Bears, Gates, and Solstices
After a short discussion of selected approaches to myth it is maintained that, rather than representing allegories or encoded scientific truths, myths can best be understood as incorporating narrative models accounting for specific phenomena in objective reality. In consequence, the existence of a c...
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crbrillap:10.1163/1568525x-12342054 2023-10-09T21:48:58+02:00 Bears, Gates, and Solstices Bilić, Tomislav 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-12342054 https://brill.com/view/journals/mnem/70/1/article-p1_1.xml https://data.brill.com/files/journals/1568525X_070_01_s001_text.pdf unknown Brill Mnemosyne volume 70, issue 1, page 1-23 ISSN 0026-7074 1568-525X Literature and Literary Theory Linguistics and Language History Language and Linguistics Archeology Classics journal-article 2017 crbrillap https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-12342054 2023-09-14T20:50:37Z After a short discussion of selected approaches to myth it is maintained that, rather than representing allegories or encoded scientific truths, myths can best be understood as incorporating narrative models accounting for specific phenomena in objective reality. In consequence, the existence of a class of myths that include considerations of astronomical/meteorological phenomena is recognised. The paper analyses two such mythic narratives, Homer’s Laestrygonian episode from the Odyssey and Apollonius’ Cyzicus episode from the Argonautica , and interprets them in terms of mythic astronomy or cosmology. A mythic island in the north, associated with the solstices and either the always visible or fixed arctic circle, is recognised as the cosmological location of both narratives. This is also interpreted as the myth’s secondary reference to a phenomenon of common reality and collective importance verbalized by the application of a traditional tale. Finally, both narratives are associated with a pre-Homeric Argonautic tradition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Brill (via Crossref) Arctic Mnemosyne 70 1 1 23 |
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Literature and Literary Theory Linguistics and Language History Language and Linguistics Archeology Classics |
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Literature and Literary Theory Linguistics and Language History Language and Linguistics Archeology Classics Bilić, Tomislav Bears, Gates, and Solstices |
topic_facet |
Literature and Literary Theory Linguistics and Language History Language and Linguistics Archeology Classics |
description |
After a short discussion of selected approaches to myth it is maintained that, rather than representing allegories or encoded scientific truths, myths can best be understood as incorporating narrative models accounting for specific phenomena in objective reality. In consequence, the existence of a class of myths that include considerations of astronomical/meteorological phenomena is recognised. The paper analyses two such mythic narratives, Homer’s Laestrygonian episode from the Odyssey and Apollonius’ Cyzicus episode from the Argonautica , and interprets them in terms of mythic astronomy or cosmology. A mythic island in the north, associated with the solstices and either the always visible or fixed arctic circle, is recognised as the cosmological location of both narratives. This is also interpreted as the myth’s secondary reference to a phenomenon of common reality and collective importance verbalized by the application of a traditional tale. Finally, both narratives are associated with a pre-Homeric Argonautic tradition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bilić, Tomislav |
author_facet |
Bilić, Tomislav |
author_sort |
Bilić, Tomislav |
title |
Bears, Gates, and Solstices |
title_short |
Bears, Gates, and Solstices |
title_full |
Bears, Gates, and Solstices |
title_fullStr |
Bears, Gates, and Solstices |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bears, Gates, and Solstices |
title_sort |
bears, gates, and solstices |
publisher |
Brill |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-12342054 https://brill.com/view/journals/mnem/70/1/article-p1_1.xml https://data.brill.com/files/journals/1568525X_070_01_s001_text.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Mnemosyne volume 70, issue 1, page 1-23 ISSN 0026-7074 1568-525X |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-12342054 |
container_title |
Mnemosyne |
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70 |
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1 |
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1 |
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23 |
_version_ |
1779312023309385728 |