cultures of the Greeks and Romans. Several of these points of view have been taken up into the methods of modern disciplines in contemporary universities. The disciplines of anthropology and the history of religions were the first and remain the most prominent scholarly areas where systematic attention to myth has continued. The history of religions, which began with the studies of Max \TMuller\t on the origins of myth and language, has continued as an arena for a discussion of the religious meaning of myth. This tendency is alive in the writings of the contemporary historian of religions Mircea Eliade. In a like manner, the cultural orientation to myth of the founding father of anthropology, Edward B. \TTylor\t, was continued in works such as those of Emile \TDurkheim\t and Bronislaw \TMalinowski\t and in the contemporary works of Claude \TLevi-Strauss\t. Psychological approaches to myth gained an impetus from the establishment of depth psychology as a field of study and interpretation. Several scholars give Freudian or Jungian interpretations of myth. Prominent among these interpreters are Geza Roheim and Joseph Campbell. Thus, while Western culture relies primarily on rational and historical modes of interpretation and understanding, the study of myth remains one of the fruitful approaches that aids in the understanding of human reality. TYPES OF MYTHS Myths may be classified according to the dominant theme expressed in the narrative. Some of the most important themes treated in myths are creation and origins, the birth of gods and divine beings, death and the afterlife, and the renewal and rebirth of the world. Creation Myths The creation, or cosmogonic, myth is usually the most important myth of the culture because it relates how the entire world came into being. Not only the beings revealed in the myth but also the qualitative mode of creation becomes a model for all other forms of creation in the culture. Sometimes a deity will create ex nihilo, from out of nothing; in other cases, from a primordial chaos. In some myths creation emerges from a metamorphosis of embryonic forms within the earth or from water. Creation may also be seen as the result of violent acts and warfare among the gods. The activity of divine beings such as earth-divers who dive into primordial waters to secure a small piece of earth is found in other creation narratives. A widespread myth speaks of creation coming out of a cosmic egg that a deity has made for the perfection of the cosmos. In all of these kinds of myths the mode of creation is part of the structure of a myth that symbolically sets the tone and style for many of the other meanings of the life of the society. Almost all creation myths contain a structure of rupture--a place in the narrative that describes a happening that separates the primordial condition from the human condition. This mythic event may be due to the ignorance of the prehuman beings, or to a matter of forgetfulness, or to a conscious disobedience. In any case, this flaw is sufficient to establish a discontinuity between the creation at the beginning and the human condition as it is now lived. The nature of this flaw or rupture and the healing rituals of the society are correlative. (See \Tcreation accounts\t.) Myths of the Origin of Deities Specific deities may appear at the time of creation and are thus part of the narrative of creation myths. The oldest forms of these deities in myths of creation are often symbolized through the expressions of sky and earth. The sky may be a symbol of a father; the earth, a mother. The sky-father may appear as a deus otiosus (a distant or retiring deity), who upon creating the world retires from active participation or relationship to it, leaving this world open for other sacred manifestations. In some cases--for example in Mesopotamian myths--new deities emerge as offspring of the union of earth and sky, and finally warfare ensues between the parents and offspring. Other forms of deities give expression to the sacredness of particular spatial dimensions, the atmospheric deities of the sky--lightning, thunder, astral phenomena, rain--or deities of the underworld. Other deities express the sacredness of the topography; they reside in mountains, water, and vegetation. Another class of deities manifests techniques and crafts of the human community. In some cases they appear as cultural heroes bringing to the human community fire, the techniques of agriculture, or weaving. Notions of order are expressed in other deities. These notions may be symbolized in the rhythms of night and day; others are related to more general rules of social order and express the interrelationship of the social order and the more fundamental order undergirding the world itself. Myths of Renewal and Rebirth Whereas modern societies conceive of a time as a linear process moving always into a new and infinite future, in primitive and traditional societies time was understood and experienced as a cyclical rhythm that at various intervals came to the end of a cycle and began again. This understanding of time was no mere abstract formulation; it constituted a sacred understanding of the temporal process. Various rituals and dramatic forms of behavior took place at intervals during this process, giving expression to the sacred structure of time. The basic order underlying this understanding of time was the creation of the world. The creation myth is a narrative that relates how the gods through the irruption of great creative power brought forth the world. At certain moments this creative power is thought to run down or to become overweighted with the actions of human and divine beings; it needs to be renewed. The renewal takes place at the end of a cycle when the society as a whole reexperiences the original creative act. During the ritual enactment of the creation all rules and conventions of the society are abolished; the original creation is that chaos of power out of which the proper conventions and institutions of the society later emerge. Theodor H. Gaster has pointed out two basic movements in rituals of this kind. The first he refers to as rituals of Kenosis, or emptying; the other, as rituals of Plerosis, or filling. Rituals of Kenosis portray the evacuating of the meaning of time as it approaches the end of a cycle. The wearing down of time at this moment produces noxious and defiling effects, and thus the appropriate response is an ascetic form of behavior accompanied with austerities. In the rituals of Plerosis, the filling of time or the beginning again of the new time, dramas of excess and overabundance of power are portrayed in the rituals. Specific dramatic roles in these rituals imitate the power of deities in bringing about the renewal of the time of the cosmos. The interpenetration of the human imitation and cooperation with the deeds of the myth creates the dramatic character of the rituals. Rituals of this kind are common among the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the early Greeks, and in almost all traditional agricultural societies. Vestiges of this ritualistic understanding of the world have survived in the folkloric traditions of the world and in the structures of literary genres and in drama and theater. ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN MYTHOLOGIES Mesopotamian Myths The religion and culture of \TMesopotamia\t are continuous over a 4,000-year period. Archaeological and literary materials exist from almost every period of this long past. Religion and mythology undergo successive interpretations throughout the history of Mesopotamian culture. The mythology can be divided into three major periods: the protoliterate age; from the 2d dynasty of UR (mid-3d millennium BC) to the beginnings of the Old Babylonian period (c. 19th century BC); and the Old Babylonian period until the end of the Assyrian-Babylonian civilization in the 7th century BC. Thorkild Jacobsen has pointed in his writings to an enduring and pervasive element of the Mesopotamian religious experience: a tendency to recognize the divine in the particulars of the external world. These forms vary with the particular geographical areas and historical periods of Mesopotamia. Essentially, however, the deities of the southeastern marshes (\TSumer\t) were adopted by the Semitic peoples who came to dominate the area, the Akkadians (see \TAkkad\t), the \TAmorites\t, and the Assyrians (see \TAssyria\t). Dumuzi-abzu is a Sumerian deity of the marshes. His name means "quickener of the young in the mother womb of the deep," and he is generally seen as a fertility deity. His sister, Geshtinanna, is the power in the grape, and his