I often thought of the purpose of mythology. Arguably it is multi-faceted, and potentially all reasons for its existence have at times contributed to its formation, and subsequent multiplication. There are myths which are, at least on the surface, very clearly didactic (an example would be the parables of the new testament) while other myths seem to be about a negative quality, that of fear.
In Greek myths the tragic is almost always existent in the core of the story. For example in the labours of Heracles you see many entities being vanquished by the demigod, before his own suicide on the pyre. Through pain he lived, and through extreme pain he dies, to become immortal (Jesus perhaps can be seen as a parallel to that, although his suffering maybe was less).
The mythical tale of Heracles is soaked in blood, the blood of men, of monsters, of hybrids of men and monsters. I wonder how it appealed to the ancient Greek people. Nietzsche claims that every group of people creates heroes which are characteristically that which the group is not. Possibly this is due to the hero identity extinguishing all of the qualities which fire up inside it, with his tragic death, and the person hearing of the hero's story can feel that his own pathos has been cleaned, projected onto the vessel of catharsis, which is the hero figure.
It would seem that all of the main Greek heroes, Heracles, Achilles, Theseus, Perseas, Odysseus, are met in the end with their tragic fate. Heracles burns himself. Achilles becomes a ghost in the underworld. Perseus dies in exile, after involuntary manslaughter. Theseus is tricked to cause the death of his first son. Odysseus returns to his homeland only after a tempestuous journey.
In conclusion of this OP i would like to say that it seems important for people to be able to "live" another person's story, so as to acquire wisdom from this semi-identification with the sufferer, as in the myths. Thus the mythical figure, destined to suffer, is like the titan Atlas, holding on his shoulders the sky which is filled with a red glow, that of blood and despair. Even today we read books partly so as to enrich our own "experience" of life, other ways of life and thought being revealed to us through that reading. Could it be said that the need to communicate in such a way, flawed as it may be, fundamentally is due to our inextinguishable thirst for bettering our chances to prosper, on the material or spiritual level? And do heroes, and myths, help us in unconscious ways to achieve that?
In Greek myths the tragic is almost always existent in the core of the story. For example in the labours of Heracles you see many entities being vanquished by the demigod, before his own suicide on the pyre. Through pain he lived, and through extreme pain he dies, to become immortal (Jesus perhaps can be seen as a parallel to that, although his suffering maybe was less).
The mythical tale of Heracles is soaked in blood, the blood of men, of monsters, of hybrids of men and monsters. I wonder how it appealed to the ancient Greek people. Nietzsche claims that every group of people creates heroes which are characteristically that which the group is not. Possibly this is due to the hero identity extinguishing all of the qualities which fire up inside it, with his tragic death, and the person hearing of the hero's story can feel that his own pathos has been cleaned, projected onto the vessel of catharsis, which is the hero figure.
It would seem that all of the main Greek heroes, Heracles, Achilles, Theseus, Perseas, Odysseus, are met in the end with their tragic fate. Heracles burns himself. Achilles becomes a ghost in the underworld. Perseus dies in exile, after involuntary manslaughter. Theseus is tricked to cause the death of his first son. Odysseus returns to his homeland only after a tempestuous journey.
In conclusion of this OP i would like to say that it seems important for people to be able to "live" another person's story, so as to acquire wisdom from this semi-identification with the sufferer, as in the myths. Thus the mythical figure, destined to suffer, is like the titan Atlas, holding on his shoulders the sky which is filled with a red glow, that of blood and despair. Even today we read books partly so as to enrich our own "experience" of life, other ways of life and thought being revealed to us through that reading. Could it be said that the need to communicate in such a way, flawed as it may be, fundamentally is due to our inextinguishable thirst for bettering our chances to prosper, on the material or spiritual level? And do heroes, and myths, help us in unconscious ways to achieve that?