Comparative Mythology

Overview of Comparative Myth

Comparative mythology has been defined by anthropologist C. Scott Littleton (2007) as “the systematic comparison of myths and mythic themes drawn from a wide variety of cultures” (p. 48). The process of comparing mythologies across cultures is an attempt by scholars to identify linguistic, structural, psychological, thematic, historical, or phylogenetic similarities. Some of these similarities have been the foundation on which scholars built a theory of protomythology, a myth from which all other mythologies developed. However, scholars of mythology can be roughly divided into two broad categories: particularists focus on the difference between mythologies while comparativists emphasize the similarities. The two groups’ differing ideologies clash when particularists contend that “the similarities deciphered by comparativists are vague and superficial,” and comparativists claim that “the differences etched by particularists are trivial and incidental” (Northup, 2006).

Most modern scholars reject the notion of a proto- or monomyth, regarding such sweeping statements about myths as suspicious and leaning towards a more particularist mindset. Notably dissident voices include Campbell (2008), the originator of the notion of the monomyth and who focuses primarily on structural similarities in plot and event sequencing, and Witzel (2012), who takes a more abstract historical approach to analyzing the similarities among myths from various cultures. Structural similarities in the plot, where certain events happen in a predictable order from myth to myth, is central to myths as diverse as the archetypal Hero's Journey, The Great Mother, and the Flood. Other structural similarities can be found in a more abstract way, by analyzing the relationship between elements—for example, a story that focuses more broadly on Good vs. Evil, or Man vs. Nature. In this case, the sequencing is less important than the overall means of resolving basic tensions across culture.

Noah and the Ark: Biblical Flood Myth

Unraveling the lineage of myths and reconstructing them from a historical perspective requires a multifaceted approach, combining the parallel evolutionary arcs from a linguistic, genetic, paleontologist and archeological point of view. Generally speaking, the historical approach to analysis works best on myths that have an extended storyline, stretching from the creation of the earth and its inhabitants and following those inhabitants’ journey into the afterlife. This is more commonly found in mythologies of the northern hemisphere, including North America, Europe, and North Africa, and less common in the mythologies of Gondwanaland (the conglomerated area including Subsaharan Africa, Australia, and New Guinea), which Witzel (2012) explains is due to the earlier dispersal of humans out of Africa and to the south. This could account for the more enduring legacy of the stories of our Stone Age ancestors to the north, and the stronger connections between myths from these cultures compared to the first wave of people to move away from their original homeland.

Another method of comparing mythologies relies on phylogenetic similarities, or groupings of characteristics ordered in a tree-like form. In this type of study, myths can be thought of as the basic building blocks that evolve by descent with modification similar to a family tree, although instead of genes, these blocks are known as mythemes. This parallel between biological and mythological evolution means that both concepts lend themselves readily to the use of technology and statistics to build a phylogenetic tree. Statistical reconstruction shows mythemes’ diffusion through the tree with a relatively low rate of direct transference to another culture without modification. Interestingly, these technologies allow the myth to be traced back to a protoversion (not to be confused with Campbell's monomyth). Graca da Silva and Tehrani (2016) have used this method to trace one myth, The Smith and the Devil, all the way back to the Bronze Age, though they admit that the oral tradition for this and other myths probably extend much further back in time.

According to Graca da Silva and Tehrani (2016), a key component to the phylogenetic approach of linguistic relationship analysis is an approach to comparative myth in and of itself. The most studied aspect of myths from a linguistic standpoint is the names of gods across cultures, many of which bear an uncanny resemblance to one another. The Greek sky-god Zeus Pater, the Roman Sky-god Jupiter, and the Vedic-language Indian Sky-god Dyaus Pitr are, linguistically speaking, identical even though the cultures are separated by massive geographic space and many thousands of years. Similarities between the names of gods in different cultures. Bearing this in mind, many scholars have concluded that the Indo-European groups share a common ancestral culture. Zeus, Jupiter, Dyaus and the Germanic Tiu Dayus (later, the English Tuesday) evolved from an older name. The most likely candidate for the basis of all the above-mentioned names is the Proto-Indo-European religion's sky-god Dyēus Phater, which translates to “day-father.”