female consort is Inanna, who in the earliest period symbolizes the "storehouse of dates." Dumuzi, Inanna, and Geshtinanna, as well as Duttura, the mother of Dumuzi, and Ereshkigal, the sister of Inanna and goddess of the underworld, are prominent in several mythological cycles and mythical dramas. Although they constitute a small part of a pantheon containing thousands of deities, these deities serve as examples of the reigning symbolism of fertility, which characterizes and dominates the religion of the early period. Dumuzi (whose Semitic name is Tammuz) is the focus of a myth and cult that manifests fertility as the power in the date palm that appears in the spring. The sexual metaphors of Dumuzi's courtship of and marriage to Inanna, the tragedy and lamentation of his death, and the veneration and search for Dumuzi in the underworld by his sister and mother are part of this myth. In the myth and cult of Dumuzi, Mesopotamian religion portrays the characteristic vulnerability of humankind in confrontation with the manifestation of holiness in the forms of nature. In the middle period, the cycle of myths continues fertility motifs but in a muted form. The emphasis in these myths is on the origin, meaning, and authority of the ruler; historically they correspond to the use of collective organization among the city-states of Mesopotamia. The symbolism of fertility changes from one of simple sexual embrace to one of cosmic meaning--the power and violence of the thunderstorm that makes the rivers run. The source of the storm is Enlil, whose name means "lord wind." As power in the wind, he is an executive who presides over and directs actions that are beneficent to the human community. The highest authority in the pantheon is \TAnu\t (or An), the power in the sky. Anu's wife is Ki, the earth, and from their union is engendered trees, reeds, and other forms of vegetation. He is the father of Enki (later called EA), who personifies the sacredness in the waters of rivers, rain, and marshes. Enki is identified with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. His name means "lord of the soil," and in this name the power and necessity of sweet water to fructify the soil is intended. As such, a homology is made between Enki and human semen. Because of the connotations that are derived from his activity with water and soil in the form of clay, Enki is equally a deity who forms and gives shape; he is a molder, or sometimes he is understood as the archetype or the original form. The form of Inanna (whose Semitic name is \TIshtar\t) changes during this middle period. While retaining her symbolism as the storehouse of dates and consort of Dumuzi, she adds to this symbolism that of a goddess of war, the power in the rain, the evening and morning star, and the harlot. The variety of symbolisms attached to her becomes one of the symbols itself of her being (see \Tmother goddess\t). During this period the deities come to the fore as distinct forms whose power is one of dynamic energies acting and interacting with humans and other deities. The concern of the myths is with cosmic order, and the deities reveal themselves as part and parcel of this context. In the late Assyro-Babylonian period a significant shift of emphasis occurs in which the relation of humankind to the created order emerges as a serious concern. During this period the myth-epics \TEnuma Elish\t and \TGilgamesh\t appear. In Enuma Elish, the myth-epic tells the story of the birth of the gods and how human order proceeds from this prior origin of the gods. The hero of the story is \TMarduk\t. The birth of the gods begins from the commingling of Apsu, the fresh waters underground, and Tiamat, the salt water in the sea. From these waters Lahmu and Lahamu come forth. They engender Anshar and Kishar, who give birth to Anu, god of heaven. Anu makes Nudimmud, or Ea, god of earth, in his own image. Tiamat and Apsu remain in repose; the offspring move about and their activity creates a noise in heaven that disturbs Apsu. Tiamat takes the side of her offspring and attempts to allay the anger of Apsu. Apsu is inclined to forbear until his servant, Mummu, persuades him to insist on quieting the noisy offspring. Expecting an attack, Ea casts a magical spell over Apsu and, while he is sleeping, slays him. Ea then builds a dwelling over the place of Apsu's grave and lives with his wife, Damkina; their first son is Marduk. Later in the story a group of the younger deities plot to avenge Apsu's death. They choose Kingu, the second husband of Tiamat, to lead them. The other younger deities meet and choose Marduk as their leader in battle against the forces of Tiamat and Kingu. Kingu becomes cowed at the sight of Marduk, but Tiamat is unafraid and the battle ensues with Marduk and Tiamat as combatants. Marduk slays Tiamat, cuts up her body into two pieces, making heaven out one part and earth out of the other. He then fashions the other parts of the cosmos and assigns the other deities to rule over the cosmos. In this myth a new basis for the cosmos is given; it emerges out of the activity of the younger deities who have destroyed the quiescence of the older deities. Inherent in the myth is also the notion of tragedy and vulnerability; the new world has emerged from the death of the senior members of the kinship system. The Gilgamesh epic is concerned more with the vicissitudes of the life of the city-state as played out in the story of the ruler of Uruk, Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is a young, strong, and exceptionally intelligent ruler of Uruk. He is so exceptional, in fact, that he has no human equal and thus disturbs the city of Uruk because no one is capable of sharing his companionship. The people of Uruk entreat the gods to create an equal of Gilgamesh so that they can gain some peace. The gods respond by creating a counterpart to Gilgamesh in the form of Enkidu. Enkidu is equal to Gilgamesh in strength, youth, and intelligence, except that instead of being a city dweller, he is a savage born in the wilds whose companions are wild animals. Gilgamesh hears of the existence of Enkidu and seeks ways to entice him into the city. A trapper and a harlot are sent to the wilderness to seduce Enkidu into captivity. They succeed. The harlot seduces Enkidu, and after lying with her for six days and seven nights, he finds that the animals who were formerly his companions avoid him and that he has lost his capacity to communicate with them. The harlot then offers him her companionship, giving him clothes to wear. They move slowly toward the city, where they arrive during the wedding of Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh engage in physical combat. Enkidu wins, but in this victory he discovers someone equal to himself and thus a strong friendship is born. Enkidu and Gilgamesh later go into the wilderness to destroy the giant or monster Huwawa. Upon return to the city Gilgamesh is tempted by Ishtar, daughter of the god of heaven, Anu. She offers Gilgamesh her hand in marriage. In refusing the marriage, Gilgamesh insults Ishtar for her infidelities and her inability to take care of a husband. Angered, Ishtar seeks vengeance upon Gilgamesh. She sends the bull of heaven to ravage Uruk, but Gilgamesh makes short work of him. Later Enkidu becomes ill and dies. Gilgamesh, the conqueror of all things on earth, finds that he is helpless before death. He learns that one of his ancestors, Utnapishtim, knows the powers of eternal life and sets out to find him. After several adventures Gilgamesh arrives at his abode in a distant land. Utnapishtim, who is the sole survivor of the great \TDeluge\t, tells Gilgamesh of a thorny plant growing in Apsu, the sweet waters underneath the earth, that gives eternal life. Gilgamesh dives to the bottom of the waters and secures the plant, but as he journeys home a serpent eats the plant; thus serpents, but not human beings, have eternal life. The two myths, Enuma Elish and Gilgamesh, both give a prominence to death in the life of the human community. In Enuma Elish death is the creative power that allows for a new cosmos; in Gilgamesh it is the pervasive inevitability of human life. In both cases death is seen as the ultimate limit to human existence. Egyptian Mythology From time immemorial Egypt has been known as the country of two lands: Upper Egypt, or the Red Land, which is desertlike, and Lower Egypt, or the Black Land, where the soil is fertile. Even today 99 percent of the Egyptian population live in the Black Land. The significance of this duality is more than a geographical and demographic fact; it is a basic element in the very beginnings of the culture of the ancient Egyptians and finds significant expression in their religion and myths. Ancient Egyptian culture, myth, and religion might be characterized as a duality with rhythmic structures contained within a static unity. Unlike Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt as a civilization did not develop several powerful city-states along two rivers. Egypt had one river of significance, the Nile, and smaller villages grew up alongside its banks. Each of these village communities manifested a mythology, but these mythologies did not create tensions among the communities. In ancient Egypt the tendency was toward unity and stasis, not confrontation and tension. A text that exemplifies this attitude, while taking into account older historical and local traditions, is the theology of Memphis, recorded on the Shabaka Stone. The Memphite theology presents the teachings of \TMenes\t, who established (c.3000 BC) a new capital at \TMemphis\t. In this theology all local and former mythological traditions are brought to their theological goal in the god \TPtah\t. The text is a cosmology that describes the creation of the world and the unity of the land of Egypt as a process in the eternal ordering of the world. Ptah creates everything from notions that were in his heart and are then pronounced by his tongue. All things--the universe, living beings, justice, beauty, and so on--are created in this manner. The gods are also created in this way; coming forth first as concepts of Ptah's mind, they enter into the material forms of the world--stone, metal, wood--that have equally been created out of Ptah. The Memphite theology takes over older local notions of creation, such as that of Hermopolis, which describes creation proceeding from eight primordial beings of chaos who inhabited the primeval slime. The four males are toads, and the four females snakes, forming the pairs of Nun and Naunet (primordial matter and primordial space); Kuk and Kauket (the illimitable and the boundless); Huh and Hauhet (darkness and obscurity); Amon and Amaunet (hidden and concealed ones). These eight bring forth the sun, and in the Memphite theology they are said to come forth from Ptah himself. Another part of the Memphite mythology takes up myths from the Old Kingdom about the gods \THorus\t and \TSet\t. These two deities contend for authority over Egypt; another deity, Geb, the earth-god, acts as mediator. Geb first partitions the country between the two, then, changing his mind, gives the entire country to Horus. In the Memphite theology, the pharaoh Menes is identified with Horus. That theology also makes Geb homologous to Ptah, but in another mythological context Geb, the power in the earth, is supreme. He is the primeval hillock that is the symbol of the first creation. For the Egyptians the earth deity is male rather than female. In the Old Kingdom mythology the sun Atum (or Aten) often appears as the first creator. He makes Shu and Tefnut (air and moisture) out of himself, and they in turn produce Geb and Nut (earth and sky). The children of the latter couple are \TOsiris\t, \TIsis\t, Set, and Nepthys. Thus the first four deities establish the cosmos, and the later four are mediators between humans and the cosmos. Osiris is the symbol of the dead king, who is succeeded in the form of Horus, the living ruler. Isis is the consort of Osiris, and after his murder by Set, she reconstitutes his body and thus achieves for him eternal life; her ally in this role is Nepthys, the consort of Set. Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, ultimately vanquishes Set, a symbol of antistructure or antiorder. Set is related to the desert of Upper Egypt. As a deity of clouds, he opposed Atum, the sun. Although kingship appears as the pivot around which Egyptian mythology revolves, the key mythological themes are creation, procreation, revival, and the unity of the two lands. The temporal pharaoh was only a symbol of these orders. The power behind them is expressed in the sun, in the earth, and in animals, especially cattle. The language and symbols of power may at any time be translated from one into another--for example, the sun might be described in the symbolism of cattle or the earth in the symbolism of the sun. In the theology of the New Kingdom, the supreme god was \TAmon-Re\t, an identification of the Theban (and Hermopolitan) creator-god Amon with the sun-god Ra (successor to Atum). Canaanite Mythology The Canaanites are part of the group referred to in ancient times as the Western Semites; this group includes the Phoenicians, Ugarites, and Hebrews. The Hebrew Bible gives a highly polemical account of the Canaanite religion. \TEusebius of Caesarea\t, a Christian historian of the early 4th century AD, describes the religion of the Canaanites in his treatise, Preparation for the Gospel, in which he purportedly relies on the work of a Phoenician writer named Sanchuniathon. The biased nature of these sources made knowledge of this religion conjectural and vague until the discovery of mythological texts at Ras Shamra, the site of ancient \TUgarit\t, in 1929. The Ras Shamra texts provide much more detail concerning the Canaanite gods and the mythological cycles. Many of these texts were written down by Canaanite scribes. One of the most prominent deities of the Canaanites, and indeed of all Western Semitic peoples, is the god El. Although El is often a generic name for deity, in certain mythological cycles El is a specific god. In some respects he resembles the deities Enlil of the Mesopotamians and Zeus of the Greeks. He is a father and creator and sometimes a divine warrior, but the dominant image of El is that of an old, wise patriarch and judge. He manifests great strength, but he is not an absolute ruler. Unlike the Mesopotamian deities, El does not manifest the power behind the phenomena of nature; he is seen rather as a deity whose homologies are found in the social life. El's consorts are Asherah, \TAstarte\t, and Anat, all of whom are counterparts of the Mesopotamian Ishtar. Asherah and Astarte are El's wives or, in some contexts, his sisters; Anat is his daughter. Asherah is often referred to as a creator who gives birth to 70 deities. El, who is a sky deity, and Asherah, who represents earth, first produced the morning and the evening stars; two other sons are Yamm (the sea) and Mot (the underworld). The most important deity after El is \TBaal\t Haddad. Baal Haddad is the son of Dagan, a god of rain, who probably originated in the region of the Middle Euphrates and was transmitted to the Western Semites through the Akkadians. The name Baal Haddad carries the connotation of rulership. He is a young, warlike god of wind and thunderstorms. Unlike El, he is not at all judicious, frequently creating situations from which he must be saved by female deities, in most cases Anat, who appears as his consort. In this respect he bears some resemblance to Dumuzi (Tammuz) among the Mesopotamians, who is also surrounded by female protectors and whose actions carry little ethical value. In the mythological cycles Baal is pitted in warfare with El; this warfare may indicate that he is a later arrival in the area, the warfare being congruent to a change in the culture. Initially Baal and Anat seem to be members of the court of El; Anat is El's concubine, and Baal has become his cupbearer. In a sudden and surprise move Baal attacks El. Baal and his helpers defeat El in the abode of his mountain, Sapan, tying him down and castrating him. In this act the fertility of El is destroyed. In despair El calls out to his sons, and Yamm comes to his aid. El proclaims Yamm the lord and tells him that he must recover the gold and silver stolen by Baal in order to build himself a palace fit for a lord and possess the treasure. He must also fight Baal in order to avenge the defeat of his father, El, through blood vengeance. Yamm is killed by Baal in the combat, and the obligation of blood vengeance then falls upon the next son, Mot. Mot succeeds in killing Baal in Baal's own palace. The death of Baal infuriates Anat, who implores Mot to restore Baal to life. When he refuses, she kills and dismembers him, scattering his remains over the land. Baal, now revived, undertakes a full-scale war against all the other gods, who are now referred to as the "sons of Asherah," and is victorious. Mot too is revived and once again challenges Baal to single combat. In the midst of the fighting, however, the sun-goddess, Spsi (Shapash), intervenes, advising Mot that no further combat is needed because El is now on the side of Baal. El, always patriarchal and judicious, has discerned that Baal in his