carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) (11/03/85)
In article <445@imsvax.UUCP> ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden) writes: > Now, in reality, I not only am familiar with all of the yuppie ^^^^^^ >versions of mythological interpretation (Campbell, Eliade et. al.) which >Carnes believes in.... The usual term is "psychological", or "anthropological". > These yuppie versions of interpretation generally proceed along what I >would call "uniformitarian" lines. The authors specifically deny any >possibility of catastrophe myths being true in any literal sense... What about all the virgin-birth-and-resurrection myths? Surely those are literally true as well. Who is the subject of these myths? I recently asked for evidence that the myths of the reign of Kronos actually refer to the *planets* Saturn and Jupiter. Holden's article in reply contains no trace of an answer to this question. Do the myths about Ares, Aphrodite, and Hermes refer to the doings of the planets Mars, Venus, and Mercury? If so, what is the evidence for it? In any case, thanks to Ted for mentioning the writings of Mircea Eliade, which provide a magnificent antidote to Velikovskian interpretations of myth. >Readers interested in >learning more about what the archaic world was actually like (and this kind >of knowledge WON'T be found in books by Campbell or Eliade) are advised to >send a check for $15 to [Kronos, Subscription Dept.]. If readers are interested in learning about prehistory or mythology, better advice would be to take some courses at a good university. This is more expensive than a subscription to Kronos, but you get what you pay for. I will tout my own university: within two blocks of where I sit there is probably more collective knowledge about mythology, prehistory, anthropology, paleobiology, geophysical sciences, astronomy, physics, and astrophysics than in almost any comparable area in the US. (Eliade, an emeritus professor, lives about a block from my office.) Maybe I can arrange a guest lectureship for Holden so he can straighten everyone out. Seriously, there is no point in any further responses to Holden's childish and completely illogical postings. -- Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes