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Why Do We Keep Retelling Myths? | The Mythology of Mythology
Published 1 day, 21 hours ago
Description
Why do we keep retelling myths?
Settle into The Mythology of Mythology, a thoughtful sleep story about ancient stories, the people who explain them, and the new stories those explanations become.
In a quiet workroom at the British Museum, a young engraver reads a broken clay tablet. A boat rests on a mountain. A dove goes out and comes back. George Smith has found a flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and an old question begins again: what kind of thing is a myth?
Tonight we follow that question across centuries and cultures.
From Greek thinkers searching for hidden meanings to Japan's Kojiki and the Maya Popol Vuh, we meet Max Müller's sun myths, James Frazer's sacred grove, Joseph Campbell's hero, and Claude Lévi-Strauss's idea that a myth lives in all its versions.
A platter of identical rings holds countless tellings of Rama's story. Myths appear in modern magazines, and old coastal stories raise questions about memory. Every explanation reveals something about the person offering it.
There is nothing to decode tonight.
The journey ends in a dark museum, with a clay tablet resting in its case and Gilgamesh asleep beside a row of loaves. The stories can wait until morning.
Let the story keep you company as you settle down to rest.
This sleep story is told slowly and gently for sleep, relaxation and quiet late-night listening.
Explore The Idea of Ideas series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd5WzOPdClFY
Listen to more Sleep Stories from the Pioneers:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRypv-XVJDZk
Explore Sleep Stories from the Pioneers:
https://pioneersofhumanbehaviour.com/sleep-stories/
Support the project:
https://ko-fi.com/pioneersofhumanbehaviour
Sleep well. 🌙
Stories to fall asleep to. Ideas worth waking up with.
Settle into The Mythology of Mythology, a thoughtful sleep story about ancient stories, the people who explain them, and the new stories those explanations become.
In a quiet workroom at the British Museum, a young engraver reads a broken clay tablet. A boat rests on a mountain. A dove goes out and comes back. George Smith has found a flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and an old question begins again: what kind of thing is a myth?
Tonight we follow that question across centuries and cultures.
From Greek thinkers searching for hidden meanings to Japan's Kojiki and the Maya Popol Vuh, we meet Max Müller's sun myths, James Frazer's sacred grove, Joseph Campbell's hero, and Claude Lévi-Strauss's idea that a myth lives in all its versions.
A platter of identical rings holds countless tellings of Rama's story. Myths appear in modern magazines, and old coastal stories raise questions about memory. Every explanation reveals something about the person offering it.
There is nothing to decode tonight.
The journey ends in a dark museum, with a clay tablet resting in its case and Gilgamesh asleep beside a row of loaves. The stories can wait until morning.
Let the story keep you company as you settle down to rest.
This sleep story is told slowly and gently for sleep, relaxation and quiet late-night listening.
Explore The Idea of Ideas series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd5WzOPdClFY
Listen to more Sleep Stories from the Pioneers:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRypv-XVJDZk
Explore Sleep Stories from the Pioneers:
https://pioneersofhumanbehaviour.com/sleep-stories/
Support the project:
https://ko-fi.com/pioneersofhumanbehaviour
Sleep well. 🌙
Stories to fall asleep to. Ideas worth waking up with.