defeat and resurrection has manifested a new form of order; as a patriarchal deity El must uphold this new order. The decree is made that Baal will rule during the seasons of fertility and Mot during the seasons of sterility and drought. Canaanite mythology in general and the mythical cycle of the combat of El and Baal in particular have several broad implications. In the first place, the geographical location and the historical period indicate that these myths are part of a wider mythological synthesis. Elements of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hittite, Hurrian, and Ugaritic myths are present in this cycle, which is thus a watershed for the understanding of myth and history during this period. Second, light is shed on the Hebrew Old Testament. Although the Old Testament contains a polemic against Baal, Asherah, and Astarte, some of the elements and practices of the Hebrews are best understood within the context of Canaanite mythology. Moreover, Hesiod clearly made use of some of these mythological elements in his Theogony; Baal, Yamm, and Mot are directly related to Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY About the 2d millennium BC a group of peoples usually referred to as the Indo-Europeans, or \LAryan\ls, began a series of massive migrations from their original homelands in the area north of the Black Sea. They eventually came to dominate most of Europe, the northern Near East, and the Indian subcontinent. In this process they either absorbed or eliminated the indigenous populations and their cultures. The study of Indo-European mythology was a direct result of the growth of knowledge about the family of Indo-European languages, from Sanskrit to the languages of modern Europe, which developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The eclectic comparative study that arose, in which Max Muller is the most important figure, was by and large discredited by the early 20th century; only recently, with the work of Georges Dumezil and his followers, has the Indo-European myth again received intensive scholarly study. According to Dumezil, the development of Indo-European myth and the myths of the various subgroups display the rejection of an early sky-god in favor of a tripartite division of divine power reflecting the social structure of the peoples. This division consists of a magical-legal function, a warrior function, and the various functions of fertility and production, thus leading to the expectation of three supreme gods beneath whom the pantheon is organized. Various complications appear, however, the most important of which is the tendency to distribute the first function between two gods, one threatening and indifferent to the fate of humanity, and one specifically concerned with the proper ordering of human life and society. Another important feature is the ambiguity of the warrior god. As a warrior he must be great in battle, in order to protect the safety of cosmos and society, but in his victory, his rage may become so great as to threaten the well-being of creation; thus the necessity of taming the powers of the warrior god through ritual and sacrifice. Variations on these themes will recur throughout the analysis of the myths of the Indo-European peoples. Indian Mythology The earliest development of Indo-European mythology for which evidence is plentiful comes from the Indian Rig-Veda, compiled probably at the end of the 2d millennium BC by the Aryans, who had overrun northern India (see \TVedas\t). At this time the high god was Varuna, the overpowering master of knowledge and magic, presiding over the changing spectacle of the universe. Often associated with him is Mitra, the sun-god, who takes the part of humankind, establishing laws and contracts and ensuring the well-being of society. The most important god of the Rig-Veda, however, is Indra, the warrior. These three, together with a large number of lesser gods, are Adityas, the children of the boundless goddess Aditi, perhaps an ancient mother of earth. Against the Adityas stand the Danavas, the children of Danu (the restrainer), the most important of whom is the great dragon Vritra. After many combats, trials, and treaties, Indra, the chosen champion of the Adityas, destroys Vritra with his thunderbolt, thus freeing the cosmic waters and making possible the creation, over which Varuna and Mitra will preside. The mythology of India is in constant flux, however, and gods who have but a minor part in the Rig-Veda become important in later Vedic and other literature. One such is Prajapati, who comes to replace Varuna as arbiter of the cosmic order. By "heating" himself, Prajapati brings into being the hierarchy of the universe through either his sweat or his semen, thus establishing through his self-sacrifice the order of things that is perpetuated through the rituals and sacrifices of the priestly caste. Two other important deities connected with ritual are Agni and Soma. Agni is the god of fire, the illuminator and agent of sacrifice. The cult of fire, an ancient aspect of Indo-European religion, remained important in the religion and mythology of Iran. Soma, the god, is often indistinguishable from soma, the drink of the gods, which gives Indra the power to overcome the dragon. As both drink and god, Soma confers strength, insight, and immortality, as well as providing a form of union between the priest and divinity. In later \THinduism\t another triad appears: \TBrahma\t, the creator; \TVishnu\t, the preserver; and \TShiva\t, the destroyer. Because his role is exclusively that of creator, Brahma's work is done, and he is a peripheral figure in the myths. Vishnu and Shiva are far more important. Vishnu, a minor god in the earlier period, is worshiped primarily in his avatars, or incarnations, as Rama and \TKrishna\t, the principal characters of the epics \TRamayana\t and \TMahabharata\t. In both of these the god takes on human form in order to heal a breach in the order of society, and thus the world in general, and by so doing reestablish the proper relation of humankind to divinity. He is consequently seen and worshiped as the loving savior of humanity. Shiva, on the other hand, is an ambivalent figure, a loner who seeks knowledge through ascetic practice. He is in many ways a dangerous god, a destroyer, but at the same time represents the rejection of normal society and its ways by the ascetic, who seeks release from the world through mystical discipline. Ancient Iranian religion shared the same Aryan heritage as Indian mythology. Mitannian sources from the late 14th century BC list Varuna, Mitra, and Indra as well as two Nasatyas, twin gods who represent the productive functions of society. By Achaemenid times (549-330 BC) the triad was Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and a goddess called Anahita. Ahura Mazda became the central deity of \TZoroastrianism\t; Mithra, a lesser figure in Zoroastrianism, became the object of the separate cult of \TMithraism\t. Greek Mythology Greek mythology expresses neither unity nor consistency. The lack of coherence is due to the several factors that went into the formation of Greek myths and mythological personages. First, the existing fragments of Greek myths cover a period from the 2d millennium BC to the beginnings of the Christian era. These myths and fragments of myths are in many cases parts of total mythological cycles in local communities, but in many cases the entire cycle is not known today. Second, the corpus of Greek mythology contains mythological elements from different cultures and histories. For example, the Indo-European cultural element is represented in deities such as \TZeus\t, whereas Mediterranean Minoan-Mycenaean structures are symbolized by figures such as \TDemeter\t, \TAphrodite\t, Rhea, and others. Complicating the problem even more is the fact that Greek poets, tragedians, and philosophers present their own literary and philosophical interpretations and dramas of the deities, making use of the many strands and varied traditions of the mythological cycles. The gods are portrayed in \THomer\t's Odyssey and Iliad, then again in \THesiod\t'S Theogony and Works and Days. Each of the great Greek tragedians, \TSophocles\t, \TAeschylus\t, and \TEuripides\t, gives expression to the myths in his dramas. Philosophical interpretations in the pre-Socratics (see \Tpre-Socratic philosophy\t) and in Plato and Aristotle continue this tradition of interpretation and reinterpretation. According to \THerodotus\t, Homer and Hesiod defined the gods. They drew from a rich and complex historical and mythological past, indicating themes and trends that have become decisive for