Answering the Unknown
An important function of the myth is to explain the unknown. It is human nature to pose questions rather than to accept things blindly. People always want to know “why.” Today, many mysteries of the universe have been explained through science. The ancients, however, did not have today's scientific knowledge or sophisticated technology. Instead, they relied on myths to give them the answers they sought.
The Questions
The ancients hungered for knowledge. They wanted explanations for the phenomena they encountered in their daily lives, such as where thunder and lightning came from or why the sun appears to cross the sky. They also wondered about the structure of the universe. Curiosity drove people to ask questions, and myths evolved to explain these otherwise unanswerable questions.
For example, the creation myth answers huge questions such as “How were the universe and Earth created?” and “Where did people come from?” Another explanatory myth deals with the Underworld, answering the question, “What happens after we die?”
In ancient times, if you were a mighty hero or favored by the gods, you might end up in the Elysian Fields after death. This forever-happy land was certainly a good place to spend eternity.
Myths also answered smaller everyday questions. For example, where does the hyacinth come from? According to a Greek myth, Apollo, god of archery, fell in love with a youth named Hyacinthus, who was accidentally killed when he and Apollo were throwing a discus. Apollo was so heart-broken that he transformed the youth's blood, as it fell to the ground, into a new flower. That flower, the hyacinth, returns every spring to honor his memory.
Here are some other subjects explored in ancient myths:
Where certain constellations come from
Why the sun disappears at night
Why creatures behave as they do (for instance, why the spider weaves a web)
How bad things such as sickness, death, and grief came into the world
How fire came to humanity
Why the seasons change
The Answers
A myth's explanatory element is important to its structure. Like any other religion, classical mythology sought to provide definitive answers to seemingly unanswerable questions. Because the ancients were not constrained by scientific and technical knowledge, they were free to develop stirring, sometimes outrageous tales to explain these phenomena.
If you think about it, this freedom was beneficial in many ways. Myths were entertaining, so people wanted to hear them and remembered them after they'd been told. The oral tradition of the ancients thrived in part because of the people's interest in these stories. People listened to myths, retold them, and eventually wrote them down — and that's why they are still in existence today.
