Myth and Society in Ancient Greece

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Myth and society intertwined - Rated
This book is the third volume of Jean-Pierre Vernant's work on myth and its connections beyond. The first two, 'Myth and Thought' and 'Myth and Tragedy', develop ideas of linguistic expression, art, tradition and more in ancient Greece. As Vernant states in the introduction, the term 'and' is a polyvalent term in English (and perhaps more so in French) - it 'can carry more than one meaning and may infer not simply juxtaposition but also association or contrast.'

One of the key issues here is the coupling, to what extent is myth present in society, and to what extent is society present in myth? So much of what the modern world knows about Greek culture, particularly the earliest culture, is its mythological worldview and constructs, which have endured better than buildings, languages, political structures and military might. Vernant brings modern theories to bear on the development of Greece as a culture - the first essay looks at issues of class identity and class struggle, with particular attention to the concept of slave-based modes of production and service.

The essay on city-state warfare is an important one; one of the enduring elements of ancient Greece is the legacy of the Peloponnesian war, with relationships that have direct parallels in the modern world. Another kind of relation, marriage, is also examined here in detail with regard to myth structures - to what extent is marriage and idealised state, and how is it practiced in reality? Vernant also looks at the pantheon of the gods as a society unto themselves, and a reflection (however fractured) of the way things are in human society. What does it say that the myths are structured the way they are? How can this set of stories and beings actually be considered a religion? Vernant discusses the ideas of Louis Moulinier in this regard.

Myth changed over time in the Greek culture toward a more full development of history and philosophy. Thucydides is held up as one of the earliest to move away from myth in his exposition of events, resisting heavy-handed application of gods and supernatural forces to the events of the world. In addition to tracing the different ways in which myth is addressed in ancient Greek history, philosophy and literature, Vernant also looks at the development of modern thinking about this topic, including comparative mythology, anthropological/social evolutionary views of mythology, historical philology, and 'postmodern' ideas a la Levi-Strauss and Ricoeur.

For such a scholarly text, it is short on scholarly features - there is no bibliography, no index, and a relatively small amount of endnotes. The text is not easy text to read; this is something for scholars. It is worthwhile in terms of ideas for those interested in the subject.