the understanding of Greek mythology. Hesiod presupposes the reality of the gods, whereas Homer's characterization of them is symbolic. In neither case, however, do the gods possess a universal meaning; in making use of the mythological historical tradition both poets tend to constantly merge various traditions into the unity of their forms of narration. The 12 major deities in the Olympian pantheon are Zeus, \THera\t, \TAthena\t, \THermes\t, Aphrodite, \THephaestus\t, \TAres\t, \TApollo\t, \TArtemis\t, \TPoseidon\t, Demeter, and \TDionysus\t. Zeus is the most prominent deity of Greek mythology. He is clearly of Indo-European origin and is a celestial deity related to and symbolized by the sky and sky phenomena. He is the thunderbolt, a god of lightning, a god of rain. He is a ruler-father, sovereign, and controller. In the Iliad Zeus is referred to as the son of \TCronus\t, but Cronus is given no other prominence, and Zeus is often called father of the gods. Zeus is often related to various female consorts--at Eleusis his consort is Demeter; at Thebes, \TSemele\t; and at Argos, Hera. Each one of these female deities is a symbol of earth and fertility. In Homer, Zeus is a reigning god who sits on a throne at the top of Mount \TOlympus\t. He is attended by his council of deities: Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Artemis, and Athena. Each of these has his or her own dwelling on Olympus. The palace and walls were built by Hephaestus. Hesiod's Theogony gives another story of Zeus. It provides a genealogy of the birth of the deities. The first god was \TUranus\t, who mates with \TGaea\t, the earth; from this union, the \TTitans\t and \TCyclops\t are born. The most important of these offspring is the Titan Cronus, who marries his sister Rhea. Cronus receives a prophecy that foretells his overthrow by one of his children; therefore when his children are born he immediately swallows them. The distressed Rhea is advised by her parents to go to Crete when she becomes pregnant again. She does so and on Crete gives birth to Zeus. Gaea becomes nursemaid to Zeus and devises a stratagem to save him from his father. She wraps a stone in clothing and presents it to Cronus as his new son. Upon ingesting the stone, Cronus disgorges it and all of the other children he had previously swallowed, including Hera, Poseidon, and Hades. Another element in the myth relates that the safety of Zeus is ensured by a group of divine beings called kuretes who dance around the young child, creating such a noise that the cries of the child cannot be heard by Cronus. This story of the birth of Zeus may be part of a chthonic religion that is related to the Mediterranean orgiastic traditions of Greece. Zeus thus appears in the two mythological traditions, one Indo-European, the other Mediterranean (Minoan), as a sky-god belonging to invading Indo-Europeans. As the head of the pantheon he is symbolized by forms other than the sky, and through his marriages and amorous adventures he assimilates the indigenous deities to the Indo-European pantheon. The Titans may have been the ancient gods of the earth, and Hesiod's myth blends the two traditions into a single narrative. Hera (lady in Greek) is the great goddess of the indigenous inhabitants of Greece before the Indo-European invasions. She symbolizes a matriarchal and polyandrous culture. As the great goddess, she annually takes a mate in a hieros gamos, ("sacred marriage"), a ritual enactment of fertility and the coming of spring. Zeus, the sky-god of the Indo-Europeans, marries Hera at Argos, and this marriage becomes the archetype for monogamous patrilineal marriage and kinship. Hera becomes the goddess of marital virtue. Hesiod's version is that Hera was the sister of Zeus; when she is disgorged by Cronus, Zeus marries her. Poseidon was originally an Indo-European deity and an elder brother to Zeus. He is often referred to as the producer of thunder but more often as the wild horse. In the time of Homer he was called earth-shaker, and this name may be related to the sound of horses' hooves. Several stories tell of Poseidon's mating with goddesses in the forms of mares. In Arcadia, Demeter changes herself into a mare and is chased by Poseidon; from their mating is born \TPersephone\t and a horse Arion. Poseidon then becomes a god of the sea when he mates with the sea goddess Amphitrite. Dionysus is not an Indo-European deity. Probably Phrygian in origin, the god and his cult traveled to Macedonia, then to Thessaly and Boeotia. The myth of his birth relates that his mother is Semele and that he was fathered by Zeus. When Hera, Zeus's wife, learns of Zeus's infidelity and the approaching birth, she disguises herself as Semele's nurse and convinces her to demand that Zeus reveal himself in the totality of his godliness to her. Zeus appears to Semele in the fullness of his thunder and lightning. The appearance strikes Semele dead, but just before her death Zeus snatches Dionysus from her womb, cuts open his thigh, and places the child therein; after nine months Dionysus is born from the thigh of Zeus. Dionysus is called the twice-born--from the womb of Semele and the thigh of Zeus. Dionysus's appearance always seems to be accompanied by some violent activity that presents a threat to conventional order. As the center of an orgiastic mystical cult, he tends to break the bonds of social life. Euripides, in his drama The Bacchae, describes the Dionysian cult. (Dionysus is also called Bromios, the Boisterous, or \TBacchus\t.) The aim of the cult was to produce ecstasy--the experience of standing outside of oneself--or enthusiasm--the experience of being filled with the god. The heart of the Dionysian mystery was that the devotee and the god become identical. The majority of the cult followers were women, the \Tmaenads\t, those who had gone mad in their ecstasy. When the priest of Dionysus played on his flute, the devotees went into a frenzy, in which they were said to dismember animals. Apollo stands in contrast to Dionysus. Whereas Dionysus orients his devotees to wild orgiastic rites, Apollo is the god of moderation and represents the legal or statutory meaning of religion. Apollo is foremost a god of law; he is described by Plato as the source of law. In his role as lawgiver, Apollo refers to the precedents of the gods and laws of the city. Apollo has another side, however. Like Dionysus, he was related to the oracle of \TDelphi\t, and his devotees there were enthusiastic and ecstatically possessed. W. K. C. Guthrie, in The Greeks and Their Gods, suggests that Apollo originated in Siberia and that the ecstatic powers attached to his cult were derived from the tribal shamanism of that area rather than from the Dionysian cult at Delphi. Because of the common ecstatic elements, Apollo's cult exerted a moderating influence upon the distinctly non-Olympian religious experience of Dionysus. Roman Mythology The historical background out of which the myths of Rome emerge is similar in some aspects to that of the Greeks. There, too, the Indo-European elements were superimposed on the cultures of the indigenous peoples. In later periods cultural religious meanings from Greece, Syria, Iran, and Egypt played a role in Roman mythology. Nonetheless, Roman mythology has a special character and nature that can be delineated. Unlike Greek mythology, which is varied, complex, and rich in poetical and speculative allusions, Roman religion and Roman myths are prosaic, prudent, and precise in a legal and moral sense. Roman mythology does not have a pantheon on the order of the Greek Olympians. It presents specific deities that are relatively well defined. Hardly anything is said about their mythic lives--births, infidelities, adventures, and relations among or between themselves. Rather, they tend to be venerated at certain times of the year or at certain places in the city or landscape. At certain moments and places some manifestation of sacred power is expressed. Specific gods manifest themselves in ways particular to a town or region, or local heroes are elevated to the status of gods. Such local deities were catalogued in lists called Indigitamenta, which also prescribed the rituals appropriate to the worship of each. A straightforward correspondence can be set up between the gods of the Greek pantheon and their Roman counterparts: Zeus-JUPITER; Hera-JUNO; Poseidon-NEPTUNE; Demeter-CERES; Apollo-Apollo; Artemis-DIANA; Athena-MINERVA; Hephaestus-VULCAN; Aphrodite-VENUS; Ares-MARS; Dionysus-Bacchus. This correspondence, however, barely scratches the surface of Roman mythology. Dumezil has argued, in connection with his general theory of