The Istoriaphile’s Corner

Why do people continue to listen to and create new myths?  What purpose do these stories serve?  The ancient civilization made myths to explain the universe none of them could understand. That’s not to say they were stupid. These early civilizations laid the roots of our modern day culture and established the primary principals in law, math, science and medicine. We stand on the shoulders of their work. But advances in learning and technology have answered many of the ancient questions originally dealt with by myths.  Thunder isn’t controlled some guy named Zeus or Indra or Thor. It’s the result of lightening heated air, impacting colder air. With that discovery we relegated tales of the Thunder Gods to English, Archaeology and Anthropology Majors.  Nevertheless, we’ve continued to spin other stories with newer heroes, god and terrible villains.  Want to debate me on this?  Get set. First it seems like every emerging culture seems to have its own set of stories, right?  The Greeks, the Romans, the Norse and lots of other cultures developed complex, interesting mythologies with gods that took an interest in the world of humans.  Myths are the creations of a culture and the one I grew up…