Manu: Indian Flood Myth

Example—Flood Myth

A myth that is common to many cultures is the story of the great flood. In the Bible, God sees Noah as the only righteous man left in a world where everyone else is full of sin and corruption. God instructs Noah to build an ark and board it with his family and two of each animal. As soon as they are all safely on board, a great rain begins and continues for forty days, flooding the earth. After the rain ended and the earth was dry, God told Noah and his family to exit the ark and begin again on a newly cleansed earth (Bierlein, 1994, pp. 121-124).

In India, the flood myth is the story of Manu and the fish. Manu encounters a fish who tells him in exchange for keeping him safe as he grows, the fish will save Manu from unspeakable dangers that are about to befall the earth. Manu agrees and upholds his end of the bargain, taking care of the little fish until it becomes one of the biggest in the ocean. In return, the fish tells Manu to build a large boat just as heavy rains begin. As the waters rise, Manu’s boat is guided to the top of a mountain and his life is spared (Bierlein, 1994, p. 125).

The Greek flood myth involves Zeus, king of the gods, noticing that everyone on earth, from humans to Titans, had grown arrogant and immoral. He planned to flood the earth in order to start civilization over. The Titan creator Prometheus heard Zeus’ plan and saved his human son, Deucalion, and Deucalion’s wife, Pyrrha by placing them in a wooden chest. Zeus caused it to rain for nine days and nine nights, and the earth flooded until only the tops of two mountains were visible. One mountain was Mount Olympus, the hold of the gods, and the other was Mount Parnassus. Deucalion and Pyrrha’s chest landed on Mount Parnassus and they survived on provisions they brought with them until the earth dried. When they were able to come down from the mountain Zeus instructed them to “cast behind you the bones of your mother,” meaning rocks which symbolized the bones of Mother Earth. They did so, and as the rocks landed on the ground behind them they became the new human beings who would repopulate the earth (Bierlein, 1994, pp. 128-129).

Deucalion and Pyrrha restarting humankind: Greek Flood Myth

Finally, in the Egyptian flood myth, the sun god Ra notices that humankind has become wicked and was showing signs of rebelling against the gods. He sent Hathor, a goddess whom he considered to be his “eye,” to earth to observe the humans and punish any who appeared evil. Hathor began indiscriminately murdering humans, soon becoming bloodthirsty as she brutally slaughtered humans by the thousands and drank the blood that filled the streets and overflowed the rivers. Ra and Thoth, the wisest of the gods, conspired in a plan to stop Hathor. They made a strong beer and mixed it with the blood of Hathor’s victims. The large amount of beer they poured out to entice Hathor formed a large sea, and she drank until she could not differentiate gods from the few humans left on earth. When Hathor passed out, the remaining humans resettled and worked on repopulating the earth (Bierlein, 1994, p. 135).

In Parallel Myths, Bierlein (1994) summarizes the flood myths of fifteen different cultures. There are assumedly many more that are not mentioned in this book. The flood myth is an excellent example of a basic story that has been adopted by different cultures with the same fundamental lesson at the end. Noah, Manu, and Prometheus all have warning that a flood will come and take measures to save themselves and/or their families. The Biblical, Greek, and Egyptian myths all tell how the earth was repopulated after the flood stopped. In the Greek version Deucalion and Pyrrah are saved without Zeus’ knowledge, but they turn out to be the right choice when they follow the king of the gods’ instructions in repopulating the earth. Similarly, Ra did not choose the Egyptian people who were saved because they were simply lucky enough to escape Hathor’s rath. In almost every flood myth that Bierlein includes in the book, the highest deity notices that the residents of earth are becoming evil and arrogant, and wants to start civilization over again with the exception of a small group of people who have been deemed righteous enough to live.

The flood myth is an example of structural similarities from myth to myth, which is central to the theories of Joseph Campbell (2008). One could easily take the Hero’s Journey, Campbell’s most notable claim to fame, and perform a similar analysis to the one above. However, Witzel’s (2012) approach of comparing myths in the abstract by focusing on a relationship between dichotomies also apply. For the flood myth, the most obvious relationships to analyze would be between man vs. nature, man vs. god, or even good vs. evil. A case could be made for any of the three. Whichever way the analysis is ultimately performed, it is clear that the flood myth contains themes that are fundamental to human existence, transcendent of individual cultures.

Depiction of the Egyptian Flood Myth