Mary Barnett

NO OF PAGES: 112 SUB CAT I: Paganism SUB CAT II: Rome SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: It is often said that the Romans had no myths. In the sense that myths are significant traditional stories concerning supernatural beings or historical or natural phenomena, this appears at first sight to be true. Yet is seems unbelievable that such stories should not have grown up among the early Latins in the same way that they did among other people. Roman literature and art, however, show mere traces of native myths that are almost impossible to identify and dislodge from the Greek literary tradition that absorbed and changed them. It seems likely that the traditional oral myths and legends once existed among the Latin tribes who were the first inhabitants of Rome. If so, they were lost before the Romans developed the art of writing. Instead, their remnants were written down and reinterpreted later by Greek writers in their own tradition. Once Rome became an important city, its own educated classes were also Hellenized. They might have thought little of the Greek ability for practical affairs, but they aspired to the Greek ability for practical affairs, but they aspired to the Greek culture of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world.NOTES: Purchased from Half Price Books. SUBTITLE: The Archaeology and Mythology of Ancient Peoples… (lisätietoja)