An Introduction to Comparative Mythology

 

“Myth has two main functions,” the poet and scholar Robert Graves wrote in 1955. “The first is to answer the sort of awkward questions that children ask, such as ‘Who made the world? How will it end? Who was the first man? Where do souls go after death?’…The second function of myth is to justify an existing social system and account for traditional rites and customs.” In the ancient world, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life. They explained everything from religious rituals to the weather to massive catastrophes, and they gave meaning to the world people saw around them.
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used the relationships between different myths to trace the development of religions and cultures, to propose common origins for myths from different cultures, and to support various psychological theories. Both, our science institutions, and our religious institutions have discounted all mythology as complete fiction. In doing so, they have thrown away an important piece to both of their puzzles. The comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics has been found to have enormous value both in Science and Religion. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used the relationships between different myths to trace the development of religions and cultures, to propose common origins for myths from different cultures, and to support various psychological theories, as well as a much more complete model of history.