Indo-European mythology, that the primary triad of Roman myth is that of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Jupiter, as noted, is the Zeus pater of Greek myth, the guardian of heaven and earth, under whom are placed such minor deities as Juventus and Terminus. Likewise Mars represents the second aspect of the triad, under whom are assembled figures of war such as Bellona and Vacuna. Quirinus is a deity of Sabine origin; the Sabines were a people perceived as in opposition to the first two aspects of the triad and finally assimilated through forceful subjugation. Dumezil sees this as a recurrent motif in the construction of the various Indo-European mythological systems. Quirinus thus takes his place as guardian of produce and fertility, represented by the grain and by his association with other figures of plenty and well-being. He is sometimes associated with Mars as a symbol of peaceful vigilance, and likewise with \TJanus\t, the guardian of the gates and of beginnings in general. Beneath the great gods are the minor deities and demigods to whom a wide variety of festivals and sacrifices were dedicated throughout the Roman year. These are gods of specific functions, such as guarding or fostering the orchards, and they rarely figure in extended myths; they appear, however, in such works as Ovid's Fasti and Metamorphoses. Still more particular were the \Tlares\t and \Tpenates\t, familiar deities who were thought to watch over the household hearth and cupboard. At this level it becomes apparent how the gods of the indigenous Latins and other pre-Indo-European peoples have been assimilated into a scheme that informs not only the Roman perception of the cosmos but also the day-to-day activity of the citizen. In this context may be mentioned the myth-epics concerning the history of Rome. These include the \TAeneid\t of \TVergil\t, the \TRomulus and Remus\t cycle of stories, and the epics related to the Roman kings. By incorporating the traditions of Roman history into a grand scheme linking the Roman present with the mythic past and the hope of a glorious future, these stories form the clearest expression of the Roman love for order, stability, and strength evident throughout its mythology. Norse (Germanic and Scandinavian) Mythology After 1000 BC some form of Indo-European language was spoken by most European cultures. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC, Germanic tribes lived in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany. Their expansions and migrations from the 2d century BC onward are recorded in history. Scandinavian and Germanic mythology have a common origin and structure; they will, therefore, be discussed in their unity. With the exception of the observations made by the Romans Julius Caesar and Tacitus, all of the sources on Germanic mythology are late and Christian. The main body of traditions is contained in the Prose Edda of \TSnorri Sturluson\t (c.1179-1241), an Icelandic historian who is considered the most accurate editor, redactor, and interpreter of the religious and mythological sources of the old Norse religion. The myth of creation is given in detail only by Snorri, who edited several sources in presenting a somewhat coherent form. In the beginning was a great void (Ginnungagup). Before the Earth was formed, the world of death existed; in this world (\TNiflheim\t) was a great well, from which flowed 11 rivers. South of Niflheim existed an extremely hot world (Muspell) guarded by a giant called Sutr ("the Black"). The rivers of Niflheim froze, and these frozen rivers occupied Ginnungagup. Sparks from Muspell, however, fell on the rivers and melted them. Droppings from this melting took shape as \TYmir\t, the giant, and from Ymir's sweat other giants, male and female, were formed. Another version relates that the melting drops took the form of the primordial cow, Audumbla, who fed Ymir with her milk. The cow also licked the salty blocks of ice, shaping them into the form of the first man, who is called Buri. Buri has a son, Bor, who marries Bestla, daughter of a giant, Bolthorr; the children from this union are the gods \TOdin\t, Vili, and Ve. Odin and his brothers kill Ymir and from his body fashion the Earth. The gods endow two tree trunks with the qualities of wit, breath, hearing, vision, and so on. These tree trunks are the archetypes of the human race; the man is Askr (an ash tree) and the woman, Embla (a creeper). They next build \TAsgard\t, the abode of the gods. Snorri describes in other versions how a great tree, Yggdrasil, the tree of fate, arises in the center of the world. Beneath the tree is the well of fate, which is described as feminine in form; the course of human life is decided here. In some versions, the council of the gods is convened around the tree. The tree is supported by three roots; one of these roots stretches to the underworld (\THel\t), another to the world of the frost-giants, and the last one to the world of human beings. The welfare of the entire world is dependent on the primordial tree, Yggdrasil. The Norse deities are divided into two major groups, the Aesir and the Vanir. The most important of the Aesir are Odin, \TThor\t, and sometimes Tyr. Their counterparts among the Vanir are Njord, \TFrey\t, and \TFreya\t. The Vanir symbolize riches, fertility, and fecundity. They are associated with the earth and the sea as these symbolize the sources of fecundity. The Aesir symbolize other values: Odin is a magician, chief among the gods, and a patron of heroes; Thor, who is god of the hammer, is an atmospheric deity of thunder who presides over work. In many of the Norse mythological cycles these two kinds of deities live in peace and engage in cooperative enterprises. Several important versions, however, report that in the distant past a fierce war was fought between the Aesir and the Vanir. Some scholars have interpreted this war between the Aesir and the Vanir as the reflection of the historical encounter of the Germanic peoples with indigenous cultures. Georges Dumezil and Jan de Vries, however, see the warfare and division among the deities as part of the unitary structure of Indo-European mythology. The familiar triad is formed by Odin and Thor, who divide the functions of the magical lawgiver; Tyr, the warrior god; and the Vanir, the fertile producers, who are defeated and subsumed into hierarchy. In the Norse cycles the conflict between the gods begins when Odin and Thor, the greatest of the gods, refuse the full status of godhood to the Vanir. The latter entreat the Aesir by sending to them a woman, Gullveig (gold-drink, gold drunkenness), who corrupts them. War then breaks out. After both sides are exhausted, each side exchanges members of its group with the other; the Vanir send Njord and his son Frey, the Aesir, \TMimir\t and Hoenir. The truce is celebrated by a meeting at which all the gods spit into a bowl, creating a giant called Kvasir, who is the sign of peace and harmony among the deities. Kvasir is later sacrificed and from his blood a more potent drink for the gods is made. Kvasir thus becomes the drink that inebriates deities and gives inspiration to the poets. An important mythological episode involves the deities \TBalder\t and \TLoki\t. Balder, one of the sons of Odin, appears as the essence of intelligence, piety, and wisdom. He holds court in a hall in heaven called Glitnir. Both gods and men come to him to settle legal disputes, and his judgments are reconciling and fair. Loki is a giant who is an Aesir by adoption. He and Odin have made a vow of friendship. Balder has a very disturbing dream in which his life is threatened. Upon reporting this dream to the Aesir, his mother, \TFrigg\t, exacts an oath from fire and water, all metals, bird and beast, and earth and stones that they will not harm Balder. After this the Aesir begin to amuse themselves by placing Balder in the midst of them and throwing darts and stones at him. Because of the oath Balder remains unharmed. When Loki sees this spectacle, he disguises himself as a woman and inquires of Frigg why Balder suffers no harm. Frigg tells him of the oath and also tells him of the one form of nature from which she did not exact the oath, the mistletoe. Loki immediately brings the mistletoe to the assembly of the Aesir and offers it to the blind god Hoder, brother of Balder, volunteering to direct his aim so that he can participate in the game. When the mistletoe strikes Balder, he falls dead. The Aesir want to take vengeance on the perpetrator of the deed, but because of the sanctity of the court they cannot. Because Balder is not a warrior and does not die in battle, he does not go to \TValhalla\t, the hall of slain heroes, but into the domain of Hel, keeper of the dead. When Odin requests his release, Hel responds that if everything in the world both dead and alive weeps for Balder, then he can return to the Aesir; otherwise he will remain with Hel. The Aesir send messengers throughout the world requiring all nature, humanity, gods, and beasts to weep for Balder. All respond except a giantess, Thokk (Loki in disguise), whose refusal to weep forces Balder to remain in Hel's domain. The Aesir finally succeed in capturing Loki and chaining him to prevent him from carrying out his evil tricks. The prediction is, however, that he will one day break these chains. This will be the sign for the loosing of all evil, monsters and giants, to attack the gods in the great battle of \TRagnarok\t, the twilight of the gods. Odin will be devoured by the wolf \TFenrir\t, who will then be killed by Vidar, a son of Odin. Terrible fights will rage among the gods and the forces of evil until finally the primeval god \THeimdall\t and Loki come face to face and kill each other. The Earth will then be destroyed by fire, and the entire universe will sink back into the sea. This final destruction will be followed by a rebirth, the Earth reemerging from the sea, verdant and teeming with vegetation. The sons of the dead Aesir will return to Asgard and reign, as did their fathers. Celtic Mythology The \TCelts\t originally inhabited an area in southern Germany and Bohemia. By the end of the 5th century BC they had expanded into the Iberian peninsula; in 390 BC they sacked Rome. In the east they went as far as Anatolia. In the west they migrated to Britain in the 5th century BC and Ireland in the 3d century BC. A great deal may be learned about the Celts from the archaeological materials left behind in the various countries where their culture dominated for several centuries. Most of the written documents of Celtic culture and religion are from Ireland and date from the 12th century AD, when they were written under Christian aegis. As in the other Indo-European cultures, a clear tripartite structure appears in Celtic societal organization. The principal divisions are the king, the warriors, and the cattle herders. The religious hierarchy is also tripartite, consisting of the priestly \Tdruids\t, who also served as administrators; the vatis or filidh, experts in magic and divination; and the bards, who are concerned with oral literature and prose poetry. As a culture the Celts display counteracting tendencies: they seem to be autonomous, anarchic, and concerned for local traditions, but a basic unitary character is manifested in their social organization and mythological histories. The Celtic pantheon is difficult to discern. The names of several hundred gods are known, but the majority appear to be local deities. During the Roman period, many Celtic deities were identified with Roman gods. One of the most important, called \TLug\t in Ireland, was identified with Mercury. The Irish mythological cycle can be divided into four major divisions. The first is the historical-mythological cycle. Two important texts are part of this cycle: the Leabhar Gahbala (Book of Invasions), a mythological history of Ireland; and the Dinnshenchas (History of Places), a mythological geography of Ireland. The main theme in the historical-mythological cycle concerns the peopling of Ireland and the fortunes of the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danann), who were the mythological ancestors of the Irish. The second division is the Ulster cycle. These myths are stories of the warriors of King Conchobar. The themes of those of honor and prestige revolve around heroic deeds and the hero \TCuchulain\t (or Cuchulainn). The third division is that of Fenian. The \TFenian cycle\t recounts the exploits of \TFinn mac Cumhail\t and his companions and deals with the cult and institution of warriors. The last division deals with the institution and founding of the great and lesser kings of Ireland. The latter two divisions fall most readily into the category of folk tales and will not be discussed here. In the historical-mythological cycle the story of the predecessors of the Irish settlement is told. The first group to come to Ireland is led by a woman, Cesair; the majority of her group is composed of women. This group arrives before the great flood, and all are destroyed in the flood except one, Fintan, who in the form of a salmon, eagle, or hawk witnesses all of the later settlements. Fintan is the patron of the traditional lore and storytelling. The next group is led by Partholan, but he and all of his people die in a plague. A third group is led by Nemed; after suffering many vicissitudes, this group divides into three parts and abandons Ireland. Two of these groups, the Fir Bolg (Bolg Men) and the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danann), occupy the subsequent history. The Fir Bolg return to Ireland, which they divide into the five provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Meath; they also introduce kingship. When the Tuatha De Danann arrive, warfare ensues over possession of the land. One tradition states that after the First Battle of Mag Tuired, the Fir Bolg and Tuatha De Danann make peace and agree to live together in harmony. This outcome may reflect the classic Indo-European pattern, as analyzed by Dumezil. The Tuatha are described as demigods; they are beautiful people, possessed with skill in music and the arts. They are always spoken about within a context of fabulous magical powers and wonders, which define the essence of their manifestation. A central theme in the myth of the Tuatha is that of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired. During the First Battle of Mag Tuired the king of the Tuatha, Nuada, is wounded. Because he is now physically blemished, he can no longer serve as king. The kingship is then given to his adopted son, Bres. Bres's father is a king of the Fomoire, a group of people with whom Nemed and his people had fought in previous times. Bres's mother, Eriu, is, however, a Tuatha. The choice of Bres is apparently an attempt to accomplish an alliance between the Tuatha and the Fomoire. Bres, however, demands severe tribute from the Tuatha and persecutes them in many ways. A champion, Lug, arises from among the Tuatha; Lug is a master of all the arts of magic and warfare. Meanwhile Nuada, the blemished king, is restored to his kingship after he has been equipped with a silver arm. Nuada takes counsel with Lug, Dagda, the great god with the magic cauldron, and others concerning the preparations for warfare with the Fomoire. When the battle finally takes place, the Tuatha who are slain in the fighting are magically restored to life. Lug also uses magic to vanquish Balar "of the baleful eye." The Fomoire are routed. The life of the captured Bres is spared when he promises to advise on the proper times for sowing and reaping. Unlike similar battles in other Indo-European mythologies, the Second Battle of Mag Tuired does not end in a reconciliation and fusion of the two parties. The skills imparted by Bres, however, serve the same function of completing the functions needed in settled society. The Tuatha are themselves later defeated by the Sons of Mil, the immediate ancestors of the Irish people. The Tuatha are said now to live in the underground of Ireland, in the fairy regions, where the fairies are subject to them. An analogous mythological history is related in the Welsh cycle of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi. In the Ulster cycle the heroic accomplishments of Cuchulain are related. Cuchulain in some versions is said to be a foster child of Ulster, and in some respects his character is modeled on that of Lug of the historical-mythological cycle. He is described as a small black-browed man, beardless and full of gaiety. When he is in battle a remarkable change comes over him; he increases in size, and his body trembles and whirls about inside of his skin so that his frontal features are turned to the rear. He can draw one of his eyes back into his head, and his hair bristles on end, with a drop of blood on the end of each hair. When he is in a warrior frenzy he attacks anyone in the vicinity, friend and foe alike. The central story of the Ulster cycle is the Cattle-raid of Cuailnge (Tain Bo Cuailnge). Queen Medb of Connacht and her vanguard attempt to steal the great bull, Donn Cuailnge, owned by the men of Ulster. She desires this bull so that her possessions will equal those of her husband, King Ailill, who owns a great white-horned bull, Finnbennach. Through the structure of this