The Impact of Myths on Cultural Values
Myth in Our World Today is the theme that integrates these study materials. More specifically, this week you explore the impact of myths on cultural values, and ask yourselves: What evidence do we have that myths impact cultural values? Based on this evidence, does myth create or destroy helpful cultural values?
This discussion is based on a selection of Learning Resources from several weeks. From Week Six we study: Myth in the Contemporary World [HUMN 351 Module 4 Commentary]; Karen Armstrong – Myths in the Modern World; and Influences of Greek Myth on American Popular Culture. From Week One we study: Effects of Myths on Culture, Myth and Religion: Same or Different?, Other Worlds. From Week Three we study: Maasai Rites of Passage and Ceremonies. From Week Seven we study: Living Tribal Cultures.
The quote below from Marija Gimbutas (whose lecture you heard in Week Four) will set the stage for our discussion. Gimbutas claims that Old Europe of the Neolithic Period (6500-3500 BCE) endured a transformation from matriarchal (or matricentric) to patriarchal values. She argues that the mythic Great Goddess gave way to the mythic orientation of Indo-Europeans (who brought Zeus and other prominent Olympian deities to Europe). In “The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe,” Gimbutas says:
[The psychological-matriarchal age] is then replaced by the patriarchal world with its different symbolism and different values. This masculine world is that of the Indo-Europeans, which did not develop in Old Europe but was superimposed upon it. Two entirely different sets of mythical images met. Symbols of the masculine groups replaced the images of Old Europe. Some of the old elements were fused together as a subsidiary of the new symbolic imagery, thus losing their original meaning. Some images persisted side by side, creating chaos in the former harmony. Through losses and additions new complexes of symbols developed which are best reflected in Greek mythology. One cannot always distinguish the traces of the old since they are transformed or distorted. And yet it is surprising how long the old European mythical concepts have persisted. … The earliest European civilization was savagely destroyed by the patriarchal element and it never recovered, but its legacy lingered in the substratum which nourished further European cultural developments. The Old European creations were not lost; (but) transformed, they enormously enriched the European psyche.
From this quote, and others repeated in my Overview Lecture, think about the impact of myth on culture. For your key post, take a stand one way or another on the question: Does myth create or destroy helpful cultural values? To support your view, provide one example from the assigned Learning Resources and one from your own life as evidence of the impact of myth on culture. Explain your position.
Clearly label and explain your answers. Your response should be between 300-400 words long. APA in-text citations and reference from a scholarly source, such as the resources above in the lecture.
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