Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Pleasure and Leisure 293
denoted an exemplary tale that revealed what was perceived to be
a fundamental truth (or possible truths), whether about the nature
of the world, the deeds and activities of the gods and heroes, or
the composition and evolution of Greek society. In the words of
Walter Burkert (Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual ,
23), “A myth is a traditional tale with secondary, partial reference
to something of collective importance,” though with the important
proviso that, despite being traditional, any myth can undergo limitless
numbers of retelling and thus modification, even though the
basic plot line remains stable.
The subject matter that the Greeks utilized for mythic treatment
comprised all the events that had occurred from the creation of
the universe to the aftermath of the Trojan War. This included the
succession of divine dynasties that ultimately led to the current ruling
dynasty of Olympian deities, the beginnings and evolution of
human existence, the Trojan War itself, and the tales that took place
in the Age of Heroes.
How Myths Were Transmitted
Although myths have reached us primarily through literature, this
was not how they were transmitted in antiquity. Rather, they were
the product of an oral culture that passed down its lore by word of
mouth from one generation to the next. Although it is impossible to
reach back in time to discover a myth’s origins, surely many of them
are rooted in Greece’s preliterate past. It was a past that possessed
no other means of preserving what needed to be preserved except
by word of mouth. Precisely because they were transmitted orally,
myths underwent considerable change in each retelling. Inevitably,
some details were lost or modified while others were invented or
recast. What has survived, in other words, is the result of a long
evolutionary process that took place over several centuries and that
remained in flux. It was a process that was organic in the true sense
of the word. Indeed, it is hardly any exaggeration to state that once
a myth acquired a canonical or fixed form, it ceased to retain its
contemporary relevance for the teller and the audience.
The vitality of the mythic tradition can be aptly demonstrated by
reference to the myth of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who inadvertently
fulfills the prophecy of the Delphic Oracle by killing his father
and marrying his mother. It is a story that provides a stern warning
about the terrifying power of coincidence. But in Sophokles’
play Oedipus the King it is much more than that. For when Oedipus