story the exploits of Cuchulain and his companions, Conall Cernach and Loegaire Buadach, are related. In the warfare against Queen Medb, Cuchulain realizes that he is fighting against supernatural forces that have been organized against him. Before the last battle, the Great Carnage of Murthemne, Cuchulain realizes the contradictory workings of his geasa. The geasa is a kind of personal obligation or taboo that cannot be violated by the individual without suffering dire consequences. For example, the sorcerers of Queen Medb are cooking a dog when Cuchulain passes. One of his geasa obligates him to eat the food from any hearth that he passes; another of his geasa makes the meat of dog a forbidden food. When he eats the dog he feels some of his power leave him. In this manner he is depleted of his great powers and eventually is mortally wounded in battle. He is tied upright to a pillar so that he can die while standing. MYTH AND CULTURE One feature of the attempt to understand the preceding mythologies has been the way in which they seem to float free from a clear ground in the cultures from which they arise. This stems from the paucity and confusion of sources which come from different periods and backgrounds, and a lack of solid evidence for the role played by these myths in the religious life of the culture. In the 20th century, however, the rise of anthropology and the study of existing traditional cultures have shed some light on the relation of ancient myth to ancient religion. One school, stemming from what may be called the English tradition in anthropology, sees myth as generated to perform an explanatory function, whether this be to explain the relation of a particular sacrifice to the nature of things, as established by the gods, or to justify the existing hierarchy of status of the elite to the commoners, as a matter of divine institution. The myths thus serve as grounding for the understanding of nature and society. The French tradition, stemming from Durkheim, gives a greater emphasis to myth as the expression of a human or social need and thus sees the mythology of a culture as a collective representation of the universe of that culture as it is perceived by the culture. Rather than explanation, the myth and the ritual to which it is normally tied become affirmations of the culture through which social unity is maintained. Within these approaches exists a wide spectrum of views, and in recent work theorists have attempted to indicate the ways that the articulation and division of the universe in myth serves as an explanation and at the same time symbolizes the perceived relation of the culture to the world around it and the interrelations of the persons within it. Charles H. Long Bibliography: \TGeneral\t \Lsurvey\ls AND \LInterpretation\ls: Blacker, Carmen, and Loewe, Michael, eds., Ancient Cosmologies (1975); Campbell, Joseph, The Masks of God, 4 vols. (1959-68); Cassirer, Ernst, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, 3 vols. (1953-55); Cotterell, Arthur, The Macmillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends (1989); Eliade, Mircea, Myth and Reality (1963), The Myth of the Eternal Return, or Cosmos and History (1949; Eng. trans., 1959), Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader, ed. by W. C. Beane and W. G. Doty, 2 vols. (1975), and Patterns in Comparative Religion (1949; Eng. trans., 1958); Feldman, Burton, and Richardson, Robert, The Rise of Modern Mythology: 1680-1860 (1972); Frazer, James G., The Golden Bough, 12 vols., 3d ed. (1911-15); Kirk, G. S., Myth: Its Meaning and Function (1970); Kitagawa, J. M., and Long, C. H., eds., Myths and Symbols: Studies in Honor of Mircea Eliade (1969); Kramer, S. N., Mythologies of the Ancient World (1961); Larue, Gerald A., Ancient Myth and Modern Man (1975); Leach, E. N., ed., The Structural Study of Totemism and Myth (1967); Levi-Strauss, Claude, Introduction to a Science of Mythology, 4 vols., trans. by John and Doreen Weightman (1969-78), and The Savage Mind (1962); Littleton, C. S., The New Comparative Mythology, 2d ed. (1973); Long, Charles H., Alpha, The Myths of Creation (1963); MacCulloch, J. A., and Gray, L. H., The Mythology of All Races, 13 vols. (1916-32); Middleton, John, ed., Myth and Cosmos (1967); Murray, H. A., ed., Myth and Mythmaking (1960); Roheim, Geza, The Eternal Ones of the Dream (1970). \TMesopotamian\t \Tmythology\t: Frankfort, Henri, Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature (1948) and, as ed., The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1949); Gaster, Theodor, Thespis, Ritual, Myth and Drama in the Ancient Near East (1961); Jacobsen, Thorkild, Toward the Image of Tammuz (1970) and The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (1976); Kramer, S. N., The Sacred Marriage Rite: Aspects of Faith, Myth and Ritual in Ancient Sumer (1969) and Sumerian Mythology, rev. ed. (1961). \TEgyptian mythology\t: Bleeker, C. J., Hathor and Thoth: Two Key Figures in Ancient Egyptian Religion (1973); Frankfort, Henri, Ancient Egyptian Religion (1948) and Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature (1948); Lons, Veronica, Egyptian Mythology (1968); Morenz, Siegfried, Egyptian Religion (1960; Eng. trans., 1973); Rundle, Clark R., Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt (1959). \TCanaanite\t \Tmythology\t: Albright, W. F., Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968); Cross, F. M., Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (1973); Driver, G. R., Canaanite Myths and Legends (1956); Gaster, Theodor, Myth, Legend and Custom in the Old Testament (1969); Gurney, Oliver R., Some Aspects of Hittite Religion (1976); Hooke, Samuel H., Myth, Ritual and Kingship (1958); Oldenburg, Ulf, The Conflict Between El and Baal in Canaanite Religion (1969); Roberts, J. J. M., The Earliest Semitic Pantheon (1972); Wakeman, Mary, God's Battle with the Monster (1973). \TIndo-European\t \Tmythology\t: Dumezil, Georges, The Destiny of a King, trans. by Alf Hiltebeitel (1973) and The Destiny of the Warrior, trans. by Alf Hiltebeitel (1970); Larson, G. J., ed., Myth in Indo-European Antiquity (1974); Puhvel, Jan, ed., Myth and Law Among the Indo-Europeans (1970). \TIndian\t \Tmythology\t: Bhattacarji, Sukumari, The Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Puranas (1970); O'Flaherty, W. D., Hindu Myths (1975); Renou, Louis, Religions of Ancient India (1953). \TGreek mythology\t: Dodds, E. R., The Greeks and the Irrational (1957); Graves, Robert, Greek Myths, 2 vols. (1955); Guthrie, W. K. C., The Greeks and Their Gods (1949); Kick, G. J., The Nature of the Greek Myths (1974); Mylonas, G. E., Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (1961); Nilsson, M. P., A History of Greek Religion, 2d ed. (1949), and The Mycenaean Origins of Greek Mythology (1931; Eng. trans., 1972); Rose, H. J., A Handbook of Greek Mythology, 6th ed. (1958); Triggs, Edward, The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology (1974); Whitman, C. H., Euripides and the Full Circle of Myth (1974). \TRoman mythology\t: Dumezil, Georges, Archaic Roman Religion, 2 vols. (1966; Eng. trans., 1970); Grant, F. C., ed., Ancient Roman Religion (1957); Grant, Michael, Roman Myths (1972); Palmer, R. E., Roman Religion and Roman Empire (1974); Rose, H. J., Ancient Roman Religion (1948). \TGermanic\t \Tmythology\t: Davidson, H. Ellis, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (1964) and Pagan Scandinavia (1967); De Vries, Jan, Heroic Song and Heroic Legend, ed. by Kees W. Bolle (1963); Dumezil, Georges, Gods of the Ancient Northmen, ed. and trans. by Einar Hausman (1973); Turville-Petre, E. O. G., Myth and Religion of the North (1964). \TCeltic mythology\t: Chadwick, N. K., The Celts (1970); MacCand, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology (1970); Rees, Alwyn and Brinley, Celtic Heritage (1976); Ross, Anne, Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconography and Tradition (1967); Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise, Gods and Heroes of the Celts (1949); Van Hamel, A. G., Aspects of Celtic Mythology (1934). \TMyth\t AND \Tculture\t: Douglas, Mary, Natural Symbols (1970); Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, trans. by Joseph B. Swain (1954); Evans-Pritchard, E. E., Theories of Primitive Religion (1965); Geertz, Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures (1973) and, as ed., Myth, Symbol and Culture (1971); Goody, J. R., The Domestication of the Savage Mind (1977); Malinowski, Bronislaw, "Magic, Science and Religion," and Other Essays (1948); Skorupski, John, Symbol and Theory (1976); Wilson, B. R., ed., Rationality (1970).