what is the difference?
myth encodes history
history builds myth
think of the mythoi of
Greeks or Romans
Indians or Egyptians
with their superstructures
of myth in between
the pillars of temples
on walls and columns
the ancient histories
of peoples are told
when you read Herodotus
you wonder if these
histories might really be
myths the stories are wild
when you read Thucydides
he is taken to be telling
great military and political
truths but the myths of men
are perhaps the greatest
fabrications of all
myth encodes history
history builds myth
think of the mythoi of
Greeks or Romans
Indians or Egyptians
with their superstructures
of myth in between
the pillars of temples
on walls and columns
the ancient histories
of peoples are told
when you read Herodotus
you wonder if these
histories might really be
myths the stories are wild
when you read Thucydides
he is taken to be telling
great military and political
truths but the myths of men
are perhaps the greatest
fabrications of all
yes, and still....the continual heroising at the heart of state mythologising. But we have other ways, your (and others) tactical poetics. Although, I still like a good Homeric metaphor, preferably of the sea ...:)
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